The Otherworld in Myth, Folklore, Cinema, and Brain Science
This volume explores a dimension of reality usually scoffed at by rational-thinking individuals living in modern industrialized societies, but still experienced by these same individuals when they are in a stage of sleep known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep; this is the stage in which vivid and bizarre dreams are a person’s living reality. While in this stage, we believe what we experience is real, but then deny its reality upon awakening as we go about our daily routines. Yet, in many cases, a dream with vivid imagery and bizarre goings on is communicating with the dreamer in an archaic language directly associated with an “Otherworld” reality. This reality exists within us and expresses concepts and ideas about our realm of existence that pertain to our waking lives, as well as to an alternate, archaic life with its own language and ideas transcending physical reality.
By studying various myths and folk tales, along with cinematic portrayals of otherworldly experiences, commentary from modern individuals, and reports from traditional shamans who are experts at traversing the Otherworld reality, this text discerns the features and characteristics of this supernatural realm. Contemporary research into the Otherworld marks this realm as corresponding to the unconscious substratum of the human psyche, what C.G. Jung referred to as the collective unconscious. Certain scientists have found evidence of its connection with various aspects of brain functioning, suggesting that the brain in many ways encourages a belief in the Otherworld. However, it would be a mistake to call the Otherworld a figment of the human imagination, since this realm seems to have a type of physical existence.
The book considers the Otherworld to exist and provides reasons why rational-thinking individuals are hesitant to accept its existence even when their brains are telling them: the Otherworld is real, and you have just experienced it.
Jim Kline earned his PhD in Psychology with a specialization in Jungian Studies from Saybrook University, USA. He currently works as Professor of Psychology for Northern Marianas College on the island of Saipan. His articles have appeared in the International Journal of Jungian Studies, Psychological Perspectives, Jung Journal, and Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture. He is also the author of The Complete Films of Buster Keaton (1993).
"It might be said that the task of depth psychology is the effort to move beyond the observation of mere physical forms, outer behaviors, discursive thought, to engage the unconscious world, to track the movement of the invisible through the cerements of the tangible. This book does that as well. As Kline defines it: “We are immersed in the Otherworld all of the time. The collective unconscious, inherent within all humanity, is each individual’s personal link with this other reality.” It is hard to imagine any reader not walking away from this book with a deeper sense of mystery, a quickened curiosity about it, and a resolve to pay more attention."
James Hollis, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst and author of Tracking the Gods: the Place of Myth in Modern Life and other books.
Buy This Book
