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The Cunning Secret of the Wise

A RESPONSE TO THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES

FREDERICK BURNISTON

When I ran study groups on Jung’s alchemical works, I couldn’t fail to notice that they were alchemical in themselves. The effort to decipher these texts had a transformative effect on everyone in the group. This book is an attempt to convey something of this experience to the reader.

Every system of yoga or meditation requires a working doctrine and a method. In alchemy the doctrine is the theoria and the actual work in the laboratory is the practica. Jung’s psychology is a powerful theoria for our post religious age. But Cunning Secret is not exclusively focused on Jung. It ranges far and wide, from Nietzsche, who anticipated almost all the insights of Freud and Jung, to the great visionary mystic and saint Ibn ‘Arabi.

As each chapter is self- contained the reader is free enter the text at any point. But if this book is read sequentially, it will be seen to follow a logic of its own. The Cunning Secret of the Wise will be useful to students of Religious Studies and/or Psychoanalytic Studies and Jungian or transpersonal therapists. Western educated Muslims may well find food for thought in this book.

*Fred Burniston has taught across the educational spectrum from junior school to Jung courses and advanced text reading groups at the London Jung Club and at Rewley House (the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford). His book is the outcome of 40 years of thinking outside the box.

At first sight my book looks like a collection of essays. But there is a drama going on beneath the surface. The author is the narrator and the towering figure of C.G. Jung takes centre stage. Throughout the play Jung engages in dialogues and disputes with a number of philosophers, theologians and mystics. In the final act (the last three chapters) Jung encounters the great medieval Sufi master Ibn ‘Arabi. There are deep affinities between Jung and the Shaykh and these chapters are the merest beginning.

Book Reviews

The Cunning Secret of the Wise was first published by Xlibris in 2021. A second edition was published in 2022 by Great Writers Media, a company that prides itself on its marketing expertise. I must warn any aspiring authors that this company’s expertise amounts to persuading customers to invest in expensive marketing packages only to shamelessly default on the contract. I had to seek reimbursement from my bank.
The 2023 edition of my book under Xlibris is the definitive one. Prospective readers are of course free to buy whatever edition they choose. But before making your purchase please bear in mind the track record of Great Writers Media. I’m not the only self – publishing author to have the marketing of my book derailed by this company.