Lament of the Dead: Psychology After Jung's Red Book

I loved this book, and want to address a couple things that I didn't see mentioned in the book.First, I take exception to the title, drawn from Jung's own writing, "Lament of the Dead." This phrase is discussed around pg 175 in the book. On pg 164 Hillman says that Jung uses the term dead and says "I think that's the best word for what it is. It doesn't mean it's dead." Now there's the problem. Use of the term dead does convey something dead, you can't get away from that, yet the whole point of the Red Book and our great interest in it, is that it is bringing LIFE back to psychology, via the use of imagination, in a way that nothing else can quite do. In fact Jung's process in the Red Book is seen as life-giving, compared to his previous work which was dryly intellectual, conceptual, explanatory. On pg 42 Shamdasani says "Jung's attempted explanation [eg conceptual approach to psychology] had simply killed off the subject matter." Which is to say, Jung's approach PRIOR to the Red Book was really what involved death and the dead. The Red Book changes that and we see how active imagination brings the living and life. And not through interaction with "the dead", because imaginal figures, as I say below, are not the historical dead. They are not historical figures at all.This was one of Hillman's major themes, how science and conceptualization "kill off" psychology. For instance in his book ReVisioning Psychology on pg 19, he writes of how having an emotional relationship with, or experiencing anthropomorphically, is what assists psychology, compared to exploring objectively and scientifically, which alienates us from what we explore.Thus, given the rather significant manner in which imaginal exploration, the process of active imagination, are life-giving and "enliven" our relationships with our subject, the use of the term "dead" seems quite inappropriate.Additionally, the figures Jung interacts with in the Red Book, Philemon and Salome and other spirits, are by no means "dead." When Hillman and Shamdasani began talking about the Red Book representing interaction with history and the historical dead (pg 175-176) , I began to wonder if they had read the same Red Book that I did. I didn't observe Jung interacting with historical figures. I perceived him interacting with archetypes, spirits. Moreover, though there was an historical figure named "Salome", there is no reason to think that Jung's Salome is the same as the historical Salome. This goes for all the figures he encounters. When we encounter figures in our active imagination work, I do believe these are more than simply parts of our own personal psyche -- they are parts of the collective unconscious, perhaps archetypes, perhaps spirits. But whatever they are, there is generally no basis to assume that they are historical figures.The next critique of the term "lament of the dead" has to do with the fact that those who've "died" and departed from earth, are not actually dead. Just as we all look forward to a new psychology after Jung's Red Book, we all look forward to a new concept of life and "death", based on the thousands upon thousands of accounts of Near Death Experiences, whereby experiencers demonstrate to us quite powerfully that there is no "death." No one who has "died" actually has died in the sense of ceasing to live: they simply have gone to a spirit world which, by the accounts of those who've experienced NDEs, is our true home. Those who've experienced NDEs will generally say that we are more alive there in our spiritual home, than we are here on earth in these physical bodies. With that for context, we might more accurately say that it's WE who are "the dead", and those who've passed on who are actually fully alive!!The next point I wanted to mention, was that as at least one other reviewer has pointed out, though Hillman and Shamdasani look forward to a new psychology emerging from Jung's Red Book, they haven't quite laid out any elements of that psychology.Now in relation to that, what's mentioned in this book on pg 69 and pg 165 are relevant. First on pg 69, it's stated that Barbara Hannah had indicated you can't do active imagination unless "you had a whole series of preliminary structures that could contain and hold it...the first work is building the ego." Then on pg 165 it's stated that "Jung recommended that people had psychotherapy before they came to him...they needed a preparation that should be gotten elsewhere." These comments support my contention, also drawn from my own anecdotal life experience and observation, that in fact the kind of psychology that comes after Jung's Red Book, one based in active imagination, not only isn't for everyone, but it's likely only suitable for a rather small percentage of humanity. So, while we still do have a new kind of psychology emerging from the Red Book, it's such a "high" level of psychology, requiring preliminary work and development, that in a sense it can't be viewed as equally available as all other forms of psychology.The boundaries of this psychological process emerging from the Red Book, also blur into other things -- into creative/art journaling, into literature, into creative projects like writing fictional stories or making fictional films, into pilgrimages, into what some pagans call "pathworking" or shamanic journeying, into reverie, into "talking to God". For those who have a sufficiently strong ego and have interest and ability to engage in imaginal adventuring, Jung's Red Book and this book's exploration of its meaning, are marvelous support.

The fact that this book even exists is practically a miracle. Jung's The Red Book was only published in 2009 after over seventy years gathering dust, and James Hillman passed away in 2011. That he had an opportunity to read it, reflect on it, have conversations with the one person most knowledgeable of The Red Book and the two put it in perspective for the professional and lay Jungian community... It's just difficult to fathom how we could be so fortunate.First, note that the dustcover is the same color as the inside pages of The Red Book. The book without the dustcover is red, the same red as both the dustcover and cloth cover of The Red Book. Undoubtedly those colors were chosen to be symbolic of its connection with the The Red Book and shows the attention this little volume has received by its publisher.Next, the title, Lament of the Dead, speaks so loudly and on many levels, only one of which is that James Hillman is no longer with us. When I opened this book and read the first few lines, it took my breath away:______James Hillman: I was reading about this practice that the ancient Egyptians had of opening the mouth of the dead. It was a ritual and I think we don't do that with our hands. But opening the Red Book seems to be opening the mouth of the dead.Sonu Shamdasani: It takes blood. That's what it takes. The work is Jung's `Book of the Dead.' His descent into the underworld, in which there's an attempt to find the way of relating to the dead. He comes to the realization that unless we come to terms with the dead we simply cannot live, and that our life is dependent on finding answers to their unanswered questions.______So it is with opening this book, for James Hillman speaks to us practically from the grave. Those words rippled through my perception of my own writing as I read them, not only because Hillman is no longer with us and we are still trying to come to terms with him and the loss of him, but also because I'm getting along in years myself, and my own works have come to reflect more emphasis on the questions of mortality and immortality. That, and I've been engaged in an ongoing project using Jung's active imagination for the last three years, which is of course a process of descending into the underworld, and that work is definitely a book of the dead also, or the undead. I believe that each of us will find something for ourselves reflected in their words.Also, I first ran onto Hillman's work at the suggestion of the late poet Renate Wood some twenty-five years ago. I was struggling with Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus (another story of descent into the underworld), and she recommended that I take a look at a little volume titled Oedipus Variations written by both Hillman and Kerenyi. I was blown away by the depth of Hillman's understanding of Sophocles. Dr. Wood was my mentor, and the gifts she gave me so unassumingly continue to speak to me today. One of them led me to this book. I can still hear her speaking from the grave, and the way she comes to me is as a background voice, someone looking over my shoulder and whispering between-the-lines secrets as I read the words of Hillman and Shamdasani. I have no way of knowing for sure that this book will speak to you as it does to me, but I'm guessing that if you are here reading this review that it will.

Excelente livro.Todos curiosos ou estudiosos do Jung e da psicologia devem lê-lo.Obrigatório! Recomendo comprar o Livro Vermelho do Jung.Indispensável para compreender esta leitura.

This is a stimulating conversation between the editor of the Red Book by Jung, and the great mind of Hillman, a profound interpreter of Jung. They were equally matched and the book was a fascinating read. I couldn't put it down until I finished it.

A must read.

The publication of Jung's  The Red Book: Liber Novus  has generated a great deal of interest as it offers some first hand material transcribed from of what was happening in the period described in  Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Flamingo)  as his "Confrontation with the Unconscious." The point of interest in this book is that it offers commentary on the significance of "The Red Book" by one of its editors and translators, Sonu Shamdasani, and one of Jung's last surviving collaborators, and possibly most creative successor, James Hillman.One of the things that surprises Shadasani early in this book of dialogues is that the publication of the Red Book was Hillman's first direct experience of it. This may be perhaps less of a surprise to readers of one of Hillman's previous books of dialogues,  Inter Views: Conversations with Laura Pozzo on Psychotherapy, Biography, Love, Soul, Dreams, Work, Imagination and the State of the Culture , in which he states, though personally acquainted with Jung, he would not describe himself as one of the inner circle. Readers of Hillman will also be perhaps less surprised by some of his ideas about Jung's work which is less reverent and less inclined to use some of the more abstract technical terms employed by Jungians. Yet for all that, he states how he feels his own work stressing the imagination is largely confirmed by the Red Book and it's contents.From here the two authors go on to discuss the implications the Red Book has for psychology using Shamdasani's scholarship and deep knowledge of the work, combined with Hillman's creative insights which owe much to Jungian lore. Questions discussed include whether Jung was going through a psychosis at the time (something both reject because he continued to be active in many other areas of his life whilst writing the text), the importance of the imaginal characters in the book, and how Jung's journey into the imagination here contrasts with similar journeys from the likes of William Blake and Swedenborg. There is also a discussion of Jung's relationship to religion (especially Christianity), and how much of what Jung's followers have produced actually relates to what Jung was describing in the Red Book.The dialogues range also beyond this, pointing out that the characters described in the Red Book are referred to as "the dead" by Jung. This inevitably brings up the question of who are the dead, with Hillman arguing that this question has a cultural implication connected with the legacy of civilization. Then the book moves to Hillman asking Shamdasani about how he became interested in the book, and the legacy of Jung and his thinking. This is in some ways timely, as Hillman died while this book was being completed. Shamdasani has only added references to the texts of the dialogues.In this the authors are in agreement that the impact of the publication of the The Red Book is only beginning to be felt, with Jungian scholars themselves only beginning to assess it. Shamdasani is, of course, a major player in this, having already produced works such as  Jung and the Making of Modern Psychology: The Dream of a Science  which are important in correcting some of misapprehensions about Jung and at the same time putting his work onto a firmer scholarly and factual basis for future generations to study. "Lament of the Dead" suggests some fascinating directions this might take. The Red Book: Liber NovusMemories, Dreams, Reflections (Flamingo)Inter Views: Conversations with Laura Pozzo on Psychotherapy, Biography, Love, Soul, Dreams, Work, Imagination and the State of the CultureJung and the Making of Modern Psychology: The Dream of a Science

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