Journey of a Dream Animal: A Human Search for Personal Identity

While the work & thought of Carl Jung is better known today than in the past, there's still a comparative dearth of Jungian analysts. So many people who stumble onto his concept of the psyche wind up studying Jungian material & even doing a sort of analysis on their own. This is the story of a young woman who did exactly that at the beginning of the 1960s. Kathleen Jenks was an aspiring actress in New York City: searching, troubled, in need of a much deeper understanding of herself. And then one day she found a volume of Carl Jung's in the New York Public Library, It struck such an urgent & resonant chord within her that she stole it, being unable to afford a purchased copy. (Years later, she reimbursed the library for the cost of the book.) And so she began her journey: a study of her dreams, an examination of her family & her past, a slow & painful disentangling from a passionate but dangerously destructive relationship. She made mistakes, she misunderstood some of what she read at first ... but gradually she began to make sense of her life & of herself. What she discovered probably wouldn't be true or right for everyone, but clearly it served her well. As someone who has made much the same journey over the years (if not in as dramatic a fashion), I can say that her struggles & insights ring true to me. It's a fascinating tale, a daunting but enlightening journey that's available to anyone ready to risk it. Because there *is* risk involved -- these are powerful, primal forces to wrestle with, drawn up from the bottomless darkness of the Unconscious. But it's a risk worth taking, one that can yield rich rewards. For anyone embarking on such a project, this is an excellent introduction to what awaits you. It's not to be followed in slavish fashion, but used as a general guide -- here's someone who has gone through similar territory, faced similar dangers & realizations. Highly recommended!