Man and His Symbols
by Carl Gustav Jung · first published 1964
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Accessible introduction to Jungian psychology for general readers, covering dreams, the unconscious, shadow, and symbols. Suited to anyone new to Jung's ideas.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Excerpt from back cover: "This book, which was the last piece of work undertaken by Jung before his death in 1961, provides a unique opportunity to assess his contribution to the life and thought of our time, for it was also his first attempt to present his life-work in psychology to a non-technical public...What emerges with great clarity from the book is that Jung has done immense service both to psychology as a science and to our general understanding of man in society, by insisting that imaginative life must be taken seriously in its own right, as the most distinctive characteristic of
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I would suggest "Man and His Symbols", which is an introduction to Jungian psychology. Jung took a unique view on the psyche, which I believe is helpful in forming an objective opinion about humankind 'in itself', a necessary vantage point…
on “Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?” ↗Just started reading "Man and His Symbols" by Carl Jung (would recommend), and as other people posted, Jungarian beleive that dreams are more active than random passive thoughts. New ideas can come through the sub-conscious.
on “What Happens to the Body on No Sleep” ↗…yourself and how you react to others you are withdrawing your own projections. That is one way of trying to know your own shadow self. Knowing and integrating shadow is first step to individuation. Man and his symbols is good introduction to Carl Jung's theories if you would like to know more.
on “A monk’s guide to office life” ↗May I suggest "Man And His Symbols" by Car Jung? It was his final writing and, I believe, his only one that focused on the common(ish) reader as the audience. The basis of the book (and generally his studies and beliefs) is that the subconscious…
on “DMT-induced shifts in criticality correlate with self-dissolution” ↗A Man and His Symbols by Jung and others.
on “Ask HN: What was the best book you read in 2021?” ↗…the Spectacle by Debord (re: the degradation of being into having, having into mere appearing, as a universal and ubiquitous byproduct of the core function of capital which is commodification)... and Man and His Symbols (re: the difference between a symbol, which is universal and carries a wealth of meaning, and a sign, which is contextual/temporary and carries a fixed meaning).
on “The new literalism plaguing today’s movies” ↗(Edited multiple times to add more thoughts) In Jung’s Man and his Symbols, he says that the unconsciousness is a new phenomenon...and man had relied heavily on his unconsciousness..that is now repressed. It reveals itself in dreams. And so it lingers...like a secretary taking…
on “Ask HN: Help me learn astrology in 2020” ↗Well, actually that's true. From Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung (the guy who came up with the terms introvert and extravert): "But if one is an introvert and the other is an extravert, their different and contradictory standpoints may clash right away...…
I was just reading "Man and His Symbols" by Carl Jung who argued for somewhat of the same attitude in his book. What you are calling the "gut" he called the unconscious and his argument was that the unconscious was composed of primitive brain…
on “Worst Roommate Ever” ↗