Wisdom of the Psyche: Beyond neuroscience

251 Pages·2016·1.133 MB·English

by  Ginette Paris

Wisdom of the Psyche
The first edition of Wisdom of the Psycheengaged with one of the
main dilemmas of contemporary psychology and psychotherapy:
how to integrate findings and insights from neuroscience and
medicine into an approach to healing founded upon activation of
the imagination. In this revised edition, Ginette Paris re-focuses her
attention on the modern lack of desire to become adult and updates
the book with brand new neuroscientific research.
Paris uses cogent and passionate argument, as well as stories from
patients, to demonstrate that the human psyche seeks to destroy
relationships and lives as well as to sustain them. She makes clear
that the way out of those destructive states does not start with an
upward, positive, wilful effort of the ego, but with an opening of
the imagination, and aims to foster the dialogue between psycho-
therapists and neuroscientists. In clear and accessible language,
Paris describes how depth psychology can be seen as a subject of
the humanities rather than the sciences, and explains how gaining
an understanding of neuroscience will not necessarily make us
psychologically wiser.
A unique and powerful book, Wisdom of the Psyche will be
fascinating reading for Jungian and depth psychologists, psycho-
therapists, analysts and others in the helping professions, as well as
students and those in training, and readers with an interest in
psychology and neuroscience who want to create an inner life worth
living.
Ginette Paris is a psychologist, therapist and writer. She teaches
Archetypal and Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in
Santa Barbara, California. She is the author of several other books,
translated into seven languages.
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Wisdom of the Psyche
Beyond neuroscience
Revised edition
Ginette Paris
Revised edition published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
And by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Ginette Paris
The right of Ginette Paris to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
First published 2007 by Routledge
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Paris, Ginette, 1946- author.
Wisdom of the psyche : beyond neuroscience / Ginette Paris. --
Revised edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Psychoanalysis. 2. Subconsciousness. 3. Jungian psychology. 4.
Neurosciences. 5. Wisdom. I. Title.
BF175.P275 2016
150.19’5--dc23
2015029541
ISBN: 978-1-138-90085-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-90086-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-70037-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Florence Productions
In memoriam
James Hillman 1926–2011
Mentor, friend, revolutionary psychologist
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Contents
Preface xi
A plunge in the abyss xii
A question of life and death xiii
Introduction 1
Denting my thick skull 1
1 A fable: mom, dad, and me, me, me 13
Wisdom can be learned 13
The cast of characters 15
Archetypal Child 15
Archetypal Mother 15
Archetypal Father 16
2 Mother as archetype 22
The dark side of mother 23
Do you love me or do you need me? 24
Neurotic contracts 26
Hard and soft 28
The psychic home 29
Get off the cross, we need the wood 31
Here is your mother; thou shall not devour her 33
I am a household appliance 34
Crying is active 38
The maternal quality of a country, a house, a college,
a garden 40
viii Contents
FDA the bad mother 43
The battle to separate from Great Mother 46
3 Father as archetype 49
Bad cop/good cop 50
The father principle in therapy 52
Corruption of the Father 54
The inner adult 56
Psychic maturation 58
An archetype is too big for my shoes 59
Neglect of the father principle 60
Father is a ghost 61
Help, my son is a spoiled brat! 62
Tough love 63
Too much glue 65
Philosophy for children 66
4 Ideas and emotions 69
The sibling factor 69
The shunning of Jung by academics 73
5 Brother philosophy, sister psychology 79
6 Psyche is invisible 90
Virtual reality 90
The symbol of heartbreak 92
Cynicism is not lucidity 97
7 The night vision 101
Anxiety: the killer without a face 103
Depression: a flattened imagination 111
Medication is not the enemy 112
Slowing down with Symptom as symbol 113
I lost my cherry 114
8 The virtual reality of the psyche 117
Destination and destiny 118
Wrap that fact in a fiction 119
Contents ix
From prodigy to cash cow 120
Construct, deconstruct, reconstruct: a myth never
lies still 121
The psyche is a stage 123
Edit your script 124
A myth is a metaphorical story 126
Who is telling the story? 128
Residual Christianity 130
How is psychology a mythology? 134
9 Modeling the soul 139
Schools, labels, egos, copyrights 146
10 Looking for a savior 150
The religious model 150
Absurd and beautiful 156
New Age: where is the new? 160
Traveling the via negativa 164
Psychic contagion 166
Narcissus: lost in the mirror 169
A little monsterette of my own 171
11 How sick am I doctor? 173
The medical model 173
The cultural in the mental 176
Doc, is this normal? 180
The pseudo-experts of the soul 182
No family is ever normal 183
12 Is therapy an investment? 187
The financial model 187
The luxury of a deep psychology 192
The glory of money 193
13 The legal model of psychotherapy 197
The nasty game of victims and perpetrators 197
The battle of stories 200