You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This book brings together papers by analysts and specialists in the fields of gerontology and spirituality delivered at a symposium convened in 2012 by the Jung Society of Washington in partnership with the Library of Congress and supported by the AARP Foundation. The title, according to the Foreword and the Introduction, was variously Jung and Aging: Bringing to Life the Possibilities and Potentials for Vibrant Aging or Jung and Aging: Bringing to Life the Possibilities and Potentials for Vital Aging. Both capture the spirit of these 13 papers, some amplified from the conference with the addition of a few new ones.
There are four parts to the book: Part I The Second Half of Life: A Time of Growth and New Meaning; Part II Psychological Perspectives on Navigating the Second Half of Life; Part III Gerontological Perspectives on Successful Aging and Part IV Finding Meaning: Spirituality in the Second Half of Life. In Part I, one of the editors, Leslie Sawin, who develops educational programmes bringing Jungian ideas to the general public, makes ‘The Case for a Jungian View of Aging’, which offers a general introduction to the symposium and to Jung's perspective on the stages of life.
Jungian analyst and former geriatric psychiatrist Lionel Corbett expands on this in his substantial and wide-ranging chapter ‘Successful Aging: Jungian Contributions to Development in Later Life’. He emphasizes the importance of the deepening of spiritual life and the growth of creativity, amongst other developmental tasks of later life, and their role in individuation. His clinical experience and studies of spiritual practice inform his writing, which also incorporates valuable references to research studies into aging.
In Part II, papers by two Jungian analysts, Joseph Cambray and Michael Conforti, and psychoanalyst Robert Langs, contribute psychoanalytic perspectives on the aging process. Cambray, in ‘Emergence and Longevity: Some Psychological Possibilities of Later Life’, aims to ‘move o