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We should know what our convictions are, and stand for them. Upon one's own philosophy, conscious or unconscious, depends one's ultimate interpretation of the facts. Therefore it is wise to be as clear as possible about one's subjective principles. As the man is, so will be his ultimate truth.
This book review serves to honour the life of Yoram Kaufmann who died on 21 July 2009, following a brief bout with pancreatic cancer. The Way of the Image, his only book, was published just a week before he died—a few months shy of his 70th birthday. He was born on 3 October 1939 in Israel. (An additional detail, for the astrologically minded, is that the time of his death corresponded with the moment of the most significant total eclipse of the sun in this century.) Between those dates, Yoram was a PhD candidate in physics (in Israel), moved to the United States, earned a PhD in clinical psychology from NYU, married, and trained to be an analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute of New York. At the training institute, he was in a generation of analysts who came in contact with Edward Edinger and Christopher Whitmont.
Yoram's primary insight and the overall topic of his book are that all images carry within them the information needed to diagnose and treat mental illness. What is more, images that arise from a particular person present the specific guidelines for that person. The term he used to designate these guidelines is the orient of the image. Although this seems simple, the consequences of following it through are quite striking. This book explains how to find the orient and how to apply the guidelines to clinical practice.
Since Yoram was deeply concerned with the pedagogical aspects of theory (more than the charismatic or personal parts) it was through a careful study of Jung's work that his methodology was fleshed out and to which it can return for reference. The volume he taught most often was Aion (1959/1979), with Psychology and Alchemy (1953/1980) close b