23/11/2014 Edward F. Edinger. The Eternal Drama: The Inner Meaning of Greek Mythology

http://www.cgjungpage.org/learn/articles/book-reviews/122-edward-f-edinger-the-eternal-drama-the-inner-meaning-of-greek-mythology 1/2

Edward F. Edinger. The Eternal Drama: The Inner Meaning of

Greek Mythology

Last Updated on Sunday, 27 October 2013 20:37 Written by Harry Polkinhorn

At the end of the twentieth century, why myths, and why Greek myths at that? (Boston:Shambhala, 1994. Edited by Deborah Wesley. xiv + 210 pp. 0-87773-989-7, $14 paper)

Reviewed by Harry Polkinhorn, English, San Diego State University

At the end of the twentieth century, why myths, and why Greek myths at that? According toEdward F. Edinger (d. July 17, 1998),* myths provide us with a means of achieving arelationship between ego consciousness and the transpersonal realm of the Jungian collectivearchetypes. If we are careful to bear in mind Eliade's insight that "Not a single Greek mythhas come down to us in its cult context,"** Greek myths offer the Westerner access tostories that embody elements analogous to many of our most basic psychologicalpredispositions. If we can "build a personal connection to the myth" (3), then we may cometo see the sources of meaning they reflect. Edinger's program, like Jung's, is theimprovement of our common lot. "To the extent that we can cultivate awareness of thistranspersonal dimension," says Edinger, "life is enlarged and broadened" (3). Calling onsources as diverse as Milton, Bunyan, Clement of Alexandria, Euripides, Hesiod, Jung,Nietzsche, Sophocles, and Virgil, among others, Edinger pursues a systematic, insightful,and wise analysis of some of the main Greek myths and related subjects, always presentedin the balanced, accessible, clear, yet probing style he made his own over the course of hisscholarly career.

In an introductory chapter Edinger lays out an understanding of mythology instraightforward, comprehensible, yet penetrating terms, always approached from the pointof view of Jung's analytical depth psychology. Myths are seen as a special kind of story, "theself-revelation of the archetypal psyche" (2). As such, and especially given the necessarycondition of the "personal connection" mentioned above, the author establishes a theoreticalframework for his reading of Greek mythology. Analytical psychology, founded as it was on abasis of "amplification" of the symbol through comparatively relating it to myths, fairy tales,religious traditions, art, and fantasy, provides him with such key concepts as individuation,the ego, the Self, the shadow, anima and animus, and the ego-Self axis. In so doing, andmuch to his credit, Edinger avoids attempting to elucidate one complicated, interlinking,comprehensive, open-ended, and long-lived set of imaginative constructs by rigidly applyingwhat some have seen as an overly arcane psychological theory.

23/11/2014 Edward F. Edinger. The Eternal Drama: The Inner Meaning of Greek Mythology

http://www.cgjungpage.org/learn/articles/book-reviews/122-edward-f-edinger-the-eternal-drama-the-inner-meaning-of-greek-mythology 2/2

Edinger starts at the beginning with the myth of origins. In this discussion, just as in thosethat follow of individual gods, goddesses, Titans, heroes, and so on, Edinger gives the readera quick summary of the central version(s) of the myth, which he then goes on to elucidatefrom the perspective of contemporary depth psychology. The stories, then, retain theirprimary attraction as fascinating narratives of how the world came into being, the hero'sadventures, breaking away from the family influence, achieving a position in the world,confronting one's fears, finding the balance between self and community, religioustransformation, and so on, while at the same time lending themselves to a mode ofpsychological interpretation that makes sense specifically to the contemporary reader inways that would probably not have been the case in earlier times.

Each of the gods, goddesses, and heroes, as a relatively pure carrier of a given archetype orpredisposition for human transformation, can be seen as concretizing a set of possibilities forrelatedness (or its failure), action in the world, or moral growth. Edinger is especially good atsuggesting the relevance of narrative sequence and conflict to psychological development.His work enlivens Greek mythology, which has been abandoned in the Western world, andtherefore, according to Jung, it has retreated to the unconscious where it appears in dreams,symptoms, and fantasies. Edinger's discussion enriches the original stories through openingup a deeper set of connections to the structures and processes of the psyche. After beingexposed to the predominantly intellectualized and somewhat abstract, dry approaches tomythology found in thinkers even as close to Jung as Eliade, Campbell, Kernyi, and (withqualifications) Rank, readers will find Edinger's voice to be warm and engaging. This book ishighly recommended for those with an interest in approaching Greek myths from a newperspective, one that promises to keep them alive during a period of increasing cynicism,materialism, and spiritual aridity.

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*The Friends of Jung Newsletter, 22:1 (Spring 1999), 3.

**Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality. New York: Harper & Row, 1963, p. 158.