Description
Winner of the 2022 IAJS (International Association for Jungian Studies) Book Awards
Realizing the Self is the absolute goal of Jungian psychology. Yet as a concept it is impossibly vague as it defines a center of our being that also embraces the mystery of existence. This work synthesizes the thousands of statements Jung made about the Self in order to bring it to ground, to unravel its true purpose, and to understand how it might be able to manifest.
“In The Self in Jungian Psychology – Theory and Clinical Practice, Leslie Stein circumambulates the concept of the Self from a rich and varied perspective. Usually, the descriptions of the Self are like the blind men trying to describe an elephant; but here we have the whole elephant. Ancient as time, organizing and guiding consciousness and beyond consciousness, Leslie Stein’s rendering of the Self is finely cut and masterfully polished diamond, which will be an invaluable resource to scholars and seekers alike.”
-Ashok Bedi, M.D. Psychiatrist, Jungian Analyst, author, Path to the Soul www.pathtothesoul.com
“A wonderful exploration of the Jungian symbol and processes of individual integration, which beckon from within the cracks and potentials of our personal, cultural, and natural environment to become the goal of our experiences of wholeness. An essential read.”
-Sylvia B. Perera, Jungian Analyst, New York.
“In his seminar on Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, Jung argued that ‘the real message’ of that great work of Western philosophy is that ‘the great noontide’ — the moment when the human being is ‘in the middle of the course between animal and Superman’ — is also the moment when one ‘celebrates communion […] with the self’. For a literary analogue to this psychological message, Jung turned to Dante’s Divine Comedy, noting that, ‘in the middle of their way, Dante’s adventure happens to certain people, if not consciously, at least unconsciously’; and he described this experience as the touch of the self. In this rich and fascinating study, Leslie Stein explores what one might aptly describe as a ‘signature concept’ of analytical psychology, i.e., the concept of the self, approaching it from both theoretical and clinical perspectives. His central argument can be, in fact, articulated precisely with relation to the moment when Dante, looking into the eyes of Beatrice, says, ‘One Point I saw, so radiantly bright, / so searing to the eyes it strikes upon, […] About that point, a ring of fire wheeled’. Just as, for Plotinus, ‘the center is the father of the circle’ (or, as Angelus Silesius put it, the circle is within the point), so the centre and the circle are, Stein argues, both independent yet reliant on each other structurally: or, in Jung’s terms, the self is ‘the goal of psychic development’ — and ‘there is no linear evolution, there is only a circumambulation of the self’. As wide-ranging in its references as it is persuasive in its argumentation, this book stands out for its originality, significance, and rigour, and deserves to find a wide readership.”
-Professor Paul Bishop, William Jacks Chair in Modern Languages, University of Glasgow.
“The Self, being such a central concept for Jung as he developed his analytical psychology, it is encouraging to see such an evocative, thought-provoking, scholarly and comprehensive treatment of it in The Self in Jungian Psychology. In this book, Leslie Stein does not simply give an overview of Jung’s concept of the Self but he grippingly relates it to Jung’s personal experience, as well as that of his own as a practising analyst. By augmenting this with clinical vignettes, the ‘unknowable essence’ of the Self is masterfully unpacked.”
-John Merchant PhD, Jungian Analyst, author, Shamans and Analysts: New Insights on the Wounded Healer
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Introduction
Chapter 1. Approaching the Self
How to Read Jung on the Self
Early Interest in the Self
The Significance of Opposites
Epistemological Basis for the Self
Chapter 2. Jung’s Dream of the Self
Geometry of the Dream
Finding a Center
The Surrounding Structure
The Tree and Transcendence
Chapter 3. The Center as Self
Wholeness and the Center
The Center as Healing
Extrapolating the Center
Ancient Soundings of a Center
Center Understood as Function
Chapter 4. Totality as the Self
The Scope of Totality
The 1935 Eranos Lecture
The Incorrect Translation
Influences Pointing to Totality
Fordham and Totality
Chapter 5. The Self as Psychic Object
Self as a Brain Function
Self as Entity
Self as Archetype
Stages of the Self
Chapter 6. The Self as Pattern
The Emergent Pattern
Patterning and Transcendence
Patterning and Purposefulness
Chapter 7. Activation of the Pattern
Strong Affect and Psyche
Formation of Self Symbols
Energy for Symbol Formation
Chapter 8. Symbols of the Self
Symbols of Totality
Use of Transcendent Symbols
Clinical Vignettes of Self Symbols
Chapter 9. Realizing the Self
Common Goal
Requirements of Realization
Approximating the Goal
Realization and Individuation
Measuring Realization
Degrees of Realization
Self-Observation as Realization
Totality and Realization
The Dangers of Totality
Enlightenment or Wholeness
Wholeness as the Goal
Thoughts on the Work of a Lifetime
Jung’s Formal Definition
Chapter 10. The Self as Agent
The Agency Model
The Magnet Model
Jung on the Agency Model
Configurations of the Model
Clinical Vignettes of Models of the Self
Chapter 11. The Self as Divine
Personal Image of Totality
The Self as God
Agency through God
The Atman and Totality
Advaita Vedanta
The Self, Soul, and Spirit
The Self as No-Self
Clinical Vignettes of the Self as Other
Chapter 12. The Self as Guiding Spirit
Nonpsychological Spirit
Projecting the Spirit
Language and the Guiding Spirit
Psychological Purpose of the Spirit
Inner Voice and the Self
Personification of the Guiding Spirit
Integration with the Self
Chapter 13. The Self as Process
As a Dynamic Process
Ego-Self Process
Inflation of the Ego
Ego-Self Axis of Neumann
Approaching an Empty Center
Transitions in the Process
The Highest Stage of the Process
Mystical Experience and the Process
Chapter 14. The Self and the World
Urban Life and the Self
The Self and Community
The World Self and the Natural Environment
The Self and Destruction
Chapter 15. Clinical Notes on the Self
Translating the Self
Stating the Goal
Location and Personification
Clinical Conclusion
Abbreviations
References
Index
