Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53182 in Books
• Published on: 1991-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Customer Reviews

Difficult But Rewarding
If you are wondering what is meant by the word soul, this book will help you. According to the introduction by Thomas Moore, James Hillman is "an artist of psychology", that is, he regards the psyche as fundamentally poetic. Hillman reccomends that we pay attention to inner images and is able to show how they relate to the symbols found in different cultures. The distinction between soul and spirit, which most people do not seem to make, is clarified in terms of images. Spirit is sulphuric and up in the peaks, soul is salty and down in the valleys.
There is some more practical wisdom here too, I have found the essay on betrayal particularly helpful. I found this book to be a challenge, both to my understanding and to my assumptions.

Delicious full course meals or small snacks of soul food.
This book can be consumed as a full course meal. For example, read a chapter like "The Salt of Soul, the Sulfur of Spirit," and there is enough material to feel full for several hours as you digest the many metaphors, and delicious word play. For a snack, Hillman provides "Recipes", little snippets to be consumed in the morning or before going to bed.If consumed before bed, one's dreams may be seeded by an ever-expanding Hillman metaphor. Bon Appetit.

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Everything You Wanted to Know About the Psyche
This book is soulful dynamite, appearing intellectual, but don't be fooled; read it with an open heart, and if you are into meditation, you will find much to meditate on here, e.g., "The Psyche historicizes to make it look real." Don't just think about it, meditate on it, and perhaps you, too, will pierce the veil of Illusion (Maya). I can at least hope that for you :)