Customer Reviews

The Tao of Jung: The Way of Integrity

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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.

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.

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.

<The Tao of Jung> is on one level a biography of Carl Jung, and, on a deeper level a Taoist meditation using the life events as jumping off points for contemplation. While I cannot declare the book a complete failure I unfortunately believe that it does not hit the mark on either level.

As a biography this book relies heavily on quotes from Jung's autobiography <Memories, Dreams, Reflections>. A few extra details, not mentioned in Jung's work, are added, such as the psychiatrist's affair with Toni Wolf and his apparent experimentation with Nazism. Basically there is not much reason to read this book as a biography as Jung's own work is so excellent.

On the deeper level Rosen is trying to show how Jung's life can be seen as an illustration of Taoist principles. To do this, after his description of Jung's life events, he simply supplies a quote or two from some of the main Taoist texts, such as the <Tao Te Ching>. The reader is expected to compare the passages about Jung with those about the Tao and be enlightened. Unfortunately this approach just did not work for me. Sometimes I found the Taoist texts obscure. Often I wanted Rosen to speak more about Taoism, explaining it and elucidating in detail his points of comparison. OK so I am a Taoist Neanderthal and wanted to be spoon-fed. I am just saying that I think this book will be a lot more meaningful to you if you already understand about the Tao.

But even more Rosen seems to take a particularly psychological, rather than philosophical, slant on the Tao. This left me wondering whether he was talking about the REAL Tao? (If there is such a thing?) For example Rosen quotes Wilhelm's translation of <Tao Te Ching> no. 13 as saying: "Honor is a great evil like persona. The reason I experience great evil is that I have a persona ... [etc.]." My C. D Lau [Penguin Books] translation says: "What is meant by saying that high rank is, like one's body, a source of trouble? The reason I have great trouble is that I have a body." The difference between a "body" and a "persona" seems outstanding to me and makes me really wonder about the standard of translation and the resulting 'psychological meanings.' This is a question I must leave open to those who know more than me.

The book has an interesting premise, and the reader is thrown a great many details about Jung's personal life. However, the editing is horrible. There is very little original thought by the author because 80% of the book is either excerpts of Jung's personal journal, or Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. The other 20% are phrases that poorly setup the quotation to follow. To give you an idea of how much he quotes (rather than interpreting and regurgitating), his references section consists of 19 pages.

Imagine a shrink who can see and hear without claptrap and jargon. Imagine a sweet recollection of how Jung affected a life (the writers).

The book is real and terrific and a clear way of seeing the soul of Jung and the soul of a Jungian who doesn't talk in jargon.

It is almost like finding a lawyer who doesn't think he is a genius because he graduated law school and sees the world as case law; a lawyer who also speaks to be heard and understood as opposed to separate himself in some vaguely superior way in order to establish a basis for time billing from jargon alone.

The book is really a wonder of subtle sensibility and integration at a highly personal level.

Not well organized or thought out.