Part of Series
This book is inspired by Jung s cogent observation on the serious nature of People sometimes think that analysis will take the place of life; they protect themselves in that way against much nonsense that might be lived. But mind you, if you don't live your nonsense you will never have lived at all, and the meaning of life is surely that it is lived, not avoided. Nonsense does not always involve Eros, and the erotic is not always nonsense. But in my experience the two have generally gone hand in hand. This book recounts some of my own and others nonsense and hopes to give some insights into what that might mean in life. Nonsense is not necessarily frivolous, foolish or sinful. It may be politically or socially incorrect, but it is often a pointer to the essence of one's personality, which is what we Jungians call individuation becoming who you were meant to be. This is far, and only the swift reach it and are delighted. A Jungian with a sense of humor? Not an oxymoron, but Daryl Sharp. Here is an author able to put complex ideas into words and real-life situations that laymen can understand. It is a rare ability. Robertson Davies, author of Fifth Business, The Manticore and The Cunning Man.
Author
Daryl Leonard Merle Sharp – writer, Jungian analyst, publisher and bon vivant – was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1936. He lives in Toronto, Canada and has two sons and two daughters. He earned two Bachelor degrees, one in mathematics and physics and the other in journalism, at Carleton University in Canada, and a Masters degree in literature and philosophy from the University of Sussex in England. Sharp entered training at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich in 1974, along with other members of the so-called "Canadian mafia," which included Fraser Boa, Marion Woodman and John Dourley. Upon graduating in 1978, Sharp returned to Canada to begin an analytic practice and tour North America on the Jungian lecture circuit. Together with Marion Woodman and Fraser Boa, Sharp co-founded the Ontario Association of Jungian Analysts in Toronto in 1982 (followed by a training program for analysts in 2000). In 1980, Sharp also began his major labour of love: Inner City Books, still the world's only publishing house dealing exclusively with the work of Jungian analysts. Sharp's first publication was his diploma thesis, The Secret Raven: Conflict and Transformation in the Life of Franz Kafka. Many others followed, including multiple publications by analysts such as Marion Woodman, Edward F. Edinger, James Hollis and J. Gary Sparks, and especially Marie-Louise von Franz, who graciously agreed to act as honorary patron of Inner City Books. Today, in 2015, Sharp's enterprise has enjoyed significant success, selling millions of books with translations into approximately a dozen languages. Sharp himself is the author of more than 30 titles, mainly designed to introduce and explain Jungian concepts to lay audiences. Perhaps his best known books are Personality Types: Jung's Model of Typology {1987}, The Survival Papers: Anatomy of a Midlife Crisis {1988}, and Digesting Jung: Food for the Journey {2001}. {Personality Types and Digesting Jung are available as free eBooks on Inner City Books' website.}
