Dreamer's Refuge ב"ה

A Student of Sense and Nonsense

Review of Catafalque By Peter Kingsley

A great book for those trying to understand Jung, and but more importantly in understanding what Jung has been turned into after his death.

Kingsley does a great job in explaining Jung, and for this he will be maligned, because it goes against the nerrative of many Jungians; some whom have made him into a “New Age” guru, a rationalist materialist, or to some a brilliant psychologist that lost his way and went insane.

Jung had a lot to say about the current “spirit of our time”:

“Loss of roots and lack of tradition neuroticize the masses and prepare them for collective hysteria. Collective hysteria calls for collective therapy, which consists in abolition of liberty and terrorization. Where rationalistic materialism holds sway, states tend to develop less into prisons than into lunatic asylums.” – Carl Jung, CW 9ii, Para 282

But in pointing this out, as both Jung and Peter do, they are going to upset the status quo.  

Few come to understanding Jung as a Gnostic; Peter Kingsley, Stephan Hoeller, Marie-Louise von Franz, Barbra Hannah, and Edward  Edinger all do a great job of explaining this very complicated/ambiguous/multifaceted man as best they can. 

Reading Jung’s books directly, though hard (a single page can take days to unpack) is the best way to get a glimpse into his internal world. And to the few of us that are trying to find the path to (and through) Individuation, Active Imagination, and ultimately the Red Road, away from the Black Road we are on as a culture, these books from others attempting the same task are a great help.

Meditation/Incubation, and having direct experiences of the collective unconscious are also great guides (though dangerous). But once these experiences and synchronicities start, it is nigh impossible to ignore their screams of yearning to be heard. 

The zeitgeist is such, however, that spiritual materialism, and inflation are an ever present danger.  Being conscious, aware, and getting in contact with the daimon in every one of us is imperative if we are to succeed.

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