Kierkegaard has a lot to say about self-deception. He has a lot to say about how resilient our self-deceptions are. He has an awful lot to say about authenticity… I think what Jungian psychology really needs, is a Kierkegaard.”
In this episode, I had the great pleasure to speak to scholar Amy Cook who’s written a bold and beautiful book comparing the psychological projects of the Danish philosopher and Christian existentialist Søren Kierkegaard and C.G Jung.
Amy helps us shed new light on Jung’s psychological project by comparing it to Kierkegaards, who she describes as a shadow figure of Jung. The conversation dives into the relationship between knowledge, religious experience, and belief, Jung’s own struggle with his Christian faith and their respective renderings of individuation and the imitatio Christi. It asks the fundamental question; if Analytical psychology should be seen as working within the tradition of Christianity or can be viewed as a break with it.
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Amy’s book: Jung and Kierkegaard – Researching a kindred Spirit in the shadows, (Routledge 2018)
Biography
Amy Cook graduated with a degree in history from the University of Aberdeen in 2005. She went on to study a Masters degree in philosophy and psychoanalysis at Essex University before completing another Masters degree in Jungian and Post-Jungian studies. Her Phd. dissertation from Bangor University became the foundation of this, her first book.
Music
Music played in this episode is licensed under creativecommons.org:
‘Ketsa – Hard sell’
‘Ketsa – No light without darkness’