Cunning Secret of the Wise: A Response to the Spirit of the Times

Why yet another book on Jung? My justification for writing one goes something like this: Jung formulated his method of integrating the personality (the individuation process) in the first half of the 20th century. Can the wholeness of which he spoke so eloquently be attainable in the 21st century? Hasn't it become obsolete in our age of social media and AI? Attempts have been made to radically revision Jung's psychology by James Hillman and Wolfgang Giegerich. I have profited richly from their work but my approach to updating Jung is different. Cunning Secret is the result of a very long experiment which culminates in the last three chapters. These are devoted to on the deep affinities between Jung and Ibn 'Arabi (1175-1240). When Jung's psychology is viewed from the Shaykh's all encompassing perspective it is transposed into a new key.

My search ranges far and wide from Jung's fellow travelers (Mircea Eliade, Henry Corbin), his predecessors (Freud and Nietzsche) and his most implacable critics (Rene Guenon and Frithjof Schuon). I even met and corresponded with Guenon's secretary - not surprisingly I failed to convince him that Jung was not the reductionist that Martin Lings was convinced that he was.

To make it easier for readers to navigate the book I have divided it into five sections beginning with three chapters that explain and contextualize Jung's psychology.Concepts are explicated along the way and there are four appendices that provide useful background information.