Jung's Map of the Soul: An Introduction

This is my second (or third?) time reading this (and most likely not my last) and I can now say that I’m excited to take on some of the primary texts of Jung. This is the most important information that I will come back to and ponder for my whole life. These concepts, paired with therapy and my own personal dream analysis are most helpful to me in life.The author writes clearly and simply, defining the concepts concisely. Each chapter includes a bit of background information before he dives into the main topic, including where Jung was in his career as well as a brief introduction to the primary texts that the author is citing. This is great for readers as it can inspire us to look into those primary texts ourselves to deepen our knowledge.All in all, this is a great beginning to a lifetime of studying and contemplating Jungian psychology.

My favorite parts of this book are about the shadow, and the persona. This helped me understand myself and close relationships so much better. Some of the concepts overlap (I think) with videos I’ve seen from Teal Swan, specifically the parts about a person’s shadow & fragmentation.One of my favorite lines on page 43 about when a person’s shadow complex is triggered: “For the psychologically-minded, there is the depressing knowledge that one has been here many times before, has reacted in just this way on many occasions, and yet is utterly helpless to refrain from doing the same thing again this time.”

I covered much of this in university psychology class years ago, so decided to recently reread it again. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, since the chapters are reasonably concise. Jung's theories can be incredibly difficult and complex, yet they are presented in an understandable manner in this text. The theories that inspired my thinking and changed my understanding of the world back in university still stand up for me today. I am glad I went through this again. I highly recommend this as a wonderful starting point to the thoughts and beliefs of Jung.

This is a nice overview of the key features of Jung’s thought. Stein lays the groundwork for digging more deeply into the Jungian view of personhood accessibly. Stein does a good job distinguishing frequently used terms like “constellating” and terms that in more common parlance seem to mean one thing, but are used differently by Jung, such as “ego” and “self.”I purchased both the kindle and the audible versions. The reader on the audible production is not the best. He reads a tad too fast (such that slowing down the narration on the Kindle Fire is too slow and normal speed too fast) and tends to end each sentence on an upward inflection. This gives the narrated version of the book a kind of continuous sense of urgency that does not lend itself to contemplation.The kindle version of the text is fine. While I didn’t find the illustrations toward the end of the text particularly explanatory, at least they showed up well on the device, unlike the way illustrations sometimes are frustratingly produced in kindle versions. I appreciated that.

A ludid dreamer returning to a Familiar dark valley surrounded by blooding mountains and errie shadows would i suspect benefit enormously from the chance discovery of a map showing a way out of the labyrinth. Such night walkers as jung and the buddha represent the best articulation of the minds capacity to liberate itself from its own compelling apparency.....ther only question or doubt i have is if one can settle for anothers version of what liberaration is. i loved the synchronicity chapters. The secret acasual relationship that exist between the perceptual cracks of apparent perceptual reality. The mind i suspects represents our darkest dreams and so yes it seems pretty amazing to discover that one can actually live a lucid life of infginite possibilities....I am a myselof one of the invisible people, uneducated and in articulate. Word unlike true meaning or feeling are such juggled things. As far as maps go this is a beauty and would seem to lead to some possibility of inner light or freedom... be happyv its not as bad as it looks orn feels.

Very helpful introduction to many of Jung'd ideas. Very helpful to understand certain terminology before embarking on the journey of reading Jung himself.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as it was my introduction to Jung. The chapters are accessible and reasonably concise. Jung's theories can be incredibly dense, and yet they are presented in an understandable manner here. I don't necessarily agree with all of Jung's ideas, but his thought has deeply inspired my thinking and changed my understanding of the world. I highly recommend this as an introduction that provides a comprehensive overview of Jungian theory, and so is an excellent starting point to help you understand his often difficult works.

I was in my early twenties when I first discovered Jung. In the past 20 years I have been reading Jung, Kant, schopenhauer and others to obtain a good grasp. I have been determined to read books written by Jung since I was not interested in understanding Jung through others. This book was my first reading about Jungian psychology explained by some one else. It is a fantastic read. Stein provides a comprehensive in-depth analysis of Jung's insights and thoughts in a very clear and enjoyable text. Loved it and wished had read long ago. It would have kicked me years forward with my self studies.