The Human Soul

The Human Soul: Mysteries and Complexities of the Psyche

New edition of the classic study of the characteristics of the human soul, which outlines four distinct stages of consciousness. New in the Karl Kӧnig Archive.

In this book Karl Kӧnig looks at a range of human experiences, including pain, anxiety, fear, shame and anger, and distinguishes four stages of consciousness: normal day-consciousness, dreaming, sleeping and deep sleep.

Although much has changed in the field of psychology since The Human Soul was written in the middle of the twentieth century, this book nevertheless remains a meaningful exploration into the mysteries and complexities of the human psyche.

This new Karl Kӧnig Archive edition of the classic text has been updated with never-before published lectures by Konig on psychology and the human soul, including notes from the two talks that originally inspired this book.

About the Author

Karl König (1902–1966) was born in Vienna, in Austria-Hungary, the only son of a Jewish shoemaker. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna and graduated in 1927, with a special interest in embryology. After graduating, he was invited by Ita Wegman to work in her Klinisch-Therapeutisches Institut, a clinic in Arlesheim, Switzerland for people with special needs. He married Mathilde Maasberg in 1929. Dr. König was appointed paediatrician at the Rudolf Steiner-inspired Schloß Pilgrimshain institute in Strzegom, where he worked until 1936, when he returned to Vienna and established a successful medical practice. Owing to Hitler’s invasion of Austria, he was forced to flee Vienna to Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1938. Dr. König was interned briefly at the beginning of World War II, but on his release in 1940 he set up the first Camphill Community for Children in Need of Special Care at Camphill on the outskirts of Aberdeen. From the mid-1950s, König began more communities, including one in North Yorkshire, the first to care for those beyond school age with special needs. In 1964, König moved to Brachenreuthe near Überlingen on Lake Constance, Germany, where he set up another community, where he died in 1966.