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Patterns of Creativity Mirrored in Creation Myths
250 pages Spring Pubns (September 1972) English
250 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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About the author
Marie-Louise von Franz
121 books819 followersMarie-Louise von Franz was a Swiss Jungian psychologist and scholar.
Von Franz worked with Carl Jung, whom she met in 1933 and knew until his death in 1961. Jung believed in the unity of the psychological and material worlds, i.e., they are one and the same, just different manifestations. He also believed that this concept of the unus mundus could be investigated through research on the archetypes of the natural numbers. Due to his age, he turned the problem over to von Franz. Two of her books, Number and Time and Psyche and Matter deal with this research.
Von Franz, in 1968, was the first to publish that the mathematical structure of DNA is analogous to that of the I Ching. She cites the reference to the publication in an expanded essay Symbols of the Unus Mundus, published in her book Psyche and Matter. In addition to her many books, Von Franz recorded a series of films in 1987 titled The Way of the Dream with her student Fraser Boa.
Von Franz founded the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich. In The Way of the Dream she claims to have interpreted over 65,000 dreams. Von Franz also wrote over 20 volumes on Analytical psychology, most notably on fairy tales as they relate to Archetypal or Depth Psychology, most specifically by amplification of the themes and characters. She also wrote on subjects such as alchemy, discussed from the Jungian, psychological perspective, and active imagination, which could be described as conscious dreaming. In Man and His Symbols, von Franz described active imagination as follows: "Active imagination is a certain way of meditating imaginatively, by which one may deliberately enter into contact with the unconscious and make a conscious connection with psychic phenomena."
Von Franz worked with Carl Jung, whom she met in 1933 and knew until his death in 1961. Jung believed in the unity of the psychological and material worlds, i.e., they are one and the same, just different manifestations. He also believed that this concept of the unus mundus could be investigated through research on the archetypes of the natural numbers. Due to his age, he turned the problem over to von Franz. Two of her books, Number and Time and Psyche and Matter deal with this research.
Von Franz, in 1968, was the first to publish that the mathematical structure of DNA is analogous to that of the I Ching. She cites the reference to the publication in an expanded essay Symbols of the Unus Mundus, published in her book Psyche and Matter. In addition to her many books, Von Franz recorded a series of films in 1987 titled The Way of the Dream with her student Fraser Boa.
Von Franz founded the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich. In The Way of the Dream she claims to have interpreted over 65,000 dreams. Von Franz also wrote over 20 volumes on Analytical psychology, most notably on fairy tales as they relate to Archetypal or Depth Psychology, most specifically by amplification of the themes and characters. She also wrote on subjects such as alchemy, discussed from the Jungian, psychological perspective, and active imagination, which could be described as conscious dreaming. In Man and His Symbols, von Franz described active imagination as follows: "Active imagination is a certain way of meditating imaginatively, by which one may deliberately enter into contact with the unconscious and make a conscious connection with psychic phenomena."
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May 26, 2020
Marie-Louise von Franz goes through the several cultural and mythological tell tales on how the world has came to be, dubbed creation myths. She goes through this with a small degree of Jungian references throughout. Honestly I wish the Jungian aspects were expanded on or focused on a little more. It is strange reading a chapter that discusses Somoan abolition (How God fails to creates humans at first but fails a few times before getting it right) and then she suddenly brings up the question from someone "How does the thinking type interpret this?" as it fails to mention if this is inferior or exterior function?
Anyways this is a great book if you have a deep cultural understanding of many myths that make up different civilizations but some of the ideas seemed a little too straight forward at times, but just with the cultural myth to demonstrate the easy idea. If you are interested in mythology i recommend this but the creativity ideas are a little weak throughout. "People create either because they are haunted by the idea and because they have to constantly work on getting that idea out" or "People create because they are bored lol" so those are the two main points on creativity she focuses on. The mythology is there for certain, though.
Anyways this is a great book if you have a deep cultural understanding of many myths that make up different civilizations but some of the ideas seemed a little too straight forward at times, but just with the cultural myth to demonstrate the easy idea. If you are interested in mythology i recommend this but the creativity ideas are a little weak throughout. "People create either because they are haunted by the idea and because they have to constantly work on getting that idea out" or "People create because they are bored lol" so those are the two main points on creativity she focuses on. The mythology is there for certain, though.
Displaying 1 of 1 review