I am a Jungian scholar specializing in the implications of C. G. Jung's psychology and theories, as well as their applicability and relevance to the findings of twenty-first century science.
Published in Quadrant: Journal of the C. G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology, 2023
Carl Jung’s study of Hinduism influenced the development of analytical psychology. A review of th... more Carl Jung’s study of Hinduism influenced the development of analytical psychology. A review of the relevant literature further highlights several parallels between key ideas in analytical psychology and the Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism. In particular, there are notable similarities between the psychological concept of the Self and the Atman in Hinduism, which Jung mentioned in his writings. The scientific model of dual-aspect monism and Advaita Vedanta seem to describe the same unitary reality from which the world of appearances arises and suggests that from one come the many, ex uno multis.
Jung's Red Book for Our Time: Searching for Soul, 2020
Carl Jung's Red Book could be viewed as a pre-modern graphic novel in that there is a clear corre... more Carl Jung's Red Book could be viewed as a pre-modern graphic novel in that there is a clear correlation between the visual fantasies portrayed in the Red Book and the use of graphic images to convey a story in modern comics and graphic novels. The paper presents the Red Book as a pre-modern graphic novel and highlights a number of parallels and similarities with the said genre. Jung's characterization of the central protagonist, a youthful aid, invokes a anti-hero mythology, not unlike what we find in the Batman.
Michael Maier’s peregrination is reminiscent of Jung’s individuation process, which in his semina... more Michael Maier’s peregrination is reminiscent of Jung’s individuation process, which in his seminal work Symbols of the Golden Table of the Twelve Nations leads the former through the four continents of the world in search of the phoenix. The continents psychologically correspond to one of the four function of consciousness: Europe (sensation), America (feeling), Asia (thinking), and Africa (intuition). Each leg of his journey takes him through a function of consciousness until he arrives at his inferior function (i.e., Africa) where he encounters the Erythraean Sybil. Sybil is an anima figure who tells Maier where he should search for Mercury who knows the whereabouts of the phoenix. Jung viewed transitioning from three to four as the central problem of the story. Beyond Jung’s initial investigation and Edinger’s supplementary commentary, scholarly study of the literary work is limited. The paper aims at further exploring the phoenix as a symbol of transformation through the lens of Maier’s allegory and Jung’s alchemical studies. By comparing Jung’s individuation process and Maier’s figurative peregrination, the paper also aspires to show the value that alchemical symbolism still has for contemporary culture and provide new perspectives on the phoenix as a symbol of renewal for Jung’s time and our own.
Colors could be viewed as as essential exponents of psychological life. C.G. Jung studied color s... more Colors could be viewed as as essential exponents of psychological life. C.G. Jung studied color symbolism for their archetypal significance and discovered a correlation between certain colors and the four functions of consciousness—thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuiting--which are fundamental components of his theory of psychological types. The paper explores this color symbolism and its archetypal parallels.
Individuation is a central idea in analytical psychology, and figures heavily into Jung's hypothe... more Individuation is a central idea in analytical psychology, and figures heavily into Jung's hypothesis that the psyche has a natural propensity to look forward in a purposeful way. Symbol formation is a key function to the process of individuation and, that like the archetypes, its attendant phenomena are universal.
The paper addresses personality type in the military. I examine the notion of psychological attit... more The paper addresses personality type in the military. I examine the notion of psychological attitudes, extraversion and introversion, as well as what I view as a collective persona that characterizes the public's view of the military. The military, and more specifically the Army, conduct several kinds of operations and not only combat operations. Introversion as well plays a incalculably important role in military culture as I aspire to illustrate anecdotally throughout the article.
Cognitive bias is a perennial problem in military intelligence, which can be effectively managed,... more Cognitive bias is a perennial problem in military intelligence, which can be effectively managed, but not overcome, through the application of type theory. The author draws from his experiences during a deployment to Kosovo and suggests ways that Jung’s theory of psychological types can help address the mindset challenge which so often besets intelligence analysis in a real world environment.
e publication of e Red Book (2009) has provided a better appreciation of
C.G. Jung’s use of the... more e publication of e Red Book (2009) has provided a better appreciation of C.G. Jung’s use of the imagination while exploring the unconscious. e imagination seems to have its own way of knowing that informs Jung’s active imagination, Henry Corbin’s mundus imaginalis, and the Islamic notion of ta’wil. Jung’s notion of a collective unconscious coincides in a number of ways with the mundus imaginalis. Corbin’s rendering of the mundus imaginalis and Jung’s collective unconscious seem to intimate a return to the root metaphors of human experience. All of these ideas suggest that image is essential to the formation of knowledge.
This dissertation employs a hermeneutic methodology via deductive and imaginal approaches which c... more This dissertation employs a hermeneutic methodology via deductive and imaginal approaches which chiefly rely on Liber Novus and Jung’s Collected Works to examine image 169 and critically situate the work in a hermeneutic framework. The purpose of this study is to explore the likely relationship between image 169 and Jung’s personal myth and his individual cosmology. I also consider how image 169 may shed light on the meaning of Jung’s psychology and analyze the figures depicted in image 169. Jung did not realize his personal myth until around 1930, which coincides with the probable year he began painting image 169. From the earliest moments of Jung’s childhood, he experienced elaborate fantasies, which culminated in his confrontation with the unconscious. Between 1913 and 1916, Jung documented his fantasies in a series of black notebooks, which he later transcribed into Liber Novus: The Red Book. Jung’s experiences during this time period compelled him to consider the relationship between the living personality and the community of the dead. Image 169 suggests a pictorial formulation of Jung’s psychology and what I have termed as the apocatastasis of the dead. Both Western and Eastern sources seem to have influenced Jung’s rendering of the image, as evidenced by his study of Zimmer’s Artistic Form and Yoga in the Sacred Images of India, the Shri-Chakra-Sambhara Tantra, and the fantasies of Kristine Mann. Key words: liber novus, personal myth, apocatastasis, the dead, individuation, mandala, self
Published in Quadrant: Journal of the C. G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology, 2023
Carl Jung’s study of Hinduism influenced the development of analytical psychology. A review of th... more Carl Jung’s study of Hinduism influenced the development of analytical psychology. A review of the relevant literature further highlights several parallels between key ideas in analytical psychology and the Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism. In particular, there are notable similarities between the psychological concept of the Self and the Atman in Hinduism, which Jung mentioned in his writings. The scientific model of dual-aspect monism and Advaita Vedanta seem to describe the same unitary reality from which the world of appearances arises and suggests that from one come the many, ex uno multis.
Jung's Red Book for Our Time: Searching for Soul, 2020
Carl Jung's Red Book could be viewed as a pre-modern graphic novel in that there is a clear corre... more Carl Jung's Red Book could be viewed as a pre-modern graphic novel in that there is a clear correlation between the visual fantasies portrayed in the Red Book and the use of graphic images to convey a story in modern comics and graphic novels. The paper presents the Red Book as a pre-modern graphic novel and highlights a number of parallels and similarities with the said genre. Jung's characterization of the central protagonist, a youthful aid, invokes a anti-hero mythology, not unlike what we find in the Batman.
Michael Maier’s peregrination is reminiscent of Jung’s individuation process, which in his semina... more Michael Maier’s peregrination is reminiscent of Jung’s individuation process, which in his seminal work Symbols of the Golden Table of the Twelve Nations leads the former through the four continents of the world in search of the phoenix. The continents psychologically correspond to one of the four function of consciousness: Europe (sensation), America (feeling), Asia (thinking), and Africa (intuition). Each leg of his journey takes him through a function of consciousness until he arrives at his inferior function (i.e., Africa) where he encounters the Erythraean Sybil. Sybil is an anima figure who tells Maier where he should search for Mercury who knows the whereabouts of the phoenix. Jung viewed transitioning from three to four as the central problem of the story. Beyond Jung’s initial investigation and Edinger’s supplementary commentary, scholarly study of the literary work is limited. The paper aims at further exploring the phoenix as a symbol of transformation through the lens of Maier’s allegory and Jung’s alchemical studies. By comparing Jung’s individuation process and Maier’s figurative peregrination, the paper also aspires to show the value that alchemical symbolism still has for contemporary culture and provide new perspectives on the phoenix as a symbol of renewal for Jung’s time and our own.
Colors could be viewed as as essential exponents of psychological life. C.G. Jung studied color s... more Colors could be viewed as as essential exponents of psychological life. C.G. Jung studied color symbolism for their archetypal significance and discovered a correlation between certain colors and the four functions of consciousness—thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuiting--which are fundamental components of his theory of psychological types. The paper explores this color symbolism and its archetypal parallels.
Individuation is a central idea in analytical psychology, and figures heavily into Jung's hypothe... more Individuation is a central idea in analytical psychology, and figures heavily into Jung's hypothesis that the psyche has a natural propensity to look forward in a purposeful way. Symbol formation is a key function to the process of individuation and, that like the archetypes, its attendant phenomena are universal.
The paper addresses personality type in the military. I examine the notion of psychological attit... more The paper addresses personality type in the military. I examine the notion of psychological attitudes, extraversion and introversion, as well as what I view as a collective persona that characterizes the public's view of the military. The military, and more specifically the Army, conduct several kinds of operations and not only combat operations. Introversion as well plays a incalculably important role in military culture as I aspire to illustrate anecdotally throughout the article.
Cognitive bias is a perennial problem in military intelligence, which can be effectively managed,... more Cognitive bias is a perennial problem in military intelligence, which can be effectively managed, but not overcome, through the application of type theory. The author draws from his experiences during a deployment to Kosovo and suggests ways that Jung’s theory of psychological types can help address the mindset challenge which so often besets intelligence analysis in a real world environment.
e publication of e Red Book (2009) has provided a better appreciation of
C.G. Jung’s use of the... more e publication of e Red Book (2009) has provided a better appreciation of C.G. Jung’s use of the imagination while exploring the unconscious. e imagination seems to have its own way of knowing that informs Jung’s active imagination, Henry Corbin’s mundus imaginalis, and the Islamic notion of ta’wil. Jung’s notion of a collective unconscious coincides in a number of ways with the mundus imaginalis. Corbin’s rendering of the mundus imaginalis and Jung’s collective unconscious seem to intimate a return to the root metaphors of human experience. All of these ideas suggest that image is essential to the formation of knowledge.
This dissertation employs a hermeneutic methodology via deductive and imaginal approaches which c... more This dissertation employs a hermeneutic methodology via deductive and imaginal approaches which chiefly rely on Liber Novus and Jung’s Collected Works to examine image 169 and critically situate the work in a hermeneutic framework. The purpose of this study is to explore the likely relationship between image 169 and Jung’s personal myth and his individual cosmology. I also consider how image 169 may shed light on the meaning of Jung’s psychology and analyze the figures depicted in image 169. Jung did not realize his personal myth until around 1930, which coincides with the probable year he began painting image 169. From the earliest moments of Jung’s childhood, he experienced elaborate fantasies, which culminated in his confrontation with the unconscious. Between 1913 and 1916, Jung documented his fantasies in a series of black notebooks, which he later transcribed into Liber Novus: The Red Book. Jung’s experiences during this time period compelled him to consider the relationship between the living personality and the community of the dead. Image 169 suggests a pictorial formulation of Jung’s psychology and what I have termed as the apocatastasis of the dead. Both Western and Eastern sources seem to have influenced Jung’s rendering of the image, as evidenced by his study of Zimmer’s Artistic Form and Yoga in the Sacred Images of India, the Shri-Chakra-Sambhara Tantra, and the fantasies of Kristine Mann. Key words: liber novus, personal myth, apocatastasis, the dead, individuation, mandala, self
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Papers by Kiley Laughlin
C.G. Jung’s use of the imagination while exploring the unconscious. e imagination
seems to have its own way of knowing that informs Jung’s active imagination,
Henry Corbin’s mundus imaginalis, and the Islamic notion of ta’wil.
Jung’s notion of a collective unconscious coincides in a number of ways with the
mundus imaginalis. Corbin’s rendering of the mundus imaginalis and Jung’s collective
unconscious seem to intimate a return to the root metaphors of human
experience. All of these ideas suggest that image is essential to the formation of
knowledge.
Books by Kiley Laughlin
Key words: liber novus, personal myth, apocatastasis, the dead, individuation, mandala, self
C.G. Jung’s use of the imagination while exploring the unconscious. e imagination
seems to have its own way of knowing that informs Jung’s active imagination,
Henry Corbin’s mundus imaginalis, and the Islamic notion of ta’wil.
Jung’s notion of a collective unconscious coincides in a number of ways with the
mundus imaginalis. Corbin’s rendering of the mundus imaginalis and Jung’s collective
unconscious seem to intimate a return to the root metaphors of human
experience. All of these ideas suggest that image is essential to the formation of
knowledge.
Key words: liber novus, personal myth, apocatastasis, the dead, individuation, mandala, self