Jungian analyst Murray Stein writes:

“Steven Herrmann is one of those rare individuals who can brilliantly bring intellectual prowess and visionary depth together in a graceful dance of prose and poetry. In this work he presents the many cross-overs and parallels between two similarly gifted thinkers, C.G. Jung and William James. A comparative study of these two giants of modernity is long overdue, and Steven Hermann is perfectly prepared to cover this match in all its splendor.”

Murray Stein, Ph.D., author of Transformation: Emergence of the Self (1998), president of the International School for Analytical Psychology (ISAP) in Zürich, and past president of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP).

Steven Herrmann offers each reader an intriguing journey through an open and curious exploration of human nature by two of the most influential psychologists of our times: the philosopher William James, Harvard professor and founder of American psychology, and C. G. Jung, who expanded our view of the psyche and the nature of the unconscious. Based on historical research and a nuanced reading of their works, Steven Herrmann elucidates their reflections on the streams of consciousness, psychophysics, pragmatism, pluralism, yoga, spiritual democracy, vocational dreams, synchronicity, transmarginal fields, and the Self.

"Doorways to the Self" is not a mere metaphor but an invitation to recognize the living spiritual reality in every person. This book is an important contribution to the history of psychology in America and the influence of James on C.G. Jung as well as a fascinating exploration of what it means to be human.

My new book is currently in Press at Analytical Psychology Press in 2020. 

https://www.analyticalpsychologypress.com/

My book will soon be available by the end of the Summer 2020 at Itasca Books: 

https://itascabooks.com/psychology/

“C. G. Jung’s Vision of Spiritual Democracy”

A Talk for the Fourth Joint Conference of the IAAP & IAJS, “Psyche, Spirit, and Science: Negotiating Contemporary Social and Cultural Concerns,” Yale University, July 2015

Paper Synopsis:

            Spiritual Democracy is a religious attitude that respects the dignity of all religions, and views all peoples, races, genders and sexual orientations as equals across the entire globe. This unifying vision was first proposed by Walt Whitman and Herman Melville prior to the American Civil War and has deep roots in American Transcendentalism and Alexander von Humboldt’s stupendous scientific view of the unity of the cosmos. This vision was expanded by William James and C. G. Jung during the emergence of pragmatism and analytical psychology. Jung’s vision of Spiritual Democracy is discussed in seven basic principles: 1) Individual religious experience comes above life in any creed; 2) To be a proponent of a new religion is obsolete in a psychological age; 3) When a person succeeds in stopping to project the Self onto a creed, State, or religious community, the Self lives in one and rules the whole psyche; and the Self is inclusive of good and evil; this is psychological relativity; 4) No one creed possesses an absolute Truth above other religions; 5) All images of Divinity can be found in the collective foundation of the World Soul; 6) All God-images of the world’s revealed religions must change, as every living religion must change with the times; 7) Jung prefers the hypothesis of the Self because he is talking to Hindus as well as Jews, Christians, Native Americans, Africans, Taoists, and Muslims; he does not want to divide but to unite all religions. Jung’s new scientific theory of the Self aims to unveil the “supreme meaning” of all religions. My chapters on Jung conclude with an overview of his epistle to the UN (UNESCO) in 1948, when he outlined his specific recommendations on what will be required to avert wars in: “Techniques of Attitude Change Conducive to World Peace.” (For Further reading see my book on Amazon: Herrmann, Steven. 2015. Foreword by John Beebe. Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, Sacred Activism Series).

I hope to see some of you at Yale!

 Steven B. Herrmann, PhD, MFT

http://nabcommunities.com/2014/10/09/walt-whitmans-vision-of-same-sex-marriage-by-steven-herrmaNew Blog at NABnn/