The King Within

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's 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. (Mar.)