Old Age

A new edition of this classic book by a renowned Jungian analyst. It also reflects on the final journeys described in literary classics such as the Odyssey, King Lear, the Tempest and TS Eliot's Little Gidding. The archetypes of the hero and the wise man come together in an extraordinary series of narratives, and one is led to read the texts with great attention and a sense of pathos at the human condition. All lives are in some sense incomplete and certainly imperfect, and we may need the forgiveness of others at this stage. Some late passages of Jung's autobiography are quoted in apposite contexts as we approach the mystery of life and its ending. Charles Williams and Thomas Merton are also quoted when one becomes aware of the importance of becoming one with everything, partly through stillness. The last chapter speaks of suffering and challenging the supremacy of the ego's demands; if we are lucky, we may 'come to be filled with the wholeness of God himself.'