Carl Jung’s so-called ‘confrontation with the unconscious’ as described in his Red Book, and also in a summarised, sanitised version in one chapter of Memories, Dreams, Reflections. As I’ve noted in earlier articles, some commentators have described this period as madness, a psychosis, or a ‘creative illness’. Others have suggested that Jung was certifiably schizophrenic. Jung himself, however, said that this inner journey was highly significant for his inner development, and the inspiration for the remainder of his life’s work.
That sets the scene perfectly for this new article about Joseph Campbell, almost certainly the greatest mythologist of all time, for chapter 10 of his Myths to Live By¹ is entitled ‘Schizophrenia — the Inward Journey’. He says there that, having read a paper by John Weir Perry, he learned that “the imagery of schizophrenic fantasy perfectly matches that of the mythological hero journey”. (Perry contributed a chapter to Spiritual Emergency by Stanislav and Christina Grof, which was the subject of the previous article.)
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