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The Paradoxical Meeting of Depth Psychology and Physics
Reflections on the Unification of Psyche and Matter
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Book Description
This book unites the worlds of physics and depth psychology through analysis of carefully selected existing and new dream materials. Their interpretation by Matthews provides fertile ground for the unifying of the extreme opposites of psyche and matter and forms a continuation of the deep dialogue between acclaimed psychologist Carl Jung and Nobel physicist Wolfgang Pauli.
What emerges is an individuation process where inner and outer worlds are intertwined through a succession of dream images, culminating with that of the ring i, the mathematical function at the heart of quantum physics. This mysterious function unites wave and particle and symbolically carries the quality of paradox. The occurrence of the ring i in Pauli’s and the author’s dreams suggests paradox is a necessary psychological state to experience a living union between psyche and matter. Analysis of accompanying materials further indicates the arising of a new world view where inner and outer, mind and matter, may again be seen as a unified whole.
This book is an engaging read for academics and researchers in the field of Jungian psychology and will appeal to those interested in the novel application of quantum physics to philosophy, psychology and spirituality.
Table of Contents
1 The Ordering Role of Mathematics
When Priests were Mathematicians
End of the Correspondence Principle
Return of the Correspondence Principle
2 The Creative Source of the Inner and Outer Worlds
The Inner World
The Outer World
A Concluding Dream
3 Mathematics of the Ring i
The Unbounded Three
The Bounded Four
4 Complementarity and Paradox in Quantum Physics
The Quantum Quaternio
The Copenhagen Interpretation
5 Complementarity and Paradox in Analytical Psychology
The Just View of Paradox
Pauli’s Paradoxical Attitude
6 Pauli and the Ring i
You Know What Rotation Is!
The H-Atom and the Four Eggs that are One
Seeking the Unity of Inner and Outer
7 Pauli’s Fantasy of Die Klavierstunde
The Ring i as a Symbol of Wholeness
The Unus Mundus as Third Stage of the Coniunctio
8 The Ring i as Rotating Mandala
The Paradoxical Mandalic Attitude
Blue Tongue Lizard
9 Dance of the Three and the Four
Dance of the Diagonals
The Three and the Four Remain a Problem
10 In Conclusion - Resolving the Split World View
Unus Mundus is the Mirror
The Impossible Centre of the Ring i
List of figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
Index
Author(s)
Biography
Robert S. Matthews is Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Adelaide, Australia and a Swiss trained Jungian analyst.