Depth Psychology and a New Ethic

A compact, unique and eloquent book by one of the grand-masters of Jungian psychology. Neumann examines the reality of human evil and the shadow of our species, with all the depth and subtlety it deserves.Every bit as relevant to our 21st century evil of climate change "propaganda / denial" as it is to Nazism & the twentieth century's other totalitarian barbarisms.

Although this book was written some time ago, and the world is changing fast, nevertheless the topic is very relevant today. Erich Neumann looks at the possibility of a new set of ethics developing in society, one that requires a lot more conscious action on the part of the individual. He suggests that this new ethic is appearing in more and more cases and will gradually replace the old ethic which most great religions had developed.... the new ethic is the next stage in our development.The only problem I had with this book is the language used. It was originally written in German and has obviously been translated by a German speaker because the language is often unnecessarily complicated.Despite this, I found the book very interesting... and hopeful that amongst all the current chaos something is developing in a positive direction, even if it may be difficult to see at the moment.

Amazing book at an amazing price.

And excellent and thought-provoking read that accentuates how people abdicate their responsibility to think for themselves by following the collective ethics of their particular religious denomination, political party, or nation. There is a price to pay for breaking away from the old ethic to be able to live out one's own thought-through values. It's helpful to understand the significant pressure that the group applies to the individual to conform to the old ethic. Typically those bound to the old ethic tend to have a significantly stronger reaction to others that do not subscribe to their point of view. The darker side of human beings tends to come to the surface with those who do not follow or who are not attuned to their perspective often leading to rejection, mean-spiritedness, or much worse. The author helps the reader to understand that fundamentalist of any kind (religious, political, or those from any nation) divide people in to us versus them and good versus bad.The author also addresses what happens when we human beings identify strictly with things that are "good" in us and repress things that we consider bad or even hate about ourselves. Repression may work for a human being somewhat when we were children but it gets pretty ugly if we continue to repress into adolescence and later into adulthood. Many writers have pointed out that the over-identification with what is good inside of us and the repression of things that we do not like or even detest about ourselves is the chief cause of tension and even hatred between individuals, races, and nations.

Erich Neumann was one of the original students of Freud, along with Jung. I have been drawn to Neumann over the years as it seemed to me that he was genius enough to begin moving towards his very good friend Jung's ideas as time has passed. Apparently they developed a close friendship and carried on many long discussions together. The name "Depth Psychology" I believe is the name Jung gave to his unique approach to Analytical Psychology (another name for Jung's work). This means that Jung's work was carried on by someone who could fully appreciate it and present it to the public. Other works of Neumann are also quite deep and unique in their own right.

Once you are connected with the inside you are able to disentangle from the prejudices and the general morals views of the epoch, and you are able to fight for your responsibility in a certain dilemma which concerns yourself now and then. You could not escape from that deep ethic. C.G. Jung has a very important preface which I kindly recommend to every and each reader.

I loved the book. Unfortunately the seller shipped it out to me 1 month after ordering it and I was not able to read it prior to my class on the topic. Still, it is worth reading now that my dedline has passed. It is an excellent book. Anyone interested on depth psychology should read this timeless classic.