Imagination is Reality: Western Nirvana in Jung, Hillman, Barfield and Cassirer

Long unavailable, Imagination is Reality is the first comprehensive work to place archetypal psychology within a major tradition of modern thought, that of mythical thinking, and to recognize imagination as the primal force and basic reality of human existence. By drawing upon the writings of four twentieth-century thinkers (Jung, Hillman, Barfield, and Cassirer), Roberts Avens clarifies the post-Jungian direction of psychology as it moves toward poetic and polytheistic imagination. He then compares the radical achievements of this direction in resolving the "ego-question" with the methods and ideas of the East: Buddhism, Tantrism, Zen, and Vedanta. The author's grasp of understanding, easy familiarity with this subject, and startling insights together make this book both an introductory text and an advance into new territory.