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Experiment in Depth: A Study of the Work of Jung, Eliot and Toynbee
Routledge is now re-issuing this prestigious series of 204 volumes originally published between 1910 and 1965. The titles include works by key figures such asC.G. Jung, Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, Otto Rank, James Hillman, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney and Susan Isaacs. Each volume is available on its own, as part of a themed mini-set, or as part of a specially-priced 204-volume set. A brochure listing each title in the International Library of Psychology series is available upon request.
286 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1955
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 30, 2024
Excellent summary of Jung's ideas mainly (only a little Eliot; even less Toynbee). Helpful and practical ways to explore dreams especially. Written about 1950, some fascinating analysis of how totalitarian states manipulate people psychologically.
May 14, 2020
This was an interesting find, first published in 1955, presents a detailed overview of Jung's inner work as it related to the projections and the animus.
January 16, 2019
This has been the best account of practical Jungian methods as applied to even pre-Jungian days thru the vision of the historian Arnold Toynbee and as successfully achieved the goal told in poetry by T.S. Eliot.
The book does describe an experiment; one done on self so it is best to give a precautionary note. I can't do better in that endeavor than the author does as follows:
Experiment in Depth by P.W. Martin
Chapter X: Dangers and Destinations. First three paragraphs.
The experiment in depth concerns everyone, but it is not for everyone to undertake. The way is dangerous. It demands of a man that he obey the injunction 'Become what thou art'; and to this end leads him to his own encounter. What he will find there, no one can know in advance. This much, though, is reasonably certain. Wholeness has to proceed against the heaviest of odds: The values, habit-patterns, attitudes, laid down by earlier conditioning in a society where the creative contact has been to a great extent lost. Individuation does not begin with a tabula rasa, but with a personality more or less malformed.
Beyond lies the deep unconscious. Here, all is at the hazard. As Jung has said, there are those who go digging for an artesian well and come instead upon a volcano. Cumulated upon this uncertainty is the harsh fact that our knowledge of the other side of consciousness is still, for the most part, in the earliest stage of hypothesis. Much of it may be wide of the mark, some completely mistaken. It is not only that the beaten way does not as yet exist. Such track as there is may be deceptive. A man takes it at his peril. In making the experiment in depth there are bound to be casualties, casualties that could not reasonably be forseen. It is well to realize that one's own name may figure among them.
But there is also the positive side. The unconscious is not fundamentally a menace, a source of fear and misgiving. It is the wellspring of life, both for the individual and for the peoples of the world. At present we are cut off from it; and worse than cut off, exposed to the utmost peril. Little as we may like it, we of the present century have no choice but to live dangerously, the threat of mass destruction over all our heads. Those who have the psychological strength and stamina to undertake the withdrawal-and-return--to live dangerously to some purpose--are the fortunate ones. Whether or not a creative minority comes into existence as a result of their efforts, they live.
The book does describe an experiment; one done on self so it is best to give a precautionary note. I can't do better in that endeavor than the author does as follows:
Experiment in Depth by P.W. Martin
Chapter X: Dangers and Destinations. First three paragraphs.
The experiment in depth concerns everyone, but it is not for everyone to undertake. The way is dangerous. It demands of a man that he obey the injunction 'Become what thou art'; and to this end leads him to his own encounter. What he will find there, no one can know in advance. This much, though, is reasonably certain. Wholeness has to proceed against the heaviest of odds: The values, habit-patterns, attitudes, laid down by earlier conditioning in a society where the creative contact has been to a great extent lost. Individuation does not begin with a tabula rasa, but with a personality more or less malformed.
Beyond lies the deep unconscious. Here, all is at the hazard. As Jung has said, there are those who go digging for an artesian well and come instead upon a volcano. Cumulated upon this uncertainty is the harsh fact that our knowledge of the other side of consciousness is still, for the most part, in the earliest stage of hypothesis. Much of it may be wide of the mark, some completely mistaken. It is not only that the beaten way does not as yet exist. Such track as there is may be deceptive. A man takes it at his peril. In making the experiment in depth there are bound to be casualties, casualties that could not reasonably be forseen. It is well to realize that one's own name may figure among them.
But there is also the positive side. The unconscious is not fundamentally a menace, a source of fear and misgiving. It is the wellspring of life, both for the individual and for the peoples of the world. At present we are cut off from it; and worse than cut off, exposed to the utmost peril. Little as we may like it, we of the present century have no choice but to live dangerously, the threat of mass destruction over all our heads. Those who have the psychological strength and stamina to undertake the withdrawal-and-return--to live dangerously to some purpose--are the fortunate ones. Whether or not a creative minority comes into existence as a result of their efforts, they live.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews