Lionel Corbett

This book presents an approach to spirituality based on direct personal experience of the sacred. Using the language and insights of depth psychology, Corbett outlines the intimate relationship between spiritual experience and the psychology of the individual, unveiling the seamless continuity between the personal and transpersonal dimensions of the psyche. His discussion runs the gamut of spiritual concerns, from the problem of evil to the riddle of pain and suffering. Drawing upon his psychotherapeutic practice as well as on the experiences of characters from our religious heritage, Corbett explores the various portals through which the sacred presents itself to us: dreams, visions, nature, the body, relationships, psychopathology, and creative work. Referring extensively to Jung’s writings on religion, but also to contemporary psychoanalytic theory, Corbett gives form to the new spirituality that is emerging alongside the world’s great religious traditions. For those seeking alternative forms of spirituality beyond the Judeo-Christian tradition, this volume will be a useful guide on the journey.

Spirituality Beyond Religion

Psyche and the Sacred

The Soul in Anguish: Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Suffering presents a variety of approaches to psychotherapeutic work with suffering people, from the perspectives of both Jungian and psychoanalytic psychology. An important theme of the book is that suffering may be harmful or helpful to the development of the personality. Our culture tends to assume that suffering is invariably negative or pointless, but this is not necessarily so; suffering may be destructive, but it may lead to positive developments such as enhanced empathy for others, wisdom, or spiritual development. The book offers professionals in any helping profession various frameworks within which to view suffering, so that the individual's suffering does not seem to be random or meaningless. Cognitive-behavioral approaches, the approach of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric association, and the promise of evidence-based strategies may or may not be applicable to the unique circumstances of the suffering individual. These approaches also ignore the unconscious sources of much suffering, its implications for the ongoing development of the personality, and the nuances of the therapeutic relationship. We cannot objectify or measure suffering; suffering is best viewed from within the individual's perspective, because people with the same diagnosis suffer in unique ways. The Soul in Anguish is a groundbreaking, meticulously researched study from an outstanding Jungian analyst and scholar. It provides illuminating ways into the transformative potential of suffering and how it can be dealt with in the consulting room. Charting the soul's agonies with great compassion and profound sensitivity, Dr. Corbett skillfully delineates clinical, philosophical and spiritual concepts of suffering that testify to the endurance of the human spirit. This book is an enlightening read for anybody with a passionate concern for the human soul. - Ursula Wirtz, PhD, Jungian Analyst, Author of Trauma and Beyond: The Mystery of Transformation With extraordinary candor The Soul in Anguish brings its readers face to face with one of the most difficult topics in life, suffering. This remarkable exploration of the range of suffering, especially as encountered in psychotherapy, mines for meaning and finds both its positive and negative expressions. Transcending the categorical, pathological descriptions of the DSM, The Soul in Anguish reveals the archetypal nature of the experience of suffering. Dr. Lionel Corbett offers healing to mind, soul and body, in this uplifting engagement with what is usually either avoided in most treatments or only touched upon, i.e., anguish. This book reimagines our pain and anguish to bring about the possibility of a true psychological and soulful grasp of suffering. No therapist should miss the opportunities of Dr. Corbett's rich study. - Joe Cambray, Ph.D.,Past-President IAAP,Author DR. LIONEL CORBETT trained in medicine and psychiatry in England and as a Jungian Analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. His primary interests are: the religious function of the psyche, the development of psychotherapy as a spiritual practice, and the interface of Jungian psychology and contemporary psychoanalytic thought. Dr. Corbett is a professor of depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute. He is the author of numerous papers and three books: The Sacred Cauldron: Psychotherapy as a Spiritual Practice, Psyche and the Sacred, and The Religious Function of the Psyche. He is the co-editor of: Jung and Aging, Depth Psychology, Meditations in the Field, and Psychology at the Threshold.

Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Suffering

The Soul in Anguish

Leslie Sawin

Michael Carbine

Aging-what it is and how it happens-is one of today's most pressing topics. Most people are either curious or concerned about growing older and how to do it successfully. We need to better understand how to navigate the second half of life in ways that are productive and satisfying, and Jungian psychology, with its focus on the discovery of meaning and continuous development of the personality is especially helpful for addressing the concerns of aging. In March 2012, the Library of Congress and the Jung Society of Washington convened the first Jung and Aging Symposium. Sponsored by the AARP Foundation, the symposium brought together depth psychologists and specialists in gerontology and spirituality to explore the second half of life in light of current best practices in the field of aging. Featuring essays by James Hollis and Lionel Corbett, this volume presents the results of the day's discussion, with supplementary perspectives from additional experts, and suggests some practical tools for optimizing the second half of life.

Possibilities And Potentials For The Second Half Of Life

Jung And Aging

This book describes the development of images of God, beginning in antiquity and culminating in Jung’s notion of the Self, an image of God in the psyche that Jung calls the God within. Over the course of history, the Self has been projected onto many local gods and goddesses and given different names and attributes. These deities are typically imagined as existing in a heavenly realm, but Jung’s approach recalls them to their origins in the objective psyche. This book shows how Jung’s approach avoids many of the philosophical problems produced by traditional anthropomorphic images of God and describes the myriad symbolic ways in which the Self may appear, independently of doctrinal images of God. By focusing on the empirical, psychological manifestations of the Self, Jung’s approach avoids arguments for and against the existence of a metaphysical God.

From Antiquity to Jung

The God-Image

Murray Stein

Fairy tales can reveal a hidden side of our lives, our unconscious, and our interrelationship with others. Each of these essays provides a Jungian interpretation of a well-known or rare fairy tale to reveal the universal psychic dynamics that affect us in our lives and collectively in the world around us. It is both lively and entertaining, and thoroughly informative. Volume 3 in a 3-part series. Volume 3 Contains "The White Snake" - A Psychological Hero's Journey "Clever Elsie" - Story of Fragmentation into Psychosis "The Girl without Hands" - The Redeeming Power of Story "Snow White" - Desire, Death, and Transformation "The Tsar, His Son, and the Swan Princess" - Men in the Hands of Wom en "Cinderella" - Emergence from Ashes: A Borderline Process Pinocchio - A Homoerotic Tale of Male Initiation Murray Stein, Ph.D. is a supervising training analyst and former president of The International School of Analytical Psychology in Zurich, Switzerland (ISAP Zurich). His most recent books include Outside Inside and All Around, Minding the Self and The Principle of Individuation. From 2001 to 2004 he was president of the International Association for Analytical Psychology. He lectures internationally on topics related to Analytical Psychology and its applications in the contemporary world. He is publisher emeritus of Chiron Publications and is the focus of many Asheville Jung Center online seminars.. Lionel Corbett, M.D., trained in medicine and psychiatry in England and as a Jungian analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. Dr. Corbett is a core faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute teaching depth psychology. He is the author of The Religious Function of the Psyche and Psyche and the Sacred: Spirituality Beyond Religion. He is co-editor, with Dennis Patrick Slattery, of Depth Psychology: Meditations in the Field and Psychology at the Threshold: Selected Papers. Dr. Corbett and Dr. Stein have both presented webinars which can be found in the video library at the Asheville Jung Center website.

Modern Jungian Interpretations of Fairy Tales

Psyche's Stories, Volume 3

Evil is a ubiquitous, persistent problem that causes enormous human suffering. Although human beings have struggled with evil since the dawn of our species, we seem to be no nearer to ending it. In this book, Lionel Corbett describes the complexity of the problem of evil, as well as many of our current approaches to understanding it, in ways that are helpful to the practicing psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, or Jungian analyst. Psychotherapists often work with people who have been the victim of evil, and, occasionally, the therapist is faced with a perpetrator of evil. To be helpful in these situations, the practitioner must understand the problem from several points of view, since evil is so complex that no single approach is adequate. Understanding Evil: A psychotherapist’s guide describes a range of approaches to evil based on Jungian theory, psychoanalysis, social sciences, philosophy, neurobiology, mythology, and religious studies. The book clarifies the difference between actions that are merely wrong from those that are truly evil, discusses the problem of detecting evil, and describes the effects on the clinician of witnessing evil. The book also discusses what is known about the psychology of terrorism, and the question of whether a spiritual approach to evil is necessary, or whether evil can be approached from a purely secular point of view. In Understanding Evil, a combination of psychoanalytic and Jungian theory allows the practitioner a deep understanding of the problem of evil. The book will appeal to analytical psychologists and psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian studies. It will also be of great interest to researchers approaching the question of evil from a variety of other fields, including philosophy and religious studies.

A Psychotherapist’s Guide

Understanding Evil

Contains: The Structural and Archetypal Analysis of Fairy Tales; A Tale of Father Dominance, Psychological Incest, and Female Emergence (Allerleirauh); Beauty and the Beast and Wonderful Sheep - The couple in Fairy Tales; Cinderella, an Interpretation; Cupid and Psyche - Birth of a New Consciousness; The Devil's Sooty Brother - Male Naivete and the Loss of the Kingdom; The Fisherman and his Wife - the Anima in the Narcissistic Character; Fitcher's Bird - Illustrations of the Negative Animus and Shadows in Persons with Narcissistic Disturbances'; The Goose Girl - Puella and Transformation; The Goose Girl - Images of Individualism. Dr. Murray Stein is a supervising training analyst and former president of The International School of Analytical Psychology in Zurich, Switzerland (ISAP Zurich). He is the author of Jung's Treatment of Christianity as well as many other books and articles in the field of Jungian Psychoanalysis. Dr. Stein was also editor of Jung's Challenge to Contemporary Religion. From 2001 to 2004 he was president of the International Association for Analytical Psychology. He has lectured internationally and presently makes his home in Switzerland. Lionel Corbett, M.D., trained in medicine and psychiatry in England and as a Jungian analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. Dr. Corbett is a core faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute teaching depth psychology. He is the author of The Religious Function of the Psyche and Psyche and the Sacred: Spirituality Beyond Religion. He is co-editor, with Dennis Patrick Slattery, of Depth Psychology: Meditations in the Field and Psychology at the Threshold: Selected Papers. Dr. Corbett and Dr. Stein have both presented webinars which can be found in the video library at the Asheville Jung Center website.

Modern Jungian Interpretations of Fairy Tales [Paperback]

Psyche's Stories, Vol 1

Traditional concepts of God are no longer tenable for many people who nevertheless experience a strong sense of the sacred in their lives. The Religious Function of the Psyche offers a psychological model for the understanding of such experience, using the language and interpretive methods of depth psychology, particularly those of C.G. Jung and psychoanalytic self psychology. The problems of evil and suffering, and the notion of human development as an incarnation of spirit are dealt with by means of a religious approach to the psyche that can be brought easily into psychotherapeutic practice and applied by the individual in everyday life. The book offers an alternative approach to spirituality as well as providing an introduction to Jung and religion.

The Religious Function of the Psyche

Fairy tales can reveal a hidden side of our lives, our unconscious, and our interrelationship with others. Each of these essays provides a Jungian interpretation of a well known or rare tale to reveal the universal psychic dynamics that affect us in our lives and collectively in the world around us.

Psyche's Stories

Dennis Patrick Slattery

Developed in the spirit of C.G. Jung, and extended by the work of James Hillman, Depth Psychology: Meditations in the Field grows directly from the soil of the Romantic Movement of the 19th century, itself a rebellion against the legacy of Enlightenment fundamentalism, which emphasized the literal reality of the world, and feasted on Measurement and the quantification of all knowledge. These essays build on the observation outlined by Jung in his provocative introduction to The Spirit in Man, Art, and Literature: "Since it is a characteristic of the psyche not only to be the source of all productivity but, more especially, to express itself in all the activities and achievements of the human mind, we can nowhere grasp the nature of the psyche per se but can meet it only in its various manifestations". (p 85) We believe the essays in this volume honor the spirit of Jung’s regard for the psyche’s diverse expressions. (Pacifica Institute) Contents Introduction: Pacifica Graduate Institute – Unfolding a Dream A Note from the Editors Chapter 1: The Contemplative Self – The Spiritual Journey and Therapeutic Work by Charles Asher Chapter 2: Creativity as an Archetypal Calling by Dianne Skafte Chapter 3: Psyche’s Silent Muse – Desert and Wilderness by Dennis Patrick Slattery Chapter 4: Sigmund Freud’s Mythology of Soul – The Body As Dwelling Place of Soul by Christine Downing Chapter 5: A Depth Psychological Approach to the Sacred by Lionel Corbett Chapter 6: Religious Pluralism in the Service of the Psyche by Patrick J. Mahaffey Chapter 7: The Challenge to Stay Open – Buber and Bion by Avedis Panajian Chapter 8: Dreams are Alive by Stephen Aizenstat Chapter 9: Telling Our Stories – Making Meaning from Myth and Memoir by Maureen Murdock Chapter 10: Divinities of Marriage by Ginette Paris Chapter 11: The Chrysalis Experience – A Mythology for Times of Transition by Hendrika de Vries Chapter 12: Look Out – Three Occasions of Public Excitation by James Hillman Chapter 13: ‘A Myth is as Good as a Smile!’ – The Mythology of a Consumerist Culture by David L. Miller Chapter 14: Yes, Indeed! Do Call the World The Vale of Soul Making – Reveries Toward an Archetypal Presence by Robert Romanyshyn Chapter 15: Seeding Liberation – A Dialogue Between Depth Psychology and Liberation Psychology by Mary Watkins Chapter 16: The Presence of Absence: Mapping Postcolonial Spaces by Helene Shulman Lorenz Chapter 17: Prisoners of our Imagination – The Boys Inside the American Gulag by Aaron Kipnis

Lionel Corbett

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