Creation Myths: Revised Edition

This is a complex topic. The book is very technical. Sometimes a bit difficult to read. That said, if you have patience, it's a rare find. No other place you will find this topic discussed in depth. In that sense it's a gold mine. Takes a bit of an effort to get to it.

There are two kinds of writers of technical information. Those who write to impress and those who write to inform. Marie-Louise Von Franz is the second kind. No sixty five word long sentences, no vague abstract language. Just the facts man, just the facts. A background in Jungian psychology helps. She is my favorite writer along with Aniela Jaffe and Erich Neumann. Although, Neumann can get a little full of himself.

Marie-Louise Von Franz writes about mythology with such intelligence, deep psychological insight and warmth that you are completely drawn in. More than any other writer on mythology, she approaches myths with a profound sense of awe and wonder, not only for the deep wisdom in the myths themselves, but for the humanity that gives them their many different expressions. After reading this book, if you do not see 'being in the world' with new eyes as something marvellous, the most precious of gifts, you are not fully alive. That's how strongly I feel about this book, and about this compassionate, erudite woman.

This is a well written book which captivates my interest in how creation myths influence our attitudes about life. Well worth the read.

You understand mankind

everyone should know these myths so they won't literalize all the major religions and drive themselves nuts.

This is a beautifully written work by Carl Jung's primary disciple who writes in an easily understood manner, though some background in Jungian psychology would be helpful in approaching this material. The book includes many creation myths from various cultures including American Indian, Germanic, Indian, etc. with a few references to modern myths. The author relates these myths not only to each other and to certain overarching principles of psychology but also to Alchemy, dreams, neuroses, schizophrenia, and other psychological processes. IMHO the many similarities elucidated parallel both General Systems Theory (GST) and biogenetic/recapitulation theory. The myths as a whole apparently describe the psychological growth process of individuals (individuation in Jungian terms)--reminiscent of the Hermetic Law: "As above, so below; as below, so above" i.e. the macrocosm and microcosm reflect each other--much like a hologram or the relationship between the ego and the Self. As von Franz mentions, the acorn "contains" the oak; applying this to humans, each cell has the DNA of the whole being--each is a whole in potentia (e.g. via cloning).More specifically, von Franz provides extensive & highly illuminating discussions on the psychological projection process, the nature of schizophrenia (and its treatment), important differences between the Feeling & Thinking functions for research & therapy, the nature of "the archetypal" (as in creation myths) as related to the Collective Unconscious, the relationship between complexes & the ego, the relationship between preconscious & unconscious, & the psychological interpretation of myth & dream.This volume includes numerous quotations worth preserving and studying, including:PSYCHOLOGICAL PROGRESSp. 2: Wherever known reality stops, where we touch the unknown, there we project an archetypal image... The snake which bites its own tail, the Ouroboros motif, comes up where man reaches the end of his conscious knowledge.p. 5: They [creation myths] represent unconscious and preconscious processes which describe not the origin of our cosmos, but the origin of man's conscious awareness of the world.p. 35: The story of the origin of the world, and the origin of awareness of the world, are absolutely coinciding factors.p. 244: It is only when I begin to have an inner uneasiness, a feeling that what I assert about this object is not quite right, when I have a kind of bad conscience about what I say, that I develop a state of mind in which I can ask myself, 'Is this a projection? What would it be if the object were different?' [cognitive dissonance yielding a new paradigm or viewpoint--see p. 160 quote below]CREATIVITY & UNDERSTANDINGp. 37: People who tend to have those creative depressions, if they can anticipate them by playing, need not have the depression, and whenever one can induce a person in such a heavy depression to start playing in some way, the state of depression is lifted and once.p. 247: In psychology one cannot and must not approach these contacts with the thinking function alone. For a psychological interpretation we need the feeling function, which considers the feeling tone of an archetypal image as well as its logical connections with other images. [context~ F as well as content ~T]p. 277: Most creative people, as you probably know, have a tendency to playfulness; they produce, even in their spare time, funny little ideas and all sorts of creative playfulness.PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS & RESISTANCE TO GROWTHp. 72: The washing obsession, washing 40 times a day, or something like that. Obviously people who have such an obsession should wash, not the dirt on their hands, but their psychic shadow.p. 160: Every step forward toward building up more consciousness destroys a previous living balance [psychological paradigm]...and is one of the reasons why one is very attached and loyal to his neurosis and has generally great feeling trouble in separating from his former neurotic situation. One of the great therapeutic difficulties is that there is a certain instinctive resistance to being cured.p. 193: Some people out of unconscious anxiety have a constant word diarrhea. They are afraid of something and constantly have to fill the empty space around them with a lot of hot air--because silence would bring up the real thing, which is terrifying because unknown.p. 277: A lot of energy characterized by the giant and Titan forms. One must never forget that man's greatest passion, greater than any other, is probably laziness, and to overcome the passion of laziness one needs a lot of energy.

The author approaches the psychology behind the creation myths and then give sample stories. The story choices are good, but the psychology is a little dense for me. I was following along pretty well, and then she started in with some complex theories without stating any examples that would help clarify her point and she completely lost me. However, I only wanted the stories anyway so I just skipped all the dense analyses. This book is not what I was expecting, but not a complete loss either.

excellent

This book was a classic example of an honest shopkeeper selling me something that sounds like something that I needed, but is something drastically different.I was (am!) looking for a book that compares various creation myths prevailing in societies that are geographically and culturally different from each other. With the help of such comparison, I had hoped, the turning points of development of human mind and body can be understood in a more sociological perspective. Instead, I ended up with a book that 'explains' creation myths in terms of Jung's theories!That wouldn't have been bad. Unfortunately, I found the writing to be pedantic to the point of being soporific. Worse, the entire narrative structure was aimed at fitting facts into preconceived structures rather than developing a new picture. Harari has done it in style. But this book, probably because it was borne out of lectures aimed at a particular group, miserably fails in making the stories vibrate or vibrant.Perhaps, to the target audience, it serves the purpose. Hence so many high ratings.As far as I am concerned, this was a waste of money. I would search for a more comprehensive and lucid book in future.

No one could discuss Creation Myths from a Jungian perspective with the insight and breadth of knowledge M.L. von Franz has.