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The Transcendent Function
Written in 1916, the manuscript of this essay lay in Jung's files in Zurich until discovered by students in 1953. It was first published in an English translation by A.R. Pope in 1957, and in the original German the following year. The present publication draws on both. Sonu Shamdasani, editor of the "Red Book," noted that "This paper can be viewed as an interim progress report on Jung's self-experimentation, and may profitably be considered as a preface to Liber Novus."
The paper grapples with the question posed by the philosophy of India, and particularly by Buddhism and Zen: How does one come to terms in practice with the unconscious? Indirectly, it is the fundamental question of all religions and philosophies, for the unconscious is not this thing or that; it is the Unknown as it immediately affects us.
The method of "active imagination," hereinafter described, is the most important auxiliary for the production of those contents of the unconscious that lie, as it were, immediately below the threshold of consciousness and, when intensified, are the most likely to irrupt spontaneously into the conscious mind. The method, therefore, is not without dangers and should, if possible, not be employed except under expert supervision.
The paper grapples with the question posed by the philosophy of India, and particularly by Buddhism and Zen: How does one come to terms in practice with the unconscious? Indirectly, it is the fundamental question of all religions and philosophies, for the unconscious is not this thing or that; it is the Unknown as it immediately affects us.
The method of "active imagination," hereinafter described, is the most important auxiliary for the production of those contents of the unconscious that lie, as it were, immediately below the threshold of consciousness and, when intensified, are the most likely to irrupt spontaneously into the conscious mind. The method, therefore, is not without dangers and should, if possible, not be employed except under expert supervision.
- GenresPsychology
25 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1957
53 people want to read
About the author
C.G. Jung
1,729 books11.3k followersCarl 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, literature, and related fields. He was a prolific writer, many of whose works were not published until after his death.
The central concept of analytical psychology is individuation—the psychological process of integrating the opposites, including the conscious with the unconscious, while still maintaining their relative autonomy. Jung considered individuation to be the central process of human development.
Jung created some of the best known psychological concepts, including the archetype, the collective unconscious, the complex, and synchronicity. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular psychometric instrument, has been developed from Jung's theory of psychological types.
Though he was a practising clinician and considered himself to be a scientist, much of his life's work was spent exploring tangential areas such as Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, and sociology, as well as literature and the arts. Jung's interest in philosophy and the occult led many to view him as a mystic, although his ambition was to be seen as a man of science. His influence on popular psychology, the "psychologization of religion", spirituality and the New Age movement has been immense.
The central concept of analytical psychology is individuation—the psychological process of integrating the opposites, including the conscious with the unconscious, while still maintaining their relative autonomy. Jung considered individuation to be the central process of human development.
Jung created some of the best known psychological concepts, including the archetype, the collective unconscious, the complex, and synchronicity. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular psychometric instrument, has been developed from Jung's theory of psychological types.
Though he was a practising clinician and considered himself to be a scientist, much of his life's work was spent exploring tangential areas such as Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, and sociology, as well as literature and the arts. Jung's interest in philosophy and the occult led many to view him as a mystic, although his ambition was to be seen as a man of science. His influence on popular psychology, the "psychologization of religion", spirituality and the New Age movement has been immense.
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May 4, 2020
I was glad to have a read-along on this fairly dense text, but honestly the narrator didn't entirely sound like he actually understood the words he was reciting. The inflection just never really seems to be all there, especially on the non-English phrases. Still useful, but not excessively so.
Displaying 1 of 1 review