Archetype/Myth/Metaphor/Symbol Record Type: Review   ID: 15
Archetypal Dimensions of the Psyche Franz, Marie-Louise von
This is a collection of articles/lectures of a well-known Jungian analyst. They cover a rather broad range, but in one way or other each is about the collective unconscious and the individuation process. She defines the former as that part of a human’s "unconscious psyche which, regardless of all the differences between individuals, remains the same in all men and women...precisely because they are human" (p. 76). The process of individuation entails the progressive integration of the conscious personality with the collective unconscious in such a way that through realizing and living one’s uniqueness one connects with the self all humans share. There are indications that this is also the end of the EHE process, but whereas in psychotherapy the individuation process is instigated in response to life or personality problems, the EHE process is initiated by an anomalous experience that somehow speaks to the individual personally. She notes that the archetype of the Self "today...is trying to manifest in many individuals" (p. 153). In her view it is repressed human feeling, which is symbolized by Sophia (an aspect of the Goddess archetype) that we can save ourselves and the world. "Salvation can only be brought about through gnosis, that is, inner experiential learning" (p. 151). This certainly appears to be the case also with the EHE process, and the world revealed by what initially was an anomalous experience is the Experiential Paradigm. This volume should prove helpful to anyone who is trying to discover the meaning of his or her exceptional experience, and it provides a cultural backdrop against which these always odd and sometimes scary experiences begin to make sense, leading to a felt connection with all, as well as consciously reconciling opposites and revealing to the person who he or she really is.
Publisher Information:	Boston, MA: Shambhala, 1997. x + 405p. Bibl: 389-396; Chap. Bibl.; 6 figs; 1 illus; Ind: 397-405

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