The Tao of Jung: The Way of Integrity [Hardcover]

David H. Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996

Modeled on the classic Tao Te Ching -- the world's most translated book after the Bible -- this is a startling and revealing new interpretation of Carl Jung's life and psychology. It draws on Jung's letters, aphorisms, and other writings, and traces the six crises of his personal development, including his break with Freud and his later work with the I Ching. An illuminating introduction to both Taoism and Jungian thought, it serves as a spiritual resource for contemporary followers of the Path.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jungian concepts such as archetypes and the collective unconscious have become part of our culture's worldview, just as have some principles of Asian philosophies. So the insights in this book combining the two can be expected to intrigue many of today's readers. Indeed, psychoanalyst Rosen's (Transforming Depression) brief analysis of Jung's life in terms of Taoist principles is more an inspirational work than a biography. Jung became fascinated by Chinese religion and philosophy later in life, he explains. Rosen attempts to illuminate Jung's psychic development in terms of the Chinese concept of crisis, expressed by the pictographs for danger and opportunity. Jung's crisis, in Rosen's view, consisted of his break with Freud, with the pre-Freud and Freudian years represented by danger, the post-break years by opportunity. The text here consists mainly of biographical anecdotes juxtaposed with quotes from the Taoist masters Chuang-tzu and Lao-tzu and selections from the I Ching, some of which are more relevant than others. Rosen's approach works best for Jung's years at Bollinger, where the middle-aged and then the older Jung expressed his deepest understandings in stone carvings as well as in words. At Bollinger, Jung, already steeped in ancient lore, lived the life of a Taoist sage as he "integrated yin and yang forces and became a modest person in harmony with nature."
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Psychiatrist Rosen has written a biographical study of his mentor, Carl Jung (1875-1961), from a Taoist standpoint. The text alternates between Jung's life and commentary based on quotations from the Tao Te Ching, which was well known to Jung. The integration of opposites?the balancing of yin and yang?structures the examination of the life events, dreams, and theories of both Jung and Rosen. In limpid prose, the author leads us on a journey of religious certainty along the Way, making use of mandalas and Chinese pictographs, sychronicity and facile dream interpretation. The converted will revel, while the skeptic will squirm at the mystical, self-justifying, banal connections. When presenting more straightforward biography, Rosen is both critical and forgiving of Jung's sexual affairs and his transient support of Nazism. In addition, he offers readers a surprisingly candid glimpse of the collapse of his own marriage over the writing of this book: "We, too, can let go of ego, confront shadow,...be guided by the soul and the spirit...[and] surrender to the natural way of integrity." For a more balanced, nonidolatrous approach by a Jungian from Asia, see Hayao Kawai's Buddhism and the Art of Psychotherapy (LJ 7/96).?E. James Lieberman, George Washington Univ., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; First Edition edition (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670860697
• ISBN-13: 978-0670860692
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #997,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Of course Jung was a Taoist; it only makes sense, November 14, 2004

By 

C. B Collins Jr. (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tao of Jung: The Way of Integrity (Compass) (Paperback)

Rosen attempts to draw parallels between the psychological theories of Jung and the ancient Taoist philosophy/religion. He does this by also telling the story of Jung's personal life and relating incidents in Jung's life to his psychological framework and then linking to concepts from Taoism, usually illustrated with a quote from Lao Tzu. It is of course impossible to discuss Jung without also discussing his relationship with Freud. Freud and Jung agreed that the personal complex casts its shadow on all purely logical thought. However whereas Freud would move in the direction of bringing the complex into the light of consciousness so as to alter its influence on rational thought, Jung places far less hope in rationalism and rather wishes to move toward wholeness where rationalism plays only a role among other forces in the meaning of life. If human existence is a dark mystery, Jung would ask that we light a small candle of insight and consciousness in this vast wasteland.

I found the telling of Jung's life story, especially his later years of loss and illness and insight to be very well connected to the points Rosen made with quotes from Lao Tzu. Rosen makes a very strong case that as Jung moved out of the shadow of Freud, his theory of psychology became very Eastern and Taoist.

The Self in Jungian psychology is the central column of the psyche and yet it is related to the eternal void. Wholeness of spirit and mind and body in Jung's thought equates with the enlightenment of Zen Buddhism.

I found the tremendous resonance between Jung's thought and Taoism to be comforting and expected. Why wouldn't the thoughts of this great psychologist who was willing to incorporate spirituality into his view of wellness also be in tune with the great philosophy of the East, Taoism? It only makes sense that Jung and Lao Tzu frequently sound alike. Rosen does a good job of making this point. I recommend the book for anyone interested in study of Jung or Taoism.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I found this book frustrating to read...a big disappointment, August 25, 1999

By 

Craig Deville (Iowa City, IA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tao of Jung: The Way of Integrity (Compass) (Paperback)

I found this book frustrating to read. First, the writing is disjointed. The author jumps to new topics without transitions or comments on the many quotes. Second, and related to the first point, this is more of an edited volume of quotes, not an authored book with original ideas. Third, it is noteworthy to this reader that the author interprets his own failed marriage and Jung's affairs with patients as psychological growth, whereas Freud's affair with his sister-in-law was an opportunity to criticize Freud's emphasis on sex in his psychoanalysis. For readers interested in the topics of Tao and Jung, this book is likely to be a huge disappointment.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars He who knows, does not speak; he who speaks, does not know - Lao Tzu, May 24, 2006

By 

Muhammad Pyran Hewitt "polymathic autodidact" (Athens, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tao of Jung: The Way of Integrity (Compass) (Paperback)

Structuring Jung's life into six chronological chapters corresponding to the meaningful episodes of his life, Rosen sets one element of an I Ching trigram to represent an inherent theme found within each these chapters.

The Chinese ideogram for 'crisis' is composed of two pictograms; danger and opportunity, each of which is composed of a triad of aspects (or elements). The elegance of the correspondance and the fluidity of the structure, both of the significant chapters of Jung's life, and the manifestation of his philosophy and theory, is evident throughout.

Liberally interspersed throughout the text are quotations from Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, venerable Tao masters, which enlighten and enliven quotations from Jung's work's and provide simple commentary and elegant correspondance. As Jung said, Tao is "an experience of transformation ... It is not that something is seen, but that one sees differently."

Yet despite Rosen's efforts to act as guide and synthesizer of two great conceptual icons, I felt that I could easily have read Jung and Lao Tzu directly and garnered as much insight on my own, and that journey may have been more personally rewarding.

If however, you feel that you only want a glimpse into the deeper meanings of Jungian analysis and Taoism, Rosen's work may satisfy you.