The Origins and History of Consciousness

By Erich Neumann,

Book cover of The Origins and History of Consciousness

Book description

The Origins and History of Consciousness draws on a full range of world mythology to show how individual consciousness undergoes the same archetypal stages of development as human consciousness as a whole. Erich Neumann was one of C. G. Jung's most creative students and a renowned practitioner of analytical psychology…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Origins and History of Consciousness as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Of seminal importance to an understanding of the world is the conception of a collective unconscious grounded in inheritable archetypes. These evolve: how could it be otherwise—everything in nature evolves. And that means that our consciousness, too, evolves. Its evolution is, in a sense, teleological: from the less conscious to the more consciousness. This is to say that the evolution of the archetypes permits the increasing distillation of consciousness from the vastness of the collective unconscious. I believe that language, which is indivisible from consciousness, did not begin to materialize until about 10,000 BC. I may have been virtually alone…

Want books like The Origins and History of Consciousness?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Origins and History of Consciousness.

Browse books like The Origins and History of Consciousness

Book cover of Memories, Dreams, Reflections
Book cover of Primitive Mythology
Book cover of The Birth of the Gods and the Origins of Agriculture

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,224

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in archetypes, personality, and consciousness?

Archetypes 33 books
Personality 20 books
Consciousness 80 books