Jung and Steiner

A series of extraordinary questions begin to hover when we consider C.G. Jung and Rudolf Steiner together.

What is the relationship between their views of psychology?
How can we compare their views on evil, East and West, life after death, technology, clairvoyance, the Christ, alchemy, spiritual practice?
Is Jung's individuation process the same as Steiner's development of individuality?
How does the Jung's Self relate to Steiner's "I"?

To answer these questions, Gerhard Wehr--an anthroposophist and Jung biographer, as well as author of books on the Western spiritual tradition--visualizes Jung and Steiner and the essential elements of their thinking together. This opens us to new insights and forms a basis for a spiritual psychology that integrates both approaches.

Wehr's skilled and articulate understanding of Jung and Steiner takes us into many themes. He clarifies the difference between soul consciousness and spiritual consciousness. He shows how meditation relates to the image work of the soul; and he compares the soul and spiritual views of sexuality.

The author also considers the Grail stream as a way of uniting Jung and Steiner. He discusses the significance of a therapeutic perspective large enough to address the cultural problems of our time. By approaching two such important worldviews with depth, they are enlarged, strengthened, and revitalized. If taken to heart, this work can free both spiritual science of Steiner and the analytic psychology of Jung from the dangers of dogmatism.

This work marks a significant step toward genuine spiritual psychology.

[Posted on the newsgroup alt.books.reviews]May 2003 In Sardello's Foreword, he summarizes Wehr's goal in this extended and perspicacious comparison of the groundbreaking psychologists Steiner and Jung. Like Sardello, Wehr has long been interested in "bringing the soul psychology of C. G. Jung into a relation with the spiritual science of Rudolf Steiner." Such a creative synthesis could "give birth to a new psychology--one that is fully cognizant of the spiritual and soul worlds and how human consciousness forms in association with them." While recognizing that Jung and Steiner use different terminology and have different conceptions, Wehr nonetheless recognizes essential interests, concerns, and ends between them. These are found mostly by understanding and analysis, and to some degree deconstruction, of the notions of individuality and its formation and development which were central subjects and concerns of each seminal psychologist. For both Jung and Steiner, symbols and experiences relating to religious beliefs, death, sexuality, and other major factors of human life were of primary importance in human nature and individuality. In an appendix, Hans Lauer relates the essence of Wehr's synthesizing comparison to anthroposophy in an approximately 40-page essay with an ending section titled "Depth Psychology and Anthroposophy." With its varied parts of Foreword, text, and appendices, this study of Jung and Steiner is enlightening and absorbing for serious students of psychology and spirituality.

Gerhard Wehr was born in Schweinfurt, Germany, in 1931. He is a free-lance author and teaches at the Diakonenschule Rummelsberg in Nuremberg. He is the author of numerous publications in fields such as Christian spirituality, depth psychology, and Anthroposophy. He is also the author of a biography of C.G. Jung. Hans Erhard Lauer (1899-1979), teacher, writer, journalist, and lecturer, was a lifelong anthroposophist. After he gave his dissertation on the Swiss philosopher and Goethean psychologist I.P.V.Troxler, he worked in Vienna and then in Switzerland, while continuing to write for and edit anthroposophic journals. His essays in Jung and Steiner are among the only writings that compare these two great masters. Robert Sardello, PhD, is cofounder (with Cheryl Sanders-Sardello, PhD, in 1992) of the School of Spiritual Psychology. At the University of Dallas, he served as chair of the Department of Psychology, head of the Institute of Philosophic Studies, and graduate dean. He is also cofounder and a faculty member of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, as well as author of more than 200 articles in scholarly journals and cultural publications, and is a former faculty member of the Chalice of Repose Project in Missoula, Montana. Having developed spiritual psychology based in archetypal psychology, phenomenology, and the spiritual science of Rudolf Steiner from more than thirty-five years of research in this discipline, as well as holding positions in two universities, Dr. Sardello is now an independent teacher and scholar, teaching throughout the US, Canada, and the UK, as well as the Czech Republic, Philippines, and Australia. He is a consultant to many educational and cultural institutions and a dissertation adviser at numerous academic institutions. He is author of several books, including Facing the World with Soul (2003) and Love and the World (2001).

A series of extraordinary questions begin to hover when we consider C.G. Jung and Rudolf Steiner together. What is the relationship between their views of psychology? How can we compare their views on evil, East and West, life after death, technology, clairvoyance, the Christ, alchemy, spiritual practice? Is Jung's individuation process the same as Steiner's development of individuality? How does the Jung's Self relate to Steiner's "I"? To answer these questions, Gerhard Wehr--an anthroposophist and Jung biographer, as well as author of books on the Western spiritual tradition--visualizes Jung and Steiner and the essential elements of their thinking together. This opens us to new insights and forms a basis for a spiritual psychology that integrates both approaches. Wehr's skilled and articulate understanding of Jung and Steiner takes us into many themes. He clarifies the difference between soul consciousness and spiritual consciousness. He shows how meditation relates to the image work of the soul; and he compares the soul and spiritual views of sexuality. The author also considers the Grail stream as a way of uniting Jung and Steiner. He discusses the significance of a therapeutic perspective large enough to address the cultural problems of our time. By approaching two such important worldviews with depth, they are enlarged, strengthened, and revitalized. If taken to heart, this work can free both spiritual science of Steiner and the analytic psychology of Jung from the dangers of dogmatism. This work marks a significant step toward genuine spiritual psychology.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.