Leanne Whitney - Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali

Dr. Whitneys book is an important contribution to those of us interested in the EastWest dialog about the nature of consciousness. She has the rare gift of expertise in both Jungs psychology and Patajalis metaphysics, and her text reveals the important similarities and distinctions found in the work of these two gigantic figures. Students of transformation will benefit by Dr. Whitneys clear articulation of the ways in which depth psychology and yoga philosophy complement each other.

Lionel Corbett, Professor, Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA

Consciousness in Jung and Patajali is a brilliant analysis of Western and Eastern concepts of consciousness, motivated by the authors personal experience that theres something beyond a materialistic brain-based explanation of consciousness. A deep dive into personal ego, impersonal awareness, dual and nondual realities, and beyond. Highly recommended.

Dean Radin, PhD, Chief Scientist, Institute of Noetic Sciences, USA

When Carl Jung studied Yoga traditions, he dealt with an abstraction, a relic of the exotic other. With wide practice of Yoga worldwide, one can no longer dismiss its insights as inappropriate for non-Asians. Leanne Whitneys book updates our thinking about Yoga and shows its benefits to contemporary psycho-therapeutic theory and practice.

Christopher Key Chapple, Doshi Professor of Indic and
Comparative Theology and Director, Master of Arts in
Yoga Studies, Loyola Marymount University, USA

The EastWest dialogue increasingly seeks to compare and clarify contrasting views on the nature of consciousness. For the Eastern liberatory models, in which a nondual view of consciousness is primary, the challenge lies in articulating how consciousness and the manifold contents of consciousness are singular. Western empirical science, on the other hand, must provide a convincing account of how consciousness arises from matter. By placing the theories of Jung and Patajali in dialogue with one another, Consciousness in Jung and Patajali illuminates significant differences between dual and nondual psychological theory and teases apart the essential discernments that theoreticians must make between epistemic states and ontic beliefs.

Patajalis Classical Yoga, one of the six orthodox Hindu philosophies, is a classic of Eastern and world thought. Patajali teaches that notions of a separate egoic I are little more than forms of mistaken identity that we experience in our attempts to take ownership of consciousness. Carl Jungs depth psychology, which remains deeply influential to psychologists, religious scholars, and artists alike, argues that ego-consciousness developed out of the unconscious over the course of evolution. By exploring the work of key theoreticians from both schools of thought, particularly those whose ideas are derived from an integration of theory and practice, Whitney explores the extent to which the seemingly irremediable split between Jung and Patajalis ontological beliefs can in fact be reconciled.

This thorough and insightful work will be essential reading for academics, theoreticians, and postgraduate students in the fields of psychology, philosophy of science, and consciousness studies. It will also appeal to those interested in the EastWest psychological and philosophical dialogue.

Leanne Whitney received her PhD in depth psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California. She works as a transformational coach, Yoga teacher, and documentary filmmaker. Leannes professional papers include Depth psychology through the lens of Classical Yoga: a reconsideration of Jungs ontic reality and Jung and non-duality: some clinical and theoretical implications of the self as totality of the psyche co-authored with Dr. Lionel Corbett.