1st Edition
The Jungian Inspired Holocaust Writings of Etty Hillesum To Write is to Act
Within this fascinating new book, Barbara Morrill analyses the journal writings of Etty Hillesum, a young Jewish woman in the 1940’s, as she began analysis with a Jungian-oriented practitioner in 1941.
While Anne Frank is an inspirational figure, little is known about Etty Hilllesum, also from Amsterdam, who kept a diary recounting her life and experiences during early World War II. This book is a compelling example of how we can use Etty Hillesum’s writings in the present to stand firm against the problems we’re currently facing globally. Being a Jungian-oriented Integral psychologist and professor, the author examines what Hillesum recorded in her time, as well as employing Etty’s ideas to illuminate the chaos in our time. She explores Hillesum's own process of individuation and realization, encouraging others to “develop yourselves!”
This will be a unique volume of interest to Jungian analysts, analysts in training, as well as readers with an interest in the time period and concern about democracy and “our times”
1. Her Times: Historical Context 2. Unfolding Toward Being: Jungian Inspired Developmental Stages of Individuation and Realization 3. Etty Hillesum's Diary in Relationship to the Stages of Realization 4. Camp Westerbork: Her Choice 5. Our Time: 2016 - 2023 6. The Significance of Etty Hillesum's Writings in Our Time and All Time 7. Epilogue: The Evolution of the Public's View of Etty Hillesum's Dairy Since the 1980s
Biography
Barbara Morrill, PhD, was program chair, associate professor, and core faculty in the Integral Counseling Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco from 2009 - 2022. She is now faculty emerita. She received her MA from Boston College in Massachusetts and her PhD from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (now known as Sofia University) in Palo Alto, California. She is a clinical psychologist licensed in CA and has been in private practice for over 30 years. Barbara has spent much of her life exploring social, psychological, and spiritual development.
"When we are threatened with genocide, totalitarianism, dystopianism, and paranoia, there are different overlapping ways of keeping hope for the future alive: thoughtful reflection, direct political action, and the creative imagination. Barbara Morrill’s devotion to studying the life and work of Etty Hillesum resonates with us today because they both offer us the most extraordinary example from the Holocaust of the indomitable spirit of the individual keeping hope for the future of humanity alive."
Thomas Singer, MD and Jungian analyst, editor of Cultural Complexes and the Soul of America and Mind of State: Conversations on the Conflicts Stirring US Politics and Society
Dr. Morrill’s recounting of the life and philosophy of Etty Hillesum is exactly the medicine needed for our time. Etty's words and life offer profound guidance about how to stay connected with the soul’s wisdom in the midst of the most harrowing of outer circumstance. Morrill draws on Jungian psychology to help us navigate our own experiences of collective trauma. Etty’s life and wisdom guide us in how to stay connected with the compassionate truth that lives at the center of our beings.
Shoshana Fershtman, Jungian analyst and clinical psychologist, author of The Mystical Exodus in Jungian Perspective: Transforming Trauma and the Wellsprings of Renewal
In her exploration of Etty Hillesum’s writing and life, Morrill deepens our understanding, not only of Hillesum, but also of Europe under the Nazi’s and the contemporary rise of authoritarianism and xenophobia. While a psychologist, deeply interested in Etty's inner development during an extraordinary time, Morrill also provides a sociological view, illuminating the intersection between the individual and their culture. Morrill builds upon Hillesum’s exquisite writing to challenge us to think deeply about cultivating individual growth amid societal trauma.
Judie Wexler, president emerita, California Institute of Integral Studies, and president, Congregation Sherith Israel
