Man and His Symbols by CARL G. JUNG ⋆ Book Box PDF

Man and His Symbols by CARL G. JUNG and M.-L. von Franz, Joseph L Henderson, Jolande Jacobi, Aniela Jaffe – Illustrated book

What we call a symbol is a term, a name, or even a picture that may be familiar in daily life, yet that possesses specific connotations in addition to its conventional and obvious meaning. It implies something vague, unknown, or hidden from us. Many Cretan monuments, for instance, are marked with the design of the double adze. This is an object that we know, but we do not know its symbolic implications.

Thus a word or an image is symbolic when it implies something more than its obvious and immediate meaning. It has a wider “unconscious” aspect that is never precisely defined or fully explained. Nor can one hope to define or explain it. As the mind explores the symbol, it is led to ideas that lie beyond the grasp of reason. The wheel may lead our thoughts toward the concept of a “divine” sun, but at this point reason must admit its incompetence; man is unable to define a “divine” being.

It is not easy to grasp this point. But the point must be grasped if we are to know more about the ways in which the human mind works. Man, as we realize if we reflect for a moment, never perceives anything fully or comprehends anything completely. He can see, hear, touch, and taste; but how far he sees, how well he hears, what his touch tells him, and what he tastes depend upon the number and quality of his senses.

Then there are certain events of which we have not consciously taken note; they have remained, so to speak, below the threshold of consciousness. They have happened, but they have been absorbed subliminally, without our conscious knowledge.

We can become aware of such happenings only in a moment of intuition or by a process of profound thought that leads to a later realization that they must have happened; and though we may have originally ignored their emotional and vital importance, it later wells up from the unconscious as a sort of afterthought.

CONTENTS:

Introduction
PART 1 APPROACHING THE UNCONSCIOUS / Carl G. Jung
PART 2 ANCIENT MYTHS AND MODERN MAN / Joseph L. Henderson
PART 3 THE PROCESS OF INDIVIDUATION / M.-L. von Franz
PART 4 SYMBOLISM IN THE VISUAL ARTS / Aniela Jaffe
PART 5 SYMBOLS IN AN INDIVIDUAL ANALYSIS / Jolande Jacobi
CONCLUSION: SCIENCE AND THE UNCONSCIOUS / M.-L. Franz