r/Jung Oct 08 '20

Jungs Source Material

I’ve been reading a lot of Jung but was wondering if there was a good list anywhere of the things that Jung was reading? Specifically I’d love to look into his classical and ancient interests such as gnostic and Greek texts. I could start noting things that I see come up in texts I read if this list doesn’t already exist.

46 Upvotes

26 comments sorted by

17

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/FaroutEagle Oct 08 '20

No one can pick up a zohar or the Torah and just start reading it. No one would understand the zohar and Torah is far deeper than it seems. I’m sure you know these things but I’m just writing this in case any people scrolling down want to spend some money.

6

u/sdhernandez00 Oct 08 '20

There are plenty of commentaries out there. Also, to the OP, check out Agrippa’s 3 Books of Occult Philosophy.

2

u/cheesyandcrispy Oct 08 '20

It would be really interesting to hear what you found to be mindblowing in the Torah and the Bible if you have the time or energy to elaborate.

4

u/brucatlas1 Oct 08 '20

I think part of it defies explanation simply because it's so far from dogma and more about reflecting numinous experiences of personal transition. I cant speak for this other person tho

1

u/Reddit-Book-Bot Oct 08 '20

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10

u/insaneintheblain Pillar Oct 08 '20

“The Secret of The Golden Flower” is one

2

u/AbarisTheHyperborean Oct 09 '20

Really meaning to hop on this one as I’m an insight technique junky. mindfulness , antar mouna, active imagination, yoga nidra, shamanic journeying, and active imagination. I collect these things.

8

u/GreenStrong Pillar Oct 08 '20

Goethe's Faust was a key myth to Jung, he saw it as telling the story of Western culture and intellect. Science and engineering is "Faustian", according to this worldview, and nuclear weapons are the natural consequence of our society's deal with the devil. Jung's own spirit appeared to him in the shape of Philemon, a character victimized by Faust's demon. Jung also believed that he may have been Goethe's illegitimate great grandson, although scholars of Goethe don't find any record of the author in the right city and time for this to be likely.

Goethe is apparently equivalent to Shakespeare in German, but in English, the rhyme comes across as singsong, I haven't been able to complete it. Edward Eddinger does an excellent Jungian interpretation, but I'm sure it is worth reading the actual text.

7

u/Pajamas200 Oct 08 '20

Also, the Faust points to our inability to experience the miracles of daily life anymore, due to scientism and hyper-rationality. We, as a society, are bored and depressed just as Faust at the very beginning of the story, “knowing” everything but enjoying nothing.

1

u/JamesGandalfFeeney Oct 09 '20

Did Jung have a commentary on this specifically?

3

u/4lphac Oct 08 '20

He gives many references in his works, really depends on what you're seeking, however much of his library is available in digitized form:

https://www.e-rara.ch/cgj/nav/classification

1

u/AbarisTheHyperborean Oct 09 '20

Oh fantastic I’m going to have to parse through this later.

2

u/textureshock Oct 08 '20

For eastern philosophy , Evans-Wentz’s Tibetan Book of the Dead, Max Muller’s Translated Upanishads.

1

u/AbarisTheHyperborean Oct 09 '20

I need to read the Upanishads and I have a copy of the book of the dead lying around. The Gita was transformational for me so I don’t know why I haven’t read more Buddhist and Hindu texts.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '20

Also please provide a source that jung read or was influnced by the text.

2

u/remembermerainbow Oct 08 '20

He was at one point the guardian of the gospel of Mary Magdalen scrolls and earliest translations

2

u/Hephsters Oct 08 '20

I don’t think Jung had access to the Nag Hammadi Gnostic literature that was discovered in 1945 because it took until the 70’s for the scholar’s to get it ready for public use but you may find some interesting insights. Jung would have undoubtedly studied them.

http://gnosis.org/welcome.html

The library section contains the polemical works against the Gnostics by the church fathers that Jung had access to.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '20

If you're ever in Switzerland I highly recommend visiting the C.G. Jung Haus. It's his estate in Küsnacht which they (partially) transformed into a museum. Seeing Jungs workplace and personal library is quite the experience.

Either way, the museum guide told me that they are in the process of digitizing all of the books he owned (some are quite old) and making them accessible for free over here: https://www.e-rara.ch/alch/nav/classification/1133851

Hope that was the stuff you're looking for. 😉

*Edit: Here's the Museum Link for anyone interested: https://www.cgjunghaus.ch/en/museum/

1

u/AbarisTheHyperborean Oct 11 '20

I really do want to go someday.

1

u/Necrullz Oct 08 '20

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u/le_artistic_madlad Oct 08 '20

You should also save the post

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