Here he describes the important plot threads of Franz Kafka’s posthumously published novel. The main character seems to be trapped in a nightmarish scenario, in which he is put through a mysterious legal proceding, from which he cannot seem to escape. Jorjani elucidates several important folklore and mythological references. Ultimately, he believes that the protagonist [...]

Leanne Whitney, PhD, is author of Consciousness in Jung and Patanjali. She is a transformational coach and also teaches yoga philosophy to yoga teachers. Her website is https://leannewhitney.com/.

Motivational training techniques often focus mindlessly on “positive thinking”, glossing over the need for people to engage in soul-search­ing and self-renewal. John O’Neil, past-president of the Califor­nia School of Professional Psychology, discusses the unfor­tunate trend to treat “success” as an all-con­suming end in itself, without regard to the consequences of this attitude. O’Neil is author of The [...]

Human beings are capable of extraordinary transformations that often go unrecognized in contemporary thought. Michael Murphy summarizes scientific efforts to document extraordinary human capabilities. He draws upon research in hypnosis, parapsychology, and biofeedback as well as medical accounts of the placebo effect and the uncanny remission of disease. Murphy suggests that programs of transformative training [...]

June Singer, PhD, an analytic psychologist, was author of Seeing Through the Visible World: Jung, Gnosis and Chaos; A Gnostic Book of Hours; and Boundaries of the Soul.  Here she discusses Gnosticism as a practice that involved a fusion of Judaism, Christianity and Manicheanism. The Gnostic texts found in the Nag Hamadi scrolls appear to satirize traditional [...]

Jane Caputi, professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico, is author of Gossips, Gorgons and Crones. She notes that, over the centuries, powerful female, mythological figures have been superceded by patriarchal symbols. This also correlates with the rise of the warrior mentality. Today, as we face the problems that our nuclear technology has [...]