Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali

The East-West dialogue increasingly seeks to compare and clarify contrasting views on the nature of consciousness. For the Eastern liberatory models, where a nondual view of consciousness is primary, the challenge lies in articulating how consciousness and the manifold contents of consciousness are singular. Western empirical science, on the other hand, must provide a convincing account of how consciousness arises from matter. By placing the theories of Jung and Patañjali in dialogue with one another, Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali illuminates significant differences between dual and nondual psychological theory and teases apart the essential discernments that theoreticians must make between epistemic states and ontic beliefs.

Patañjali’s Classical Yoga, one of the six orthodox Hindu philosophies, is a classic of Eastern and world thought. Patañjali teaches that notions of a separate egoic "I" are little more than forms of mistaken identity that we experience in our attempts to take ownership of consciousness. Carl Jung’s depth psychology, which remains deeply influential to psychologists, religious scholars, and artists alike, argues that ego-consciousness developed out of the unconscious over the course of evolution. By exploring the work of key theoreticians from both schools of thought, particularly those whose ideas are derived from an integration of theory and practice, Whitney explores the extent to which the seemingly irremediable split between Jung and Patañjali’s ontological beliefs can in fact be reconciled.

This thorough and insightful work will be essential reading for academics, theoreticians, and postgraduate students in the fields of psychology, philosophy of science, and consciousness studies. It will also appeal to those interested in the East–West psychological and philosophical dialogue.

“Dr Whitneys book is an important contribution to those of us interested in the East-West dialog about the nature of consciousness. She has the rare gift of expertise in both Jungs psychology and Patajalis metaphysics, and her text reveals the important similarities and distinctions found in the work of these two gigantic figures. Students of transformation will benefit by Dr Whitneys clear articulation of the ways in which depth psychology and yoga philosophy complement each other. - Lionel Corbett, Professor, Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA Consciousness in Jung and Patajali is a brilliant analysis of Western and Eastern concepts of consciousness, motivated by the author's personal experience that there's something beyond a materialistic brain-based explanation of consciousness. A deep dive into personal ego, impersonal awareness, dual and nondual realities, and beyond. Highly recommended. - Dean Radin, PhD, Chief Scientist, Institute of Noetic Sciences, USA 'When Carl Jung studied Yoga traditions, he dealt with an abstraction, a relic of the exotic "other." With wide practice of Yoga worldwide, one can no longer dismiss its insights as inappropriate for non-Asians. Leanne Whitney's book updates our thinking about Yoga and shows its benefits to contemporary psycho-therapeutic theory and practice. - Christopher Key Chapple, Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and Director, Master of Arts in Yoga Studies, Loyola Marymount University, USA.”

‘Dr Whitney’s book is an important contribution to those of us interested in the East-West dialog about the nature of consciousness. She has the rare gift of expertise in both Jung’s psychology and Patañjali’s metaphysics, and her text reveals the important similarities and distinctions found in the work of these two gigantic figures. Students of transformation will benefit by Dr Whitney’s clear articulation of the ways in which depth psychology and yoga philosophy complement each other.’ - Lionel Corbett, Professor, Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA

‘Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali is a brilliant analysis of Western and Eastern concepts of consciousness, motivated by the author's personal experience that there's something beyond a materialistic brain-based explanation of consciousness. A deep dive into personal ego, impersonal awareness, dual and nondual realities, and beyond. Highly recommended.’ - Dean Radin, PhD, Chief Scientist, Institute of Noetic Sciences, USA

'When Carl Jung studied Yoga traditions, he dealt with an abstraction, a relic of the exotic "other." With wide practice of Yoga worldwide, one can no longer dismiss its insights as inappropriate for non-Asians. Leanne Whitney's book updates our thinking about Yoga and shows its benefits to contemporary psycho-therapeutic theory and practice.’ - Christopher Key Chapple, Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and Director, Master of Arts in Yoga Studies, Loyola Marymount University, USA.

‘Dr Whitney’s book is an important contribution to those of us interested in the East-West dialog about the nature of consciousness. She has the rare gift of expertise in both Jung’s psychology and Patañjali’s metaphysics, and her text reveals the important similarities and distinctions found in the work of these two gigantic figures. Students of transformation will benefit by Dr Whitney’s clear articulation of the ways in which depth psychology and yoga philosophy complement each other.’ - Lionel Corbett, Professor, Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA

‘Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali is a brilliant analysis of Western and Eastern concepts of consciousness, motivated by the author's personal experience that there's something beyond a materialistic brain-based explanation of consciousness. A deep dive into personal ego, impersonal awareness, dual and nondual realities, and beyond. Highly recommended.’ - Dean Radin, PhD, Chief Scientist, Institute of Noetic Sciences, USA

'When Carl Jung studied Yoga traditions, he dealt with an abstraction, a relic of the exotic "other." With wide practice of Yoga worldwide, one can no longer dismiss its insights as inappropriate for non-Asians. Leanne Whitney's book updates our thinking about Yoga and shows its benefits to contemporary psycho-therapeutic theory and practice.’ - Christopher Key Chapple, Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and Director, Master of Arts in Yoga Studies, Loyola Marymount University, USA.

'The book hardly exceeds 150 pages in length, but its substance outperforms its physical weight by far. From a proper background of what is ontically undivided, it is Whitney’s vision that a ‘depth psychology–classical yoga fusion can yield a contemporary, and more lucid, understanding of the multiplicity of forms on the foreground’. I couldn’t agree more.' - Harald Atmanspacher, Zürich, writing in the Journal of Analytical Psychology, 2019.

'This book is an important contribution to the East-West dialogue that Jung considered so necessary. Too, this book continues a tradition whose genesis may be attributed to a then young scholar of Jungian psychology who, in 1985, published Jung and the Post-Jungians. Andrew Samuel’s seminal reference to the evolution of Jungian thought introduced many of the critiques of Jungian orthodoxy that are topical today. Dr. Leanne Whitney’s book continues this tradition with a provocative inquiry that makes us reconsider the aspects of the Abrahamic and Enlightenment traditions that are impediments to actualizing our own higher consciousness.' - Robert Mitchell in the International Journal of Jungian Studies 11 (2019) 79–92

Dr. Leanne Whitney is an independent scholar in the fields of depth psychology and consciousness studies. She specializes in the intersection of Western psychology and the Eastern liberatory traditions. Dr. Whitney is the author of Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali as well as several academic papers. She earned her MA in statistics from the University of St. Andrews and her PhD in depth psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute.

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