Jung's Contribution to an Ecological Psychology: Understanding the Psychic Roots of Environmental Issues

This book connects the psychological concepts and philosophical insights of Carl Jung with some of the basic postulates of ecopsychology. The thesis of the book is that Jung's depth psychological approach is a relevant hermeneutic device for understanding and dealing with the psychic roots of the modern world's ecological problems. Using the concepts of archetypes, the collective unconscious, repression, archaic consciousness, personal and collective shadows, and individuation, the book demonstrates how each has implications for the advancement of an ecopsychological approach to the psyche and our understanding of the world. Perhaps most important, the book exemplifies how Jung's psychological research allows us to envision the interpenetration of psyche, nature, and spirit, thus bridging the modern epistemological gap that has developed between them in the modern Western world.