A Psychological Study of the Mandala in Early Jewish Holy Literature

Paper given before the American Academy of Religion, March 21, 1991 and then, later for a sub-division of the American Psychological Association.

A Psychological Approach to Rock Art: Some General Remarks

Published in Rock Art Papers,Volume 8. Ken Hedges, Editor. San Diego Museum Papers 27,1991 (131-140)

Thomas R. Hersh

Los Angeles, California

Rock Art and Golems

Thomas R. Hersh
Los Angeles, California
Published in: Rock Art Papers, Volume 9. Edited by Ken Hedges, San Diego Museum Papers No. 28. Copyright © 1992.
San Diego Museum of Man, 1350 E1 Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA 92101. (171-182.)

The Deer as a Symbol

Published in Rock Art Papers, Volume 11. Ken Hedges, Editor. San Diego Museum Papers 31,1994 (145-156).

Thomas R. Hersh
Los Angeles, California

A Jungian Approach to the Golem Tradition

According to G. Scholem (1974, p. 351), a golem "is a creature, particularly a human being, made in an artificial way by virtue of a magic act, through the use of holy names." The possibility of making such a creature is connected with the "magical exegesis of the Sefer Yezirah and with the ideas of the creative power of speech and of the letters." It is the purpose of this paper to analyze the golem tradition in terms of modern psychological ideas, in particular, the ideas of C. G. Jung.

Towards a Psychological Understanding of the Temple of Jerusalem

Myths and Our Place in Our Environments

To make the point I want to make here, I am going to approach myths from a different direction than I normally would. Normally, in analyzing a myth, I would start with the myth and try to figure out what led to it, what lay behind it, to work backward from the myth. For this article, I think it is more useful to start with the myth and to speculate how it might develop in the future if certain things were to happen to the people whose myth it is.

Phantom of the Opera: A Psychological Review

Phantom of the Opera has been playing on Broadway for twenty five years now which makes it the longest running play in the history of Broadway. It has been seen by over one hundred and thirty million people, world-wide. It is a phenomenon, a spectacle. It is tempting for a psychologist to wonder, "Why?"

Tiger Woods, Us, and the Legendary Tiger Woods

A Psychological Approach to the Theories of Theoretical Physicists, in Particular, to a Current Theory of The Multiverse

1) I see this article as in the spirit of Wolfgang Pauli's, The Influence of Archetypal Ideas on the Scientific Theories of Kepler (in The Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche, C. G. Jung and W. Pauli, Pantheon Books, New York, New York, 1955).

Short idea (127): Freud and Jung disputed over whether dream images were signs (of something else) or symbols. I wonder if it isn't possible that dream images and, actually, each and every thing, is both a sign and a symbol at the exact same time. Every thing is a sign of other things; every thing is also a symbol. Every thing
1) is
2) is linked to other things
and 3) points beyond itself to things in the future and to things in the past.

"Big" Dream 1 (March 19, 2013)

(from the series of "Big" dreams)

This is a dream that came to my attention. I am not sure if it was a pure dream or one of those dream-fantasies that occur while lying in bed, half awake and half asleep. It occurred about one week ago. 

Explanation of the "Big" Dream Section

When Carl Jung, the psychiatrist and student and colleague and friend of Sigmund Freud, spoke to a member of a tribe in a remote part of Africa (to which no white man had ever gone), he was told that there are small dreams and big dreams.

"Big" Dream 2 (August, 2013)

(from the series of "Big" dreams)

This is a dream of a patient who was involved in a family dispute that was very troubling to him. It involved his extended family. The members of this family are prominent and are used to being respected, listened to, and even obeyed. In the dispute no one was listening to or respecting or obeying anyone else, and the man felt discounted. On the day of the dream, it came to the dreamer's attention that many of the family members, in spite of their outward disrespect, might have been listening to him more than he thought. He devised a plan based on this assumption, but, when he went to sleep, he still felt shaky and weak, feelings that were not usual to him.

"Big" Dream 4 (November, 2013)

(from the series of "Big" dreams)

This Dream felt like a very big dream to the dreamer. I present it as a kind of quiz. The quiz question is: "Is it a big dream or not?"

What is an Archetype? — The Connection of Archetypes with Ideas and Universals

The word archetype was introduced into psychology by the Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung. Though the word has entered popular jargon and is used by many in the profession, it has negative connotations for many. A clear definition might help lead to constructive discussion of the concept.

Short idea (171): Derived from my own introspection and understanding of Freud's and Jung's dream theories: If you are heavily caught up in the external world and intent on succeeding and feeling you have a good chance of succeeding, then Freud's theory applies. If you are withdrawn from the world or are pursuing private and personal goals, then Jung's applies. For Freud, dreams reminded you of your inner goals that were overshadowed by you concentration on externals. For Jung, archetypal dreams drew you into deeper and deeper places in yourself and in the world as it appears to you when you feel alone. 

Short idea (172): Linear (or active) Thinking is a chain or line of thought in which we use thoughts to solve a problem. Associative (or passive) Thinking is a line or chain or thoughts linked together by previous associations. Both Linear and Associative are step by step processes with each link in the chain, each point on the line, connected to the previous one by an understandable connection. There is another type of thought that we might call Archetypal in which an idea "pops into ones head," and it seems completely unconnected with any previous thought. It "came out of no where," as it were, "out of the blue." If, on examining a new archetypal thought, it does seem connected with ones previous thoughts at all, it seems more as if it is an observation or commentary or insight about the line of thought that came before. It may seem as if it came from outside oneself, almost as if it was the point of view of another, often more intelligent and wiser, person.

Short idea (173): Some mythic stories can be understood, among other things, as attempts to present psychological states of mind that are difficult (or even impossible) to describe or present in ordinary language. An example is an American Indian story that tells about a man who was picked up off the ground and blown far away from his home by a great wind. When he landed he became a great healer. The whole story is one big metaphor.

The Mountain Archetype: A Psychological Approach

 

The book, The Mountain Archetype: A Psychological Approach, can be purchased in the iBooks store, on Amazon as a Kindle book, and on Kobo. It also can be accessed here. The link allows anyone to read the book for free, but it can not be downloaded.