CARL JUNG: MAN & HIS SYMBOLS

Fragments:

• • The unconscious is no mere repository of the past

but it is full of germs of future psychic situations &
ideas.

• • Today cannot turn into a real tomorrow if you

believe that the future is just a repetition of the past.

• • The therapeutic task may be the establishment of

confidence rather than the demonstration of a clinical
theory.

• • It is not possible to see the analogy between a

case of compulsion neurosis & that of a classical
demonic possession without a working knowledge of
both.

• • The archetype is a tendency to form certain

representations.

• • The archetypes function like complexes & in this

respect they come and go very much as they please;
complexes modify or obstruct our conscious intentions
in an embarrassing way. Both have numinous energy
& fascination; complexes influence the person while
archetypes give rise to religions, myths &
philosophies.

• • We are free to choose God or no God but if it can

be demonstrated that the concept of God is beneficial
then one should choose God.

• • If you think life is "a tale told by an idiot" it will

lower your resistance & you will despair.

• • A symbol has no innate power, its numinosity

exists only in the emotions or unconscious of the
individual.

• • A man cannot relate to women until he has

 separated the anima from the mother who is
symbolized by the labyrinth. (Ariadne)

• • Parental images evoke archetypes! They mediate.

• • The beast in ‘Beauty & the Beast’ represents her

own animal nature which she must recognize to
overcome the one-sided development & education as
a "good" person.

• • Dionysus was a demigod. Orphism was an

offshoot (less violent). Orphism taught immortality
(as reincarnation) whereas Christ was divine & taught
everlasting life after death.

• • Those who have to learn to face death may have

to relearn the old message that death is a mystery for
which we must prepare ourselves in the same spirit of
submission & humility as we once learned to prepare
ourselves for life.

• • Individualism is real only if the person is aware of

it & cooperates as best he can, & submits to creative
guidance.

• • Not only dreams but some real events can

anticipate the future in symbolic form.

• • The Nashapi of Labrador are scattered & do not

have tribal customs or collective religious beliefs &
ceremonies. In his solitude he relies on inner voices
& unconscious revelations; his inner soul he calls "my
friend" or "Great Man".

• • The shadow shows up as omissions, forgetfulness,

impulsive or inadvertent acts. Shadow can be friend
or enemy, it depends on ourselves. He is exactly like
any human with whom one has to get along.
Sometimes by giving in, sometimes by resisting,
sometimes by giving love: the shadow becomes
hostile when ignored or misunderstood.

• • The Dionysian religion had orgiastic rites that

 implied the need for the initiate to abandon himself to
his animal nature & thereby experience the full power
of the earth mother.

• • It is often impossible to tell whether promptings

come from the shadow or the Self; this is known as
contamination.

• • When the shadow arises, God is needed to help

carry you through!

• • Do what you can but be ready to change course in

a moment if the unconscious should clearly point in
another direction. Maybe the Self wants the ego to
have a free choice or manifest through these
decisions.

• • It is the anima that makes it possible to connect to

the unconscious as symbolized in the Greek Sybil
fathoming the divine will, or shamans sometimes
wearing women's clothes.

• • The anima can become a death demon by

depressing the man to the point of suicide. A man's
anima is formed by his mother. The anima mediates.

• • All of one's qualities act like a committee.

• • A personification of the Self can be a youth or an

old man.

• • The Self is only partly contained in our time zone &

can be omnipresent, personified by the "Great Man"
concept.

• • Synchronistic events accompany the phases of

individuation. Watch for such coincidences & record
them.

• • The only worthwhile adventure for modern man

lies in the realm of the unconscious psyche.

• • The process of individuation excludes imitation of

 others. People have copied in "outer" or ritualistic
behaviour the religious experience of their leaders &
have become petrified.

• • The ego should continue to function in normal

ways. One must remain an ordinary human being
conscious of one's incompleteness in order to
experience fully the unconscious contents &
processes.

• • A ritual or religious custom can spring from an

unconscious revelation experienced by a single
individual. There is a religious function in the psyche.
Whatever power religious symbols have stems from
them arising in the unconscious.

• • You cannot know either spiritual reality (the

unconscious) or physical reality (indeterminacy) in
itself.

• • In psychological terms, the mask transforms the

wearer into an archetypal image. Ancient dancers
would imitate the movements of particular animals,
thus stealing their soul.

• • Consciously or unconsciously, the artist gives form

to the nature & values of his time which, in their turn,
form him.