On Spiritual Phenomena in Art and Science

Throughout his life, Jung paid significant attention to the mental sphere of outstanding figures in science and art. To what extent are the fruits of their creative genius a product of their own personality and to what extent are they... conditioned by the collective unconscious of their contemporaries, the so-called spirit of the times? And what fuels the creative spirit that craves expression and breaks far beyond the confines of the creator's limited individuality? Jung suggested that all creative activity is determined not so much by personal impulses as by the current of collective life, and precisely because it is a collective phenomenon, it finds similar expression in diverse fields, be it medicine, psychoanalysis, alchemy, visual arts, literature, or architecture. The collection includes works in which Jung reflects on creators and their creations using examples from Sigmund Freud, Paracelsus, Picasso, James Joyce, and others.