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From the Editor — Kathryn Madden
James Hillman (1926-2011) lived a life of integrity. His countenance did not change much these past three or four years, during which there were occasions when our paths crossed. We spoke briefly at a gathering of the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association at Beverley Zabriskie’s home at a reception for Sonu Shamdasani after the Red Book had been published. Walking out of the Rubin Museum with him after viewing the Red Book display, he seemed inward and reflective. At the IAAP conference in Montreal, a voice of opposition had arisen during Don Kalsched’s presentation on the relevance of Jung’s notion of the compensatory function that also pulled Hillman’s view into the debate. The gentleman who had raised a provocative statement called James, “Jim,” and James looked him straight in the eye and said, “Dr. Hillman.” I sat with James for a minute before leaving the auditorium. Donned in a white linen suit, reminiscent of numerous archival pictures of Jung, his eyes were sharp and attentive – owl-like – while his mind seemed to be ruminating and burrowing inward. For Hillman, the transcendent function was always in motion, albeit – in contrast to Jung’s transcendent function – for Hillman, there was a multiplicity of transcendent functions spiraling through space simultaneously. Hillman’s primary three arenas of discourse were consciousness, imagination and soul, and an underworld where dreams occur. For Hillman, soul means our imaginative possibility, how we experience the psyche through reflection, speculation, dreams, images and fantasies. Hillman layers on to Jung’s perspective of images with the concept that human nature is primarily polymorphous and imaginal. Everything we are, our instincts, our experiences, our existence is imaginal. In the beginning, there was imagination which then created soul.
– Kathryn Madden, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief
James Hillman Memorial
Lasting, Leaving, Left: Ars Moriendi — Ginette Paris
Ordinary people seem not to realize that those who really apply themselves in the right philosophy, are directly, and of their own accord, preparing themselves for dying and death. If this is true, and they have actually been looking forward to death all their lives, it would of course be absurd to be troubled when the thing comes, for which they have so long been preparing and looking forward.
These words were supposedly spoken by Socrates, who held that philosophy is “the practice of dying. ” At the hour of his death, Socrates was still teaching, explaining the soul ‘s journey to his student Crito, as the hemlock was killing him. I know of only one other person who was capable, like Socrates, of discussing ideas until the poison of cancer took his last breath.
Between Jung and Hillman —Glen Slater
James Hillman ‘s role in the history of Jungian psychology is considered in the context of Jung ‘s original vision for depth psychology and in terms of Hillman ‘s international interdisciplinary influence. The bridge between Jung ‘s ideas and those of Hillman is examined in light of Hillman ‘s perspectival approach to the psyche, his notion of “soul-making ” and its relation to individuation, and his use of the term “archetypal. “
Devar ‘Aher: On the Other Handle —David L. Miller
In this tribute to the life and work of James Hillman, the focus is upon healing. The argument suggests that the healing power in Hillman ‘s theoretical perspectives and in his analytic practice is achieved by focusing upon the “other ” sides of emotion, idea, behavior, and point of view. Examples are given from Hillman ‘s notions about masturbation, pornography, betrayal, war, pathology, personalization, individuation, dream interpretation, myth, religion, therapy, and thinking.
Remembering James Hillman: An Enterview with Thomas Moore —Rob Henderson
Thomas Moore was born in Detroit. At 13 he entered the Servite religious order of the Catholic Church in preparation for a life of teaching and ministry. He left the order before being ordained. He received his Ph.D. in religion from Syracuse University. His many publications include: Care of the Soul, The Soul ‘s Religion, The Soul of Sex, Dark Eros, Rituals of the Imagination, The Planet ‘s Within, A Blue Fire, Writing in the Sand, Soulmates, The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life, The Education of the Heart, The Book of Job, Original Self, Dark Nights of the Soul, A Life at Work, and Care of the Soul in Medicine. He and his wife, Hari Kirin, live in New Hampshire, with their two children, Siobhan and Abraham.
Golden Calf Psychology: James Hillman Alone in Pursuit of the Imagination —Michael Vannoy Adams
A version of this article was originally a presentation at a plenary ses- sion on “Why Hillman Matters, ” in celebration of the 80th birthday of James Hillman, at the “Psyche and Imagination ” conference of the International Association for Jungian Studies at the University of Greenwich in London on July 8, 2006. The article argues that Hill- man matters because, among Jungians after Jung, Hillman alone pursued the problem that most interested Jung—the problem of the imagination.
From Attic To Basement and In Between —Safron Rossi
Between 2008 and 2010 I was invited three times to James Hillman and Margot McLean ‘s home in Thompson Connecticut to sort and gather James ‘ work and bring it to Opus Archives and Research Center, the home of his collection. Attending to his work alongside him, he referred to me in one of his infamous faxes as a “cool hand. ” As steward two kinds of work was required – the first was to listen to the stories that a stack of papers, a box of notes and ideas, would evoke. This was the work of attending to what presented itself. And there was an understanding that it was important to not always respond to these stories or reveries in a manner that sought to capture, inscribe, memorize, fix them into some indelible form that would live on forever alongside the paper bodies. There is a trust in the archiving process that takes place in the present moment, and is equally as important as the trust ensured in the process of preserving and caring for the collection once it is brought to its next home. This trust requires the second kind of work – taking notes and inventorying, organizing papers and boxes, carefully handling and packing the material for shipment.
“Dear James:” The Academic Crush and the Arc of Influence —Jennifer Leigh Selig
Dear James,
My name is Jennifer Selig, and I ‘m a Pacifica person, on the faculty since 2005, currently serving as the creator and program chair of the Depth Psychology M.A./Ph.D. degree with an emphasis in Jungian and Archetypal Studies. You were to have spoken before my students last Thursday evening, 40 students in their first year studying Jungian and archetypal psychology, a very committed and enthusiastic bunch, some of whom are very familiar with your work, others new to it, but all passionately looking forward to their studies, driven by their desire to bring this work out into the world.
James was to have spoken, but he was dying.