Learn about the most recent efforts to bring Jung's vast unpublished works to print, as the Philemon Foundation offers this first in an occasional series of updates on its vital work.
NEWS FROM THE PHILEMON FOUNDATION
This will be the first installment of regular updates from the Philemon Foundation that are intended to share the progress of our overall mission and important developments and milestones that occur along the way with the many friends of the work of C. G. Jung. We are grateful to the editors of the www.cgjungpage.org for making this
possible. As most may know, the Philemon Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization, was established in 2003 with the sole purpose of preparing for publication the vast amount of unpublished work of C. G. Jung. We invite all readers to visit our website
www.philemonfoundation.org by clicking on our banner. We welcome your inquiries about the Foundation and our work, as well as your good will and financial support. Tax-deductible donations can be made via our secure web site or by mail sent to Philemon Foundation, 119 Coulter Ave., Ardmore, PA 19003, USA.
Our Inaugural Donors Seminar on Jung History in London
On the weekend of May 27 and 28, the Philemon Foundation hosted its inaugural donors seminar on Jung History at the prestigious Georgian rooms of the Royal Society of Medicine, Chandos House, in central London. Thirty-four attended, mainly from the United States and the United Kingdom, and were treated to an unprecedented glimpse into the exciting, if not astounding, projects underway through the auspices of the Philemon Foundation.
Saturday, May 27, began at the civilized hour of 10 AM with coffee and tea and conversation as those assembled met each other. When the seminar formally started, Dr. Stephen Martin, the President of the Philemon Foundation, opened with story of the Foundations birth and the evolution of its purpose and commitment to Jungs work,
imparting to all present the sense of immensity and awe that he first felt when he learned of the scope of the unpublished material: the tens of thousands of pages of seminars, manuscripts and letters. One seminar member, a senior Jungian analyst from New York who was visibly moved, said out loud, this is a virtual Tsunami of Jung, a
sentiment echoed by others around the seminar table.
Dr. Martin then introduced Dr. Sonu Shamdasani, General Editor of the Philemon Foundation and Philemon Reader of Jung History at University College London, who delivered a riveting exposition of a previously unknown book length text by Jung on Alchemy dated 1937, and listed in the catalogue of the Jung Archives at the ETH, the
main repository of Jungs unpublished work, merely as unpubliziertes Buch (unpublished book!). Predating the 1944 publication of Jungs landmark Psychologie und Alchemie, this manuscript discusses many subjects including the problem of opposites as well as being, possibly, the first written record and psychological consideration of Jungs immensely influential, early life phallus dream known to us from Memories, Dreams, Reflections, that, in this text he ascribed to someone else. We are delighted to report that this unpubliziertes Buch is among the first unpublished manuscripts to be transcribed using funds provided to the Philemon Foundation by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for this express purpose. In addition to the lively discussion that ensued with Dr. Shamdasani adding additional information about the unpublished Jung, a palpable sense of astonishment at what remains yet to know of Jungs work filled the
room.
After a buffet lunch, the program recommenced with a presentation by Dr. Angela Graf-Nold, Research Collaborator at the Institute and Museum for Medicine and History at the University of Zurich, on the reconstruction of Jungs seminal ETH Lectures of 1933-1941. These lectures are at the center of Jungs intellectual activity in the 1930s and form a critical part of his work in the 1940s and 1950s. In what seemed like a unfolding mystery story worthy of a documentary film, Dr. Graf-Nold described to the seminar how she was reconstructing Jungs first volume on The History of Psychology from as many as five different verbatim transcripts some of which were recorded in an obsolete, nearly indecipherable German shorthand. Were it not for a retired transcriber in her late 70s with macular degeneration who works for the Philemon Foundation, the content of these documents would be lost for future study. From comparison with the various less complete notes and more complete transcriptions of Rivkah Schärf, one of Jungs most gifted student whose later work on Jewish themes, such as Satan and the Old Testament have become classics in Jungian literature, and the extraordinarily complete transcript of Edward Sideler, an underemployed engineer in the public audience with no training or particular interest in psychology but who took it upon himself to record what appears to have been nearly every word of Jungs lectures over eight years (as well as Einsteins early lectures that form the basis of Einstein scholarship), Dr. Graf-Nold is constructing a document that would rival an audiotape of Jungs actual lectures. What struck the seminar was the enormous work that is required to produce a complete, scholarly manuscript, something akin to intellectual archaeology; discovering and rendering the transcription readable, reconstructing its background history, and finally collating this immense amount of data to bring into existence a document. The first publishable volume of an expected eight volumes of ETH lectures is projected for late 2007.
After a congenial intermission, Saturdays intellectual activity concluded with a presentation prompted by the forthcoming publication of the first Philemon Series volume, the correspondence between Jung and Victor White, by Dr. Adrian Cunningham, Emeritus Professor at the University of Lancaster. Dr. Cunningham is the literary executor of Father Victor White, one of Jungs closest friends in the latter portion of his life, and principal sounding board for theological issues, most notably the nature of evil. Dr. Cunningham fleshed out Whites analysis with John Layard, the early compatibility of Whites own work with Jungs, and the eventual conclusion of a friendship that foundered over irreconcilable differences over the nature of God and evil. What was particularly moving was Dr. Cunninghams willingness to circulate amongst the seminar participants actual letters from Jung in which he wrote about, among other issues, his deep sadness and compassion towards White. Handling these remarkable letters lent an emotional immediacy to this story of failed friendship between two great men.
The next event, an exquisite banquet at the fashionable Blandford Street Restaurant, just off Marylebone High Street convening at 8 PM, cemented the evolving sense of community that the Philemon Foundation hoped would occur when this donor seminar was planned. Between the delicious phases of this meal, accompanied by champagne and carefully chosen wines, many of the participants from the two long tables rose to give toasts: to the Philemon Foundation for beginning this important work, to the continued collaboration between it and the International Association of Jungian Analysts (IAAP), to the donors present who not only were generous but also wanted to be an active part of the experience of the Philemon Foundation, and to the continued financial health and success of our endeavor. Special mention was made of the presence of Carolyn Grant Fay, our founding patron, who at 92 would not have missed the festivities for anything. Needless to say, people lingered late into the night, delighting in the convivial atmosphere.
The seminar reconvened on Sunday morning around 10:30 with people greeting each other like friends after the previous evenings pleasures. At 11:00 Dr. Eugene Taylor, Philemon Foundation Board member and the William James Scholar at Saybrook Institute
Graduate School, got the day off to compelling start with Philemon: A Prophesy. In this historically wide-ranging, erudite and visionary presentation, Dr. Taylor resituated Jung in the context of 19th century psychologies of transcendence, debunking the perception that he was merely a student of psychoanalysis, elucidated Jungs early
reception and important role in American psychology that predated any personal contact with Freud, and outlined his profound and continuing influence on the American psychotherapeutic counterculture. Dr. Taylor began wrapping up his presentation with
thought provoking reasons for supporting the Philemon Foundations mission to provide more Jung. Among them were that Jungs work aids in the recovery of the numinous in our inner lives; that Jungs work helps deepen the spiritual communication between men and women; and that Jungs work helps establish depth psychology as a bridge between science, the humanities and the experience of transcendence. His concluding thought was that a map of world mythologies, depicting the inward iconography of each culture, might be useful in future discussions about world peace.
After a leisurely lunch break, the seminar concluded with a collaborative presentation about the newly completed English translation of Jungs famous Childrens Dream Seminar. Participating were Dr. Ernst Falzeder, chief translator of the Seminar and eminent Freud scholar and translator, Dr. Angela Graf-Nold, and Dr. Stephen Martin. The Childrens Dream Seminar elicited an intriguing discussion among the presenters and the participants where its many angles were examined and, at times, debated, including its text, translation and structure, as well as its symbolic and clinical import and focus. It became abundantly clear that Jung, with this lengthy seminar of some 28 cases of childhood dreams remembered by adults, contrary to standard belief, paid considerable attention to the psychology of childhood. Moreover, as one seminar participant
wrote: These meetings give a fresh experience of Jungs verbal eloquence, his dexterity and scholarship and his humor and warmth in a class room context in contrast to his more scientific writing.
As presenters and participants took leave of each other for further travel, or drinks at a nearby pubs, there was a firm unanimity among all: there is a treasure trove of unpublished Jung very close at hand. By making ever more of it available as the Philemon Foundation is doing, our spiritual, professional and emotional lives will be deepened and enriched.
