James Hillman

Main ideas

• The founder of archetypal psychology: we understand the psyche best through images, stories, and myths, not through measurement and labels.
• A symptom is not a disorder to be removed, and neither is a motivation. Each is a message it is worth listening to.
• In The Soul's Code he develops the "acorn theory": there is a unique character in every person, and it wants to show itself.

What we take

A stance and a form, not a model: no layer, no lens, and no calculation comes from Hillman. What we take is a respect for motivations as something that has a meaning — which is why a test result never judges, and why it helps you read the story your decisions tell. And why we work with dilemmas as stories, not as items on a questionnaire.

What we do differently

Hillman was deeply skeptical of psychological testing. We take that seriously, as a warning: the test is the start of self-reflection, not the result of it.

Recommended books

• The Soul's Code (1996), in Czech Klíč k duši
• Re-Visioning Psychology (1975)

Sources

• Hillman, J. (1975). Re-Visioning Psychology. Harper & Row — archetypal psychology, and a refusal of diagnostic measurement.
• Hillman, J. (1996). The Soul's Code. Random House — the acorn theory.