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A review by yehezkel
The Red Book: A Reader's Edition: A Reader's Edition by Carl G. Jung, Sonu Shamdasani
5.0
On the eve of World War I, psychologist Carl Jung found that his relationship with longtime friend and mentor Sigmund Freud was disintegrating due to their diverging opinions on psychoanalysis and Jung's interest in spiritualism and the occult.
Deeply affected by losing Freud, Jung feared mental breakdown. Trying to avert madness, Jung decided to confront it head on by recording his sessions of "active imagination" - a kind of meditative trance state in which he induced visions. These records became his "Black Books". Jung edited and recorded the contents of the Black Books in beautiful calligraphy, adding full-color drawings throughout. This became the Red Book, never published during his lifetime except for a brief except titled "The Seven Sermons to the Dead".
This book is hard to describe, much less review. The entire thing is deeply personal. Parts of it are very frustrating. Jung contradicts himself regularly, espousing reason in one part of the book and disavowing it in another. At times he is self-loathing and at other times he is grandiose and prideful.
In his later career, Jung described the process of "individuation" - integrating different parts of the unconscious in order to become a fully actualized human being. For the most part, the Red Book describes Jung undergoing this process himself. In his visions, he encounters parts of himself, visualized as other people, and is taught a lesson by them.
This is the kind of book that sticks with you for the rest of your life. At times it was very difficult to read, but effort brings reward. Anyone interested in reading it should familiarize themselves with Jung's life and thought before beginning. His biography Memories, Dreams, Reflections and his book Man and His Symbols are essential pre-reading. Be prepared to spend a while with this book. I had to read it in short bursts, and only when truly motivated.
Deeply affected by losing Freud, Jung feared mental breakdown. Trying to avert madness, Jung decided to confront it head on by recording his sessions of "active imagination" - a kind of meditative trance state in which he induced visions. These records became his "Black Books". Jung edited and recorded the contents of the Black Books in beautiful calligraphy, adding full-color drawings throughout. This became the Red Book, never published during his lifetime except for a brief except titled "The Seven Sermons to the Dead".
This book is hard to describe, much less review. The entire thing is deeply personal. Parts of it are very frustrating. Jung contradicts himself regularly, espousing reason in one part of the book and disavowing it in another. At times he is self-loathing and at other times he is grandiose and prideful.
In his later career, Jung described the process of "individuation" - integrating different parts of the unconscious in order to become a fully actualized human being. For the most part, the Red Book describes Jung undergoing this process himself. In his visions, he encounters parts of himself, visualized as other people, and is taught a lesson by them.
This is the kind of book that sticks with you for the rest of your life. At times it was very difficult to read, but effort brings reward. Anyone interested in reading it should familiarize themselves with Jung's life and thought before beginning. His biography Memories, Dreams, Reflections and his book Man and His Symbols are essential pre-reading. Be prepared to spend a while with this book. I had to read it in short bursts, and only when truly motivated.