The Symbolic Life, A Seminar Talk given on 5th April 1939

1954, first edition of C G Jung's seminar text, Guild of Pastoral Psychology Lecture No. 80

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Printing Details

First edition (the first standalone printing of this specific text in English). Slim pamphlet, stapled binding. 18.5 × 12.5cm, 30pp

The Symbolic Life originated as an informal, spoken seminar delivered to the Guild of Pastoral Psychology in London on April 5, 1939. Jung presents one of his most famous assertions: that modern neuroses often stem not from repressed instincts, but from a lack of symbolic life arguing that rationalism has stripped human culture of ritual, leaving individuals spiritually starveling. It is a cornerstone in Jungian studies regarding pastoral care demonstrating how religious symbols, rituals, and liturgy perform a vital psychological function by mediating between the conscious ego and the deeper unconscious.

The lecture was considered so significant that it eventually served as the anchor essay and title for Volume 18 of C G Jung's Collected Works (The Symbolic Life: Miscellaneous Writings).

Condition

Good plus condition. Some tanning and marking to the covers but the contents in very good, clean condition.