Book on Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung

There is a book out from Norton of 25 years of letters between the physicist Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung—Deciphering the Cosmic Number: The Strange Friendship of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung by Arthur I. Miller. There’s a nice review in the Atlantic July/August 2010 issue (scroll down to the 5th entry).

This from Booklist:

The heart of this book lies not in the promised decipherment of the title but in Miller’s excellent dual biography of two men who changed their fields. Physicist Pauli was a brilliant but unhappy womanizer when his life’s disturbances led him to consult with Jung, famous for connecting psychology with spirituality. The relationship was a fruitful one on both sides, with Pauli making peace with his unsettled soul and continuing his groundbreaking theorizing, while Jung gained understanding of principles of contemporary physics that led, albeit circuitously, to his articulation of the idea of synchronicity, which he felt was one of his most important contributions. A series of Pauli’s vivid dreams, together with Jung’s analysis of them, forms an unexpectedly rich centerpiece of the book. And the cosmic number? A bit of bait-and-switch, that, as it is only briefly mentioned. But a worthy book, nonetheless.

Synchronicity Workshop in Kansas City

Synchronicity in Thought and Deed (Workshop)

Presented by J Gary Sparks
Saturday, April 24, 2010; 10:00am – 4:00pm
Unity Temple on the Plaza
707 W. 47th St., Kansas City MO 64112
$65 / $50 (Members & students)

Jung deepened and extended Analytical Psychology’s basic concepts in light of his emerging synchronicity hypothesis. We will explore the evolution of Jung’s discovery into its final form, focusing on the reality of spirit in matter. Atomic physicist Wolfgang Pauli’s important contribution to Jung’s expanding perspective will also be considered as we seek a fuller appreciation of synchronicity in everyday life. We will also examine a range of synchronistic experiences from the analytic practice, encouraging participants to try their hand at developing—for their own personal journeys—a practical, working recognition of the living relation between spirit and matter. With slides, discussion, group activity.

J. Gary Sparks is a graduate of Bucknell University, Pacific School of Religion and the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich. He is editor of Edward Edinger’s Ego and Self: The Old Testament Prophets and co-editor of Edinger’s Science of the Soul. He is the author of At the Heart of Matter: Synchronicity and Jung’s Spiritual Testament. He maintains an analytical practice in Indianapolis and lectures widely throughout the US and Canada. www.jgsparks.net.