Indra's Net: Alchemy and Chaos Theory as Models for Transformation - Softcover

Robertson PhD, Robin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 083560862X ISBN 13: 9780835608626

Publisher: Quest Books, 2009

Synopsis

In this clear, engaging book, Robin Robertson draws parallels between alchemy and chaos theory and shows how to apply them to our inner development. He is not proposing they replace traditional spiritual paths, but rather that they reflect deep structures in the psyche that any inner journey awakens. The model they provide necessarily underlies all paths of spiritual transformation and describes a framework for the stages through which any seeker goes. No matter what your particular calling, these insights enrich understanding of the transformative process, whether outside in the world, or within your life.

About this title

About the Author:

Robin Robertson has spent a life-time bridging the worlds of science, psychology and the arts. He has worked as a clinical psychologist, mathematician, and actuary; within the computer field, he's been a systems analyst, software designer, computer executive and consultant. He has separate undergraduate degrees in mathematics and English literature, as well as an M.A. in counseling psychology, and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Robin has written fourteen books and more than a hundred articles, often connected with Jungian psychology or the relationship between psychology and science, which have gone through multiple printings, new editions, and foreign translations. Since 1986, he's been a writer, editor, columnist and editorial board member of the Jungian journal Psychological Perspectives. He has also been heavily involved with the applications of chaos theory in psychology as a writer, editor, speaker, and officer of the "Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences." And, in more recent years, he's been a consulting editor and contributor for the cybernetics journal Cybernetics & Human Knowing (a journal that looks at deep issues about the nature of reality). Regardless of the area he's dealing with, he writes and speaks about complex ideas in clear, nontechnical language. He is a life-time amateur magician, and a member of the Order of Merlin of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, who has published five magic books and many original effects, in recent years often collaborating with the Scottish magician, Peter Duffie.

Review:

"Robin Robertson has a knack for grasping the pure quill in our crazy-making daily whirl. Indra's Net is magical, because readers will learn more about themselves than about Indra, alchemy or chaos theory.
" --Daryl Sharp, Jungian analyst, Publisher, Inner City Books

"I greatly appreciated Robin's scholarly historic presentation. As a Jungian and mathematician, it is not surprising that Robin has culminated his writing career on mysticism, myth, mathematics, and metamorphosis with this fusion of chaos theory and alchemy. Besides illuminating these subjects very lucidly, he draws lessons from self-organization. I would place this book, along with R. Abraham's Chaos, Gaia, Eros, and Peterson's Newton's Clock as the most important and enjoyable books on the history and implications of chaos theory.
" --Fred Abraham, PhD, Co-founder of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology, and co-author of A Visual Introduction to Dynamical Systems Theory for Psychology

"Robin Robertson has one of those minds that range over disparate models of reality, see their affinities, intuit their implications, and bring them home to us with clarity and with deep feeling. That he can also link up these various forms and elements with the deep sources of transforming archetypal energy within each of us is still another priceless gift." --James Hollis, Ph. D., Jungian analyst and author of What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life


"Chaos theory and the arcane symbolism of alchemy conjoin in Robin Robertson's new take on personal transformation. Always engaging and lucid, Robertson pursues strange attractors and the philosopher's stone through the outer world of pre and post science into the inner world of psyche. Elegant descriptions, up-to-date analogies, and personal reflections enrich and enliven Robertson's unfolding themes. He synthesizes alchemic mystery, mathematics and psyche with profound simplicity, re-affirming his mastery of this genre" --Barry Jeromson, Ph.D., has taught Philosophy and Jung Studies at the University of South Australia

"In Indra's Netb, Dr. Robin Robertson articulates with an uncommon clarity and erudition both modern chaos theory and alchemy. Taking apart and contrasting insights from these models of transformation, he then puts them together to foster an original contribution to our understanding of change in our souls. This jewel of a book illuminates the unpredictable detours of individuation." --Christophe Le Mouël, Ph.D., Executive Director, C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles

About this edition

• Publisher: Quest Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 083560862X
• ISBN 13: 9780835608626
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 196