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Paige

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Paige is Currently Reading

Paige is currently reading

I Have Some Questions for You

by Rebecca Makkai (Goodreads Author)

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Mar 26, 2023 05:51PM

Paige is currently reading

Man and His Symbols

by C.G. Jung

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Paige said: " Since these are each separate essays by different authors I'm going to review each separately as I go.

Approaching the Unconscious, Carl Jung - 5 out of 5
Loved this section of the book. To me it was a really good blend of "yes! I've always thought thi Since these are each separate essays by different authors I'm going to review each separately as I go.

Approaching the Unconscious, Carl Jung - 5 out of 5
Loved this section of the book. To me it was a really good blend of "yes! I've always thought this thing, but in a nebulous undefined way, and this man has put it down so succinctly in a single sentence or paragraph" and "this is such a compelling way of looking at this thing." There were things that clicked for me for the first time while I was reading, and ideas I'd kind of heard before and discounted that he was able to convince me of. The writing style appealed to me as well. It was stimulating and fun to read and it makes me want to delve more deeply into his writings.

Of course some of the language is outdated, and I think it would be really easy to criticize Jung for his use of "primitive" vs " civilized" when talking about traditional vs modern society, but I think it really comes more down to just that's the dated language of the time; it is clear that he does not think that "primitive" people are "less than," and in fact highlights how healthy they and their societies are while "civilized" society has lost something important. The part where I do think he's misguided or has it "wrong" is that I don't believe that the the mind that has undergone any evolutionary or significant change as he seems to suggest; and in fact he himself offers evidence to this when he speaks of traditional societies encountering modern ones, and what happens after. Because of this, I'd be inclined to think maybe that he was being metaphorical when talking about the differences of mind, however later in the essay he kind of doubles down and says that the "primitive" people don't understand the symbolic meaning of their own rituals, apparently because a community he was spending time with "couldn't" or was "unable" to explain it to him. I think there are other explanations, like perhaps there was a language and culture barrier so they didn't really understand each other; that they know the meaning of the ritual but maybe are not permitted to share it with the uninitiated and/or outsiders; that perhaps the lay people in the community don't concern themselves with the meaning but there are people in the community whose role it is to understand and preserve the information; and I'm sure there are other explanations as well. My own study of things like qi gong and indigenous cultures/myths make me certain that people from ancient/traditional/pre-modern societies do understand the meaning of their symbols and their motives. To me it is clear that our brains and our minds today are really no different, but that our environments and what is salient in those environments has changed, and that is what constitutes the real difference between "then" and "now," between the different types of thought. Based on things in the book, I think Jung would actually largely be in agreement with that last statement; he just doesn't seem to quite think about it as sociologically and rather represents it in the more essentialist terms which I am wary of. In any case, that's really my only disagreement with what he has laid out in this essay. Everything else was fascinating and I'm interested in reading more.

Ancient Myths and Modern Man, Joseph L. Henderson - 3 out of 5
So, I clearly didn't like this one as much as the first essay. I think it's a combination of factors. Its scope is more narrow and it doesn't really define its terms very well. It's also much more gender essentialist, and when he talks about gender and gender roles it sounds sooo dated (not that the author necessarily endorses patriarchal ideas of marriage, in fact he seems critical, but he does take them for granted in a way that people don't these days). Gender is not really a focus of the essay but when he does address it, unfortunately it misses the mark. For instance, in the section where he does address it, he mentions how Beauty and the Beast is a story primarily about female desire and repressing the possibility/fear of incest. Which, like, it's an argument I'll entertain but you gotta lay a good foundation for it. Maybe if I was already really familiar with Freud I'd have been more convinced. And that's how I felt about a lot of the assertions he made in this section--somewhat interesting, but unsupported, not very well argued, and therefore unconvincing. I thought the rest of the essay was pretty good, with the first half or 2/3s being particularly strong. ...more "

Mar 23, 2023 05:25PM · see review

Paige is currently reading

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)

by J.K. Rowling

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Reading for the 4th time

read in July, 2020

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Jul 07, 2020 09:01PM

Paige’s Quotes

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
― Albert Einstein

tags: attributed-no-source, children, fairy-tales

25056 likes

“If you want to find out what a man is to the bottom, give him power. Any man can stand adversity — only a great man can stand prosperity. It is the glory of Abraham Lincoln that he never abused power only on the side of mercy”
― Robert Ingersoll

tags: adversity, character, power

3229 likes

“Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed. It is all part of the fairy tale.”
― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

tags: heroes, inspirational

2825 likes

“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.”
― Ovid

tags: activism, change, inspirational, perseverance

1000 likes

“If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?”
― G.K. Chesterton

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