Archetype and Character: Power, Eros, Spirit and Matter Personality Types

Archetype and Character: Power, Eros, Spirit and Matter Personality Types Review

Archetype and Character introduces a new typology based on unconscious motivations. It relies on C. G. Jung's description of the unconscious as composed of a personal and an archetypal layer. The book describes four archetypes, Power, Eros, Matter and Spirit, as the fundamental motivations that define human attitudes and behavior. This archetypal-motivational typology is contrasted with Jung's and its popular version, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which rely solely on the conscious functions of thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition. The book outlines eight personality types based on the extraverted and introverted deployment of the above four archetypes. It then applies these typological categories to Freud, Adler and Jung so as to highlight heretofore neglected aspects of their personalities and to understand the reasons for their personal and theoretical disputes. A concluding chapter summarizes the practical findings, cultural implications, and theoretical insights gained from this manner of understanding the basic principles that motivate human behavior. An Addendum provides a self-administered Archetypal-Motivational Typology Scale that makes the concepts used in the book relevant and meaningful to the reader.

The Force of Character: And the Lasting Life

The Force of Character: And the Lasting Life Review

In his powerful bestseller The Soul's Code, James Hillman brilliantly illuminated the central importance of character to our spiritual and emotional lives. Now, in this magnificent new book, Hillman completes his exploration of character with a profound and revolutionary reflection on life's second half.

"Character requires the additional years," declares Hillman. "The last years confirm and fulfill character." Far from blunting or dulling the self, the accumulation of experience concentrates the essence of our being, heightening our individual mystery and unique awareness of life. Drawing on his grounding in Jungian psychology, Hillman explains here the archetypes and myths that govern the self's realignment in our final years.

The Force of Character follows an enriching journey through the three stages of aging--lasting, the deepening that comes with longevity; leaving, the preparation for departure; and left, the special legacy we each bestow on our survivors.  Along the way the book explores the meanings and often hidden virtues of characteristic physical and emotional changes, such as loss of memory, alterations in sleep patterns, and the mysterious upsurge in erotic imagination.

Steeped in the wisdom of a lifetime, radiant with Hillman's reading in philosophy, poetry, and sacred texts, charged with a piercing clarity, The Force of Character is a book that will change--and affirm--the lives of all who read it.