Liber Novus - A book of the unconscious, the spiritual, the psyche. One that needs to be read

Hello ATS

I have recently happened upon a book that i must say looks extremely interesting, and may be of interest to many members here. This book is known as Liber Novus (The New Book), but it is more commonly associated as the Red Book. It was written by the author and famous Psychiatrist Carl Jung between the years of 1913 and 1930, but was only published in 2009. Before i begin to describe the outlines of the book, i must say, i have not read it, but have read little bits.

Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of analytical psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and symbolization. While he was a fully involved and practicing clinician, much of his life's work was spent exploring tangential areas, including Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, and sociology, as well as literature and the arts.

What caused Carl Jung to write a book consisting of the unknown, the occult, the psyche and the mental wall in which he destroyed to access this information? It began in 1913 at the age of thirty-eight, whereby Jung experienced a horrible "confrontation with the unconscious". He saw visions and heard voices, and worried at times that he was "menaced by a psychosis" or was "doing a schizophrenia." With this, he decided that it was a valuable experience, and in private, induced hallucinations, or, in his words, "active imaginations." He recorded everything he felt in small journals. Jung began to transcribe his notes into a large, red leather-bound book, on which he worked intermittently for sixteen years. This became what is known today as the Red Book.

en.wikipedia.org...

Carl Jung described his life and indeed, the red book as being:

"The years… when I pursued the inner images, were the most important time of my life. Everything else is to be derived from this. It began at that time, and the later details hardly matter anymore. My entire life consisted in elaborating what had burst forth from the unconscious and flooded me like an enigmatic stream and threatened to break me. That was the stuff and material for more than only one life. Everything later was merely the outer classification, scientific elaboration, and the integration into life. But the numinous beginning, which contained everything, was then."

I have read reports that Carl Jung was a nutcase who succumbed to a Schizophrenic, drug fueled breakdown which resulted in the writing of the Red Book as he delved deeper into his unconscious. While this may be true, i view Carl Jung and the writing of the Red Book as an attempt of understanding, an attempt to delve into the unknown, an attempt to discover what really possesses the unconscious, an attempt to discover the truth that lies on the other side of the mental wall.

With all this said, i would like to post some images which Carl Jung drew himself as a result of his understanding and his experiences with the 'other side.'



















Sources:

en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...


There are many more pictures, and if the parts that i have read are anything to go by, this book sounds very interesting.

Thank you for reading.

will have look. interesting subject. Some of the pics remind me of motives I saw during my experiences with Ayahuasca plant.

Thanks.

Sounds interesting.

It's available on amazon but it's a bit expensive.
The Red Book

Just had a look on ebay but it's not any cheaper.

I think this one will have to go on my wish list with, Penetration - The Question of Extraterrestrial and Human Telepathy, by Ingo Swann.




ETA: Found this short video on youtube (among others) called The Making of The Red Book. Makes me want it even more now.

ETA: Removed removed. I couldn't get it to work for some reason.

reply to post by SilentE


any chance of a freebee link?

reply to post by MarioOnTheFly


I found this...but i'm always paranoid of downloading stuff!
ebookee

There is also a webiste called 4share with it on.

I've never downloaded a book before so I wouldn't know anything about these sites.

Originally posted by SilentE
reply to post by MarioOnTheFly

 

I found this...but i'm always paranoid of downloading stuff!

ebookee

There is also a webiste called 4share with it on.

I've never downloaded a book before so I wouldn't know anything about these sites.

edit on 8-6-2012 by SilentE because: (no reason given)

I've only ever downloaded books from:

www.forgottenbooks.org...

They aren't bad. They have a whole bunch of old and rare books for download. I searched for the Red Book to no avail however.

reply to post by daaskapital


Forgotten books is a great site. I've never downloaded anything from there though.
I started to read a few books on there during my breaks at work but I always found another book on there that tickled my fancy and started reading that instead. I haven't been on there for a while. I've got a few books lined up to get through and if I want to finish all of them, i'd better stay away from forgottenbooks.org

Cheers daaskapital for drawing this to our attention. If anything I would be interested in the book just purely for the pictures - they are amazing, though pictures aside any 'lost book' of Carl Jung's would no doubt contain many amazing insights as well.

reply to post by daaskapital


Got this awhile ago as well and absolutely cannot wait to dig in! (had a lot on my reading plate before it, but it's slowly making its way up the list)

The artwork, in not only his drawings but his penmanship, is absolutely stunning. Such an incredible talent, all around.

On a somewhat related note, here's a fantastic tribute to Carl Jung given by Zen philosopher Alan Watts:

reply to post by daaskapital


Brilliant drawings. I didn't realise Jung was also an artist.

It would be interesting to know how his psychosis was brought on - could have been messing with some serious psychotropic substances (mescaline?). It's a well known fact that his teacher Freud was a hopeless coc aine addict (it wasn't illegal then).

The images definately have strong overtones of reptilian overmind as is commoly experienced with shamanic rituals of aboriginal cultures in central and south america. Raises some very interesting questions of how he managed to tap into, or expose himself to, this ancient wisdom.

Thanks DAAS for posting

Peace Out

All those images are resembling kundalini awakening, the serpent, chakras, and mandalas.

Ive seen many of these same images while in meditations and going deep within

Originally posted by SilentE
Found this short video on youtube (among others) called The Making of The Red Book. Makes me want it even more now.

Is this the video mate?

Originally posted by daaskapital


I have read reports that Carl Jung was a nutcase who succumbed to a Schizophrenic, drug fueled breakdown which resulted in the writing of the Red Book as he delved deeper into his unconscious. While this may be true, i view Carl Jung and the writing of the Red Book as an attempt of understanding, an attempt to delve into the unknown, an attempt to discover what really possesses the unconscious, an attempt to discover the truth that lies on the other side of the mental wall.

With all this said, i would like to post some images which Carl Jung drew himself as a result of his understanding and his experiences with the 'other side.'

i would propose that one of Jungs' drawings was a very personal 'cartouche' which captured the essence of his psyche/ soul...and was not meant to be made public as that person's life & well being (embodied in the Cartouche) would then be open to intrusion by malevolent forces...

note my signature quote at bottom of post

I love, love, love Jung! Haven't read this, hope I can afford it one day! Thanks for the heads up! He was truly brilliant.

Originally posted by MarioOnTheFly
reply to post by SilentE

 

any chance of a freebee link?

If you type "demonoid liber novus" (without the quotes) in Google, you'll find it. It's the 444mb torrent.

I absolutely adore Jung and the contemporary theorists like Stanislav Grof who continue to explore the spectrum of consciousness and delve into the depths of the shadow.

I own a copy of The Red Book and has become the crowning jewel of my collection. Unfortunately I have only managed to appreciate the elegance of the book itself and the beauty of Jung's mandalas. I am yet to fully read the translation as coursework has got in the way.

If anyone here lives in Christchurch, New Zealand (a long shot), I'm more than happy to spend an afternoon with you and The Red Book, and many more if desired. It's a book that I expose every visitor to.