Sixth night. My soul leads me into the desert, into the desert of my own self. I did not think that my soul is a desert, a barren, hot desert, dusty and without drink. The journey leads through hot sand, slowly wading without a visible goal to hope for? How eerie is this wasteland. It seems to me that the way leads so far away from mankind. I take my way step by step, and do not know how long…
You dread the depths; it should horrify you, since the way of what is to come leads through it. You must endure the temptation of fear and doubt, and at the same time acknowledge to the bone that your fear is justified and your doubt is reasonable. How otherwise / could it be a true temptation and a true overcoming? Christ totally overcomes the temptation of the devil, but not the temptation of God to good and reason. Christ thus…
I know too much not to see on what swaying bridges I go. Where are you leading me?1 In human history, there are some who stand out from the masses. These are usually the ones who have made the journey C.G. Jung is about to make. With soul leading the way, striding “like a God,”2 Jung apprehensively follows, fearing he is being led downward into madness and meaninglessness. He says, “I limp after you on crutches of understanding. ….
Jung begins to affirm the importance of living one’s individual life. Those who attempt to live by the example of another always fall into error. One must take up one’s cross daily and live one’s own life, for this is the way of salvation. Jung writes: . . .who knows the way to the eternally fruitful climes of the soul? You seek the way through mere appearances, you study books and give ear to all kinds of opinion. What…
The supreme meaning is the path, the way and the bridge to what is to come. That is the God yet to come. It is not the coming God himself but his image which appears in the supreme meaning. God is an image, and those who worship him must worship him in the images of the supreme meaning.1 Sonu Shamdasani points out the following in the notes: In Transformations and Symbols of the Libido (1912), Jung interpreted God as…
Personality #1, “the spirit of this time,” in Jung’s autobiography correlates to the normal, everyday personality; personality #2, or “the spirit of the depths,” is analogous to that part of him that is in contact with the depths of the unconscious. This is the way it is with all of us. Some of us ignore #2. The only contact we have with it is in our dreams. Only through interaction with the spirit of the depths can one come…
I have been planning on writing commentary on Jung’s Red Book for a long time, ever since it was released, actually. Until today, I have never been able to begin. I don’t know whether it was something in me that feared going down that rabbit hole, or whether it was simply a lack of time. Whatever the reason, I am now ready to begin the journey. Most of you already know the story behind the Red Book, so I…