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heikieesmaa's review against another edition
1.0
I feel revolted by the tone of adulation in the book; go read Jung's primary texts instead.
oihanesaez's review against another edition
4.0
★★★★ 4 STARS
I was gonna give it 3 stars up until I reached the last two chapters. It was really instructive and interesting the part of the ego, persona and shadow. You can really see how that would fit in the real world. But then the anima/us part I completely disagree with. I thought the view of the anima/us was a very reduced view of a person and sometimes based on stereotypical behaviours. And also I didnt like how the book claimed Jung was empirical and everything was based on science. But I couldn't see where the empirical part was. It only described the achievements or conclusions which I can understand since the book is literally called 'Introduction' but it would have been nice to add what Jung did empirically to reach these conclusions. And the last two chapters are my realm of physics which I guess I can understand better and gave me more insight and I got a little bit of the taste of the empirical aspect of Jung. Also I found his idea of synchronization really really interesting and having published a work about it with the great Pauli makes me pop my eyes even more. The idea that the psyche and physical world might be a continuum is very intriguing. Overall great book.
I was gonna give it 3 stars up until I reached the last two chapters. It was really instructive and interesting the part of the ego, persona and shadow. You can really see how that would fit in the real world. But then the anima/us part I completely disagree with. I thought the view of the anima/us was a very reduced view of a person and sometimes based on stereotypical behaviours. And also I didnt like how the book claimed Jung was empirical and everything was based on science. But I couldn't see where the empirical part was. It only described the achievements or conclusions which I can understand since the book is literally called 'Introduction' but it would have been nice to add what Jung did empirically to reach these conclusions. And the last two chapters are my realm of physics which I guess I can understand better and gave me more insight and I got a little bit of the taste of the empirical aspect of Jung. Also I found his idea of synchronization really really interesting and having published a work about it with the great Pauli makes me pop my eyes even more. The idea that the psyche and physical world might be a continuum is very intriguing. Overall great book.
brenessaroach's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 ⭐️
It was a bit hard to wrap my head around at times and I skipped a few sections just because I wasn’t interested in learning about it/didn’t believe in it. But my favourite bits were the part about the unconscious mind and the introvert/extrovert.
It was a bit hard to wrap my head around at times and I skipped a few sections just because I wasn’t interested in learning about it/didn’t believe in it. But my favourite bits were the part about the unconscious mind and the introvert/extrovert.
anitaashland's review against another edition
4.0
The South Korean band BTS has an album with the same title as this book. It's great how BTS has introduced Jungian psychology to young people. Stein wrote this book as an easy-to-understand primer on Jungian psychology and I recommend it to anyone who wants to quickly get a handle on the basic concepts of Jungian psychology. Stein's book from the late 1990's, Map of the Soul, was the original inspiration for BTS. There are a few more books planned for this new series.
tt0rres's review against another edition
3.0
2019 POP Sugar Challenge - A book that has inspired a common phrase or idiom (persona)
petra_bpm's review against another edition
4.0
Note that I am no philosophy connoisseur. I am simply a curious mind! If you are anticipating high-level critical analysis, look elsewhere!
”Out of evil, much good has come to me. By keeping quiet, repressing nothing, remaining attentive, and by accepting reality …. unusual knowledge has come to me, and unusual powers as well, such as I could never have imagined before. … So now I intend to play the game of life, being receptive to whatever comes to me, good and bad, sun and shadow forever alternating, and in this way also accepting my own nature with its positive and negative sides.”
I hesitated to read psychophilosophy before because I worried it would enable overthinking. However, it was oddly soothing to read this book. I feel a lot of that has to do with the tone of the writing. Instead of being clinical and distant, it felt reassuring, even during passages I didn’t understand whatsoever. I was happy to skim the lyrical sentences with barely a thought in my head.
I feel my empathy has definitely increased after this. I particularly enjoyed the following sections:
• the psychology behind abuse/trauma
• the relationship between consciousness and ego
• general misconceptions regarding the term ego
• how archetypal imagery inspires religion
• the struggle to balance your shadow
• how to distinguish between true “I-am-ness” and the persona
• shame cultures vs guilt cultures
• how the anima/us influences how we treat ourselves vs those around us
I was not particularly engaged in the areas covering the various states of unconsciousness and psychic energy, mostly because it was vague and heavily reliant on symbolism. It was just too abstract for me to firmly agree with. But how much can we consciously be aware of regarding the state of unconsciousness? Not much, so I can appreciate the solid endeavour made here to comprehend it.
Regarding the criticism of the Freudian doctrine, I enjoyed it! I really liked how it called out the flaws of his philosophy whilst crediting the philosopher’s foundational research where necessary. It made for a mature discussion regarding differing psychic comprehensions, not to mention how interesting it was to learn about the frankly creepy biological reductionism at the heart of Freudian philosophy.
”Out of evil, much good has come to me. By keeping quiet, repressing nothing, remaining attentive, and by accepting reality …. unusual knowledge has come to me, and unusual powers as well, such as I could never have imagined before. … So now I intend to play the game of life, being receptive to whatever comes to me, good and bad, sun and shadow forever alternating, and in this way also accepting my own nature with its positive and negative sides.”
I hesitated to read psychophilosophy before because I worried it would enable overthinking. However, it was oddly soothing to read this book. I feel a lot of that has to do with the tone of the writing. Instead of being clinical and distant, it felt reassuring, even during passages I didn’t understand whatsoever. I was happy to skim the lyrical sentences with barely a thought in my head.
I feel my empathy has definitely increased after this. I particularly enjoyed the following sections:
• the psychology behind abuse/trauma
• the relationship between consciousness and ego
• general misconceptions regarding the term ego
• how archetypal imagery inspires religion
• the struggle to balance your shadow
• how to distinguish between true “I-am-ness” and the persona
• shame cultures vs guilt cultures
• how the anima/us influences how we treat ourselves vs those around us
I was not particularly engaged in the areas covering the various states of unconsciousness and psychic energy, mostly because it was vague and heavily reliant on symbolism. It was just too abstract for me to firmly agree with. But how much can we consciously be aware of regarding the state of unconsciousness? Not much, so I can appreciate the solid endeavour made here to comprehend it.
Regarding the criticism of the Freudian doctrine, I enjoyed it! I really liked how it called out the flaws of his philosophy whilst crediting the philosopher’s foundational research where necessary. It made for a mature discussion regarding differing psychic comprehensions, not to mention how interesting it was to learn about the frankly creepy biological reductionism at the heart of Freudian philosophy.