Freud, Jung, & Spiritual Psychology: Five Lectures Held in Dornach and Munich Between February 25, 1912, and July 2, 1921

Rudolf Steiner

Anthroposophic Press, 2001 - Psychology - 141 pages

A collection of talks on Psychology (CW 143, 178, 205)

"These lectures on psychoanalysis and spiritual psychology, given at the very time when the 'talking cure' was in its beginnings, force us to confront the inadequate knowledge used in founding psychoanalysis and psychotherapy as a method of soul work.... A truly spiritual psychology leads to wisdom of the soul [and] not only takes us out of the limited domain of psychology as concerned with subjective states and into the broader culture, it also takes us into an understanding of the body as the necessary organ through which spiritual perception must find its orientation." --Robert Sardello (from the introduction)

In these five talks, Rudolf Steiner laid out the foundations for a truly spiritual psychology. The first two lectures take a critical look at the principles of Freud and Jung's early work. The last three lectures describe the threefold structure of human consciousness and then outline a psychological approach that considers both the soul's hidden powers and the complex connections between psychological and organic, bodily processes.

Robert Sardello, codirector of The School of Spiritual Psychology, contributed an important and provocative introduction from the perspective of a practicing psychotherapist.

This is an important work for understanding Steiner's views on psychoanalytic practices as they appeared in the first quarter of the twentieth century.

CONTENTS:

Introduction by Robert J. Sardello

"Anthroposophy and Psychoanalysis," part 1
"Anthroposophy and Psychoanalysis," part 2
"Spiritual Psychology: Subconscious and Supraconscious"
"Hidden Depths of Soul"
"Organic Processes and Soul Life."

A previous edition of this book was titled Psychoanalysis & Spiritual Psychology.

About the author

Austrian-born Rudolf Steiner was a noted Goethe (see Vol. 2) scholar and private student of the occult who became involved with Theosophy in Germany in 1902, when he met Annie Besant (1847--1933), a devoted follower of Madame Helena P. Blavatsky (1831--1891). In 1912 he broke with the Theosophists because of what he regarded as their oriental bias and established a system of his own, which he called Anthroposophy (anthro meaning "man"; sophia sophia meaning "wisdom"), a "spiritual science" he hoped would restore humanism to a materialistic world. In 1923 he set up headquarters for the Society of Anthroposophy in New York City. Steiner believed that human beings had evolved to the point where material existence had obscured spiritual capacities and that Christ had come to reverse that trend and to inaugurate an age of spiritual reintegration. He advocated that education, art, agriculture, and science be based on spiritual principles and infused with the psychic powers he believed were latent in everyone. The world center of the Anhthroposophical Society today is in Dornach, Switzerland, in a building designed by Steiner. The nonproselytizing society is noted for its schools.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Freud, Jung, & Spiritual Psychology: Five Lectures Held in Dornach and Munich Between February 25, 1912, and July 2, 1921
• Author: Rudolf Steiner
• Edition: 3
• Publisher: Anthroposophic Press, 2001
• ISBN: 0880104929, 9780880104920
• Length: 141 pages
• Subjects: Psychology / History