Category: Psychology

Romancing the Shadow by Dr. Connie Zweig

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Dr. Connie Zweig is a retired Jungian-oriented psychotherapist, author, and climate activist. Her professional work has focused on helping people meet, accept, and integrate their “shadows” — the parts of ourselves that we don’t want to look at. She holds a doctorate in Depth Psychology and has led seminars nationwide on meditation, spirituality, religious disillusionment and “shadow work.” She is co-author of Meeting the Shadow and Romancing the Shadow, and author of To Be A Woman, Meeting the Shadow of Spirituality, and the novel A Moth to the Flame: The Life Story of Sufi Poet Rumi. 

Romancing the Shadow by Dr. Connie Zweig

In this book, “Romancing the Shadow: A Guide to Soul Work for a Vital, Authentic Life”, she elucidates the Shadow in a straightforward language.  I personally found this book very helpful and reading it increased my intention to observe myself, my emotions, my actions, and reactions more closely on a daily basis.

Zweig and her co-author Wolf examine the Shadow, probably the least understood aspect of our psyche. The Shadow contains irrational desires and impulses, forbidden feelings based on our conditioning, and even unchanneled creative urges. Rather than repress and vilify the Shadow, the authors encourage us to embrace the Shadow as a mystery that can illuminate the hidden aspects of the self. By bringing forth those hidden aspects and continuously making a conscious relationship with the elusive unconscious we learn how to personify these aspects of ourselves into specific, concrete figures that we can see, hear, and feel within us. In that way, it becomes much easier to make the unconscious conscious — to bring them into awareness, recognize them when they erupt, and make a conscious relationship to them, so that they lose their grip over us.

It is not an easy read and it takes time to get through it. I personally appreciated that this book is filled with explanatory examples from mythology and interesting cases from the author’s therapeutic practices. In addition, the authors explore the manifestation of Shadow in all areas of life – work, family, friendship, love and even mid-life concerns. 

They dedicate some time to the “Third Body”, which the authors interpret as “The Soul of a Relationship”. When we fall in love, we present ourselves as certain personas but the Shadow of each partner remains hidden. The authors provide specific examples in this book, explaining that couples who seem compatible may disguise conflicting values, their refined lifestyle may cover up financial problems, their “holy” behavior might hide Shadows that act out in sexual affair and so on. Or partners don’t think they can be vulnerable or angry, in other words, they are never ever authentic. But every relationship has a chance, if the couple stops “shadowboxing” – projecting of repressed anger -, and begins to “shadow-dance” with the loved one, whereby the authenticity between the partners deepens which leads to the presence of a “Third Body”. This is a new entity that is greater than the two separate individuals and if nurtured their love grows.

The importance of shadow work is also addressed in my article about depth psychology on this website.

Posted in: Psychology, Spiritual-Development , Tagged: , ,

The Tarot Handbook: Practical Applications of Ancient Visual Symbols

  • footnotes:

Angeles Arrien, Ph.D. (1940 – April 24, 2014) was a Basque-American cultural anthropologist, award-winning author, educator, and consultant to many organizations and businesses. She lectures and conducts workshops worldwide, bridging cultural anthropology, psychology, and comparative religions. Her work is used in medical, academic, and corporate environments. She was the President of the Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education and Research. Her books have been translated into thirteen languages and she has received three honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of her work.

Angeles’ books include The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior; Teacher, Healer and Visionary; Signs of Life: The Five Universal Shapes and How to Use The; and The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom and Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life.

I have several books about Tarot and have been using Tarot cards for years. According to Paul Foster Case, Tarot is a pictorial textbook of Ageless Wisdom, from whose pages have been drawn the inspiration for some of the most important works on occult science that have been published during the last one-hundred years. Its influence upon the mind of a few enlightened thinkers may be traced throughout the history of the modern revival of interest in esoteric philosophy.

In The Tarot Handbook Angeles Arrien takes Tarot beyond the limits of the fortune-telling realm. She shows us how this time-honored application is both a visual and symbolic map of consciousness, and a source of ancient wisdom.

I started out with the Osho Zen deck and book and have several other decks I have used over the years. When you get this handbook, I highly recommend to get the Thoth Deck. This book can be used by beginners as well as ardent students of the Tarot. It contains a multitude of charts, spreads, illustrations of the Thoth Deck, and other methodology tools for anyone looking for insights into personal and spiritual development.

In the introduction Angeles Arrien explains that the Tarot is a symbolic map of consciousness and an ancient book of wisdom that revels to us visually and symbolically the creative ideas and states of consciousness that appear in multiple existence in all cultures. The author demonstrates how the seventy-eight figures of the tarot are portraits and archetypes that are prevalent in the collective human experience. In addition, she teaches us to use this realization to look beyond our cultural viewpoint or bias when we approach the tarot, and to rely instead on these more important universal principles, thereby deepening the quality and accuracy of our interpretations and expanding our awareness of the human psyche.

In this book you will find a
general history and use of Tarot, followed by the Major Arcana section, which
explores in depth the major universal principles or archetypes that all
humankind experiences at different times in life. The next section deals with
the levels of mastery that we achieve in life and are symbolized by the Royalty
cards. Following that, you find the Ace through Ten of each suit, the

Minor Arcana, which function
as mirrors of our challenges and inherent talents: mentally, emotionally,
physically, and spiritually. In addition, the author provides information about
the life-time symbols that come from our birthday. Life-time symbols are both
our Personality Symbol and our Soul symbol. They both represent our inherent
potential and purpose in this lifetime.

I also appreciate the appendixes
at the end of the book – a symbols glossary and the summary of all cards.

The author recommends when using the Thoth Deck to pay attention to the symbols on the cards. The provide creative ideas that can help to unlock hitherto unintelligible connections of facts. Those will enable us to penetrate deeper into the mystery of life.

Even though I trust my own judgment and intuition first when reading cards, I do often look what the book says. Since I am interested in astrology, I love the connection between the astrological signs and planets and the cards.

Posted in: Metaphysics, Psychology, Spiritual-Development , Tagged: , ,

The Essential Edgar Cayce: His Philosophy

There are many books out there about Edgar Cayce as well as books that summarize his readings about specific topics. One example is There is a River: The Story of Edgar Cayce by Thomas Surgrue.  Thomas Surgrue received first a “life reading” from Cayce and later medical readings for his debilitating arthritis. From 1939 until 1941, the ailing Sugrue lived with the Cayce family in Virginia Beach, and completed this biography while convalescing. It is the sole biography written of Cayce during his lifetime.

Another Examples is Edgar Cayce: An American Prophet by Sydney D. Kirkpatrick.  Kirkpatrick offers the reader in this biography a different perspective on his life and legacy. It is easy to read and has fascinating details about Cayce’s private life and work as a psychic and the author had unrestricted access to all of Cayce’s letters and papers. Examples for books covering a specific topic is Edgar Cayce’s Atlantis  by Gregory and Laura Little and John Van Auken. There are also books containing the readings pertaining to a specific topic such as Reincarnation & Karma (summarized on this website) or Edgar Cayce on Atlatnis  I decided to write more about the book The Essential Edgar Cayce by Mark Thurston because the author beautifully summarizes the most important philosophical points from Cayce’s readings.

The Essence of the Cayce Philosophy is: 

1) Everything is connected – all is one

Once we perceive this unity it is our challenge to apply this understanding as practical mystics.

2) Life is purposeful

Each of us is born with a personal mission, a “soul-purpose”. There is an aspect of service to soul-purpose.

3) Approach life as an adventure

Life is meant to be a playful search for the truth; it is research in the broadest sense of the word.

4) Be noncompetitive: show compassion

Nothing takes us away quicker from the sense of oneness, and therefore from our own soul-purpose, than the drive for competitiveness. Compassion is the capacity to be present for another person and experience how we are all really the same. It is a matter of feeling with another person, not taking responsibility for that person but being responsible and responsive to that person.

5) Take responsibility for yourself

Help is available but no one else can fix things for us. Ultimately each soul is accountable for itself. The principle of self-responsibility is a cornerstone of Edgar Cayce recommendations.

6) Look ahead rather the back

The present and the future cannot be understood outside the context of the past but in essence he was saying to always look ahead and never back and understand that you are going to come back again. We should make choices that will help create the best possible results in the next lifetime.

7) Changing anything starts with an ideal

Motives, purposes, and ideals are the center of Cayce’s psychology. If we want to change anything in life we have to start at the motivational level.

8) All time is one time

Sometimes we get hints about the deeper mysteries of time (e.g. a precognitive dream). If we pay close attention to our inner lives, we might find clues that time is more complex than we think.

9) Success cannot be measured by material standards

Measuring success, especially in terms of one’s soul, is elusive because we cannot use the same standards for measuring the internal and external life.

10) Courage is essential to any spiritual growth

High aspirations and ideals are not enough, we have to do something with them.

11) Evil is real and comes in many forms

  • A lack of awareness – a deficit in conscious awareness
  • Extremism – we need to watch for our own tendency to go to extremes
  • Aggression and invasion – all human relations have the potential for these forms of evil
  • Transformation – stay engaged with anything ungodly and keep working to transform it
  • Rebellion and willfulness – we choose every day how to respond to evil; the focus is on our behavior – are we going against the impulse to bring the spirit into the material world.

12) Learn to stand up for yourself; learn to say no when it is needed

It is similar to self-assertion and setting boundaries.

Cayce was a significant pioneer in many disciplines that have gained widespread acceptance since his death:

The value of dreams as a tool for self-understanding and[tooltip title=”” content=”See also Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Jung under Psychology” type=”classic” ] guidance[/tooltip]. He saw dreams as a safe and reliable work to explore one’s own soul.

The importance of[tooltip title=”” content=”See also The Bhagavad Gita under Religion” type=”classic” ] meditation[/tooltip]  as a spiritual discipline. He evolved an approach that was easy to apply to the Judeo-Christian world.

A perspective on[tooltip title=”” content=”See also Theosophy under Philosophy” type=”classic” ] reincarnation, karma, [/tooltip] and grace that is potentially acceptable to the Judeo-Christian world. He presents reincarnation as an inescapable reality of how the universe operates. Karma can be softened by the influences of grace available to all souls.

An approach to[tooltip title=”” content=”See also Why Astrology can Help Us under Science” type=”classic” ] astrology[/tooltip] that recognizes past lives and the influence of the planets, especially with regard to helping people find a sense of purpose in life. He used the influence of the planets as a way of describing innate temperament and its impact upon the personality and aptitude.

According to Cayce’s readings we live in an orderly universe that is governed by universal laws. Humanity has a purposeful place in this universe, and there is a plan for us as souls: to bring the qualities of spiritual life into the material world consciously. That plan requires that we make proper use of two great gifts that God has given each of us: a creative mind and a free will. He also emphasized the importance of staying healthy and that we take responsibility for our own lives

Posted in: Metaphysics, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Science, Spiritual-Development , Tagged: ,

The Undiscovered Self by C.G. Jung

Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of the school of analytical psychology. He proposed and developed the concepts of the extroverted and introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious.

The issues that he dealt with arose from his personal experiences. At the age of twelve he lost consciousness when he was pushed to the ground and continued to faint anytime he was supposed to deal with school. He outgrew this eventually but understood this experience as his first encounter with neurosis. He also felt for many years as if he had two separate personalities. One introverted and other extroverted. This interplay resulted in his study of integration and wholeness. His work has been influential not only in psychology, but in religion and literature as well.

In this book Carl Jung pleads passionately for individual integrity and for freedom against intrusion upon it by mechanical forces and political majorities. He asks for an awareness of the uniqueness of the individual that can be understood neither by generalizations nor by statistics. He argues that civilization’s future depends on our ability as individuals to resist the collective forces of society. Only by gaining an awareness and understanding of one’s unconscious mind and true, inner nature – “the undiscovered self” – can we as individuals acquire the self-knowledge that is antithetical to ideological fanaticism. But this requires that we face our fear of the duality of the human psyche – the existence of good and the capacity for evil in every individual.

Even though Jung is a psychologist I decided to place this book under philosophy because Jung shares in these seven chapters his philosophical view about the dilemma of the individual in modern society.

Jung starts by addressing the plight of the individual in chapter one. He explains that most people confuse “self-knowledge” with knowledge of their conscious ego personalities, but that the ego knows only its own contents not the unconscious and it contents, the real psychic facts that are for the most part hidden from them. That causes problems because we are defenselessly open to all kinds of influences.

In Jung’s opinion there can be no self-knowledge based on theoretical assumptions, for the object of self-knowledge is an individual – a relative exception and an irregular phenomenon. If we want to understand an individual human being, we must lay aside all scientific knowledge and discard all theories and understand him as a human being because the individual is the true and authentic carrier of reality, the concrete man as opposed to the unreal ideal to whom the scientific statements refer. He warns of the psychological effects of the statistical world picture because it displaces the individual in favor of anonymous units that pile up to mass information.

Instead of moral and mental differentiation of the individual, you have public welfare and the raising of the living standard. The goal and meaning of individual life, which is the only real life, no longer lie in individual development but in the policy of the State.

The individual is increasingly deprived of the moral decision as to how he should live his own life, and instead is ruled, fed, clothed and educated as a social unit, accommodated in the appropriate housing unit, and amused in accordance with the standards that give pleasure and satisfaction to the masses. Under these standards it is small wonder that individual judgment grows increasingly uncertain of itself and that responsibility is collectivized as much as possible.

This is also addressed by the German psychologist Hermann Meyer in “Laws of Destiny“.

He addresses the issue of religion in the next two chapters and predicts – correctly – that Communism will collapse from within. He points out that the West has considerable industrial power and defense potential, but that the biggest guns and the heaviest industry with its relatively high living standard are not enough to check the psychic infection spread by religious fanaticism.  

The Churches stand in Jung’s opinion for traditional and collective convictions, which are no longer based on inner experiences but on unreflecting belief, which can disappear with time and under certain circumstances. Therefore belief is no adequate substitute for inner experience.

He ends chapter 3 with the conclusion, that common to the materialistic and the collectivist system is, that both lack the very thing that expresses and grips the whole man, namely, an idea which puts the individual human being in the center as the measure of all things. That is because both systems are comprised of hierarchical structures where the individual counts for nothing. Indeed, the self-knowledge or individualization that would produce true men and women capable of standing up to the hierarchy is actively discouraged.

In chapter four he explains that there would be no world without consciousness because the world exists as such only in so far as it is consciously reflected and consciously expressed by a psyche. Thus the psyche is endowed with the dignity of a cosmic principle, which philosophically and in fact gives it a position coequal with the principle of physical being. The carrier of this consciousness is the individual, who does not produce the psyche on his own volition but is preformed by it and nourished by the gradual awakening of consciousness. He reiterates that the individual psyche is always an exception to the statistical rule.

Jung points out that the psychic situation of the individual is menaced by advertisement, propaganda and other influences; and that for the individual it is often difficult to act on his own insight instead of simply copying convention that agrees with the collective opinion. 

He explains that people go on blithely organizing and believing in the sovereign remedy of mass action, without the least consciousness of the fact that the most powerful organizations can be maintained only by the greatest ruthlessness of their leaders and the cheapest of slogans. In this context he reminds us that Christ never called his disciples to him at a mass meeting and that Jesus and Paul are prototypes of those, who trusting their inner experience, have gone their own individual ways, disregarding public opinion.  The infantile dream state of the mass is so unrealistic that people never think to ask who is paying for everything.  The balancing of accounts is left to a higher political and social authority, which welcomes the task, for its power is thereby increased.

At the same token Jung warns that only the man who is as well organized in his individuality as the mass itself can affect resistance to the organized mass.

He further points out that it is not Christianity, but our conception and interpretation of it, that has become antiquated in the face of the present world situation.

In chapter five he addresses the rupture between faith and knowledge and explains that it is a symptom of the split consciousness, which is so characteristic of the mental disorder of our day. It is as if two persons were making statements about the same thing, each from his own point of view, or as if one person in two different frames of mind were sketching a picture of his experience. If for “person” we substitute “modern society”, it is evident that the latter is suffering from a mental dissociation, e.g. a neurotic disturbance. In view of this, it does not help matter at all if one party pulls obstinately to the right and the other to the left.  A relationship with both sides has to be established instead.

In this chapter he also addresses the specific achievement of the Christian epoch: the supremacy of the word, of the Logos, which stands for the central figure of our Christian faith. No one seems to notice the veneration of the word has a perilous shadow side. The moment the word, as a result of centuries of education, attains universal validity; it severs its original link with the divine person. Thus the word, originally announcing the unity of all men and their union in the figure of the one great Man, has in our day become the source of suspicion and distrust of all against all. In this context he also points out that people think they have only to “tell” a person that he “ought” to do something in order to put him on the right track. But whether he can or will do it is another matter.

Separation from his instinctual nature inevitably plunges civilized man into the conflict between conscious and unconscious, spirit and nature, knowledge and faith, a split that becomes pathological the moment his consciousness is no longer able to neglect or suppress his instinctual side. The forlornness of consciousness in our world is due primarily to the loss of instinct, and the reason for this lies in the development of the human mind over the past aeon. The more power man had over nature, the more his knowledge and skill went to his head,  the deeper became his contempt for the merely natural and accidental.

He starts chapter six about self-knowledge by stating that in order to answer the question if we have an immediate relation to God which will keep us from dissolving into the crowd we have to fulfill the demands of rigorous self-examination and [tooltip title=”” content=”Compare with To Know Yourself under Spiritual Development” type=”classic” ]self-knowledge[/tooltip]. This theme is also addressed by Eastern yogis, for example by Swami Satchidananda in “To Know Yourself“.

Jung reminds us of all the atrocities that have happened over the last decades and explains that men don’t deny that terrible things have happened and still go on happening, but it is always “the others” who do them.  But none of us stand outside humanity’s black collective shadow and we have to possess some “imagination in evil”, for only the fool can permanently neglect the conditions of his own nature and that this negligence is the best means of making us an instrument of evil. What is even worse, our lack of insight deprives us of the capacity to deal with evil. In Jung’s opinion people are largely unconscious of the fact that every individual is a cell in the structure of various international organisms and is therefore causally implicated in their conflicts.

In the last chapter Jung explains that the very fact that through self-knowledge, i.e. by exploring our own souls, we come upon the instincts and their world of imagery should throw some light on the powers slumbering in the psyche, of which we are seldom aware so long as all goes well. He tells us that the spiritual transformation of mankind follows the slow tread of the centuries and cannot be hurried or held up by any rational process of reflection, let alone brought to fruition by one generation.

What does lie in our reach, however, is the change in individuals who have, or create an opportunity to influence others of like mind in their circle of acquaintance. Jung does not meant by persuading or preaching –he is thinking of the well-known fact that anyone who has insight into his own action, and has thus found access to the unconscious, involuntarily exercises an influence on this environment.

He concludes with stating that happiness and contentment, equability of soul and meaningful of life – these can be experienced only by the individual and not by a State.

 

  • It is not that present-day man is capable of greater evil than the man of antiquity or the primitive. He merely has incomparably more effective means with which to realize his proclivity to evil. As his consciousness has broadened and differentiated, so his moral nature has lagged behind. That is the great problem before us today.

    Carl Jung in The Undiscovered Self

Posted in: Philosophy, Psychology , Tagged: ,

Depth Psychology: Illuminating Unconscious Thought

Depth Psychology refers to therapy approaches exploring the unconscious, and trans-personal aspects of human experience. “Depth” refers to what’s below the surface of psychic manifestations. These are behaviors, conflicts, relationships, family dynamics, dreams, and even social and political events.
During depth psychology, a therapist works with clients to reveal the source of their issues. Thus, they don’t focus on the symptoms associated with it. A depth approach may include therapeutic traditions that explore the unconscious. It further involves the study and exploration of dreams, complexes, and archetypes.

Depth Psychology is based on the theories of Carl Gustav Jung, a (1875-1961), a Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist. Jung is one of the forefathers of depth psychology next to Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. All three of them called attention to the importance of what lies below the surface of conscious awareness.

Approaches based on depth psychology focus on the psyche, human development, personality formation, and individuation.  Individuation is a process of bringing our unconscious potential into a concrete living reality.  This process helps to secure a bridge between an individual and the unconscious.  By incorporating both an inner and outer exploration, one discovers a more potent sense of meaning and purpose in life.

In my research I found several articles by Dr. David Johnston, that are relevant for this website. Dr. Johnston is a psychologist who has many years of personal experience with Jungian depth psychology. He has further knowledge that aids in interpreting and understanding the unconscious. He mentions two of the books I have summarized, Jean Gebser’s Ever Present Origin and Jung’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

In his article Meaning and Jungian Depth he discusses the nature of a meaningful life from the point of view of Jungian depth psychology. He writes that according to Jung a life is meaningful if consciousness is increased. Dr. Johnston continues to describe a life where consciousness is increased:  “Where work and relational goals are transcended, becoming increasingly reflective of an inner need for more consciousness and, potentially, a vocation or meaningful expression of being.”

He explains that the “Self, that is the God or Godhead” is a “complex of opposites, including what we experience as good and evil”.  A person with a meaningful life is related to the Self and integrates into consciousness experiences of the opposites.  The process of individuation involves integrating new aspects of the unconscious into awareness and one’s activities in life. This helps developing one’s character and discovering one’s inner essence.

Dr. Johnston provides in this article examples of how people have been able to enhance the meaning of their lives with the help of depth psychology. With this approach they recognized certain aspects of themselves. Consequently, the made the necessary changes. The author emphasizes that in all cases the individuals concerned had “something of a genuine religious and ethical attitude to life, which is of fundamental importance to leading a meaningful existence.”

He adds that even if one’s life is deeply meaningful, it does not mean that there is no suffering.  There are times when life seems random and senseless but by intuitively understanding “that life will once again make sense, that darkness will give way to light and that meaninglessness will prove to be contained in a greater meaning.”

In his article Jung, the Self and the Jungian Depth Psychological Worldview he elaborates further on the process of individuation and points out that “this process involves not only the transformation of individuals but also of the community” which implies the need of “a creative engagement of the individual in the life of the community.”

He also addresses the individuation process at the beginning of another one of his articles,  Individuation and the Individuation Process, and interprets individuation simply as the “developmental unfolding of the psyche over the course of a lifetime.”  He discusses in more detail how this process involves becoming more conscious of disparate aspects of one’s being including shadow qualities. In addition, we have to become more aware of the four functions of consciousness, thinking, feeling, intuition and sensation, along with the two attitudes, extroversion and introversion. He deduces that this process will consequently lead “to a relative degree of wholeness, at which time the Self, that is to say one’s inner center of being, begins to direct one’s life. “

I found even more overlap with my research in his article Jung in Contemporary Context.  At the beginning he points out that we live in an “Age of Confusion” and refers to Hindu mythology and specifically the Bhagavad Gita which explain that the reason we are living in such confusing times is that people are no longer living according to eternal laws and therefore the Divine/God is preparing the way for a new age.

Dr. Johnston explains that in mystical literature and Hindu thought, the transcendent Self is considered to be “Brahman or God” but that Jung hesitated to make such metaphysical assertions and stayed with empirical experience.  Rather “than insisting that these experiences of the transcendent Self are experiences of God, he referred to them as archetypal experiences of the God-image.  Jung preferred to call it the God-image for the sake of a scientific attitude.”

In the same article Dr. Johnston writes that we are in the early stages of a major transformation in consciousness and culture.  Jung once stated, that there is a transformation of the principalities and powers taking place.  In other words, “a transformation of the archetypes, of the basic underlying patterns of life, and the way that we understand and relate to life and the world.” He continues to write: “The old ways are being transformed or destroyed, so the new can live”.  He states his belief that a more divinely oriented world is “already there in its early stages of manifestation”.

In the conclusion of this article he writes that “a New World is laboring to become manifest”.  He is of the opinion that “understanding Jungian psychology can be very helpful in gaining self-knowledge and consciousness and in encouraging fulfillment of one’s unique destiny.” He adds: “There is the need to assimilate qualities of the chtonic spirit, which allows for the instinctive expression of the Divine Will in life and the potential to participate consciously in the New World.”

Websites I have used for this article are:

http://www.goodtherapy.org/Jungian_Psychotherapy.html#Depth%20Psychology

http://home.arcor.de/g.mackenthun/lect/keywords/key11.htm

http://www.pacifica.edu/whatisdepth.aspx

http://www.terrapsych.com/depth.html

http://www.cgjungcenter.org/?page_id=97

http://www3.telus.net/gusbear4/articles.shtm

Posted in: Psychology , Tagged: , , ,

Bibliography

Below is a summary of the book titles I have addressed on this webpage.  If there is an asterisk next to the book you can find a separate document about it on this site.

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle *)

The author shows in this book how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world.

At the Feet of the Master by Jiddu Krishnamurti (free online)

While under the guidance of the Theosophical Society, Krishnamurti (using the pen name of Alcyone) wrote the book “At The Feet of the Master”. It is a beautiful little book that contains principles of living that can be applied by anyone.

Bhagavad Gita: The Song of God by Swami Praphavananda, C. Isherwood and A. Huxley *)

The Bhagavad-Gita is part of the vast Hindu Epic, the Mahabarat. Its simple, vivid message is a daily inspiration in the lives of millions throughout the world. This edition is a distinguished translation that can be read by every person as a living contemporary message that touches the most urgent personal and social problems.

Biocosm: The New Scientific Theory of Evolution: Intelligent Life is the Architect of the Universe by James A. Gardener

This carefully reasoned book proposes that life and intelligence have not emerged as a series of random accidents, as Darwinists like Stephen Jay Gould have maintained, but are hardwired into the cycle of cosmic creation, evolution, death, and rebirth.

Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow by Elizabeth Lesser *)

The author blends in this book moving stories, humorous insights, practical guidance, and personal experiences and offers tools to help us make the choice we all face in times of challenge: Will we be broken down and defeated, or broken open and transformed?

Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani *)

In this memoir the author relates how, after fighting cancer for almost four years, her body—overwhelmed by the malignant cells spreading throughout her system—began shutting down. As her organs failed, she entered into an extraordinary near-death experience where she realized her inherent worth and the actual cause of her disease. Upon regaining consciousness, she found that her condition had improved so rapidly that she was able to be released from the hospital within weeks without a trace of cancer in her body!

Evolutionaries: Unlocking the Spiritual and Conscious by Carter Phibbs

Blending cutting-edge ideas with incisive spiritual insights, this book is the first popular presentation of an emerging school of thought called “evolutionary spirituality.” The author, the former executive editor of EnlightenNext magazine, asserts that evolution is not only a scientific but also a spiritual idea in a book whose message has the power to bring new meaning and purpose to life as we know it.

Four Chapters on Freedom: Commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Satyananda Saraswati

This book contains  the full Sanskrit text of Patanjali’s Yoga sutras as well as transliteration, translation and an extensive commentary. The Yoga Sutras,containing 196 epithets or threads of Yoga, is the most respected treatise on Yoga.

From the Outer Court to the Inner Sanctum by Annie Besant

This book is about our pilgrimage from the beginning to the conclusion of our evolution.

Heal Thyself  by Dr. Edward Bach *)

In this book, Dr. Edward Bach, creator of the Bach Flower remedies (which can be purchased at most Whole Foods), looks at the nature and treatment of disease, as well as the vital principles that influence advanced members of the medical profession. You can download the author’s books for free from the Bach Centre.

Hidden Language Codes by R. Neville Johnston *)

This book is about thought. Where we go in life is diretly related to our mastery and command of our thoughts and our language. In evolving, we naturally change the way we think. A method of accelerating this process is to change the very words we think.

How to Know Higher Worlds by Rudolf Seiner *) (free online)

The author offers with this book is a pathway to any person interested in personal growth and the higher reaches of the mind. He explains the reasons why we should walk the spiritual path to self-realization, talks about karma, higher beings, higher worlds, reincarnation and initiation based on his own experiences.

Human Technology by Ilchi Lee *)

The author offers you in this book his essential teachings distilled from a lifetime of study. He presents a toolkit for self-reliance management of the core issues of life: health, sexuality, and life purpose. Meditation, breath-work, and Oriental healing arts are offered as self-reliant health management skills.

Initation by Annie Besant (free online) *)

The authors explains in this book that there is a Path, which leads to what is known as “Initiation” and through Initiation to the Perfecting of Man; a Path, which is recognized in all great religions.

Initiation by Elisabeth Haich (free online) *)

Written at the request of her advanced students, this book is an illuminating autobiography that connects the twentieth century European life of the author and her lucid memories of initiation into the hidden mystical teachings of the priesthood in ancient Egypt. A compelling story within a story emerges detailing the life experiences that catalysed her spiritual path. Elisabeth Haich reveals her in-depth insights into the subtle workings of karma, reincarnation, the interconnectedness of individual daily life choices and spiritual development.Elisabeth Haich shares usually hidden truths that only a few rare individuals in any generation, seek, find and communicate to others, enabling the reader to awaken within the essential understanding necessary to enlighten any life no matter what events manifest.

Introduction to Astro-Psychology by Glenn Perry *)

The book represents a psychologically sophisticated astrology that goes beyond the usual approaches to the subject. All the parts are there—signs, planets, houses, aspects—but they are integrated with the latest developments in personality research and psychotherapy.

Journey of Souls by Dr. Michael Newton *)

In this book readers can learn the latest details and most recent groundbreaking discoveries that reveal, for the first time, the mystery of life in the spirit world after death on Earth—proof that our consciousness survives. Using a special hypnosis technique to reach the hidden memories of subjects, Dr. Newton discovered some amazing insights into what happens to us between lives.

Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children’s Memories of Previous Lives by Dr. Jim Tucker *)

In this book the author offers the most convincing scientific evidence for the fact that our consciousness survives physical death.  And indeed, takes quantum leaps of creativity in the form of reincarnation.  The model that Dr. Tucker presents opens a new vision of who we are, limitless beings that fill up all of space and time.

Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl Jung *)

In the spring of 1957, when he was eighty-one years old, C. G. Jung undertook the telling of his life story. At regular intervals he had conversations with his colleague and friend Aniela Jaffé, and collaborated with her in the preparation of the book based on these talks.

Power vs Force by David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D

The author details how anyone may resolve the most crucial of all human dilemmas: how to instantly determine the truth or falsehood of any statement or supposed fact. Dr. Hawkins, who worked as a “healing psychiatrist” during his long and distinguished career, uses theoretical concepts from particle physics, nonlinear dynamics, and chaos theory to support his study of human behavior.

Promised by Heaven by Dr. Mary Helen Hensley *)

A moving and inspirational memoir of love, loss, and renewal, Promised by Heaven tells the amazing story of how one woman’s near-death experience and glimpse of heaven led her to discover her gifts of healing and share them with the world.

Proof of Heaven by Dr. Eben Alexander *)

Dr. Alexander’s neuroscience career taught him that near-death experiences are brain-based illusions, and yet his personal experience led him to a different conclusion. When his own brain was attacked by a rare illness, the part of the brain that controls thought and emotion, shut down completely and  for seven days he was in a coma. During that time Alexander journeyed beyond this world and encountered an angelic being who guided him into the deepest realms of super-physical existence.

Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness by B. Rosenblum and F. Kuttner *)

In trying to understand the atom, physicists built quantum mechanics, the most successful theory in science and the basis of one-third of our economy. They found, to their embarrassment, that with their theory, physics encounters consciousness. Authors Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner explain all this in non-technical terms with help from some fanciful stories and anecdotes about the theory’s developers. They present the quantum mystery honestly, emphasizing what is and what is not speculation.

Reincarnation & Karma by Edgar Cayce *)

Edgar Cayce’s ability to read the Akashic Record, the Book of Life, provides us with some of the best insights into reincarnation and karma. This book contains Cayce’s among other things teachings on how and why the soul reincarnates, how a soul’s actions and thoughts are recorded and how to break free of the wheel of karma.

Reincarnation: The Missing Link to Christianity by Elizabeth Clare Prophet and Erin Prophet *)

The authors trace the history of reincarnation in Christianity―from Jesus and the early Christians through Church councils and the persecution of so-called heretics. 31 illustrations, 4 maps.

Self Healing, Yoga and Destiny by Elisabeth Haich *)

This book explains the attitudes necessary for the path back to one’s self. Based on many years personal experience, the author creates an understanding of how to realise the essential source of life and shares her personal views on love , accidents, suffering, destiny, illness, self-healing and transformation.

Structures of Consciousness – The Genius of Jean Gebser by Feorg Feuerstein

Georg Feuerstein’s work is an indispensable primer to Gebser. Gebser’s seminal work, “The Ever-Present Origin”, is a daunting work, but for those who do not have the time or patience to work through it, Feuerstein gives a terrific overview of the basic framework of his thoughts and concepts.

The Eagle and The Rose: A Remarkable True Story by Rosemary Altea

In this book the autor tells the readers how she contacts the spirit world, predicts future events, ans performs “spirit rescues” for those unable to continue their journey. The essence of her message is that there is life after death, and that we are all spiritual beings who come to earth to learn.

The Essential Edgar Cayce by Edgar Cayce and Mark Thurston *)

A complete guide to the work of the remarkable twentieth-century seer Edgar Cayce, featuring Cayce’s most intriguing and influential readings, and a biographical introduction to his life.

The Ever-Present Origin by Jean Gebser *)

The Ever-Present Origin is a translation of “Ursprung und Gegenwart”, a book which was published in German in two parts around 1949 and 1953. The central contribution of this book is Gebser’s analysis of the history of culture in terms of the predominance of different modes of consciousness. Gebser details five structures of consciousness: the archaic, the magical, the mythical, the mental, and the integral (or aperspectival).

The Five Seasons by Joseph Cardillo *)

The Five Seasons is a simple yet effective code for optimizing the way you live. Based on the five universal seasons from traditional Chinese medicine as well as on Western psychology, this book will teach you how to use the rising and falling energies of nature’s seasons to train your mind and body to feel relaxed, energized, and content…all year long. The formula is simple: change the way you process nature’s energies and you will change your life.

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz *)

In this book the author reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.

The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels *)

In this book the author suggests that Christianity could have developed quite differently if Gnostic texts had become part of the Christian canon. Without a doubt: Gnosticism celebrates God as both Mother and Father, shows a very human Jesus’s relationship to Mary Magdalene, suggests the Resurrection is better understood symbolically, and speaks to self-knowledge as the route to union with God. Pagels argues that Christian orthodoxy grew out of the political considerations of the day, serving to legitimize and consolidate early church leadership.

The Golden Present by Swami Satchidananda *)

This book of daily inspirational selections invites the reader to begin each day on a positive note. In a convenient and popular format, it effectively imparts Sri Swami Satchidananda’s key teachings on the spiritual life, emphasizing how to serve others and realize peace, truth and union with the Divine. Culled from 25 years of lectures to spiritual seekers in the West and the East, its teachings clearly reflect Sri Swamiji’s humor, warmth and practicality–and convey the authority of one who speaks from his own experience.

The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey of Your True Calling by Stephen Cope *)

The director of the Institute for Extraordinary Living at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health inquires into the dharma–vocation or calling–of a selection of both illustrious and ordinary individuals. ‘Yogis insist that every single human being has a unique vocation,’ writes Cope. Turning to the Bhagavad Gita for guidance, the author realized the difficulty in penetrating even the first piece of advice: ‘Discern, name, and then embrace your own dharma.’

The Heart of the Soul by Gary Zukav and Linda Francis *)

The authors explain the fundamental concepts on how the expansion of human perception beyond the five senses leads to a new understanding of power as the alignment of the personality with the soul — “authentic power.” They show us the importance of emotional awareness in applying these concepts to our own daily lives.

The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar

This yoga book outlines a step-by-step sequence for developing a complete practice according to viniyoga–yoga adapted to the needs of the individual. It also includes a translation of Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras.

The Language Codes by R. Neville Johnston *)

This book is built on the premise that all things exist within a Quantum Field, a field in which all things are virbrating. By altering the field and controlling the vibrations that we emit – such as when speaking – we are able to harness the power of the vibrational fields around us. Suddenly everyday speech becomes a source of magnificent power.

Theosophy: An Introductory Study Course by John Algeo (free online) *)

This study course provides an introduction to basic Theosophical concepts. Chapters include questions for group or individual study.

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

The author describes in this book his transition from despair to self-realization soon after his 29th birthday. It took him another ten years to understand this transformation, during which time he evolved a philosophy that has parallels in Buddhism, relaxation techniques, and meditation theory but is also eminently practical.

The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire by Deepak Chopra *)

This book contains a dramatic premise: Not only are everyday coincidences meaningful, they actually provide us with glimpses of the field of infinite possibilities that lies at the heart of all things. By gaining access to this wellspring of creation, we can literally rewrite our destinies in any way we wish.

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche *)

In 1927, Walter Evans-Wentz published his translation of an obscure Tibetan Nyingma text and called it the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Popular Tibetan teacher Sogyal Rinpoche has transformed that ancient text, conveying a perennial philosophy that is at once religious, scientific, and practical. Through extraordinary anecdotes and stories from religious traditions East and West, Rinpoche introduces the reader to the fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism, moving gradually to the topics of death and dying.

The Undiscovered Self by C.G. Jung *)

In this provocative book, Dr. Carl Jung-one of psychiatry’s greatest minds-argues that the future depends on our ability to resist society’s mass movements. Only by understanding our unconscious inner nature-“the undiscovered self”-can we gain the self-knowledge that is antithetical to ideological fanaticism.

The Yoga Sutras by Patañjali

There are countless translations and commentaries on the Yoga Sūtras available. In this book the Sūtras are presented with the original Sanskrit and with translation, transliteration, and commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda, one of the most respected and revered contemporary Yoga masters. Sri Swami offers practical advice, based on his own experience, for mastering the mind and achieving physical, mental, and emotional harmony.

To Know Your Self by Swami Satchidananda *)

In this compilation of teachings and stories, the author, of the world’s best know Yoga masters, offers guidance for everyday problems in family life and business, and shows us how to realize Universal Consciousness. This book outlines the path to peace of mind and a new, more spiritual way of life.

What the Buddha Taught by Prof. Walpola Rahula *)

In this book the author tries to address those readers, who would like to know what the Buddha actually taught. He aimed at giving briefly, and as directly and simply as possible, a faithful and accurate account of the actual words used by the Buddha as they are to be found in the original Pali texts of the Tipiṭaka, universally accepted by scholars as the earliest extant records of the teachings of the Buddha.

Your Soul’s Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life you Planned before You Were Born by Robert Schwartz *)

The author explores in this book the premise that we are all eternal souls who plan our lives, including our greatest challenges, before we are born for the purpose of spiritual growth. Through compelling profiles of people who knowingly planned the experiences mentioned above, Your Soul’s Plan shows that suffering is not purposeless, but rather imbued with deep meaning.

BÜCHER AUF DEUTSCH

Die eigene Identität von Herman Meyer *)

Dem Autor nach ist es möglich, durch das Finden der eigenen Identität, das vorhandene Potential zu erkennen und zu nutzen sowie die richtige Wahl der Wohnung, des Arbeitsplatzes und des Lebenspartners zu treffen. Was dann “erfolgt” ist kein Zufall mehr, sondern das Ergebnis einer selbst-bewußten Persönlichkeit.

Die Gesetze des Schicksals von Hermann Meyer *)

Was ist Schicksal, und wie kann man lernen, sich aus seinen Zwängen zu befreien? Der bekannte Partnerschafts- und Schicksalsforscher Hermann Meyer zeigt, dass Schicksal nichts Determiniertes ist, sondern von jedem selbst meist unbewusst erschaffen wird. Er  beschreibt zehn Schicksalsgesetze. Wenn wir ihren Mechanismus durchschauen, können wir Ordnung in das Chaos unserer Schicksalsereignisse bringen, die Wahl unserer moralischen Normen bewusst treffen und unsere individuellen Bedürfnisse angemessen beachten.

Posted in: Metaphysics, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Science, Spiritual-Development , Tagged: , ,

Your Own Identity by Herman Meyer

Herman Meyer (* 1947) was born in Germany.  He is a psychologist and naturopathy and focuses on alternative medicine.  He is a partnership and destiny researcher.  He founded the Institute of Psychological Astrology in Munich, Germany.

He has written many books in German, among them Your Own Identity (Die Eigene Identität), Laws of Destiny (Gesetze des Schicksals) , Liberation of Forced Destiny (Befreiung vom Schicksalszang – Astropsychotherapy), Astrology and Psychology, and Death is not a Coincidence (Der Tod ist kein Zufall).

In this book Hermann Meyer combines his profound knowledge about the relationship of human behavior with the knowledge of holistic cybernetics for success. He explains in plain language the multiple causes of success and failure in life.

Herman Meyer maintains in this book, that our identity should be taken as a guide for our own true path and that negative fate only means that we have strayed from this path. He sees fate as a blind alley, that takes us away farther and farther from our own identity, or it indicates a detour.

Almost all people are on these false starts and detours, rarely is anybody successful in recognizing their own identity and to live accordingly.

Meyer defines the criteria for Good and Bad as identical with the “learned” conscience or with the Ego. He sees the Ego as an acquired psychic authority based on childhood impressions, education, influence, and other environmental factors.

People who are good in the conventional sense determined by others and society’s rules are in reality bad to themselves (compare with Broken Open).

He claims, that the unconscious can easily make a distinction between real and unreal and he says that it is our responsibility to develop our abilities and skills.

He believes, that whoever wants to become an individual, must offend, otherwise we will remain a puppet of the norms.

Hi gives a few examples of the true nature of people: Joy in nice conversations, sumptuous food, need in mental warmth and love, safety, cuddling, own area, fun in sport, play, adventure of life, independence, creativity, research, analysis, have his/her own taste, goal and dreams.

He provides concrete example for expressions of identity:

Identity in sports

Identity in feeling

Identity in action

Identity in the creative

Identity in lifestyle

Identity in the representation of outward

Identity in relation to place of residence and neighborhood

Identity in terms of furnishing

Identity in children’s education

Identity in the diet

Identity in flavor

Identity of the erotic

Identity when choosing a partner

Identity in the form of relationship

Identity in sexuality

Identity in the sexual fantasy

Identity on the spiritual

Identity in the philosophy of life

Identity in professional

Identity in the leisure

Identity in the choice of hobbies

Identity in the choice of friends

Identity in wishes and dreams

Posted in: Psychology , Tagged:

Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl Jung

Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of the school of analytical psychology. He proposed and developed the concepts of the extroverted and introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious.

The issues that he dealt with arose from his personal experiences. For many years Jung felt as if he had two separate personalities. One introverted and other extroverted. This interplay resulted in his study of integration and wholeness. His work has been influential not only in psychology, but in religion and literature as well.

In the spring of 1957, when he was eighty-one years old, C. G. Jung undertook the telling of his life story. At regular intervals he had conversations with his colleague and friend Aniela Jaffé, and collaborated with her in the preparation of the text based on these talks. He continued to work on the final stages of the manuscript for “Memories, Dreams, Reflections” until shortly before his death.

Carl Jung sees his life as a story of the self-realization of the unconscious which he describes in this book. He starts out with “First Years” and describes his outward memories on how he became conscious of smelling, when he saw the Alps the first time, how he found pleasure in water and how he became aware of his parents’ troubled marriage. He continues with his inward memories and recalls his very first dream and describes why a number of childhood memories have made a lifelong impression on him.

He continues to describe his “School Years” including a very important event at the age of twelve which made him understand what a neurosis is.  In this chapter he also shares that he was convinced from childhood that he had two personalities — a modern Swiss citizen and a personality more at home in the eighteenth century. “Personality Number 1,” as he termed it, was a typical schoolboy living in the era of the time, while “Personality Number 2” was a dignified, authoritative and influential man from the past.  He further discusses his thoughts about God and said that it seemed to him that it is one’s duty to explore daily the will of God. He shares with the readers that in the course of his life it has often happened to him that he knew suddenly something, which he really could not know at all, and that the knowledge came to him as though it were his own idea.

In the chapter about his “Student Years” he says, “Although we human beings have our own personal life, we are yet in large measure the representatives, the victims and promoters of a collective spirit whose years are counted in centuries”.  Here he also explains how important “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” by Nietzsche and “Faust” by Goethe were for him and why. He explains when and how it became clear to him that the only possible goal to him was psychiatry and that it was his “fate” even though this area of medicine was looked down upon at that time.

In the chapter about “Psychiatric Activities” he recalls the most interesting and most important cases for him and his realization that he “could not treat latent psychoses if he did not understand their symbolism.” That was why he began to study mythology.  In addition he emphasizes that a psychotherapist has to understand himself and that a doctor will only be able to teach a patient to heal himself if he knows how to cope with himself.  He shares some of his dreams here as well.

He dedicates a whole chapter to “Sigmund Freud” and their relationship and explains in detail why he broke with him.  In the appendix some of the letters Freud wrote to Jung can be found.  In this chapter he recalls a dream that led him for the first time to the concept of the “collective unconscious”.

In the chapter “Confrontations with the Unconscious” he explains the concepts of anima and animus, as well as individuation – a psychological process of integrating the opposites including the conscious with the unconscious while still maintaining their relative autonomy, necessary for a person to become whole. In his opinion, people who have advanced towards individuation tend to be harmonious, mature and responsible. They embody humane values such as freedom and justice and have a good understanding about the workings of human nature and the universe.

In the chapter “The Work” he shares his research and findings about alchemy and his thoughts about Jesus. It is his belief that “it is God who created the world and its sins, and who therefore become Christ in order to suffer the fate of humanity.”

In the next chapters he tells the readers about the “Tower” he built and lived in, his “Travels” to the U.S., India and Africa.  For me the most important statements were “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves” (compare with Romancing the Shadow) and that “The longing for light is the longing for consciousness”.

My favorite chapter was “Visions” which starts with a description of an illness and a near death experience. He had visions after that followed by a fruitful period.  At that time he also had an affirmation of things as they are: “an unconditional acceptance of conditions of existence as I see them and understand them, acceptance of my own nature, as I happen to be.”  He also realizes “that when one follows the path of individuation, when one lives one’s own life, one must take mistakes into the bargain; life would not be complete without them”. And it was only after the illness that he understood how important it is to affirm one’s own destiny.

In the next chapter he elaborates about “Life after Death”. He sees rationalism and doctrinism as a disease of our time because they pretend to have all the answers and admits that he does not know for what reason the universe has come into being.  He points to the fact that the unconscious helps by communicating things to us and explains that he speaks of inner promptings when it comes to things after death and that he can go no further then to tell us dreams and myths that relate to this subject.  Based on dreams he understands that the souls of the dead “know” only what they knew at the moment of death, and nothing beyond that. He defines myth as the natural and indispensable intermediate stage between unconscious and conscious cognition.  He also discusses the concepts of reincarnation and karma but is not sure if karma is the outcome of past lives or maybe the achievement of ancestors. He is convinced though that it is important that we “do not stand at the end with empty hands.” He sees the purpose of human existence to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

He ends the book with “Late Thoughts” and “Retrospect” and tells us that he led his life by obeying an inner law which was imposed on him and left him no freedom of choice and that he was satisfied with the course his life has taken.

My favorite statements are from the chapter  “Late Thoughts” in which he says that the individual has need, “first and foremost of self-knowledge, that is, the utmost possible knowledge of his own wholeness.  He must know relentlessly how much good he can do, and what crimes he is capable of.” He adds “such self-knowledge is of prime importance, because through it we approach that fundamental stratum or core of human nature where the instincts dwell. Here are those pre-existent dynamic forces, which ultimately govern the ethical decisions of our consciousness” and that deepened self-knowledge requires psychology.

Posted in: Psychology , Tagged: ,

Laws of Destiny by Herman Meyer

Herman Meyer (* 1947) was born in Germany.  He is a psychologist and naturopath and focuses on alternative medicine.  He is a partnership and destiny researcher.  He founded the Institute of Psychological Astrology in Munich, Germany.

He has written many books in German, among them Your Own Identity (Die Eigene Identität), Laws of Destiny (Gesetze des Schicksals) , Liberation of Forced Destiny (Befreiung vom Schicksalszang – Astropsychotherapy), Astrology and Psychology, and Death is not a Coincidence (Der Tod ist kein Zufall).

This book is about the laws of destiny. There are many people who complain about their fate and Herman Meyer claims that they have not been condemned by a higher power to their lives, but have chosen their fate. Hermann Meyer states that there are 10 laws that determine our existence here on earth, each of which can be influenced by us. The author presents practical examples and describes negative situations and shows how these situations could have been avoided if other steps would have been taken – in other words he shows in what manner the person just brought the bad situation on himself/herself. Tables illustrate the transformation of the society from the Stone Age culture, to a possible future with concrete examples on how to improve/change things. The development of Oneself is in the foreground. Meyer explains that every person can develop his assets which would lead to more harmony among humans.

These are the main ideas explained by the author:

The unconscious remains mostly unnoticed and rarely influences our decisions. Life as a whole however can only be understood if we include the unconscious. Each of us has the task to develop specific skills such as assertiveness, setting boundaries, communication skills, technical skills, the ability to discover our own identity, independence, analytical skills, ability to develop our own life program and to implement it, and the ability to overcome traditional and established rules that are outdated.

Each skill in the patriarchic culture is divided into two poles – a negative pole and positive pole.

Negative pole: Skills in the negative pole are inhibited; Meyer characterizes people who have their skills in the negative pole as people who play the role of a child. These are people who are constantly attacked, manipulated, exploited, or need a shepherd. People like that repeatedly react to situations and follow rules. Because they react instead of acting they don’t live their own lives and other people determine how they have to live.

Plus pole: Meyer characterizes people, who have most of their skills in the plus pole as people who play the role of a parent. The skills of these people are to a certain extent also inhibited, but they compensate this inhibition by trying to embody these skills as ideal. Those people have not developed their own identity either because they try to develop those skills based on cultural norms.

Adult: Meyer calls people who develop their skills inherent to their own nature as adults. In his opinion these adults can perceive both poles and can grasp the entirety of life. Because these people have an understanding of both poles, they can broaden their perspective and develop their own identity.

He explains further that everybody’s laws of destiny are neutral and cannot be influenced unless we learn to integrate them into our lives.

He continues by going over the development cycles of humanity and pointing out that we are currently in the patriarchic (anal) phase and that this phase is coming to an end (this phase is equivalent to the mental structure of consciousness described by Gebser) . We are developing currently equal rights; women up till now have been oppressed, as well as everything feminine such as nature and wholeness, which has been leading to lifelessness (living without a soul). This can be seen in our current ideology in all areas of life – in academic medicine (the human being is not seen as a whole), in pedagogy (by demanding obedience), in religion, in agriculture (by using pesticides) and in politics (by damaging the environment).

In all areas of life everything concerning our soul, everything that’s lively and natural is devalued. In this respect illness is an attempt to compensate (compare with Heal Thyself)and depicts a recovery process. Politics preaches constant economic growth and destroys the environment, which in turn endangers our health. Patriarchs think everything is doable and they pay no attention to problems.

We have to change on an individual as well as a collective level. We should not fight and be reactive but instead create something new.

In psychology we have to understand how the soul functions and the “new” person must be concerned on a personal level with every aspect of life, among them nutrition, religion, politics, medicine, economy, ecology, and gardening.

He also addresses in this book the laws of harmony. The “new” people have to find balance between work and leisure. Health means leading a balanced life. He also points out that being good as determined by the moral people means often that one is bad towards the laws of life.

The author believes that everybody who can find his own identity will feel safe. People who are afraid to express themselves through their work will never find fulfillment in what they do.

In his opinion we live in a collective neurosis and must free ourselves from it and the patriarch system. Patriarchy in the form of divided and per-determined roles between women and men leads to developing different sets of skills. He explains that partnerships have a crisis if the original positions or roles “played” are changing. In addition, if we try to reach an “ideal” we suppress the energies of the physical, mental and spiritual plane and that makes sick and leads to addiction.

If we do not find ourselves and take advantage of the right to live our own lives, we give other people the permission to run our lives. Whoever wants to be “good” by living his live based on the rules established by others, is “bad” against himself and will be punished (compare with The Four Agreements).

Among the examples he provides are people who develop illnesses or develop a crisis because they play sports that are “in” or part of the countries culture instead of choosing sport activities that fit their personality; people who choose jobs, partners and houses for materialistic reasons; people who only buy designer clothes; people who don’t listen to their inner voice; people who pick furniture from magazines instead of developing their own taste.

Posted in: Psychology , Tagged: ,

An Introduction To Astropsychology by Glen Perry

Glenn A. Perry is a professional astrologer since 1975 and a licensed psychotherapist in private practice since 1979 . He is a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists and a board member of the International Society for Astrological Research (ISAR).

Perry is a graduate of Saybrook Institute with a doctorate in psychology/consciousness studies.

The book Introduction to Astro-Psychology represents a psychologically sophisticated astrology that goes beyond the usual approaches to the subject. All the parts are there—signs, planets, houses, aspects—but they are integrated with the latest developments in personality research and psychotherapy.

The result is an astrological model of consciousness that is solidly grounded in psychological theory. Motivation for behavior is related to the specific needs that the signs of the zodiac symbolize. A central theme of the book is that the astrological chart depicts a personal narrative or life script. Each element of the chart symbolizes both an inner and an outer reality, the interaction of which fuels the process of soul development. By using the chart to gain insight into one’s unique personal mythology, the individual is empowered to consciously participate in his or her own evolution.

The Zodiac is the foundation of the astrological language. The signs are symbols of life processes reflected in nature. Similar to Plato’s forms, Carl Jung’s concept of archetypes also applies to zodiacal signs. Archetypes are structural elements of consciousness; they are not limited to human consciousness.

Planets are described as psychological processes geared toward satisfying the needs of the signs they rule. The context, or setting, within which these processes play out are the houses.

As Jung points out, at root our consciousness is collective, at our deepest strata we are all composed of the same fundamental energies.

The first six signs are where the days are longer; they are about the individual, the emergence of the self from the whole.

The second six signs are where the nights are longer; they are about the participation toward a larger network.

These two groups are related through the interplay of complementary opposites.

He describes the four elements Fire, Earth, Air and Water and points out that they parallel Jung’s Intuition, Sensation, Thinking and Feeling. Fire gives faith in oneself, in others, and in the Universe. Earth represents our capacity to be practical, realistic, and productive. Air gives us objectivity t make distinction, separate ourselves from our experience, and make the compromise necessary to live harmoniously with others. Water is the unifying element that binds us all together on a “gut” level. It is the urge to love and the need to be loved.

After talking about the modalities (Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable) and the polarities (Yang, Yin) he points out the relation to Jung’s belief that the constant interplay and tension between opposite poles of conscious and unconscious makes for the integration of the psyche – individuation.

He explains that every individual is a replica in miniature of the entire Universe. He sees the task of evolution to integrate the parts into a balanced and functional whole, and in so doing become one with the whole.

After explaining the conjunctions in detail he describes the planetary aspects as core beliefs that relate to the individual’s convictions about the relative likelihood of meeting basic needs. In other words, they are dialogues between the different needs and drives that make up the whole of the human being.

The goal of the psyche, as symbolized in the zodiac, is the ever more effective and balanced integration of these energies into an dynamic and unified whole. In other words, the goal of the psyche is to integrate the self with others, the individual with the collective, in order to achieve psychic balance and wholeness

He also talks about Buddhism and explains in this context the Conscious as the relation between subject and object or self and not-self. The subject cannot exist without object and vice versa. The ego exists because it accepts this polarity. Buddhism holds that liberation from duality is contingent upon the ability to recognize that such opposites are ultimately a trick of the mind, a self-created illusion (maya), the reconciliation of which allows for unitive consciousness an liberation. By neutralizing opposites through awareness, the illusion of duality is extinguished and the individual attains nirvana.

Perry writes about Jung’s discovery that much of the content of individual consciousness such as dreams, fantasies, and thoughts see rooted in a collective consciousness shared by all human beings. In addition he explains Jung’s concept of synchronicity – simultaneous occurrences of a certain psychic state with one or more external events that appear as meaningful parallels to the momentary subjective state.

Perry says that as an integrated totality, the zodiac symbolizes the potential for wholeness.

An archetype can manifest externally as a character in three different ways – as a personality type, a role or an occupation.

A core principle of astrology is that character produces events consistent with itself. This is supported by Jung’s concept of synchronicity, which implies that any idea held long enough will attract whatever conditions it needs for its expression.

A planet’s sign position not only tells us how the planet is doing its thing, it also tells us what the outcome might be.

Five criteria for interpretation:

1) Psychological function of the planet

2) Motivation behind the behavior

3) The behavior itself should be described

4) A planetary affect state should be related to the domain of its sign position

5) Empirical consequences of a planet’s action

Jung’s theory about marriage as a psychological relationship emphasized how each person’s unconscious image of the opposite sex is projected onto the partner for purposes of bringing the unconscious into view. Marriage was a vehicle for healing and transformation.

The ideal of wholeness is something that one approaches gradually, possibly even over a succession of lifetimes.

While each archetype has its part to play in the life story, it is the task of every human being t integrate these parts into a unified whole. The ego initially thinks it is separate from its parts, yet it must incorporate them to become the Self – a complete, balanced integrated human being capable of expressing all the archetypes (Hero’s journey).

The Zodiac can be thought of as the archetypical structure of the psyche.

Therapeutic intervention should help the client to integrate repressed needs, develop more constructive beliefs and behave in a more positive and successful manner.

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