Both the extremes of repression and complete licence in response to the shadow, Neary asserts, result in serious limitations to spiritual growth. Recognition of the shadow in personal identity allows one to confront, own and control subliminal aspects of one s nature that would otherwise be repressed or become destructive. His consistent hypothesis is that only by dissolving the dichotomy between spiritual darkness and commonly accepted aspirations regarding spiritual enlightenment (light) can true understanding and personal growth occur. John Neary s latest work is a sustained application of Post-Jungian theory to a wide variety of literary and cinematic texts. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. In "Shadows and Illuminations", this paradox of dark-side narratives - that shadow is illuminative - is explored in relation to a variety of classic and contemporary literary works. That a discovery of apparent perversity may be an illuminating experience of the divine is a paradox that lies at the heart of the mystery of each individual's 'shadow', no longer to be considered as a bundle of repressed negativity but as a harbinger of growth and soul, a doorway to spiritual illumination. It is a disturbing discovery of deep imperfection and apparent perversity - an encounter with what Jungian psychology dubs 'the shadow'.But it is also an experience of what Christian theologian Paul Tillich calls 'depth', which he considers an experience of groundless mystery that is no less than an encounter with whatever people refer to when using the word 'God'. In each case a limited, somewhat naive protagonist goes out, at night, into the darkness (the streets of New York in the case of Kubrick's protagonist, the New England forest in the case of Hawthorne's) and discovers things about himself and the world that he previously was unaware of. Stanley Kubrick's film "Eyes Wide Shut" and Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic tale "Young Goodman Brown", which present uncannily similar stories, exemplify the book's theme: both are examples of a 'dark-side' narrative. Combining literary criticism with Jungian approaches, the analysis focuses on well known religious, spiritual and psychological writings, with special reference to the work of James Hillman. In Shadows and Illuminations this paradox of dark-side narratives - that shadow is illuminative - is explored in relation to a variety of classic and contemporary literary works.This book examines literary texts from various genres - prose fiction, plays, film - in order to explore the way dark and enlightening spiritual journeys are presented in literature. That a discovery of apparent perversity may be an illuminating experience of the divine is a paradox that lies at the heart of the mystery of each individual's shadow, longer to be considered as a bundle of repressed negativity but as a harbinger of growth and soul, a doorway to spiritual illumination. But it is also an experience of what Christian theologian Paul Tillich calls depth, which he considers an experience of groundless mystery that is less than an encounter with whatever people refer to when using the word God. It is a disturbing discovery of deep imperfection and apparent perversity - an encounter with what Jungian psychology dubs the shadow. Stanley Kubrick's film 'Eyes Wide Shut' and Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic tale 'Young Goodman Brown', which present uncannily similar stories, exemplify the book's theme: both are examples of a dark-side narrative. Combining literary criticism with Jungian approaches, the analysis focuses on well kwn religious, spiritual and psychological writings, with special reference to the work of James Hillman. This book examines literary texts from various genres - prose fiction, plays, film - in order to explore the way dark and enlightening spiritual journeys are presented in literature.
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