The Dream And The Underworld Summary and Reviews

The Dream And The Underworld
by James Hillman

The Dream And The Underworld
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Book Summary Information

Author: James Hillman
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1979-07-25
ISBN: 0060906820
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Book Reviews of The Dream And The Underworld

Book Review: A masterpiece of Depth Psychology.
Summary: 5 Stars

Many readers may be familiar with James A. Hillman's best selling "The Soul's Code." As a best seller, that was within the genre of popular psychology. "The Dream and the Underworld," however deals with the area within psychology of "depth psychology." Our present culture is a milieu in which psychology and psychiatry deal with matters such as biopsychiatry, psychopharmacology, brief psychotherapy, quick fixes. A lot of this climate has to do with third party payments, either by an insurer or an Employee Assistance Plan. A qualified psychiatrist or clinical psychologist may often use Depth Psychology in conjunction with the prescription of medications where time and money are not an issue. Depth psychology seeks to treat the causes of a psychiatric disorder rather than just provide relief from the symptoms. Dream analysis is an art, or science, that has a long-respected history dating back to Biblical times. More recently, it has been the subject of extensive writing by 20th century psychiatrists such as Freud and Jung.

I struggled with the writings of both Freud and Jung on dreams in university courses, having found that they did not read all that well. Rather than say that I follow a particular school of psychological theory, I like the more pragmatic approach of taking what is meaningful from those that I read. Hillman's thesis for "The Dream and the Underworld" is briefly outlined in Chapter 1. It is more like the opening statement that a lawyer might make in presenting a case rather than the abstract that a psychologist might write at the beginning of a journal article. Hillman does not rely on repression or compensation, but deals with the dream in relation with the soul and the soul with death. In the context used by Hillman, the "soul" takes on a meaning that equates to the human "psyche" but with a quasi-religious quality. You should not take Hillman's concept of the soul as necessarily being the same as the soul discussed at church or Sunday school. To study the soul, we must go deep. The study of the soul (going back to the Greek origins of the word "psychology") implies a journey into the depths of the soul.

Classical Greek and Roman literature locates the dreams in the House of Hades. Hillman uses images to begin in this mythological underworld. In many ways, it is similar to his "Pan and the Nightmare." He emphasizes both observation and the insight that follows from drawing of inferences from the metaphor of the myth. This is not a "how to" book. There is an emphasis on the analysis of the dream as a modality of therapy, however, in other pieces of Hillman's writings, he posits the concept that "self therapy" is not effective. One of the essential things Hillman emphasizes is that we should be aware of our dreams. Although not actually so stated, there would be an advantage to keeping a journal where the subject logs his/her dreams. I feel that "The Dream and the Underworld" provides a road map to a greater level of self understanding.

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