Rating: 
Summary: Good, short, intriguing
Review: Although much of this is dated by Jung's constant references to the evils of communism and references to the Iron Curtain, it remains a valuable treatise on the effects of relying too strongly on outside sources for one's raison de etre. Jung deftly explains the common thread of blind faith running through religious, political and scientific beliefs. Pastor, President, Professor: all these people become mouthpieces for dogma. Follow the cults of personality at your own peril. The only way out is through the undiscovered self, the unconscious connection to the "God" archetype. Faith is important. Beware, be aware, be wary of what and who you trust. Summary: Inquire within.
Rating: 
Summary: Closest to the Holy One as Psychologist!
Review: I have never felt nearly as close to Holiness in reading such Psychologists as Adler, Erickson, Fosdick, Freud, Fromm, or even Wayne Oates as this little gem of Carl Gustav Jung! Early 1980's found me hooked between Fosdick and Freud, still trying hard to bridge the gap between Religious Education and Seminary. My 1986 trip to England's Canterbury Book stores, took me deeply into Carl Jung's "Answer to Job". Recently in delving into sermonic reading for prison inmates, I became hooked by Robert Johnson's "Balancing Earth and Heaven." He took me back into his early bouts as organist and later being exposed to Madame Jung, Dr. Jung, Helen Luke in Zurick and ideas of "synchronicity." Also he referred often to this Gem of "The Undiscovered Self!" "Most people confuse 'self-knowledge' with knowledge of their conscious ego personalities." I was smack into the stuff of real life-inmates! People measure their self-knowledge by what the so-called average person knows of himself...coming forth as a very limited knowledge. Chap IV's "The Individual's Understanding of Himself" begins: "The contradiction, the paradoxical evaluation of humanity by man himself is in truth a matter for wonder... in other words..."man is an enigma." That Jungian statement opened the door for Robert A. Johnson and Karen Anderson in "Through the Narrow Gate" to use adverbs as enigmatically and implicitly for their repeated efforts to describe their personal crises reflections! All of this comes out as my "sort-of rebutal" of Mike McGarry's review speaking of Carl Jung as, "not unapproachable and not unnecessarily esoteric." I surely cannot agree with those terms in similiar ways as not being able to relate to my own personal influences from Robert Shaw and Walter Brueggemann! So much for my near-60th review from a new perspective! Retired Chaplain Fred W Hood
Rating:
Summary: Closer to the Holy One as Psychologist!
Review: I seldom feel as close to Holiness reading Psychologists, such as Adler, Erickson, Fosdick, Freud, Fromm, as this latest gem of Carl G. Jung! My trip to England's Canterbury Book stores, took me into Carl Jung's "Answer to Job". More recently delving into Robert Johnson's "Balancing Earth and Heaven" I was exposed to Madame Jung thru Helen Luke and ideas of "synchronicity." Prof Jung referred often to this idea in his "Undiscovered Self!"
"Most people confuse 'self-knowledge' with knowledge of their conscious ego personalities. Anyone who has ego-consciousness, at all takes it for granted he knows himeslf." People measure their self-knowledge by what the so-called average person knows of himself...coming forth as a very limited knowledge. Chapter Four, "The Individual's Understanding of Himself" begins: "The contradiction, the paradoxical evaluation of humanity by man himself is in truth a matter for wonder...man is an enigma." That Jungian statement opened the door for Robert A. Johnson and Karen Armstrong to use his same adverbs as "enigmatically and implicitly" for efforts to describe their personal crises!
Chapter Six, "Self-Knowledge" Jung sums-up as "a positive answer only when the individual is willing to fulfill the demands of rigorous self-examination and self-knowledge. If he follows his intention, he will not only discover important truths about himself but...will have suceeded in deeming himself worthy of serious attention and sympathhetic interest."
Then he relates the unconscious as an "only accessible source of religious experience. It is the medium from which the religious experience seems to flow." Even a young college student can grasp such a simpliciity as synchronicity! I was overwhelmed by this Gem...Retired Chap. Fred W Hood
Rating:
Summary: Discovered think-feared masses
Review: Not only communist masses, known the most at the time of the written interview, but more, much more. And if we recall today's breed of averaged minds in the broadly given axioms of "living standard" as a primary stone of judgement of personal success, we must admit that the majority of psychiatric "infection", as Jung says, lies in the economically most advanced, western democracies (States - Jung). Let's be ourselves, whatever that might be, but know about it, Jung teaches us. Extraordinary book !
Rating:
Summary: isms as substitute spirit
Review: One of Jung's friendlier books to the nonclinician, and an explanation of how the rejuvenation of the individual leads to that of society as a whole. Somewhat unbalanced by Jung's clear preference for the person over the group.
Rating:
Summary: Man versus Men
Review: The ideas presented by Jung in this book are fascinating, coherent, intelligent and, in many ways still original. They are also important ideas in a century that is just as full of moronic and potentially dangerous causes as the last century was.
It is a short book but it made me say "wow" out loud more than once.
Rating:
Summary: BEST INTRO TO JUNG
Review: The only book by Carl Jung that I could read (as opposed to study), and easily understand and appreciate. Although written at the time of the cold war, his thoughts on the individual, religion and the state are as relevant today and truly timeless. I recommend The Undiscovered Self as the best introduction to one of the greatest psychologists and philosophers of the 20th century.
Rating:
Summary: Jung on the Philosophy of History
Review: This 1957 essay is Jung's major statement on the "Big Picture". In Jung's view, the person who does not know him or herself, who does not understand his or her strengths as an individual, will necessarily fall victim to mass-mentality. Mass-mentality is the Unconscious played out on the global scale, and if left to its own devices, it will continue to produce tragedies similar in scale to what the human race experienced in the two world wars. The antidote, Jung argues, is self-knowledge. This is not philosophical self-knowledge, but rather psychological self-knowledge - a reckoning with one's animal instincts, one's shadow, one's dreams and fantasies. Ultimately, Jung says self-knowledge must involve a spiritual experience - an experience of tradition religious truths as relevant in one's own life. Only this kind of experience will protect a person from the trap of mass-mentality; moreover, the development of culture and perhaps even the survival of the race depend on such individuals who can resist mass-mentality when it is strongest. For Jung, the hope of the human race and the world at large depended ultimately on the inner work individuals do in their most intimate inner world. For Jung, the personal is the political, but in a much more profound way than that in which anyone else has ever used that phrase.
Rating:
Summary: BRILLIANT
Review: This is a great introductory book to one of the best psychologist/philosophers of our time. It is a king of tough read, but not a like his other works. This one can be read (with dictionary of course) as opposed to studied, although I did read it twice. Simply a fascinating book to read. Do yourself a big favor and get to know Jung.
Rating:
Summary: BRILLIANT
Review: This is a great introductory book to one of the best psychologist/philosophers of our time. It is a king of tough read, but not a like his other works. This one can be read (with dictionary of course) as opposed to studied, although I did read it twice. Simply a fascinating book to read. Do yourself a big favor and get to know Jung.
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