Memories, Dreams, Reflections

When I first began my exploration into Carl Jung's ideas, I started with a Jung introduction written by another author. Realizing that was getting me nowhere, I went straight for the horse's mouth, and bought Jung's autobiography. One of the best literary decisions I've ever made. This book is one of the most fascinating things I've ever read, and is worth ten Jung introductions. In it, we get to experience and see the world through Jung's eyes. Jung had a beautiful way of expressing himself, so that much of his prose reads like poetry. He does an excellent job of trying to communicate through those completely uselss things we call words the inner reality of the human experience. Jung refers many times to his ability to see a world that apparently other people couldn't see. He does an amazing job of helping the reader to see what he saw, even at the expense of his own ego. When he was young he fancied himself a bit touched, and I have to admit that after reading the kinds of things that went through his mind as a boy that I thought he must have been at least half insane. His experience with "the will of god" in particular left me shaking my head, thinking, "And we've based our knowledge of psychology on this guy?" I think when he was a boy Jung was indeed a little crazy, and maybe it was that slightly off-kilter mindset that allowed him to become such an excellent psychotherapist. He steadied out as he got older, and thankfully stopped having dramatic visions of god doing disgusting things. Jung also provides some excellent insight into the character and mind of Freud. Freud too was a little nuts, and Jung makes no bones about showing us this. He reinforces the notion that everything should be taken with a grain of salt, even the most revered ideas of the world's greatest thinkers. Truth changes, and is relative to the environment in which it is perceived. My only criticism of the book stems from Jung's musings after he has detailed his relationship with Freud and other aspects of his academic career. He enteres a stage of his life in which he decides to "confront his unconscious," i.e., to study it himself in as great a detail as possible. Here, Jung fades into a dreamy, imprecise rambling about what he calls his "fantasies." Jung never explains exaclty what he means by "fantasies." Is he talking about dream material, or waking reveries? Or is he referring to the mysterious "visions" that plague him from time to time? He doesn't elaborate. But he goes on for what seems like fifty pages at least simply rambling about nothing. He stops giving detailed examples as he did earlier in the book and loses himself in a kind of drug-induced reverie that leaves the reader standing out in the rain. I simplly did not know what he was talking about at this point in the book, and Jung should have done a better job at elucidating what kinds of things he was engaged in at this point of this life. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend this autobiography to anyone interested in Jung. Some small knowledge of psychological theories will help you out, but there's always a dictionary and wiki if you don't have that.

In a series of interviews later in life, Jung was lengthily interviewed about his life and the story of how he came to his own philosophies of psychological well-being. This book is a Jung-authorized compilation into a long book that reads something like an autobiography, meaning it’s easier to read than some of his more theoretical writings because it’s narrative and story-like. We read here about his childhood imagination, his youthful disillusionments and inspirations that were a foundation for his later development. He tells his stories retrospectively from old age, so we also learn what Jung thought was important to describe. He tells of his break with Freud, what led to it and the pain of removing himself from Freud’s mentorship and personal circle. It’s all very interesting: sad, dark, joyful, strange and intensely human. Not an entirely an easy read, but worth it for the dedicated and sensitive reader interested in Jung’s thoughts and what led to them.

I read this book two years ago. A lot of its contents still sit in my mind provoking thoughts and values. Great read

Great book for anyone interested in learning about Carl Jung. Carl was way ahead of his time, extremely intelligent and insightful. I picked up some excellent key points that has helped me see things from a better point of view. I'm barely a casual reader, so this book was a bit difficult for me to read at times. There is a lot of talk and reference to religions and cultures from all over the world which was quite a bit difficult for me to read as I am unfamiliar with most of the reference and wording, thankful for google! Regardless, I enjoyed reading about Carl and his life and felt a benefit from reading this book.

Oddly, his last book was my first taste of Jung’s world, and I’m glad it was. This was more digestible than his other works and provides and easy entry into his life.

This book started coming apart, but I didn’t start reading it for awhile, so didn’t realise & missed the refund window! Pages have been falling out. Very disappointed ☹️

It's an awesome book but not really an autobiography as he hardly talks about his personal life apart from his parents and childhood. He barely mentions his wife and kids. It's a book about his professional life, cases he studied and shows a real interest in helping patients. Definitely worth reading if you are interested in the human psyche. The importance of dreams, how the mind works and a life dedicated to helping patients With seriously troubled lives.

Book arrived shrink wrapped and in good condition. It's a 2019 paper back edition published by William Collins, UK. Excellent book to read after reading Jung's Map of the Soul by Murray Stein and Soul-Making by Christina Becker (memoir, self-help). It's also the book that seems to be referenced often by Robert Johnson in his book, Inner Work. This book is an autobiography of Carl Jung and he directed for this book to be excluded from his Collected Works. Still it's a gem to read and understand his personal experiences, ideas, thinking, and individuation journey. At close to 500 pages, it's quite hefty. Have just begun reading and the writing has been easy to digest given its narrative format. It's helpful that explanatory notes are added to aid those new to Jungian terminology. At the onset, one can already see how the struggles to create this autobiography reflects Jung's wisdom and thoughts. Highly recommend for those on the path of soul making, of individuation.

5 estrelas e muitos sonhos, memórias e reflexões para esta obra prima de Jung em uma edição perfeita e com muitas gravuras.

Writing about this book is a pleasure as it rates as one of my favourite books ever. It is, according to James Hillman, who studied under Jung, a book that is healing for many. It's easy to understand why, as it records many impressions from Jung's life which include things many regard as perhaps mad, or strange. It is a book that suggests an honouring of one's own inner truth and experience. It's also a book that allows many people to appreciate Jung's thinking better because this comes form more personal experience than his more scholarly writings which can be difficult. More recent scholarship by Sonu Shamdasani, has raised questions about how much of the book was actually written by Jung. Some of this can be seen in the introduction by Jung's secretary, Aniela Jaffe, who tells the story of how the book was written. Much of what is here is taken from interviews she conducted with Jung, though she says some of the early chapters were actually written by him, as were some of the later thoughts. These strike me as wonderfully profound, and observing some of the mysteries of being in a philosophical/reflective mode. The early chapters concentrate on how Jung grew up, his relationship with his parents and his decision to study medicine. There are also chapters about his relationship with Sigmund Freud, his travels to Africa and America, his confrontation with the unconscious and final reflections where Jung states how near the end of his life he felt still felt unfamiliar with himself. Much of this can be seen as myth making. There are many things which were left out, some of them more because of Jung's successors wishes than the man himself. Yet in it there is still much that is moving and interesting even if there is often little that reveals much about his relationships with his wife and family, though he states they helped ground him at a time described as his confrontation with the unconscious, which some others would call a breakdown. We now know more about this from The Red Book: Liber Novus (Philemon) which is mentioned in the text and some dreams recorded in it also appear in this book. That said this is still a fascinating read about Jung's interior landscape which many will find of value. Now some words about this Stellar Classics edition. It has on the cover a facsimile of an old cover which was on British Fontana editions of the text, with the famous Karsh portrait there. On the back there is one of the Cartier Bresson photos of the man, one of which appeared in American editions. The text itself appears to be a facsimile of the Fontana edition available elsewhere with different cover. There are none of the photographic plates from the British edition, thought there is the text of the Six Sermons on the Dead which appeared in American editions. This one is also in larger type. Details to consider if purchasing the book for the first time. All current paperback editions I know are well produced. I leave it to readers to choose which they prefer.