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Modern Woman in Search of Soul: A Jungian Guide to the Visible & Invisible Worlds
Singer follows two very different women as they learn to recognize clues by which the invisible world reveals itself to human dreams and fantasies, visionary experiences, human interactions, and through the depths of solitude. She reveals how the invisible world is viewed objectively by the physical and biological sciences, traditional and gnostic spiritual disciplines, and the psychology of the unconscious. She then suggests how to integrate the visible and invisible in our lives.
- GenresPsychology
231 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 5, 2011
Although the title implies that this is a book that will benefit women only, it’s actually a book for everyone who is searching for some understanding of how to find order in the often chaotic world within our modern souls.
With an accessible blend of intellectual reasoning, Gnostic spiritualism and creative interpretation of dreams and fantasy, Jungian analyst Singer provides excellent suggestions on how to integrate the material and non-material worlds in our lives. She doesn’t provide any answers to our concerns and anxieties, but she does encourage acceptance of ourselves as we are, with all the disparate parts that make us unique individuals. “One life,” she points out, “is too short to achieve perfection and the most we can hope for is completion.”
I found this book reassuring, optimistic, inspiring and comforting. Reading it has left me hopeful that mankind will evolve spiritually as well as physically. Singer makes me believe that the potential of the human spirit will conquer those external divides, which are merely a reflection of the fractures within our own souls; and that, although differences between people will always remain, by changing the way we look at those differences we can overcome them peacefully.
Our external reality can’t change, but our perceptions of that reality can change for the better and that, in turn, creates a change in the external reality. Singer doesn’t gloss over the fact that this slow inner journey - which ultimately benefits the external journey - will be hard, requiring much personal sacrifice and discipline.
By combining faith, science, psychology and poetry, Singer has written a book that offers us a way to make a difference in the world, even if that difference comes from healing ourselves before we try to heal others or the greater world in which we live.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants good advice on finding a way to inner peace and who is willing to work towards integrating their inner conflicts.
With an accessible blend of intellectual reasoning, Gnostic spiritualism and creative interpretation of dreams and fantasy, Jungian analyst Singer provides excellent suggestions on how to integrate the material and non-material worlds in our lives. She doesn’t provide any answers to our concerns and anxieties, but she does encourage acceptance of ourselves as we are, with all the disparate parts that make us unique individuals. “One life,” she points out, “is too short to achieve perfection and the most we can hope for is completion.”
I found this book reassuring, optimistic, inspiring and comforting. Reading it has left me hopeful that mankind will evolve spiritually as well as physically. Singer makes me believe that the potential of the human spirit will conquer those external divides, which are merely a reflection of the fractures within our own souls; and that, although differences between people will always remain, by changing the way we look at those differences we can overcome them peacefully.
Our external reality can’t change, but our perceptions of that reality can change for the better and that, in turn, creates a change in the external reality. Singer doesn’t gloss over the fact that this slow inner journey - which ultimately benefits the external journey - will be hard, requiring much personal sacrifice and discipline.
By combining faith, science, psychology and poetry, Singer has written a book that offers us a way to make a difference in the world, even if that difference comes from healing ourselves before we try to heal others or the greater world in which we live.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants good advice on finding a way to inner peace and who is willing to work towards integrating their inner conflicts.
September 18, 2021
This book is more about its subtitle than its title. I really didn’t find that there was all that much about the feminine principle, and what was there, in case studies of two female analysands, was of limited interest and felt artificial.
The rest of the book, however, is first class. Singer explains Gnosticism, the rise of Christianity, metaphysics, and our interdependent world both comprehensively and succinctly. It takes a lot of knowledge and skill to simplify, without dumbing down, incredibly complex ideas; Singer handles huge amounts of material with a masterful touch. The book is dated — 1998 was its last publication — so there has undoubtedly been significant growth, in metaphysical knowledge at least, since that time. But even without knowing the latest, I have learned so much.
The rest of the book, however, is first class. Singer explains Gnosticism, the rise of Christianity, metaphysics, and our interdependent world both comprehensively and succinctly. It takes a lot of knowledge and skill to simplify, without dumbing down, incredibly complex ideas; Singer handles huge amounts of material with a masterful touch. The book is dated — 1998 was its last publication — so there has undoubtedly been significant growth, in metaphysical knowledge at least, since that time. But even without knowing the latest, I have learned so much.
April 1, 2020
This brilliant and enlightening book introduces Jungian theory to American readers in accessible language. The author comments Jungian ideas including lots of references on research scientists work and ancient spiritual knowledge, and also quoting William Blake’s poetry. The book is mostly addressed to female auditory (according to its title), but there’s a little confusion : it doesn’t really explore the specifities of woman’s inner and outer self (in comparison to Barbara Hannah’s « Animus », par exemple). Surely, it reflects a female point of view but it concerns both women and men. Written in 1990, the work hasn’t lost its relevance and covers the problems that contemporary society is facing today.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews