The King Within: Accessing the King in the Male Psyche - Hardcover

Moore, Robert L.; Gillette, Douglas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688095917 ISBN 13: 9780688095918

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1992

Synopsis

The authors analyze the King at the center of every man's soul, arguing that the king is a response to men's growing sense of empowered masculine authenticity

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Calling itself ``an operator's manual to the psyche'' of men (and a guide to their ``hard-wiring'' for women), this is also a firm if rather theoretical response to critics who charge that men's movement gatherings and exhortations are silly, reactive, and shallow. Moore (Psychology and Religion/Chicago Theological Seminary) and Gillette (a pastoral counselor) write about ``the king within''--a psychological potential that each man apparently carries--with authority and total conviction, discussing the four Jungian archetypes (``King,'' ``Warrior,'' ``Magician,'' ``Lover''), recalling their many representations in ancient and modern cultures, and examining associated patterns of energy that empower men. Readers expecting descriptions of sweat lodges and exotic rites of passage won't find them here. The authors focus on myth and ritual as psychological skills in the quest for the king within, a mature man who strives to achieve creativity and make a positive difference in the world. Although Moore and Gillette acknowledge a variety of failed specimens, from weaklings like-- they say--King Arthur and Jimmy Carter to ``Shadow Kings'' like Caligula and wayward CEOs, they concentrate on identifying positive qualities (caring, courage), on learning how to tap into them, and on empowering others to do the same. To the authors, the urge for power is no shame as long as it's channeled justly. Regrettably, Moore and Gillette rarely refer to contemporary situations and rely on alienating jargon: ``Since the fully manifested King experiences a passionate union with the Anima...Queen, a man can experience the deep Self approaching the Jungian exemplum, but his Self is likely to be asymmetrically masculine.'' For a more accessible, reality-oriented view of similar territory, try Samuel Osherson's Wrestling with Love, reviewed below. (But those attuned to the authors' approach should note that a follow-up title, The Warrior Within, is due out in August.) (Eight pages of color photos; 50 b&w photos--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

The archetypal image of the liberating, life-giving King lurks within every man's psyche, according to Jungian psychoanalyst Moore and pastoral counselor Gillette, coauthors of King, Warrior, Magician, Lover. Here they bid readers to "access and utilize our King energy," warning that men who repress the inner King suffer from aimlessness and depression and may even be possessed by the King's bipolar Shadow, which turns the male ego into either a Tyrant or a Weakling. Their ideal Generative Man "may be communist or capitalist, industrialist or peasant. He may be an animal-rights advocate or a whale hunter, and is as much a poet as a soldier." The writing is not always this vague and silly, but only men's movement enthusiasts are apt to follow the authors' arduous prescriptions for dream analysis, prayer, "active imagination," Ego-archetype dialogue, and meditation on pyramids or images of Egyptian pharaohs, Assyrian kings, swords and suits of armor.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0688095917
• ISBN 13: 9780688095918
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336