Psyche in the Red

(Thanks for coming by. I would like to issue two apologies:
1. For the late date of this post. I am back on my feet and in fighting shape, thankfully.
2. Blogger is having difficulties with photos and formatting, so this blog appears more stripped than normal. This won't happen again.)


Few fields are as perplexing or intriguing as the study of the human mind. It could be argued that Psychology continues it’s grasp on the world for the fact that the actual function of thought and personality cannot be physically grasped. Yet the study of the mind and it’s functions could be one most important fields since the psyche and it’s “inner workings” are the very root of the human experience.


Sigmund Freud is often considered to be the “father” of Modern Psychology. His process of psychoanalysis and subsequent division of the psyche would pave the way for countless theorists, proving to infuriate and compel every college student who has taken part in a PSY-101 course world-wide. Of his many well-know concepts, Freud’s theory that the Unconscious Mind resonated strongly enough that 100 years later, people still struggle to make headway into the murky waters of what lies beneath waking perception.



In 1906, Freud began correspondence with an enthusiastic young Swiss doctor named Carl Gustav Jung. Freud received a copy of "Studies in Word Association" from Jung, which precipitated a meeting of these two minds in Vienna a year later. If the stories are true, Freud and Jung spent a near-solid thirteen hours in discussion during this initial meeting and would remain in close contact until 1913, when they had a falling-out over interpretation of Psychoanalytic Theory.


The dissolution of his relationship with Freud did not deter Jung; until his death in the 1950’s Carl Jung would continue to push the boundaries of psychology into new, esoteric territory. Jungian Analysis, as it is often called, blends Freud’s Psychoanalysis with theories on the origin of mankind’s inner nature. Jung believed that man shared a hereditary link to a rich encyclopedia of symbols that are universal, regardless of a person’s cultural origins.



One of the largest divisions between “traditional” Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis is the symbolic description of the function of the mind. Freud first presented his theory of the Id, Ego, and Super-Ego in a 1920 article called "Beyond The Pleasure Principle." In Freud’s view, these three segments were combined with the Unconscious Mind, representing the vast unseen repositiory of long-forgotten memories and repressed desires would influence (and sometimes wreak havoc) on the Conscious Mind and World. Jung on the other hand argued that the mind was broken into multiple symbolic segments: The "Persona," a sort of face shown to the world which serves to conceal and protect a person’s core nature; The "Anima" (for men) or "Animus" (for women) which is a sort of opposite-gender unconscious counterpart to the individual that represents a form of unification of a person’s rational and irrational personality traits; The "Shadow," a form given to the repressed or denied desires and elements of a person. Though Jungian Analysts warn that a person’s Shadow might be frightening, that it is also a source of powerful creative energy; and finally the "Self," which represents the whole of a human by unifying all of these elements of the Unconscious and Conscious mind together. Jung argues in his book "Modern Man In Search of a Soul" that the only possible way to live Life successfully is when we confront and integrate these elements, or in his own words, “It is only possible to live the fullest life when we are in harmony with these symbols; wisdom is a return to them.”


In 1938, a 38 year old Dr. Carl Jung began to experience a profound change in his own psyche, which he called like “Doing a schizophrenia,” or in his memoirs Memories, Dreams, Reflections, he would describe as a flow of symbols in his mind that he must “…let myself plummet down into them.” Between 1914 and 1930, Jung would record these incidents and transcribe them into a piece called "Liber Novum" (Latin for “New Book,”) or as it would later come to be known, "The Red Book," for the crimson coloring of its bindings and covers. For the sixteen years Jung would labor through this journal, loaded to the covers with internal and inter-personal symbols, illustrated by and hand and written in flowing calligraphy. Much of the book is filled with conversations with mythological and historical figures, or anthropomorphized psychological constructs in an attempt to control the “incessant stream” or realization in his psyche.


Amongst adherents of Jungian Psychology and Analysis, "Liber Novum/The Red Book" represents a pure look into the psychological framework of a man whose work inspires a near-religious devotion. But the family of Carl Jung, who held "Liber Novum/The Red Book" away from publishers since Dr. Jung’s death in 1961, feeling that it might not have ever been intended for mass-consumption. In 2009, Sonu Shamdasani and Stephen Martin (a pair of Jung historians and adherents) convinced the Jung Estate to allow "Liber Novum" to be digitally scanned, edited, translated, and published. As well, the book has been on display at the Rubin Art Museum of New York and The United States Library of Congress.


Carl Jung and his theories have had an impact on the modern world. The pop-culutre love of “dream interpretation” is rooted in Jung’s use of dream analysis to help diagnosis psychological disorders. He is often credited for being one of the cornerstones of Alcoholics Anonymous, in that he once told a seemingly-incurable alcoholic patient that he believed that religious devotion could offer him redemption from addiction. Allegedly, this patient began to seek religious education and conversion which allowed him to abandon his need to drink. Jung is credited with popularizing the terms “Introvert and Extrovert,” and is thereby, at least in part, responsible for the ever-popular Myer-Briggs Personality Test. In many ways, the sheer size of Carl Jung’s creative output is impressive, but with the inclusion of "Liber Novum" he and his theories stand ready to inspire and confound countless future Analysts who intend to plumb the depths of the mind.

The Curious Case of Dr. Miklos Nyiszli

Common wisdom states that individuals who are not mindful of the past will continue to repeat themselves. For this reason, Mankind has made an effort to record every bleak moment, hoping to stop the tides of atrocity long before they begin to swell.

It is small wonder that much of history is centered around war and tragedy. In a way, it is easier for people to measure the events of the world by the gruesome sign posts created by battlefields and metaphorical Hell-mouths left by man’s uglier side. Hotel Rwanda, a 2004 film by Terry George, exposed many people for the first time to the horrors of the animosity between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes of central Africa. The Khmer Rogue executed approximately 200,000 of it’s own people from 1975-1979, and would later be chronicled by director Roland Joffe in his 1984 film The Killing Fields. Bookstores and Cinemas are awash with media telling us of people and cultures enduring a “Dark Night of The Soul,” surrounded by horror that, if they hadn’t actually occurred, no one would believe possible.

Somewhat lost amongst the piles of literature, poetry, and cinema of War and subsequent violence is the story of Dr. Miklos Nyiszli. A Hungarian pathologist and medical practitioner, Dr. Nyiszli found himself in a position that few humans could ever endure, attempting to survive a one of the places where inhumanity went on full display, a name which will likely be acid-etched into the collective Shadow archetype of Humanity; the Nazi extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Dr. Nyiszli wrote his only book, Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account, shortly after returning home to Hungary from the camps as a document for the rest of history to study. He attempts to tell the unadulterated and uncensored tale of The Third Reich’s systematic murder of any individual who did not fit into their worldview. Where as many accounts of the Nazi’s concentration camps comes from the lives of the prisoners who were starved and tortured, Dr. Nyiszli came from a position that has made his book as well as his memory (he passed away in May of 1956) both invaluable and reviled.

In the summer of 1944, The Nyiszli family arrived by train to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Poland, with a convoy of Jews from Eastern Europe. During the “selection” process," Dr. Nyiszli was separated from his wife and daughter after volunteering the information regarding his profession. Little did he know, he would end up serving as the primary physician and autopsy expert for one of the most infamous of the Nazi war criminals: Dr. Joseph Mengele So, from June of 1944 to January of 1945, Dr. Miklos Nyiszli served with the Sonderkommando (a group of Jewish prisoners, executed generally every four months, who worked the Crematoria and gas chambers in exchange for a slightly better lot in life) as well as serving as the physician to the SS, who were not only Auschwitz’s administrators, but also chief Executioners. Dr. Nyiszli would primarily, however, spent the majority of his time in the camp performing autopsies under the direction of Dr. Mengele, who was attempting to prove via pseudoscience, the “inferiority” of “non-Aryans.”

Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account is a gut-churning tale with an unflinching narrative manner. While there are plenty of other stories regarding “The Final Solution” and the associated Nazi camps, Dr. Nyiszli’s book can be a cause for argument, and has remained such since it’s initial publication in 1947. At the same time, Auschwitz is also a valuable document, giving a unique insider’s view at the functioning and organization of a veritable genocide machine. Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, a psychologist who wrote the forward to the 1960’s paperback edition of Auschwitz (which has been included in most reprints since that time,) issued a scathing criticism of Dr. Nyiszli’s decision to assist as the chief pathologist at Auschwitz. Dr. Bettelheim also likened this to one of the most well-know stories of The Holocaust: The Diary of Anne Frank, arguing that the Franks, and by implication, Dr. Nyiszli and most other Jews, were led by the urge to attempt living life with “business as usual,” leading ultimately to the death of an entire family as well as approximately 6 million Jews and millions of other minority groups throughout Europe. This criticism, however, is light when considering the words of Michael Nevins, M.D., who wrote the essay Moral Dilemmas faced by Jewish Doctors during The Holocaust. Nevins flatly says “Dr. Nyiszli was a reprehensible individual who ingratiated himself with his masters in order to save his own skin.”

While it is difficult to understand how a seemingly rational person could take part in the activities of Auschwitz-Birkenau, leading millions to their deaths, does Dr. Miklos Nyiszli deserve the mountains of scorn that have been heaped upon him?

It is easy to find anyone who would take part in such atrocity as horrible or hate-worthy, but knowing that Dr. Nyiszli held no sympathy to The Third Reich turns the situation into a profound moral ambiguity. In Auschwitz, Dr. Nyiszli repeatedly points out that his concerns while in the camp were the safety of his wife and daughter, as well as trying to stay alive long enough to tell the public of the concentration camps. As well, the depth of violence being committed in the walls of Auschwitz-Birkenau was clearly a surprise to Dr. Nyiszli, and he repeatedly says that each new development he witnessed (I.e. the varying methods of execution and corpse disposal) disturbed him greatly.

Further, the argument that Dr. Nyiszli volunteered himself merely to preserve his own life is a somewhat problematic accusation. As a conscious human being, Dr. Nyiszli was determined to “save his own skin’ but could that same argument be thrown at the other members of the Sonderkommando? Without his instinct towards self-preservation (as well as his desire to save his family and preserve the tale of his hardship) the world would not have the intimate knowledge of “The Final Solution” that we do today.

Whether or not you agree with the choices made by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli from June of 1944 to January of 1945, this oft-forgotten story deserves to be retold, if not as a cautionary tale, but as a question of man’s instinct to survive versus the moral dilemmas that can face even the most common of people.

Meta (A Book Review)

For many people, the nature of horror lies in the acceptable not happening. If you let an item loose from your grip ten times, that item will fall to the floor ten times. So the question of the horror writer is "What happens when, on the tenth drop, the dropped thing simply floats in air?"

Mark Z. Danielewski released House of Leaves in March of 2000 generating an underground following ever since. What makes the book exceptional, however, is that it simply defies explanation, a book that is more an experience than something simply read. By nearly abandoning the traditional structure of the fictional novel, Danielewski creates a literary nightmare that alludes to both fact and fiction that is both touching and repulsive.

House of Leaves primarily follows Johnny Truant, a resident of Los Angeles who is tormented by the shadows of his unfortunate past and a disturbing new reality. Late one evening, a friend contacts Johnny regarding a deceased blind man named Zampano and the sprawling mess of book he was writing, entitled The Navidson Record. Once introduced, Zampano's work becomes a second but equally important plot which runs parallel to the dramatic "crash and burn" that Truant undergoes.

"The Navidson Record" tells the story of Will Navidson, a photojournalist who is abandoning the wild life of seeking out tragic stories around the globe. He and his family settle in to a new home, hoping to use their relocation as a starting point for a more reserved and peaceful life. Soon the calm is shattered by a growing spatial disparity in the structure of their house, an ever-expanding black hole that threatens the life and sanity of all who enter the house.



Lesser writers would render a tale of this complexity to a hackneyed ghost story. Danielewski, on the other hand, swings masterfully between extreme darkness and light-hearted humor. Claustrophobia gives way to vast expanses in the space of a few chapters, often running the two plot lines literally side by side. The first words of House of Leaves warn and challenge us: "This is not for you." The statement is apt; the book does not have a broad appeal. It's very layout does not allow for a passive reading experience. Instead, House of Leaves demands that the audience dive head-first in to a labyrinth of shadows and leave all preconceptions regarding narrative behind them.

For those who might be interested, the album Haunted by POE (who is Danielewski's sister) was written as a partial companion piece to the book and is, on it's own merits as well as it's literary connection, worth purchasing.

Liber Incognita

Few artifacts in the world of books have caused greater confusion and theorizing than The Voynich Manuscript. Its origin is unknown as is the Manuscript’s author. Despite the context clues that can be drawn from its illustrations, the function of the text is also unknown. To add to the litany of mysteries it offers, it is written in an unidentifiable language and script.




This unusual tome first appears in known history in 1912 when Wilifred Voynich, a book collector, purchases the manuscript from a Jesuit school in Rome. Voynich made every possible attempt at uncovering the books secrets, sending photographed copies of the 200 page book to interpreters and code-breakers around the world, but all returned answer-less and as perplexed as its owner. There are apocryphal stories of The Voynich Manuscript having been sent to a military code-breaker during World War II with disastrous result; according to legend, the cryptographer slipped into madness due to his inability to translate the text.

What is so compelling about this book? At the heart of it’s strange history is the simplicity of mystery itself. The book has no apparent pedigree. Perhaps it is best to break the Voynich Manuscript to its most obvious component parts. The book is seemingly separated in to multiple sections, covering what appears to be various subject matters. Illustrations of plants lend to the thought that it is a botanical text, abruptly shifting gears with what appears to Astrological or Astronomy. Further crude and unusual illustrations of people bathing in pools fed by what appears to be pipes in the shape and color of human organs.

Two figures are often implicated with The Voynich Manuscript: Roger Bacon and Dr. John Dee.



Roger Bacon was a Franciscan Friar who lived during the 13th Century and is best remembered for his early scientific and alchemical experiments. Bacon often found himself run afoul with the hierarchy of The Vatican given his insistence on studying and teaching Astronomy and the philosophy of Aristotle. Known for his vast amount of knowledge of a variety of subjects during a time period when even those blessed with an education were extremely limited in what they knew, it stands to reason with Voynich theorists that the “Doctor Mirabillis” of Oxford could be the hand that is responsible for this mysterious piece.

Dr. John Dee was an astrologer and mathematician in service of Queen Elizabeth I, often serving as her tutor and personal scholar. Dee is, in many ways, a figure whose presence can be felt in the shadows of British History. It is claimed that he, using Astrology, picked an auspicious date for Elizabeth’s coronation and was responsible for coining the term “The British Empire.” A student of French Neo-Platonism, Dee never seemed to make a distinction between his “serious” areas of study and his more arcane pursuits. While known as a devoutly Christian man, John Dee was well-known for a serious of occult rituals in which claimed to found a way to make contact with the entirety of the Angels in God’s employ.

While both of these men are colorful and deserve their unique place in history, it seems unlikely both of these men have a connection to The Voynich Manuscript. The connection of Roger Bacon to the Manuscript seems solely based on the connection to the book being in England and apparently coming from his time period. The “Dee Connection” to the manuscript is said to lay in that he either fabricated the book or had purchased it at some point (Dee is said to have had the largest collection of books in the country for his time period) and sold it nearing the end of his life. It should be noted, however, that historians who have studied the life of the illustrious Dr. Dee have never come across conclusive proof to indicate that he had ever owned the tome. It is also worth noting that Dr. John Dee was implicated by renowned horror author H.P. Lovecraft as having introduced the terrifying but non-existent grimoire, The Necronomicon, to the Western World.

Without a historical record to authenticate the book, loaded down with a seemingly indecipherable script written by an unknown individual or individuals, it is possible to see The Voynich Manuscript as an elaborate but successful hoax. But to what end? Why would a writer, likely an educated person, go to such length to create a book of such complexity if it served no practical purpose? While it is possible that it is merely a perverse joke that still mocks us from the 13th century, there is still a devoted following of researchers, both professional and amateur who wish to decode the text. It currently resides at Oxford University, a location it will likely remain until someone has the intellectual acumen or blind luck to break the strangle-hold of mystery that a book can hold over us.