I made sooo many notes!
Wisdom of the Psyche by Ginette Paris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This week, I had a beautiful spiritual, intellectual love affair with Ginette Paris’ Wisdom of the Psyche: Depth Psychology after Neuroscience. The book is a requirement for a summer course I am taking with Dr. Paris in a couple weeks. I really knew nothing about the text or her when I sat down with it. The preface took me by surprise: this was not just another academic venture. This book comes from her absolute being, written in the aftermath of surviving a fall that caused her brain to hemorrhage. This is a profound exploration of the human psyche, ardently written and informed by her academic career. I heartily recommend it to anyone interested at all in the human condition, mind, and spirit.
Paris has a wonderful way of combining the academic with the personal, even including other voices in her text by discussing former patients and providing personal writing samples on both her personal experiences and theirs. She really lets the reader in, allowing a transformative reading experience. At the core of the text, she is, of course, examining psyche. She also provides numerous accessible definitions for depth psychology. And, within that, here’s just some of the potent ideas she discusses: racism, homosexuality, feminism, consumerist culture, archetypes, storytelling, parenting, pain, family, conflict, education, language, soul, redemption, religion, history, globalization, love, soma, relationships, identity, adulthood, anxiety, fear, and depression.
I just finished the book a little while ago, and my head is just buzzing with a million thoughts. I can’t wait to start delving into them more, especially when I get to attend her lectures!
You couldnt be more right