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The Earth Has a Soul: The Nature Writings of C.G. Jung
by
While never losing sight of the rational, cultured mind, Jung speaks for the natural mind, source of the evolutionary experience and accumulated wisdom of our species. Through his own example, Jung shows how healing our own living connection with Nature contributes to the whole.
Paperback, 248 pages
Published
June 28th 2011
by North Atlantic Books
(first published May 20th 2002)
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Start your review of The Earth Has a Soul: The Nature Writings of C.G. Jung

Most practical book on Jung I've read! Read it if you are restless sometimes or most times.
We want simplicity. We are suffering, in our cities, from a need of simple things. We would like to see our great... terminals deserted, the streets deserted, a great peace descend upon us.
Dreams are pure nature to which must be added human reflection and discernment. We now know that the dreaming function in mammals is approximately 140,000,000 years old and does have a survival function.
Jung's advice for ...more
We want simplicity. We are suffering, in our cities, from a need of simple things. We would like to see our great... terminals deserted, the streets deserted, a great peace descend upon us.
Dreams are pure nature to which must be added human reflection and discernment. We now know that the dreaming function in mammals is approximately 140,000,000 years old and does have a survival function.
Jung's advice for ...more

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was born in Kesswil, Switzerland, a wee lakeside hamlet that had changed little since the Middle Ages. His rustic upbringing gave him the gift of intimate contact with the natural world, a profound source of meaning for him: “Every stone, every plant, every single thing seemed alive and indescribably marvelous.” Like his mother, Jung had the ability to access his archaic mind. He had an old soul that was intimately connected with all living creatures, and to the worl
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I'm halfway through this book and I love it. Jung believes that we as humans need to hold on to our connection to nature, because even though we may see ourselves as civilized beings, we are still essentially animals and are subject to our basic animal nature. A strong connection to the natural world aroud us helps us to enjoy our lives more and be at peace with our inner selves. (At least, that's an oversimplified take on the first half of the book, I'll revise this when I've read more!)
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The Earth Has a Soul is a collection of writings on the subject of nature from Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung, taken from various book passages, lectures, and personal correspondences. The thesis running throughout the book is that modern life, increasingly urban and dominated by technology, is unhealthy for the psyche. In the age of science and reason, nature has been stripped of her divine properties, and modern man is more disconnected than ever. Heavily influenced by his travels amongst the i
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I really enjoyed how this book of Jung's writings, speeches, seminars, interviews and even letters, was put together. It was organized in a chronological manner which allows the reader to see his views either cement themselves or evolve further over his lifetime. I found I relate to a lot of his ideas and teachings. Highly recommended.
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If one has the right attitude then the right things happen
The problem is that most of the time or basically all the time we do not know what is right. What one thinks right is quite possible to be taken as wrong by the other. How could you be sure you have the right attitude, or if you doubt that, where could you find it?
I had thought this book was about how human can learn to co-exist with Nature, to respect Nature, to learn to be kind to Nature. I was still thinking human and Nature as two sep ...more

"Nature is an incomparable guide if you know how to follow her".
This collection of Jung's writings beautifully presents his thoughts towards mankind and our connection with nature. Passages from Jung explain that we have become disconnected (especially in our cities) from nature, and this is evident in the mental unease that many people face. The most interesting piece in the collection is when explained the rapid increase in technology and noise.. in the 1930's! I feel he would be deeply ashame ...more
This collection of Jung's writings beautifully presents his thoughts towards mankind and our connection with nature. Passages from Jung explain that we have become disconnected (especially in our cities) from nature, and this is evident in the mental unease that many people face. The most interesting piece in the collection is when explained the rapid increase in technology and noise.. in the 1930's! I feel he would be deeply ashame ...more

I read this book once with the idea that I would read it again. So far, I have not. This is a compelling book of selections from Jung's published works, seminars, interviews, letters and speeches that demonstrate his affinity for and kinship with the natural world. One of my favorite quotes from Jung is: "Sometimes a tree can tell you more than can be read in a book." This is one of those books that begs to be re-read that one might glean more and more with each visit to its pages.
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"The man whose interests are all outside is never satisfied with what is necessary, but is perpetually hankering after something more and better which, true to his bias, he always seeks outside himself."
A wonderful book for everyone who loves Jung's way of thinking. Great excerpts from different sources. ...more
A wonderful book for everyone who loves Jung's way of thinking. Great excerpts from different sources. ...more

Useful compilation of excerpts for writers, researchers, or historians who want to locate materials Jung wrote that relate to Nature, the state of nature, what is considered "natural," and human interaction with Nature or wildness (and the positive good that comes from integrating the human body with the landscape and with animal/creaturely life).
Not so much a "good read" on its own, but a fascinating series of primary Jungian texts such as letters, lectures, and essays as well as Jung's better- ...more
Not so much a "good read" on its own, but a fascinating series of primary Jungian texts such as letters, lectures, and essays as well as Jung's better- ...more

The book is short, but is heavy reading. It is simple to understand, but almost every page is full of meaning. Mr. Jung is a deep thinker and his writings make a lot of sense. Mr. Jung also provides good examples for support to his statements.
The big takeaways for me are to get more connected with nature and community, and less connected with technology. Other insights are to listen to your dreams and instincts. Mr. Jung had great foresight on how western culture would become less interested in ...more
The big takeaways for me are to get more connected with nature and community, and less connected with technology. Other insights are to listen to your dreams and instincts. Mr. Jung had great foresight on how western culture would become less interested in ...more

A very disappointing compilation for me. Portions were so cut-and-paste that often each paragraph came from a different piece and read like sloppy academic writing without any writing to connect the disparate pieces. This disjunction in itself is not unforgivable to me, but without the benefit of seeing Jung build his argument, the portions that were presented felt empty. I felt the description and introduction of the book exaggerated much of the actual content. Also much misogyny and transphobi
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I never get tired of reading Carl Jung. He is the one person who can talk about the subconscious and our psychological foundations without making it sound like superstition. He especially emphasizes the importance of dreams, and not for simplistic interpretations, but for trying to understand what our subconscious self is trying to tell us. Modern humanity has succeeded (in a way) of conquering nature, but in the process, we have lost our instinct. These excerpts are well-chosen and well-edited,
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The book tells about relations of modern and primal people's behaviours. Jung visits some tribes with his qurious approach and experience their primal features. Then he interprets and similates their rituals to our daily life routines.
A must read book for the people of millennia. As far as we create assets we will experience the aspects of our new milieu and lean more to forget our broader senses. ...more
A must read book for the people of millennia. As far as we create assets we will experience the aspects of our new milieu and lean more to forget our broader senses. ...more

This is the best book I have ever read in my whole entire life. The collection that the editor has arranged is so inspiring for reflections of everyday life. She does a fantastic job of pulling out his passages that connect man with the nature he is a part of and organizing it in a way that pulls you into the need to maintain a healthier relationship with nature and ourselves.

I suppose you have to buy into the nonsense that Jung espoused in order to like his writing. I only added this to the "psychology" shelf in my Goodreads because that is where he traditionally is put. I should probably have a separate shelf for "psychological science."
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Aug 05, 2011
Nick Mather
added it
This is a sampling of writings taken from Jung's Collected Works and is very accessible. Jung argues that our psyches (and the collective unconscious) are nature and that we have distanced ourself from nature at great cost. Much of what he writes is rather prophetic given the current state of nature and the unease that most feel.
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Dr. Sabini has done us all a great service in presenting the words for Carl Jung from his collected works, letters and seminars on the relationship between the psyche and nature. This is a must read for everyone interested in mind, body, soul and earth and how this dynamic is so important to our species.

Struggling with this one, will probably not finish it. I was really excited about it too - don't you hate that? So far this is what I'm taking from it: Jung liked to go camping. It helped him form some of his famous theories. Cool.
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I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10333729 ...more
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10333729 ...more

Haven't read Jung since undergrad. His was such a unique perspective for the time it was written.
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Carl Gustav Jung (/jʊŋ/; German: [ˈkarl ˈɡʊstaf jʊŋ]), often referred to as C. G. Jung, was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of extraversion and introversion; archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, philosophy, archeology, anthropology, l
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