Mythology of the Prenatal Life

MYTHOLOGY
OF THE PRENATAL LIFE

by Francis J. Mott
with annotations by R.D. Laing

This book is a sequel and companion volume to "The Nature of the Self", which explores the intricacies of prenatal experience, demonstrating how these processes are a reflection of an essential life-pattern revealed in many other dimensions of life, macrocosmic and microscopic. In "Mythology of the Prenatal Life", these insights are explored in further detail and with true genius, as Francis J. Mott shows how the prenatal realm is symbolized in mythology, Biblical stories, and folk tales from many cultures. Lovers of symbolism will relish this material, which offers a unique perspective on familiar themes.

This book is an edited version of material previously available only as a privately published monograph. It includes the essay "Jacob's Ladder", a summary of the author's main ideas. The annotations made by R. D. Laing, with whom he corresponded, have been reproduced within the text, published here for the first time.

Although Freud initially proposed that mental life began only after birth, he was later to revise this view. Since then, largely in counterpoint to 'mainstream psychology', many brilliant people have developed their own unique understanding of the pre- and perinatal realms: Otto Rank, Nandor Fodor, Stanislav Grof, Paul Verny, Arthur Janov, William Emerson, Bill Swartley, Frank Lake, D.W. Winnicott, R.D. Laing and many others.

"The work of Francis Mott stands out as one of the most distinctive contributions of the twentieth century to the study of the human mind".
R.D. Laing