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.
When visiting the Metropolitan Museum in New York, after viewing the new exhibits, I always reserve time to be with my ‘old friends’, those paintings created by revered artists that for many years have held deep meaning for me. Reminiscent of my closest friends, I need to see and be with them, to re-experience their poignant presence and awe. Reading Murray Stein's most recent book in many ways has been like my museum experience. Certain artists express a passion that keeps drawing us to their art; a passion that infuses their work with energy that serves as a magnetic field. Dr. Stein's publications constellate an analogous field.
This compilation of insightful papers and book chapters dating from 1973 to 2012 reflects an expansive professional career. It includes mythological, clinical, spiritual, and theoretical ideas. The book mirrors not only the personal development of Dr. Stein as author, academic and clinician, but also the evolution of analytical psychology as a discipline in the field of depth psychology. It reveals an intense commitment to engaging the reader in a process of discernment, comprehension, and insight while exploring the world of Jungian psychoanalysis. Divided into four sections: ‘Psyche and myth’, ‘Clinical themes in Jungian psychoanalysis’, ‘The process of individuation’, ‘Psychology and spirituality’, all with informative introductions which link past and present impressions of the texts and which also facilitate a smooth segue to the next topic. A poignant interview of Dr. Stein by Robert Henderson is also featured. The interview is a compelling justification for valuing depth psychological approaches in a world that demands quick solutions, magic bullets, and the amelioration of any and all pain. Dr. Stein's focus on privileging the place of soul or psyche (for him they are identical, p. 118) in the individual and in the world is central both in the interview and the entirety of the book.
Dr. Stein has immersed himself in the writings of