Herbert Silberer
Encyclopedia
Herbert Silberer was a Viennese
psychoanalyst involved with the professional circle surrounding Sigmund Freud
which included other pioneers of psychological study as Carl Jung
, Alfred Adler
and others. He had a background in athletics and sports journalism.
He was very interested in dream
s, and in 1909 published a paper detailing his research into the hypnagogic
state (the mental state in which the individual is between waking and sleeping). Silberer's contention was that the hypnagogic state is autosymbolic, meaning that the images and symbols perceived in the hypnagogic state are representative (i.e. symbolic) of the physical or mental state of the perceiver. He concluded that two "antagonistic elements" were required for autosymbolic phenomena to manifest: drowsiness and an effort to think.
In 1914, Silberer wrote a book on the relationship between modern psychology
, mysticism
and esoteric traditions (particularly Western, Christian
ones such as Hermeticism
, Alchemy
, Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry
): Probleme der Mystik und ihrer Symbolik (Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism). Many of the insights Silberer offered, especially into the link between alchemical imagery and modern psychology were similar to those developed more extensively by Carl Jung, a fact acknowledged by Jung in his seminal work on the subject, Psychology and Alchemy
. Silberer's book was coldly rejected by Freud. Silberer became despondent and later committed suicide by hanging himself after being excommunicated from Freud's circle of associates.
text known as the Parabola Allegory
, an alchemical writing with many parallels to the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
, he explores the ability of Freudian analysis to interpret it. Having conducted a detailed Freudian interpretation of the allegory Silberer then compares this method to the wider symbolic methods of alchemy, hermeticism
, Rosicrucianism and other mystical traditions and texts such as Kundalini Yoga
, the Bhagavad Gita
and the writings of English mystic Jane Leade
. Silberer's vision is syncretic, the range of his reading extraordinary as he unites the esoteric traditions of the world into the concept of introversion: the descent of the individual into the soul/psyche from which immense psychic and spiritual treasures can be drawn.
The thesis of the book is that while Freudian analysis can provide us with certain insights it does not go far enough in interpreting the inner psychological and spiritual meanings of our dreams, mental processes or creative output - a view which Jung also eventually took up, precipitating his own subsequent split with Freud. Silberer seeks to fuse Freudian ideas with mystical thought processes to create a 'Royal Art' which is, in effect, the spiritual transmutation of the soul as propounded in the different mystical traditions of the world. In a very real sense Problems Of Mysticism And Its Symbolism ceases at one point to be a purely scientific work of psychological study and becomes a work of mysticism in its own right (in the final chapter Silberer talks openly about 'the perfecting [of] mankind' being the aim of the Work). In its free and open evaluation of esoteric ideas as a legitimate expression of mankind's inner life - indeed in its enthusiasm for Mysticism
as a prime achievement of life - it was bound not to appeal to Freud's more sceptical approach. In fact in many ways it is surprising that Silberer thought he would gain the approval of Freud in giving him a book which, in effect, held his entire scientific system up in an extremely critical light.
Silberer mentions Jung's concept of the Collective Unconscious
favourably, agreeing with Jung that mankind possesses a 'memory bank' of symbols which continue to resonate in a profound way across cultures in dreams, myths and the imaginative life. Jung, whose own studies and insights into alchemy were yet to come, perhaps reached a bigger audience; but Silberer was the first of Freud's circle to take alchemy seriously as a psychologically interesting spiritual movement. Just as Silberer acknowledges Jung's ideas in his book, however, Jung acknowledges Silberer's work on Alchemy in his own major study, Mysterium Coniunctionis.
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
psychoanalyst involved with the professional circle surrounding Sigmund Freud
Inner circle (psychoanalysis)
Freud's inner circle or Secret Committee consisted of Freud's most trust psychoanalyts in response to several analyists breaking with his theories including Alfred Adler in 1911, Wilhelm Stekel in 1912 and Carl Jung in 1914....
which included other pioneers of psychological study as Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
, Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. In collaboration with Sigmund Freud and a small group of Freud's colleagues, Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna...
and others. He had a background in athletics and sports journalism.
He was very interested in dream
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
s, and in 1909 published a paper detailing his research into the hypnagogic
Hypnagogia
Hypnagogia is the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep , originally coined in adjectival form as "hypnagogic" by Alfred Maury....
state (the mental state in which the individual is between waking and sleeping). Silberer's contention was that the hypnagogic state is autosymbolic, meaning that the images and symbols perceived in the hypnagogic state are representative (i.e. symbolic) of the physical or mental state of the perceiver. He concluded that two "antagonistic elements" were required for autosymbolic phenomena to manifest: drowsiness and an effort to think.
In 1914, Silberer wrote a book on the relationship between modern psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
and esoteric traditions (particularly Western, Christian
Esoteric Christianity
Esoteric Christianity is a term which refers to an ensemble of spiritual currents which regard Christianity as a mystery religion, and profess the existence and possession of certain esoteric doctrines or practices, hidden from the public but accessible only to a narrow circle of "enlightened",...
ones such as Hermeticism
Hermeticism
Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...
, Alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
, Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
): Probleme der Mystik und ihrer Symbolik (Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism). Many of the insights Silberer offered, especially into the link between alchemical imagery and modern psychology were similar to those developed more extensively by Carl Jung, a fact acknowledged by Jung in his seminal work on the subject, Psychology and Alchemy
Psychology and Alchemy
Psychology and Alchemy is the twelfth volume in the Princeton/Bollingen edition of the Collected Works of Carl Jung. In it Jung argues for a reevaluation of the symbolism of Alchemy as being intimately related to the psychoanalytical process...
. Silberer's book was coldly rejected by Freud. Silberer became despondent and later committed suicide by hanging himself after being excommunicated from Freud's circle of associates.
Problems Of Mysticism And Its Symbolism
Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism was Silberer's magnum opus. Taking as his starting point a RosicrucianRosicrucian
Rosicrucianism is a philosophical secret society, said to have been founded in late medieval Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz. It holds a doctrine or theology "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe...
text known as the Parabola Allegory
Parabola Allegory
The Parabola Allegory is a Rosicrucian allegory, of unknown authorship, dating from the latter part of the seventeenth century. It is sometimes attributed to German Alchemist Henricus Madathanus....
, an alchemical writing with many parallels to the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz
The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz was edited in 1616 in Strasbourg , and its anonymous authorship is attributed to Johann Valentin Andreae...
, he explores the ability of Freudian analysis to interpret it. Having conducted a detailed Freudian interpretation of the allegory Silberer then compares this method to the wider symbolic methods of alchemy, hermeticism
Hermeticism
Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...
, Rosicrucianism and other mystical traditions and texts such as Kundalini Yoga
Kundalini yoga
Kundalini yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual discipline for developing strength, awareness, character, and consciousness. Practitioners call Kundalini yoga the yoga of awareness because it focuses primarily on practices that expand sensory awareness and intuition in order to raise individual...
, the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita
The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...
and the writings of English mystic Jane Leade
Jane Leade
Jane Ward Leade was a Christian mystic born in Norfolk, England. Her spiritual visions, recorded in a series of publications, were central in the founding and philosophy of the Philadelphian Society in London at the time.-Early life:...
. Silberer's vision is syncretic, the range of his reading extraordinary as he unites the esoteric traditions of the world into the concept of introversion: the descent of the individual into the soul/psyche from which immense psychic and spiritual treasures can be drawn.
The thesis of the book is that while Freudian analysis can provide us with certain insights it does not go far enough in interpreting the inner psychological and spiritual meanings of our dreams, mental processes or creative output - a view which Jung also eventually took up, precipitating his own subsequent split with Freud. Silberer seeks to fuse Freudian ideas with mystical thought processes to create a 'Royal Art' which is, in effect, the spiritual transmutation of the soul as propounded in the different mystical traditions of the world. In a very real sense Problems Of Mysticism And Its Symbolism ceases at one point to be a purely scientific work of psychological study and becomes a work of mysticism in its own right (in the final chapter Silberer talks openly about 'the perfecting [of] mankind' being the aim of the Work). In its free and open evaluation of esoteric ideas as a legitimate expression of mankind's inner life - indeed in its enthusiasm for Mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
as a prime achievement of life - it was bound not to appeal to Freud's more sceptical approach. In fact in many ways it is surprising that Silberer thought he would gain the approval of Freud in giving him a book which, in effect, held his entire scientific system up in an extremely critical light.
Influences on the book
Silberer freely quotes other psychologists in Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism, such as Freud and Jung. He identifies earlier studies in alchemy, such as those of the 19th century writers Ethan Allen Hitchcock and N. Landur, as opening the way for his explorations.Silberer mentions Jung's concept of the Collective Unconscious
Collective unconscious
Collective unconscious is a term of analytical psychology, coined by Carl Jung. It is proposed to be a part of the unconscious mind, expressed in humanity and all life forms with nervous systems, and describes how the structure of the psyche autonomously organizes experience...
favourably, agreeing with Jung that mankind possesses a 'memory bank' of symbols which continue to resonate in a profound way across cultures in dreams, myths and the imaginative life. Jung, whose own studies and insights into alchemy were yet to come, perhaps reached a bigger audience; but Silberer was the first of Freud's circle to take alchemy seriously as a psychologically interesting spiritual movement. Just as Silberer acknowledges Jung's ideas in his book, however, Jung acknowledges Silberer's work on Alchemy in his own major study, Mysterium Coniunctionis.
Selected works
- Hidden symbolism of alchemy and the occult arts Translated by Smith Ely JelliffeSmith Ely JelliffeSmith Ely Jelliffe . American neurologist, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst who lived and practiced in New York City nearly his entire life. Originally trained in botany and pharmacy, Jelliffe switched first to neurology in the mid-1890s then to psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, and ultimately to...
(1971) ISBN 0-486-20972-5 - Problems of mysticism and its symbolism Translated by Smith Ely Jelliffe (1970) ISBN 0-87728-038-X
- Der Traum. Einführung in die Traumpsychologie (Amsterdam, 1966)
- Viertausend kilometer im ballon (Leipzig, 1903)
- Der zufall und die koboldstreiche des unbewussten (Bern and Leipzig, 1921)
External links
- http://www.aiwaz.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=2&page=1/ Online text of Silberer's book, Problems Of Mysticism And Its Symbolism