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Rating: 
Summary: dated depth psychology
Review: An exhaustive commentary on the archetype of the Great Mother as it relates to the birth of human awareness and the obstacles to obtaining it. I found the equation of consciousness and culture and spirituality with masculinity and nature/ unconsciousness/ instinctuality with femininity dated, unhelpful, and hopelessly biased. Apparently the author was immersed in the Great Mother himself as well as a product of his time. Check out Demaris Wehr's JUNG AND FEMINISM for a critique of the patriarchal elements of classical Jungian psychology.
Rating: 
Summary: A Guide for the Perplexed: 20th Century
Review: Neumann continued Jung's work, adding substantially, modifying and clarifying. Went much further into the origin and evolution of consciousness, and the depiction of this in the Great Mother/Hero myths. Alluded to symmetries between social and psychological structures, contemporary mythic systems and artistic and other cultural expressions.
Rating: 
Summary: Explains the fundamentals of Pagan Psychology
Review: Neumann's expo on the Uroboros as the core of primal human psychology is still the best yet. He is scholarly yet readable and free of the American-type "new age" psycho-babble of the late 20th century (this was published in 1953 I believe). "Paganism" is everyone's first "religion" if only because we all come from the Urobroric womb and are naturally endowed with the self -contained narcissism that takes all things in nature exactly as they first appear to us (what you "see" is what you get so to speak--there is no such thing as metaphor, allegory, irony, etc.) Ideally, we grow out of this stage and progress to higher stages, but as the "baby-boom" generation has revealed, many people do not evolve much beyond this stage. The current popular social obsession with sex (fueled by the all-powerful visual medium of television) at face value and as an end in itself shows that many people never get beyond the primal sexual stage after they leave the Uroboric stage--if they ever get beyond that even! If you are a pessimistic neo-Freudian or Nietzschean, you are bound to believe that most people never do--or easily regress to lower (previous) levels of more primitive consciousness in times of severe distress.
Rating:
Summary: A Guide for the Perplexed: 20th Century
Review: There are two books that I recommend without hesitation to anyone who is seriously interested in gaining a deeper understanding of consciousness. This book is one of them. (The other one is "Godel, Escher, Bach" by D. Hofstadter.) Central to the thesis put forward by this work is the cyclical and recursive patterns evident in the development and history of conscious thought and expression. Developing the idea of 'eternal recurrence' beyond the usual (and superficial) notion of cyclical historic patterns, Neumann puts forward the brilliant (and afterwards self-evident) idea that the collective generative and developmental patterns of the human species (collective psyche) is mirrored recursively (and latently) in each and every individual member of that collective. An interesting side effect of this view of consciousness is the resultant synthesis of linear and cyclical notions of Time. To Neumann, Time is an open-ended linear progression (development) which is recursively cyclical. The recursion occurring in the subject self's perception of time: That the individual's subjective perception of time in an early part of his development, corresponds with the Human's perception of Time in a corresponding earlier point in history. For example, using Neumann's framework, one can see the 'mythological' persona and teachings of Jesus (and his semi-contemporary Buddha) as the collective expression of the coming 'personal' transcendence and autonomy of the Ego (as in: "The Kingdom is in You!"). To me, this book represents the Flower of critical 'Jungian' thought: It is lucid, balanced, creative, and deeply insightful. While respectful (and certainly a disciple) of Jung, Neumann clearly did not allow his work to suffer from the usual pattern of hagiographic rehashing of the master's ideas. A fate which is common to the lesser of Jung's followers, greater in number though they may be. Neumann's is an independent mind. And while Jung himself is - in my opinion - to some exten! t vulnerable to the criticism that he was in essence engaged in canonizing his own complexes and neurosis, Neumann does not seem to allow his personal complexes (if any) to color his psychological thought process. A centrovert, indeed. But to fully appreciate this work, you must of course suspend disbelief regarding the nature of the relationship between Mind and Matter. Even if one accepts the case presented by Jung in support of the idea of Archetypes, one is still free to speculate regarding the nature of the 'mediation' and genesis of the Archetypal symbolic language: Jung's generative symbolic language. He elaborates on that brilliantly, but does not question it. In that sense, Neumann never satisfactorily produces the case for having mentioned 'Origin' in the title of this work. The 'genesis' of the dynamic system under consideration, which is the human psyche, is derived from the 'givens' of the symbolic language. Mother, Son, Heaven, etc. The Archetypes. Jung's genius was evident in his cataloguing and elaborating on the 'processes' which motivate and guide the movements and progressions of the psyche. Neumann's genius is evident in his formulating the nature of this movement and the recursive relationship between the subjective Self and Collective 'Unconscious' (or Not I). But neither have provided answers regarding the nature of the transformation of the Uber Void/Womb/Origin, etc. into the Uruborous which is our consciousness. Chances are that it will take more than genius to produce that answer. Another criticism that can be made about the work is that it may be the "Origin and history of [the Masculine] consciousness". The Journey is that of the Hero, the overcoming of the generative context (parents!), the bridging the chasm (of duality), and in the end becoming One. The origin is the Womb, and the destination is the Center. Does this mean that women should not read this book? No. Masculine does not mean Male; Feminine does not mean Female. So women too shoul! d read this book. A great and fascinating account is given to Isis and her lamentations and search for Horus; her gathering of the pieces of his dismembered body - curiously missing the phallus - and synthesising him back to Unity through sexual healing. (What does all this mean psychologically? For that you have to read the book.) Horus was no Hero, in this tale. What sets apart Neumann from Jung is precisely his ability (and delight) to project so lucidly into the psychology of Isis. No mean task. So another healthy benefit of this book is that it will clear away - like tumbleweed - pedestrian notions that men are from Mars, and women are from Venus. There is of course a more authoritative discourse on the 'origin' of human consciousness in the Book of Genesis. But Neumann's does not stand in contradiction to this Book; and it is perhaps an implicit affirmation. One can sense the passion of the Jewish Mystic beneath the calm exterior. So here again, this is a book on the origin and history of Becoming. In capsule: If Freud was a Jungian (and not a 'Viennese' Jew), he would have written this book; and it would have been his masterpiece. (Unfortunately, great as he is, he was no Mystic.) It would be a good idea to put this book in the Time Capsule. Better yet, put one in your hands, and read. As I don't read German, I am in no position to render judgment on the faithfulness of R. F. C. Hull's translation. But having read other translations (of others) by Hull, I can here give witness that he does not seem to allow his voice to color that of the author's. The voice is Neumann's throughout. And that is a rare talent. (I hope I have not done this book an injustice.) [(c) 1998, Amazon.com ] Shame on you! The author reserves the right to personal access and utility of (this) his work.
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