Memories, Dreams, Reflections

Dr. Jung's Life Would Make A Good Movie

An excellent autobiography from the psychiatrist who gave us the concept of synchronicity.

This book should be required reading/listening for anybody entering the field of Jungian psychology. It is also valuable for anybody who want to see how a self-actualized individual sees the world and participates in it. Most people never unify their inner worlds with their outer ones - there is always the "out there" and the "in here" - but Jung was aware of this unity. Without this unity, how would synchronicity be possible?

I was surprised to learn how Carl Jung’s ideas were extensions of his own life, not just concepts he pulled out of the air. His ongoing life and career were filled with synchronicities and moments of heightened consciousness. I was already familiar with the story of the patient who had a dream about an Egyptian scarab beetle. As she told Jung about the beetle dream, the Swiss equivalent to it flew to the window of his office. The book has many stories like that. For example, there was the spontaneous splitting of a wooden table in his house, and another time the spontaneous and noisy cracking of a kitchen knife. Neither had been touched. There was a similar incident when he met with Sigmund Freud.

It was fascinating to see how Carl Jung’s internal life of visions and dreams participated in his work to assist patients. When he wrote his memoir, people did not speak easily about dreams and visions…especially when some of these dreams were precognitive and about the deaths of people.

The story of his own medical crisis, which started with a broken foot that led to a heart attack and then deteriorated to the point of death, was eye-opening. I was not aware Jung had experienced a near death experience. I will not spoil the story except to say his dream about the doctor who saved his life is just another example of how naturally psychic Jung was.

The narration by James Cameron Stewart was excellent. He did not imitate Carl Jung, so there was no contrived Swiss accent, but there were a few times when I forgot the book was being narrated by somebody other than Dr. Jung. Ben Kingsley achieved the same effect when he narrated the autobiography of Swami Yogananda. The choice of Stewart as narrator was smart.

It will be easy to listen again to this memoir. There is still more to learn from the story of Jung’s life.

25 of 25 people found this review helpful

Great narration of a magnificent man

10/10

My only complaint is that I was sad when it ended. Look up James Hillman if you want something similar to Jung.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

My favorite Audible production so far

Not only is Jung's life story unusually unique and compelling, but after hearing this book James Cameron Stewart is 100% my favorite narrator, and he REALLY captures Jung's thoughts and brings them to life in a highly original way; Stewart really goes above and beyond the standards that other narrators set for themselves. It's not just that he articulates and adds inflection in the right places, you really get the feeling that he read the book first and took notes in order to understand it and narrate it correctly.

Jung's story is unbelievably close to my own, in such a way that Stewart's narration makes it an even more hauntingly brilliant experience for me. Jung was misunderstood by so many people, and his intentions were not clearly read by others. The experiences that most influenced him were frequently negative in an arbitrary way, that is, it is as though he was picked out by others for unfair treatment (many great people are, it seems to me) but I am not great and it makes me that much more flattered that my own story has so much in common with Jung's.

This book is "Chicken soup for MY soul." If you listen to this book, I hope it is as rewarding for you as it has been for me.

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

A nice one work to get a handle on Jung

This book had Jung's direct involvement in the creation and he is a very reflective thinker. It goes in broad categories through his young life and the shaping and influences his experiences and his reflections had on his writings and thought and gives one a map of the development of psychology and to some degree psychiatry in the 20th century. The narration is perfect and fits this perfectly for an English speaker.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

NARRATIVE WAS SPOT ON!

I really enjoy this in depth look at a legend. These are his most personal thoughts and reflections. This is a journey inside a man who was wrestling with life's hardest questions. Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going?

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Deep reflection from a brilliant man

I loved the first three quarters of the book, all based on life experience but honestly struggled at times toward the end, getting lost in Latin verbiage and extreme abstract thought, but such is the mystery of Jung.

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

loved it

profound book, many things came together, many new topics came up for further research. easy listen, wonderful narration.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Felt like I was listening to his inner voice

Beautifully narrated, this book is like listening to C.G. Jung's inner voice as he thinks about his life and focuses here and there on his childhood, his work, his travels, his family and relationships and especially his dreams and journeys into a world beyond the physical.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Fantastic Mind

My wife thought it was boring but I couldn't stop listening for some reason.

Jung is just fascinating, plain and simple and anyone remotely interested in learning about him or his theories will enjoy this book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not a way to understand the work of Jung

Any additional comments?

Having not read Jung, I thought this might be a good way to get acquainted. This was not what I was looking for. The book is self-indulgent as we don't really care about his daydreams as an infant nor his flights of imagination on life after death. You might think these apparitions are treated to a Jungian analysis and deliver insight. They don't.To be frank it is largely drivel. We know that Jung values inner experience, what I did not understand was that Jung was possibly suffering from psychosis himself, perhaps struggles to separate reality from fantasy, and preoccupies himself with his own hallucinations and dreams. His relationships do not interest him. His inner illusions he finds of extreme importance and he wrestled with them. His delusions and imaginings were not interesting to me.

4 of 6 people found this review helpful