The Playful Psyche

This volume of essays ensues from the 6th Jungian Odyssey retreat, held at the historic Monte Verit -the Mountain of Truth-in the Canton of Ticino in the southern Swiss Alps. The authors are training analysts and scholarly guests of the International School of Analytical Psychology Z rich. The modern history of Monte Verit began in 1899 when a group of anarchists settled in this rugged terrain, vowing to re-discover "humanity's harmony with nature" and "the unity of body, soul, intellect." In time this mountain of truth emerged as a magnet for many dancers, artists, and thinkers-among them C.G. Jung himself. Carrying forward the spirit of the place, the authors of this volume observe the psyche at play in wide-ranging fields that stretch from the science laboratory to the analytic consulting room-from physics and mathematics to collective and personal catastrophe, to synchronicity, symptom, art, song, dream, myth, and the experiencing body. These seemingly far-flung contributions join in a vital persuasion: The playful psyche draws us into the "chaos of chance" and "wondrous mischance" with purpose-namely to imbue life with new meaning. The creative challenge for the ego and individuation is to sustain being at the threshold of the conscious and unconscious-or to dwell at "the edge between chaos and order, where the dance of life takes place." (I Ching)