Jung For Beginners

Synopsis

Carl Gustav Jung merged Eastern mysticism with Western psychology, brought scientific
respectability to religion, laid the foundation for ‘the New Age,’ and is second only to Freud
in influence and importance in the world of psychoanalysis. Many consider him a genius, but may
others disagree.
Scholar and clinical psychologist Jon Platania, PhD, presents Jung as a somewhat opportunistic and dissociated character whose most famous historical events were his break with Freud and his questionable sojourn with the psychological elite of the German Third Reich. On the other side of Jung's complex genius, there is a deeply spiritual man who laid the groundwork for a more optimistic approach to our modern understanding of the human psyche in both theology and psychology. He is remembered by many as the Swiss Doctor of the Soul.
Dr. Platania then takes us on a tour of the work that made Jung one of the pillars of modern
psychology. And what a body of work it is. Jung’s open-mindedness was astonishing. Wherever
he went—Calcutta, Egypt, Palestine, Kenya—Jung learned something that expanded his views.
His open-ended psychology incorporated Yoga, meditation, prayer, alchemy, mythology,
astrology, numerology, the I Ching—even flying saucers! He taught us that psychology and
religion can not only coexist peacefully together, but that they can enhance us, inspire us, and
help us complete ourselves.
Freud, for all of his brilliance, reduced us to little more than vessels of hormones with high IQs.
Jung, for all of his flaws, gave us back our souls.