2010 - The Year of the Great C.G. Jung Project

From synchronicity to the vast collective unconscious, I have found myself working with symbols, dreams and the language of the spirit. Actually, it's as if the symbolic sort of grabbed me and has taken my mind captive. One day I was looking at the world one way, and the next I was seeing myths, legends and archetypes all around me. I decided I was going to try to read as many Carl Jung books as I can in 2010. The goal is to get through all the “relevant” ones and blog about how his ideas are relevant (or not ) to spiritual and psychological evolution. It’s time I read the works of the man who has had such an impact on me (even if it was unknown). Or as someone told me once, “you both came to the same place independently in different ways.” Am I the 100th monkey or has Jung's work simply become part of the collective unconscious? This year we will see where Jung and I come together and where we fall apart and whether all this study and reflection can lead to individuation, self-actualization or self-realization. Please join me on this journey to self-discovery.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Getting Ready for the Great Project

I've been searching the web for Jung bibliographies to assist me in selecting the books I'm going to read. I finally settled on the Wikipedia listing. It may not be comprehensive but it appears to contain the major works. I found that out of the 47 books included, I have 7 - all unread. Unfortunately, this does not include the 18 volume Collected Works of C.G. Jung, which now appears to be out of print and selling for over $1,000. Yikes! This is going to be an expensive proposition. Later, I found I can locate most of these volumes used and in paperback so that will be my strategy whenever possible.

I decided to start with the Red Book which I do have and has been calling to me for about a month now after it arrived. I'm also going to order Vol. 1 of the Collective Works. You might ask why I don't get these at the public library. However, if you saw what I do to books I am studying - the multicolor, stickies, highlighting and border notes you would understand that at least for this project, library books at not an option.

This volume (as described at Barnes & Noble) opens with Jung's desertion for the medical degree: 'On the Psychology and Pathology of So-called Occult Phenomena, ' a study that foreshadows much of his later work and as such is indispensable to all serious students of his work."

Looks like as good of a place to start as any. And we are off...2 days and counting.
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