ABSTRACT
This article contains brief notes concerning C.G. Jung’s early influence on Alan Watts’ life and work. Three themes are addressed. First is the bearing of Jung’s commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower upon Watts’ early thinking about Christianity in relationship to the East. Second is Jung’s contention that analytical psychology offers a viable mode of understanding the religions of Asia. Third is the shadow side of Alan Watts, particularly the extent to which Watts understood and accepted his own demons. A brief conclusion addresses these themes in light of the continuity and change in Watts’ intellectual life.
Notes on contributors
Dr Ellen F. Franklin is CEO of the Acutonics Institute of Integrative Medicine where for the past 20 years she has been involved in the development and dissemination of educational programs in vibrational sound therapy rooted in classical Chinese medicine, Taoism, and depth psychology. She is co-author of Acutonics: From Galaxies to Cells, Planetary Science, Harmony and Medicine (Devachan Press, 2010), the author of numerous articles, and a frequent contributor to Oriental Medicine Journal. She received her doctorate in psychology and a Certificate in Jungian Studies from Saybrook University, where she was awarded the Alan Watts prize for her work on the relationship between Alan Watts and Carl Jung.
Peter J. Columbus is administrator of the Shantigar Foundation for Theater, Meditation, and Healing, adjunct professor of psychology at Assumption College and Greenfield Community College, and serves on the Board of Directors of Valley Zendo, a Soto Zen Buddhist temple in the lineage of Kodo Sawaki and Kosho Uchiyama. Co-editor (with Don Rice) of Alan Watts – In the Academy: Essays and Lectures (SUNY Press, 2017) and Alan Watts – Here and Now: Contributions to Psychology, Philosophy, and Religion (SUNY Press, 2012), he holds a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Tennessee, and an MA in Humanistic Psychology from the University of West Georgia.