The Two Million-Year-Old Self »

Anthony Stevens is an internationally known Jungian analyst and writer from England. He is a graduate of Oxford University in both psychology and medicine. He holds a doctorate in medicine from Oxford and is an affiliate of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Stevens is the author of Archetypes: A Natural History of the Self (1982), Withymead: A Jungian Community for the Healing Arts (1986), The Roots of War: A Jungian Perspective (1989), and On Jung (1990).

With the evolution of human consciousness, nature hasfinally become conscious of itself. It has taken eons of time, this lumbering progress through the minds of reptiles, mammals, and primates, and it is still working out its purpose in the archetypes of the collective unconscious encoded in the most ancient parts of the human brain. The recent evolutionary history of our species, which Jung personified as "the two million-year-old human being in us all," is still active in our dreams, myths, psychiatric symptoms, traditional healing practices, and typical patterns of behavior. Through a wide-ranging review of developments in anthropology, ethology, sociobiology, neuroscience, psycholinguistics, and Jungian psychology, Anthony Stevens explores the nature of the two million-year-old Self and examines ways in which the contemporary world both fulfills and frustrates its basic needs and intentions. Drawing on his experience as an analyst, Stevens evokes dreams and psychiatry to reveal a compelling and challenging view of the two million-year-old Self as embodying no less than the will of nature. By granting close attention to nature's mind, Stevens argues, we not only further personal wholeness but also help redress the gross imbalances of our culture, which are threatening the destruction of the earth. For the ecologically concerned, this book offers a dramatic new perspective on our future relations with our planet.

Author Biography: ANTHONY STEVENS is an internationally known Jungian analyst and writer from England. He holds a doctorate in medicine from Oxford and is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Journal of Analytical Psychology

"Anthony Stevens provides a clear, concise reading of the evolutionary perspetive in Jungian psychology. . .. Steven's is an intelligent and erudite voice."--Journal of Analtyical Psychology

— David Tacey