juris Druck + Verlag ZUrich

1971
 MARGARET OSTROWSKI-SACHS

From Conversations
with
C. G. Jung

150.1954 J954f
Jung, c. G. 1875-1961.
From conversations with e.G.
Jung
 This paper is strictly for private
use and no part of it may be
copied or quoted for publication
without the written permission of
the C. G. Jung- Institute ZUrich.

4
Contents

Foreword 7
Consciousness and Becoming Conscious 9
Psychotherapy 13
Archetypes 21
The Archetype of the Shadow 25
The Archetypes of Animus and Anima 29
The Archetype of the Self 35
Religion 39
Church and Bible 45
Good and Evil 47
Man and Woman 51
Synchronicity 55
Science 59
Miscellaneous Remarks 63
Biographical Notes 67

In the following C. G. Jungs Collected Works Vol. xis always

quoted as C. W. Nr x.
C. G. Jungs Memories, Dreams and Reflections is quoted as
Memories.
The notes to every section are to be found at the end
of the corresponding section.

5
Foreword

The following remarks I have transcribed were made by

C. G. JWlg, during analytical sessions and some of them
in discussions after the Eranos lectures.
The notes were taken verbatim ai the time and published
in German for the private use of the members of the
Clubs . for Analytical Psychology and the students of the
JWlg-Institute in Zurich. Following repeated demands for
their publication in English, they were now translated
with care and devotion by Margareta Marbury, Dr . C.
Gattegno, and Prof. Daniel H. Wheeler. They tried to
find the adequate expressions in English for JWlg's words.
It must be remembered that the following reflections from
casual discussions have not the value of scientific state-
ments published in a scientific journal. They represent
sometimes only fragments from discussions with a pupil,
hWlches and spontaneous ideas from immediate inspiration,
which should first be cleared and revised before they
could represent definitive results. They are raw material
from the workshop, open to misWlderstanding, which only
the reader familiar with Analytical Psychology and the
JWlgian way of speaking can avoid. In order to prevent
misinterpretations I have added corresponding citations
from JWlg's works as footnotes at the end of each chap-
ter, with citations from the Collected Works, which give
the final formulation for the corresponding ideas.
As the chemist works in his laboratory and mixes his
material, so, the master of psychology discusses some
spontaneous ideas with his pupil. Some of JWlg's remarks
concerned special cases which cannot be explained in this
paper, because they touched personal problems of people
still alive. Obviously they cannot be applied for general
use. There exists no general therapy since every human
psyche is unique in its way. I also omitted many of my
notes, because they are already to be found in Aniela
Jaffe's "Memories, Dreams and Reflections by C. G. Jung".
Lastly I would convey my thanks to Aniela Jaffe, for
many a good advice for the issue of this paper.

7
This collection means to me a treasured heritage, that I
would like to share with those, who are working with
Jung's teachings or find vital significance in Jung's ideas.

Margaret Ostrowski -sachs

Montagnola
Spring 1971

8
Consciousness and Becoming Conscious

Consciousness is the divine light; it is the possibility of

seeing oneself, and this means to me that it is the very
basis of life.
Consciousness is the transformation and the transformer
of the primordial instinctual images. 1
The act of becoming conscious happens to man in darkness.
If he can grasp and handle consciousness then the fire
brought from Heaven becomes a sacrificial flame, not the
wrath of the gods. The acquisition of consciousness by
force creates a sense of guilt.
Consciousness is only possible if a spark of the essence
becomes detached from the unconscious, religiously one
could say from God . 2 Consciousness is obviously the
supreme quality: the destiny of the world is to achieve
entry into human consciousness. Man is the being God
has sought not only to show him the world, but because
the Creator needs man to illuminate his creation. We
must become conscious for God because, through us, God
becomes conscious and then becomes man. 3 We have to
realize the inborn divine will, which is the process of in-
dividuation.
If I am all things I cannot discover anything. I am a point
that requires space and time to expand into consciousness.
If I am all things I cannot distinguish myself from the
rest or recognise what is different from me. Man is the
dividing line of the acts of consciousness; he illuminates
the night of the unconscious around him.
The actuality of things is a great puzzle. What existed
before and outside us? At a certain time a vast
change must have taken place; yet even then, at that mo-
ment, the possibility of consciousness must already have
been present in the world.
If a sudden separation occurs in the pleroma there arises
the possibility of creation and consciousness. In the com-
pleteness of the pleroma there is nothing to explain or
distinguish because change and causality cease to exist
there. When we have achieved our greatest capacity for
consciousness the task is to continue our efforts to carry
into reality what we have learned. In certain areas this

9
cannot be done -- I coUld not commit a murder, for in-
stance.
With the contents of my consciousness I must live as na-
turally as a plant. If I act inadequately it is the ape in
me that does it.
The positive result of analysis enables us to become un-
conscious again. Analysis is an intermezzo that lasts un-
til the individual's greatest possible capacity for con-
sciousness has been achieved. Then he can return to na-
ture and re-enter the dark current of life, practice Zen,
or spend his time in alehouses. Unfortunately the last
possibility does not agree with my health!
We do not know our own role in life. We behave like the
lizard; we do what it does except that we also talk ...
We approach life from the side of consciousness, but at
certain times we have to make the sacrificium in-
t e 11 e c t us . We must sacrifice everything and become
again as a child; not to remain a child, be it understood,
but to re-enter childhood. This state implies a divinely
transformed nature, a higher level of existence, and a
more profound realization of the world.
The unconscious has first to be activated; then we must
extricate ourselves, doubting all the things we have hi-
therto believed; then we can turn back and resume our
place in the collective unconscious. This higher conscious-
ness must be re-integrated into the dark flow of life so
that we see then only that, which is immediately before
our eyes.
Even Goethe could only know a fraction of his possibili-
ties and his destiny. Mankind today is faced with prob-
lems that formerly concerned only the gods. Man can now
choose between total destructiveness and complete con-
structiveness. These are superhuman possibilities. 4 The
light of consciousness needs to be clearly distinguished
from the cunning of the unfathomable depths of the spirit.
The psyche is emancipated from instinctual patterns and
from causality. The psyche is also the scene of conflicts
between instinct and free will, for instincts are without
order and collide with the organised consciousness.
Europeans are especially likely to believe that they can
replace instinct by intellect.

10
Memories 1) Attainment of consciousness is cul-
p. 324 ture in the broadest sense and self
knowledge is therefore the heart
essence of the process.

C.W. Nr 11 2) If we say "God" we give expression

Job. p. 360 to an image or a verbal concept,
which has undergone many changes
in the course of time.

C. W. Nr 11 p. 156 3) But as one can never distinguish

Trinity empirically between a symbol of
the self and a God- image, the
ideas, however much we try to dif-
ferentiate them, always appear
blended together. . . (Jung means
that in psychological terms - the
self can become conscious and re-
alized in man.)

4) Concerns the atom bomb.

11
Psychotherapy

As therapists we are subject to the Wlavoidable destinies

of our patients. We can smoothe their sharp edges, lead
them, and help them to experience their true fate. But
many a tragic destiny cannot be averted. Yes, we some-
times see a patient rushing towards disaster; we should
help him then to immerse himself so that he can learn
and, with our help , extricate himself again. Many can on-
ly learn from experience and cannot be protected from
the suffering such experience brings. There are some who
repeatedly fall into the same situation without realizing it.
Others come to lmow the dangers of their wealmesses and
grow with the lmowledge. When similar problems arise
they may be able to avoid them, but if it is their fate to
fall into the same error again at least they lmow, "Oh,
this is the situation where I failed before." Then they are
more in control of themselves and can be spectators in-
stead of like a ball that is tossed about. To lmow the
danger is not as a rule enough to avoid making the mis-
take. Life has to be lived. There are times of misfortWle
-- certain illnesses and difficulties -- through which we
must pass. A certain amoWlt of suffering and unhappiness
is our lot and no one can escape all the dark phases of
life. Consciousness of our problems does not protect us
from misfortWle, but at least consciousness is more help-
ful than WlConsciousne ss. Instinct can certainly help, a
natural instinct being of course better than a warped one.
It is really far better to stand consciously in the midst
of one's life -- and it is Wldoubtedly easier.
It made sense to men in antiquity not to lead very vital
lives, but for us it is right to live as fully as possible.
Life exists only where there is meaning; it does not mat-
ter what a person does provided it makes sense to him.
If one can help a person find me ani n g in his suffering
and in his situation, either in the negative or the positive
(i.e. archetypal) sense, then he can bear any conflict and
any situation. An Wlderstanding of the situation can come
about immediately if its meaning is displayed in a dream.
When meaningfulness and vitality coincide the whole scale
of values becomes oriented towards them.
Individuation cannot be achieved without a mystery. The
mysteries of antiquity were secrets created artificially
for those who did not find any deep mystery in themselves.

13
As the importance of the inner life increased, the mean-
ing of the public mysteries of antiquity decreased in value.
To own a mystery gives stature, conveys uniqueness, and
assures that one will not be submerged in the mass. Be-
cause a secret may cause suffering it is best to keep it
to oneself . The true art is in pond us et me sura --
in the right balance of weight, measure and degree. Too
much secrecy causes neurosis and a split from reality,
but having no mystery permits only collective thinking and
action . Mystery is essential to the experience of oneself
as a unique personality, distinct from others, and for
growth through repeated conflict.
There is no need to fear that analysis can destroy cre-
ative ability. That could only happen to a pseudo-artist.
There is nothing more strong and alive than the creative
capacity; no system of thought can obstruct the creative
urge.
Transference is the natural vehicle by which the patient
regains courage. We can only stand by ourselves if others
are willing to stand by us. The analyst's acceptance of
the patient assures him that he can be borne and implies
that he too can bear himself. When the patient is accept-
ed he often believes, in the early stages of analysis, that
the analyst sanctions everything he does. So he lets him-
self sink even lower because he believes that his beha-
viour is confirmed and that his dark side has also been
accepted. Christ himself associated with tax collectors
and whores and accepted the thief crucified beside him.
11
I am the least of my brethren and my own shadow. 11
Even when we recognise that an erotic problem lies be-
hind a neurosis we must not express it crudely lest we
frighten the patient away. We would then have destroyed
the vehicle that could rescue him. All of us reach our
destinations travelling under false hypotheses. Columbus
wanted to sail to India and found he had discovered Ame-
rica.
To overcome transference all the Christian virtues are
necessary: love, humility, sacrifice, good will.
Depressions always have to be understood teleologically.
~ overweening extraversion is often present and the de-
pression is directly useful in imposing a period of intro-
version. I had a 56 year old manic depressive patient
whom I would send unmercifully to bed whenever she be-
came carping and irritable. In this way I could cut the
depressive phase short.

14
If the unconscious does not cooperate, if, that is, there
are no dreams or fantasies, then it is very difficult to
deal with a neurosis. The analyst depends on some reac-
tion from the unconscious.
The unconscious can also express itself through a depres-
sion. People so spoilt by success that they are no longer
accustomed to struggle for it, must sometimes suffer dis-
aster in order to wake up: otherwise life is too easy for
them. They are too comfortable and they have to pay for
it somehow. Many are plagued by chronic ailments or in-
termittent depressions because fate does not torment them
in other ways . Chronic illness or depression is then di-
rectly meaningful. They are mechanisms, to be sure, but
so long as people are enslaved by these mechanisms they
are saved from a more cruel fate.
There are some patients the analyst must even treat emo-
tionally, and he must not allow certain other patients to
exploit him. He can talk very openly and sternly to these
and even respond emotionally to them. Such people en-
slave others. They must be shown that they have a desire
to dominate: they must be told the truth. People of this
kind are subject to depression because they want to rule
others but cannot manage to.
Even in rearing a child it is often good for parents to re-
act emotionally and not with cool superiority to the child's
bad behaviour. Children often irritate their parents just
to make them show emotion. There are neurotics who
work towards a situation in order to cause an explosion;
then it may be possible to straighten them out and help
them.
An American woman underwent a Freudian analysis with-
out success. She had used foul language to her analyst
but he had failed to react and he disregarded her beha-
viour . When she repeated some examples to me I told her
in no uncertain terms that if she were ever to speak to
me again like that, I would reply to her in the same fa-
shion. The patient pointed out that I had become emotional
and that was not permissible for an analyst. My answer
was, " But it is human and I have the right to be human
too." This allowed her to emerge from her schizophrenia.
She had become disoriented through the unnatural behaviour
of her first analyst; she was brought back to reality by
the honesty of my reaction and was cured.
If it is avoidable, the same analyst should not treat both,

15
husband and wife. Both patients desire to have their ana-
lyst on their side. The analyst must at times agree with
the patients even when they are being foolish so that they
may experience the extent of their problem, but such an
acceptance of foolishness can confuse the other spouse
considerably.
Often people come for analysis who wish to be prepared
to meet death. 1 They can make astonishingly good pro-
gress in a short time and then die peacefully. Inner de-
velopment can advance enormously if there is knowledge
of the nearness of the end. 2 It seems as if a further
step in consciousness has to be reached before the end of
life. Psychology is a preparation for death. We have an
urge to leave life at a higher level than the one at which
we entered.
After a stroke general debilitation or senile depression
can occur. ff the brain is damaged,consciousness can
slip back many levels. The real personality has then de-
parted; what remains carries on the fight against death.
Conflicts do not reach the whole person any more and are
therefore not real conflicts any longer.
If the question of an abortion arises the whole situation
with all its implications must be taken into account. If
the parents are married and healthy the child must be ac-
cepted, and the sacrifice of living a more modest life
should be met if it is financially necessary. If the parents
are not married the question must be weighed very care-
fully: would it be favourable or not, damaging or useful?
It is wrong to brand sexuality as the main criterion of
morality.
When some people have suppressed their own personality
they have a tendency to put the personalities of others
under pressure; this makes them fear their own nature.
There are patients who can accept neither the world nor
themselves. It is the task of the analyst to bear with them
until they can bear themselves. Everyone in the world is
crying out to be accepted. The analyst must pay the price
for the damage done to his patients by others before him.
If someone is in great danger, perhaps a borderline case,
it is of fundamental importance that the patient should
realize his condition. If the poles of the psyche are torn
apart the analyst should take great care that the patient
does not identify himself with one side of his conflict. It
is important to help to create a broad base for the pa-

16
tient to stand on. He must increase his knowledge because
knowledge protects. The patient also needs to become
more independent or the analyst will be blamed for his
condition, especially if the patient clings too tightly to the
analyst and leans exclusively on him. Many would rather
believe others than to their own thinking. It is a fact that
many who are cured would prefer to return to a condition
of no responsibility.
The insane do not stop up their ears so as not to hear
the inner voices; rather they do it to close off the out-
side and so be better able to hear their own voices. J
was once seriously threatened by a patient because he had,
through his analysis, made it impossible for her to fall
back into the old insane, irresponsible condition.
Because the alienated have lost something (their sense of
reality in most cases) they have gained something else,
something that seems real to them. Through their a b a i s-
s e m e n t m e n t a 1 they have gained a realization of the
world as it is, namely the world of the archetypes, the
m u n d us arch e t y pus . Synchronous phenomena can al-
so appear to them which possess a kind of worldly wis-
dom. The better that patients can assimilate their im-
pressions from the unconscious the easier it is for them
to establish a vital and meaningful relationship to their
environment, and their condition remains much more sta-
ble even if remnants of certain ideas are not worked out.
Degeneration of the personality sets in if such patients
are left to themselves. Even when a patient has fallen in-
to a psychosis he is better protected if he knows some-
thing of psychology.
When geometric symbols appear in dreams or drawings
they are the original images of the primeval condition.
Geometric designs may also appear if a schizophrenic de-
struction is threatening. When everything is threatened
with disorder and dissolution the en anti o d rom i c pro-
cess occurs, corresponding to a time-reversal. Out of
the longing for order the process is reversed as a com-
pensation. This is the inverse of the process expressed
in Boltzmann's principle (increase of disorder) thus,
dreams, pictures and fantasies from the unconscious gra-
dually begin to exhibit an order .
Painting and drawing one's inner pictures is a form of
self-enchantment for the purpose of inner change which
creates what had previously been depicted. The more li-
bido that goes into the paintings, the more completely do

17
they transform the painter himself.
If someone has a mastery of total critical evaluation, it is
possible for him to reach the processes of the unconscious
through automatic writing instead of through "active ima-
gination." He must ask questions, begin a dialectical pro-
cess, insist on explanations, and protest if he is conscious
of holding a different opinion from the one which the hand
is writing. He must treat the voices as if they were pa-
tients and interject criticisms. He must discuss and argue
as if it were a matter of life and death, work construct-
ively, observe, watch to see if something really new
emerges that is outside his experience. Such work can
have extraordinary effects. The tongue and the hand are,
of course, possessed by something other than oneself.
One must not enter into trivial things but remain personal
and simple; probate spiritus-- watch which spirit
is possessing you. There is still a vast problem here. It
is as if such voices or visions were autonomous. I still
do not have a final opinion on this.
The technique of active imagination can prove very im-
portant in difficult situations -- where there is a visita-
tion, say. It only makes sense when one has the feeling
of being up against a blank wall. At such times images
can break out of the unconscious. I experienced this when
I separated from Freud. I did not know what I thought. I
only felt, "It is not so." Then I conceived of "symbolic
thinking" and after two years of active imagination so ma-
ny ideas rushed in on me that I could hardly defend my-
self. The same thoughts recurred. I appealed to my hands
and began to carve wood -- and then my way became clear.
Active imagination is only legitimate if one is confronted
with an insurmountable obstacle in a situation where no
one can give advice. When I left Freud I did not know
waere else to begin, but I knew that something else was
there and that I must find it. It drew me to my inner
self and my hands fashioned symbolic objects. Later on
ideas began to come and I began to write them down. I
knew that something in Freud's teaching was questionable
and that I must find that "other." I had a strong resist-
ance to such irrational behaviour because it did not fit at
all with my picture of the world. Active imagination and
automatic writing, painting and carving pictures from the
unconscious, are all indirect methods of finding out what
the unconscious means. 3 Indirect methods are indicated
only when the direct way will not allow one to advance.

18
Schizophrenic cases who have hallucinations have a better
prognosis than those who hear voices. Those who hear
voices are more deeply enslaved by the unconscious.
There is no difference in intelligence level between those
who tend to have dreams and those who have visions.
The unconscious behaves as if the laws of our world did
not exist. It flies to the roof contemptuous of the laws of
gravity. We must bring its demands down to earth and
somehow try to realize them . We must follow up the fan-
tasies and dreams and search until something is found
that can be realized. Then we have succeeded in approxi-
mating the demands of the unconscious to the possibilities
of the conscious world. It is a very real help to find an
expression that combines and satisfies the demands of the
inner and outer worlds, the unconscious and the conscious.
That is the achievement of the so called transcendent
function. 4

19
C.W. Nr 8 1) It seems that the unconscious is in
Soul and Death terested how one dies, that is whe-
p. 223 ther the attitude of consciousness
is adjusted to dying or not.

C.W. Nr 8 2) The urge, so often seen in those

Soul and Death who are dying to set to rights what.
p. 223 ever is still wrong, might point to
the same direction.

Memories, 3) ... at any time in my later life,

Dreams and Re- when I came up at a blank wall, I
flections, in the painted a picture or hewed stone.
future quoted as Each such experience proved to be
Memories a "rite d 'entree" for the ideas and
works that followed hard upon it.

C.W. Nr 8 4) The transcendent function means a

The transcendent psychological function, comparable
Function in its way to a mathematical func-
p. 69 tion of the same name ... it arises
from the union of conscious and un-
conscious contents.

20
Archetypes

When all the archetypal images are properly placed in a

hierarchy, when that which must be below is below, and.
that which must be above is above, our final condition
can recapture our original blissful state.
Archetypes are images in the soul that represent the
course of one's life. 1 One part of the archetypal content
is of material and the other of spiritual origin. The more
an archetype is amplified the more understandable it be-
comes. It is hard to explain because the spiritual cannot
be expressed in a few words. The archetype signifies
that particular spiritual reality which cannot be attained
unless life is lived in consciousness. Archetypes are not
matters of faith; we can know that they are there.
An archetype is composed of an instinctual factor and a
spiritual image. The approaches to it from the instinctual
or the spiritual side are very different. The libido cannot
be freed, however, unless the archetypal images can be
made conscious. 2 When fantasy pictures are brought in-
to consciousness their intrinsic energy is liberated. In
this way the instincts become integrated and ordered.
When only the instinctual element of the archetypal content
is active there is chaos (mas sa c onfu sa).
Archetypes can change whilst the individual remains quite
unconscious of their movements. Conceivable they change
spontaneously. The archetypal content of dreams disap-
pears and is replaced by a new one, even when the earlier
form has not come into consciousness. From the nature
of a particular archetype it is possible to predict which
will follow it.
It can be assumed that the flow of a rchetypes at a parti-
cular time characterize that historical period in a parti-
cular way. The typical events of an e ra are determined
by the succession and the quality of the corresponding
archetypal images. The succession of the archetypal mo-
tives is a collective development and has nothing to do
with the individual. 3
We may imagine that the archetypes, being only the resi-
dual deposits of human experiences, would have represent-
ed animalistic life in an earlier period. The archetypal
primordial forms were already present, however, at the

21
dawn of hwnan consciousness; at its centre, everything
was already there as an a p rio r i possibilit,r. Even thE
first experiences of man were already fixed; we can
only translate these patterns, these archetypes, into form
we can understand. Men have to realize the archetypes
which are present at an unconscious level in creation. Al
potentialities lie in the unconscious like ideas that have
not yet been embodied nor experienced yet as reality. Th
archetypes are present in the unconscious as potential
abilities which, at a given moment, are realized and app
lied when brought into consciousness by a creative act.
As an analogy we can suppose that every inspiration pro-
duced out of the unconscious has a history. A new situa-
tion occurs as a constellation produced by the archetype,
a new inspiration emerges, and something else is disco-
vered and becomes a part of reality.
A host of possibilities is still embeded in the archetypes,
in the realm of the Mothers. The abundance of possibili-
ties eludes our comprehension.
The origin of the archetypes is a crucial question. 5
Where space and time are relative it is not possible to
speak of developments in time. Everything is present,
altogether and all at once, in the constant presence of th
pleroma. I remember standing on a mountain top in inneJ
Africa, seeing around me an endless expanse of brush
and herds of animals grazing, all in a deep silence as it
had been for thousands of years without anyone being
aware of it. 6 "They" were present but not consciously
seen; they were as nameless as in Paradise before Adan
named them. Name-giving is an act of creation.
Where SJlace and time do not exist there is only oneness
(mono f e s) . There is no differentiation; there is only
pleroma. Pleroma is always with us, under our feet and
above our heads. Man is the point that has become vi-
sible, stepping out from the pleroma, knowing what he iE
doing, and able to name the things about him. Although
the earth existed before there were any hwnan beings, it
could not be seen or known by anyone. In China they say
that the ancestor of the family, the one who stood at the
beginning, is the Cosmos. Out of him was everything ere
a ted: in the time before time. There is nothing to ex-
plain or distinguish in the oneness because sequence and
causality do not exist.
The archetypes are the material of the God- Creator. The
constitute a primeval ocean charged with potentiality.

22
C. W. Nr 8 1) We must, however, constantly bear
Nature of the in mind that what we mean by "ar-
Psyche chetype" is in itself irrepresentable,
p. 214 but has effects which make visuali-
sation of it possible, namely the
archetypal images and idea s.

C. W. Nr 11 2) The archetype is an irrepresentable

Psychology factor, a "disposition" which starts
and Reli6rion fw1ctioning at a given moment in the
p. 148 development of the human mind and
arranges the material of conscious-
ness in definite patterns.

C. W. Nr 9 3) The archetypes are complementary

Aion and equivalents of the "outside"
p. 196 world and therefore possess "cos-
mic" character. Tins explains their
numinosity and godlikeness.

C . W. Nr 12 4) The word "type" means "blow" or

Psychological "imprint", thus an archetype pre-
Problems of supposes an imprinter .
Alchemie, p. 14

C.W. Nr 12 5) We simply do not lmow the ultimate

Psychology and derivation of the archetype any more
Alchemie, p. 14 than we know the origin of the psyche.

Via, p. 255 6) There I was now the first human be-

ing, to recognise, that this was the
world, but did not lmow that in this
moment, he had first really creat-
ed it. The cosmic meaning of con-
sciousness became overwhelmingly
clear.

23
The Archetype of the Shadow

The Bible says, "Whosoever shall say "Racha" to his

brother is guilty of hellfire. " H we substitute "shadow"
for "brother" and implicate the dark brother within, we
open out this biblical word into new perspectives. It also
says, "Reconcile yourself with him as long as he is on
the road." "What ye have done to the least of your breth-
ren ye have done unto me. " The least of me is my in-
ferior function which represents my shadow- side. But
what, if the inferior and neglected function expresses the
will of God?
When sacrifice is demanded it frequently implies the ac-
ceptance of our shadow- side. 1, 2
H the poles of the psyche are torn apart and the re is no
living centre in a person, he feels forsaken and dominat-
ed by demons. His self is empty and he cannot draw the
opposites together. The best protection against abandon-
ment to demons is a conscious relationship to a close,
living human being. In the case of a woman the relation-
ship should be to a man.
We should not try to escape upward or downward from
the world. To want to be the best or the worst of men
is megalomania. It is develish arrogance to want to des-
troy ourselves whenever we feel profoundly miserable.
That state of consciousness which will not let us admit to
having a shadow pushes his surroundings into a position
of inferiority. All "good people" suffer from irritability. 3
We must be charitable to our weaknesses. An alchemical
text says: "The mind should learn compassionate love for
the body . "
The unconscious shows us the face that we turn towards
it. It smiles if we are friendly to it; but if we neglect
it, it makes faces at us.
We can only become real by accepting our sexuality and
not denying it through saintliness. We must descend int o
our own depths to have the vi si o Dei.
There are always people who want to bring light into the
world because they are afraid to reach down into their
own dirt. But who can be humble who has not sinned?
This is why sin is so important; this is why it is said

25
that God loves the sinner more than ninety-nine righteou~
men. The meaning of sin is that it teaches humility; the
Church says, f e l i x c u l p a . 4

26
C.W. Nr 8 1) The realization of the shadow is
On the Nature the growing awareness of the in-
of the Psyche ferior part of the personality.
p. 208

C.W. Nr 9 2) The shadow is a moral problem

Aion, p. 8 that challenges the whole ego per-
sonality, for no one can become
conscious of the shadow without con-
siderable moral effort.

C. W. Nr 13 3) One does not become enlightened by

Phil. Tree imagining figures of light, but by
p. 264 making darkness conscious.

C.W. Nr 8 4) The guilty man is eminently suit-

Job, p. 460 able and therefore chosen to become
the vessel for the continuing incar-
nation, not the guiltless one who
holds aloof from the world and re-
fuses his tribute to life, for in him
the dark God would find no room.

27
Anima and Animus

The power operating through the animus emanates speci-

fically from the self, which is hidden behind it, and from
its mana.
According to my view the animus can be either positive
or negative. 1 He is like a dragon guarding the bridge
trying to prevent us from reaching the other bank. If we
do not try to evade him, but go on courageously he be-
comes transparent and we can pass through without any
harm. If we run away because the dragon seems too
powerful we lose some of our vital energy and become
soulless. Many people go on being soulless for a long
time but the bill is presented in the end. If a woman does
not follow her animus she loses both the direction and
capacity for development. 2
A particle split off from the mother's animus can enter
her children and act like an evil spirit. As soon as the
mother integrates this animus side of her soul, her chil-
dren are freed. The animus which is not realized by the
mother is like a part of a soul with a relative existence
of its own.
When a mother attempts to live consciously through her
animus her son has a chance to avoid becoming a p u e r
a e tern us. If she does not, her animus forces the son
to think for her. He is seduced to spiritual heights, fi-
nally falling to his death. When the woman experiences
the mystery of creativeness in herself, in her own inner
world, she is doing the right thing and then no longer de-
mands it from the outside -- from her husband, her son,
or anyone else close to her. 3
A woman should in some way harness herself to the ani-
mus (yoga). She should take care that her animus does
not escape because if it gets away from her unnoticed and
falls into the unconscious, it can be destructive. 4 A wo-
man should constantly control the animus: by undertaking
some intellectual work, for example: if the woman is an
analyst I do not just mean the work she does with her
patients, but some other work that she does on her own.
Writing an article or giving a lecture can be helpful.
A woman's climacteric is a time when one part of the
psyche tries to leave the body whilst another part wishes

29
to remain. One part clings and the other runs away. If
this part falls into the unconscious it becomes a part of
the animus.
Hildegard von Bingen transcended the animus; that is one
woman's service to the spirit.
A woman is oriented towards the animus because it is the
son of the unknown father, the Old Sage, whom she never
comes to know. This motive is hinted at in the Gnostic
texts where Sophia in her madness loves the Great Father
On the other hand a man does not know the mother of the
anima. She may be personified, for example, in Sophia
or the seven times veiled Isis.
When a woman feels she is "understood", caution is in-
dicated.
When a woman has a very strong animus she can do ter-
rible things .
Many a woman has been driven to disaster by her animus .
If we try to make clear to such a woman, for instance,
that the man she wants to marry has been divorced three
times and she is not likely to be happy as his fourth wife ,
she just remains animus-possessed. She is sure she is
right, because she believes she is an exception. She think:
she can exert her will upon life and so she runs headlong
to disaster. Some destinies must be fulfilled whatever
happens.
When a woman realizes her shadow the animus can be
constellated. If the shadow remains in the unconscious
the animus possesses her through the shadow. When she
realizes her animus, mystical generation can occur. Sa-
rah was Abraham's legitimate wife, but Hagar, the dark
one, had the procreative animus. Out of darkness the
light is born.
If a woman dreams of a superior role she wants to as-
sume in the world, it is best to advise her to write an
article or an essay about her wishes, or to read some
pertinent books and make an abstract. She must be taken
seriously so that she can keep her animus busy. She can
then see where she stands and what is lacking in order
to carry out her plans.
Knights in the Middle Ages paid their "minne" homage to
"The Lady Soul. "
A woman's service to a man has a spiritual aspect; a

30
man's to a woman has an emotional one. The erotic as-
pect that emerges from both is only the undifferentiated
outer aspect, the primitive outer colouring, the vehicle,
the base of the relationship. The higher aspects of the
man's and the woman's service to each other are in the
clouds.
For a man the archetype of service to a woman is over-
powering; for him it is a strong spiritual symbol. This
was understood and cultivated in the Middle Ages.
For a woman the animus is an image with a natural aim;
she wants marriage , a child and a home. But a man takes
a more religious attitude to this.
A man motivates a given situation in a very different way
from the woman on whom he has projected his anima. A
woman usually experiences the situation quite differently.
A man frequently has a beautiful picture of his anima, but
if the woman on whom he has projected his anima spoke
and revealed her motivation , a very different picture would
appear. The man thinks she is heavenly, a ravishing Mo-
ther of God, because he is fascinated and a little intoxi-
cated. But he has not completely grasped the image of the
woman if he has not also seen her icy darkness, her
cruelty, her plots, her cold serpentlike blood, her capa-
city for robbery by stealth.
When a woman sets her sights too high and asks too much
of herself we are tempted to ask, "What does she want
to escape from?" She puts herself on a very high level
to escape from the dark plans she would really like to
execute. She must be given a cold shower to bring her
down to earth from her presumption. Thoughts from the
animus always lead one away from human relationships.
A woman needs to discover the love which clothes sin.
We cannot deliberately sin; we have to be in love in or-
der to sin. Pow e r dominate s where 1 o v e doe s
not rule.
The anima is the handmaiden of the male principle. The
animus must not be allowed to be a possessive demon but
must be taken in hand by the woman. Then it will lead
her to her destined wholeness and her self will emerge
from it. "God must be repeatedly reborn in the soul."
To a man the anima is the Mother of God who gives birth
to the Divine Child. To a woman the animus is the Holy
Spirit, the procreator. He is at once the light and the
dark God -- not the Christian God of Love who contains

31
neither the Devil nor the Son.
Primeval history is the story of the beginning of con-
sciousness by differentiation from the archetypes. It leads
to the fire whose origin lies in a crime. A man on this
earth carries the flame of consciousness within him. In-
dividual existence is the crime against the gods, disobe-
dience to God, the peccatum originale. Out of this
projection of spiritual fire is born the anima. The cold-
ness of the psyche is in opposition to the warmth of the
fire. The anima comes out of an emotional act, taking
place in darlmess, the compensation for the crime against
the fire; the anima is the compensating element that must
be extracted from matter. It must be begotten by a cre-
ative act to compensate for the rape of the fire. 5
A man needs to be hostile to woman 6 in order to free
himself from the "Baubo" that he sees in his mother.
When the Primeval Mother is overcome the anima can be-
come a world consciousness; she must be chiselled from
the earth. The seed of the anima is only productive when
man can subordinate his libido to the female principle. If
he does not succeed the anima runs away and the man
turns to violence to find himself -- to the tormenting of
those around him or the boasting of self-importance.
It naturally makes a great difference in practice to a wo-
man whether a man projects a positive or negative anima
on to her , but psychologically speaking they are equiva-
lent projections.

32
C.W. Nr 13 1) Like every archetype, the animus
Phil. Tree has a Janus face.
p. 268

C. W. Nr 13 2) The animus is the masculine think-

Phil. Tree ing in a woman.
p. 267

C. W. Nr 9 3) For the son, the animus is hidden

Arch. of Coll. in the dominating power of the mo-
Unconscious ther and sometimes she leaves him
p. 29 with a sentimental attachment that
lasts throughout life and seriously
impairs the fate of the adult.

C. W. Nr 13 4) On a low level the animus is an in-

Comment. Secret ferior Logos, a caricature of the
o. Golden Flower differentiated masculine mind, just
p. 41 as on a low level the anima is a
caricature of the feminine Eros.

C.W. Nr 9 5) If the encounter with the shadow is

Arch. of Coll. the "apprentice piece" in the indi-
Unconscious vidual development, then, that with
p. 29 the anima is the "masterpiece".

C. W. Nr 11 6) It is normal for a man to resist

p. 75 his anima, because she represents
the unconscious and all those ten-
dencies and contents hitherto ex-
cluded from conscious life.

33
The Archetype of the Self

The ego is the workshop where the self is made. The

self has inconceivable powers and possibilities but it needs
a world in whic h these powers and possibilities can be-
come conscious . Objects and a world to contain them are
necessary for consciousness, a place where differentia-
tion occurs and can be experienced. The self is always
present but does not know it ... yet everything must be
brought into consciousness.
A saying of the alchemist is, "God is a circle whose cen-
tre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere."
The saying holds for God, for the anima m u n d i and
for the soul of man.
A variety of forms is revealed through the realization of
the self. The self is dissolved into many egos. 1 When
the self has become conscious it leads to "participation
mystique."
The self is not wholly personal. One has one's own per-
sonal view of it, but at the same time it is also, in a
sense, more general. It is also the self of others, being
greater than the individual.
A man is both, ego and self. The ego receeds more and
more to make room for the self, changing the individual
until the ego has disappeared. The spiritual has to be in-
casuated, but to be able to transform the ego into the
self requires also a descent into the depths, into the gross
clay (as Freud saw), so that everything has been expe-
rienced.
When we say "Our Father," the Father 2 also symbolises
that self which is hidden in Heaven, in the unconscious.
The Son (Christ) is the consciously achieved self. The
Holy Spirit is the Paraclete promised by Christ in the
Words "Ye are as gods," or "Greater things will be done
by you."
If a man sees himself as imago Dei he should and
must make good use of his time. The ego, the puny man,
is the opposite of the imago De i . If God is A and
Christ is B and man is C, then C equals A. It is said
sometimes that Christ relinquished his divinity and be-
came man. But that cannot be, for what can have become
of the divinity?

35
I do not lmow in what relation the ego stands to the self,
but the self as a transcendent possibility is always pre-
sent. As an ego I am less than my totality because I am
only conscious of being an ego. The self is infinitely more
extensive. The ego is a province, merely an administra-
tive centre of a great empire. Man is an indescribable
phenomenon because his self cannot be completely grasped.
The self is the light of the world; it is the full realization
of everything in consciousness. Every animal and every
plant is a representation of the self... Thus the whole
world enters consciousness.
We would call the self a multiple consciousness in God,
or a spiritual Olympus, or an inner firmament. Paracel-
sus already lmew this and wrote it for us.
The self is simultaneously something abstract and some-
thing personal (supremely personal, indeed}. It is like the
mana that is spread throughout nature which we can only
make contact with through our experience of life or through
ritual. Then mana becomes for us incarnated divine power
having the aspects of numen and the unknown daimo-
n i u m . It is as if a turbine in a power station were sud-
denly to become conscious and say, "I am a part of this
power ... but I need water to function and engineers to
care for me. "

36
C. W. Nr 13 1) The seli which includes me in-
Paracelsica cludes many others also. For the
p. 182 unconscious that is conceived in
our minds does not belong to me
and is not peculiar to me, but is
everywhere. It is the quintessence
of the individual and at the same
time the collective.

C. W. Nr 11 2) ... something which existed before

Transf. Symbol. the ego and is in fact its father or
in the Mass creator.
p. 263

37
Religion

The inner man has access to the sense organs of God. 1

God has a longing for man and it seems there is provi-
sion for God to be created in man's consciousness. 2
Consciousness is the cradle of the birth of God in man. 3
A religious life presupposes a conscious connection of the
inner and outer worlds and it requires a constant, meti-
culous attention to all circumstances to the best of our
knowledge and our conscience. We must watch what the
gods ordain for us in the outer world, but as well as
waiting for developments in the outer world we must lis-
ten to the inner world; both worlds are expressions of
God.
There is no general prescription for salvation. "If thou
knowest what thou doest, thou art blessed." I must know
what the Church teaches but I must then ask myself what
my own law is.
When someone says, in the words of the "Our Father, "
"Thy will be done," we must find out, if he is capable of
taking both the inside and the outside, the ego and the
world, into account. By "Thy Will" one person may mean
only what his unconscious dictates, while another may dis-
regard all his thoughts and aspirations and fatalistically
accept all that happens in his outer life. To some people
we must say, "You must choose your own way; you must
act." Others have to learn to refrain from acting. Few
take both into account, which is why De us e t hom o
is so important.
Imagine a person who only sees two possibilities, two di-
mensions. Rest your fingertips on the table. The person
who can only see two dimensions is aware only of the
fingertips. He does not see the curve of the hand above
the fingertips combining them into a whole -- just as the
invisible wholeness of man hovers over and combines all
his possibilities. So it is, that only the individual acts of
the person are seen, rather than the whole person with
both male and female aspects. The whole man is stand-
ing in eternity and is manifested in time as a manifold:
Shiva and Shakti, that is.
The Kingdom of Heaven is a primordial condition like
Paradise, but it is later in time and cannot be reached

39
by regressing, only be going forward. We do not know
whether our present order is final. At another level a
new creative solution may be required .
Instead of saying, "God is beyond good and evil," we can
say, "Life is both good and evil." God is under-
stood here as all that is beyond our capa-
city to grasp, beyond all our imagining. 4
We see things only in contrast: fullness and emptiness,
light and shadow. So in China God was represented by a
jade disc with a hole in the centre; the disc rests in a
container like the Host in the monstrance. The hole in
the disc is a way of representing God as the unnameable
and the unlmown.
The Lord's words, "Blessed are they who know what they
do," seem in direct contradiction to the other words of
Christ, "Forgive them for they know not what they do."
But life feeds on opposites. When a little old woman car-
ries wood to the pyre to burn a saint who is thought to
be a heretic we might say, " Forgive her , 0 san c t a
simp 1 i cit as . " We might also say that only he is blessed
who knows what -he is doing. A priori contradictions
will always appear in life. The words of the Bible and the
sayings of Christ are paradox. We too must be paradox , 5
for only then do we live our lives, only then do we reach
completeness and integration of our personalities. To be
whole is to be full of contradictions. The unity never be-
comes apparent because the opposites within us operate
and mingle in various ways and it is their interaction that
makes the whole man. The complete human being, the
hermaphrodite, is never visible. He is indescribable, al-
ways a mystical experience. That which shows itself is
always paradoxical so there is no uniform image of the
personality. Biographies seem so unreal because they at-
tempt to give a consistent picture of someone' s per sonali-
ty. The visible image of man is that he is both Christ
and the Devil at the same time; the image is truthful on-
ly when it is ambiguous and paradoxical. That is why we
can also say that doubt is a higher state than certainty .
He who doubt s can see both possibilities. It is pleasant
for us when certainty is attained, but is must not last
too long for certainty is not life.
It looks as if God was unconscious. Anyone who knew the
goal would not have taken such a roundabout way with
creation. It took a very long time for the brain to appear
on the earth. The dinosaurs give the impression of havinfi

40
completely empty heads; then bumps appeared, then much
later horns grew from the head, and much later still the
brain was formed. It seems as if there was an urge to
create something. The least differentiated animals deve-
loped the most: only that which is incomplete can perfect
itself. Only an unconscious creative power could have
worked so hesitantly which is why I think the creative God
was unconscious. This assumption also accounts for the
many prehistoric catastrophes. It does not imply that
creation was accidental but that it seems as if its inten-
tion was limited in scope. The bumps and the horns were
the first experiment on the head, then the brain formed
inside, then warm blood, fur and feathers appeared, and
only at this stage did consciousness become a possibility.
If we assume that God was unconscious how can we ex-
plain our belief that everything existed as an idea from
the beginning of time ? The unconscious has its conscious-
ness, it reveals it f. i. through dreams, for otherwise we
could not know anything about it. God holds all of crea-
tion in the unconscious: Paul preached in Athens and said,
"God scorned the time when men lived in unbelief, 'in
agnosia'."
There are several passages in the New Testament that
are not correctly translated for us. Met an o e in was
translated as "do penance" when it should actually have
read "change your ways." "Change your ways" had moral
significance for the needs of that time.
If the Creator knew everything in advance history would
seem like a badly running machine, misfiring now and
then. God would be responsible for each catastrophe be-
cause it must have arisen from his mistakes. The as-
sumption of divine prescience or of a personal God makes
nonsense of the world. 6
To understand the God-Creator as absolute potential is to
recognize a power which is endowed with meaning in space
and time and in causality. Meaning is, indeed, only a
quarter of the whole, but when all four come into coinci-
dence, consciousness comes into being. If God were al-
mighty how could it have taken 400 million years to reach
this point from a time when only fish existed, if creation
was not an unconscious search and a groping in the dark?
How could we account for these enormous quantities of fish
before new beings could come into existence? This is my
myth about God and his creation.
The four aspects, the quaternity of the Creator- God are

41
space, time, causality and meaning. Human consciousness
is the second creator of the world. Only through extreme
differentiation and distance can consciousness come about.
A God who is a God of a people or a God of everything
cannot individuate himself and so cannot really become
conscious.
God seems to be unconscious: He does not seem to know
men. He tries to see them as He is Himself.
Man is also distinct from the angels because he can re-
ceive revelations, be disobedient, grow and change. God
changes too and is therefore especially interested in man .
Christian dogma brought immense advances in religious
comprehensions. 7 God the Father became the Son and
His own soul, the Word that became flesh. Each son of
God must awaken this new reality in himself . But then
the conflict appears: I am high, I am also so low , and
on my right and left hand hang criminals. If I can bear
this I am crucified and must carry this cross and the
world as well. Clu·ist is not the Son of the Imperato r ;
he is an illegitimate child of Nazareth "from where no
good ever came."
I am a son of God when I do the simplest things; but how
difficult it is to do what is absolutely unimportant when I
feel I am so significant. It is a beautiful message that
one is a child of God but it can have a devilish effect.
Christ's tragedy could be much more impressively por-
trayed in our day than as the figure of a preacher wan-
dering through Palestine two thousand years ago, not even
needing to support himself. But how can we in our day
have the idea of Christ in ourselves yet have to make a
living as a bookkeeper, to meet Miss Meyer and marry
her, have children and be obliged to live with them ? Ima-
gine an evening at "The Corner Tavern" as Mr. So and
so, a glass of beer in front of him, and in his heart the
outrageous claim, "I am the son of God." How is the
darkness to know the light if it does not partake of it?
God deigned to take on the image of man. We are his
eyes and ears, imago Dei in homine. 8 We must
pray, "deliver us from evil," and not only man but God
as well must be redeemed. fu the film "Green Pastures"
God the Father says, "I must become a man myself" (to
redeem them and myself).
We can avoid the penalty of hybris by making a sacrifice .
Each of us must find in what area his sacrifice must be

42
made. If we can think of the worst possible sacrifice for
us we are close to knowing which we must make. A sac-
rifice is doing what we would force others to do. If we
hold back through fear of hybris then we fail in our task
and become a homunculus . The acceptance of the sha-
dow is a sacrifice. For the man who feels himself to be
the God- Creator the acceptance of his compensatory femi-
nine side is also a sacrifice.
The image of the Divine Child characterizes our relation
with the Self. In philosophy God is abstract, an idea,
imageless. But the Divine Child is the incarnation of an
idea; it permits us personal access to an idea which we
could not easily realize without it.
The most serious question to ask, it seems to me, is
what will Christianity have to say in the future? What is
the meaning of an attachment to the cross, what are the
four functions? What does it mean to say "He gave up the
ghost" or, "My God , why hast thou forsaken me?" What
does this mean for humanity? What does it mean to say
that man dies yet only the risen still live? All these
questions may become actual during the next two thousand
years, in the era of Aquarius.
The more one understands wholeness and through inner ex-
perience approaches it, the more one quasi resembles
God. 9 "The Spirit examines everything, even the depths
of Divinity. " This sentence was an editorial error (in the
process of veiling the Log i a) which should not have been
embodied in the Bible.
We must not forget that we are only ants ... but that even
an ant is an imago Dei.
I do not know whether Karma creates the ego or the ego
creates Karma.

43
C. W. Nr 11 1) Psychologically the God concept in-
Job, p. 455 cludes every idea of the ultimate,
of the first or the last, of the
highest or lowest. The name makes
no difference.
C. W. Nr 11 2) God wanted to become man and
Job, p. 455 still wants to ...
C. W. Nr 11 3) One should make clear to one self,
Job, p. 401 what it means , when God becomes
man.
C.W. Nr 11 4) If we say "God"? we give an ex-
Job, p . 360 pression to an image or verbal con-
cept which has undergone many
change s in the course of time.
C. W. Nr 12 5) Oddly enough, the paradox is one
p . 10 of our m ost valuable spiritual pos-
Psych . and Alch. sessions, while uniformity of mean-
ing is a sign of weakness .
Memor ies 6) If there were no imperfections, no
p . 32 primordial defect in the ground of
creation, why should there be any
urge to create , any longing that
must be fulfilled?
C. W . Nr 11 7) Christianity itself would never have
Job, p. 441 spread through the pagan world with
such astonishing rapidity, had its
ideas not found an analogous psy-
chic readiness to receive them.
C.W. Nr 11 8) But in omniscience there had exi st-
Job , p. 402 ed from all eternity a knowledge of
the human nature of God or the di-
vine nature of man. This realiza-
tion is a millenia! process.
C. W. Nr 12 9) However we may picture the rela-
p. 10 tionship between God and soul, one
Psych. and Alch. thing is certain: The soul cannot
be "nothing but. " On the contrary
it has the dignity of an entity en-
dowed with consciousness of a re-
lationship to Deity. Even if it were
only the relationship of a drop of
water to the sea ...

44
The Church and the Bible

If the Nazis had invaded Switzerland during the Second

World War, I would have become a Catholic out of pro-
test because the Catholic Church would then have repre-
sented the only spiritual power lP.ft . That is, of course,
if I had not been shot fir st.
The existence of the Church has its own validity. 1 Any-
one who drops out of the Church loses its maternal pro-
tection and is a prey to national confessionalisms.
It takes an enormous inner strength to live through se-
verance from the Catholic Church. It is a tremendous
responsibility to endeavour to entice someone else away
from the Church.
Many now stand outside. For those who are engaged in a
vital conflict, a onesided commitment is always presump-
tuous. 2 They are reproached by others for not being
humble enough to take from the Church. This is not so:
they separated themselves from the Church out of reve-
rence for the Spirit that bloweth where it listeth. 3
When Christ is most luminous the Church receives the
least light. The light of the Church is therefore greatest
when the moon is in opposition to the sun.
Some examples of editorial slips made by the Church in
the Bible:
"Ye will be as gods!"
"When thou art alone then I am with thee. "
'-' If thou would 'st pray enter into thy chamber ... "
The parable of the unjust steward.
Many patients must grasp that there is much that lives
in their psyche that is not consonant with the Church: it
is the Spirit that continues to beget and bloweth where it
listeth. One need not always be in opposition to the Church.
The Church is valid up to the point where life goes on.
There are often elements in the psyche that are absolute-
ly heathen. They have to be domesticated in some way in
Christianity, but there are stille certain heathen elements
that even the Church has not been able to absorb.

45
C.W . Nr 8 1) Dogma represents the soul more
Psych. and Rel. completely than a scientific theory,
p. 46 for the latter gives expression to
and formulates the conscious mind
alone.

C.W. Nr 8 2) I want to make clear, that by the

Psych. and Rel. term "religion" I do not mean
p. 30 creed.

C.W. Nr 12 3) So long as religion is only faith

p. 12 and outward form, the religion's
Psych. and Alch. function is not experienced in our
souls, nothing of any importance
has happened.

46
Good and Evil

We can only speak of the relativity of good and evil in in-

dividual cases. The categories of good and evil cannot be
suspended; they are continually alive and cannot be at-
tached to material things. 1
Evil is that which obstructs meaningful vitality. 2 It may
show itself differently in each case. That which is above
by reason of its charity, suppresses that, which is below;
then the lower craves what is above.
In the Middle Ages the flight to the spiritual world was
still necessary. It was meaningful then to want to live
spiritually and give little attention to the material, for
meaning was directed towards the spirit. But it is mean-
ingful today to want to descend with dignity to the chtonic
world.
He who wishes to take the Kingdom of Heaven by storm,
to conquer and eradicate evil by force, is already in the
hands of evil.
The problem that is central and closest to our hearts al-
ready contains the lurking danger of evil. 3 We must
therefore beware of impetuous decisions and enthusiastic
radical attitudes. We should hope, very quietly, that
things will turn out right in the end.
The Devil can grab hold of the best and most beautiful
act and use it as a trick to corrupt man whenever man
wants to establish good by force. This is brilliantly il-
lustrated in Aldous Huxley's "Grey Eminence. 11 In spite
of His Eminence's life of prayer, asceticism and person-
al chastity, the Devil caught him at the moment of his
highest service. At the very moment that someone be-
lieves he must undertake a mission, the Devil has him
in his claws. The opposites are indeed very close toge-
ther. In the subterranean mandala the fire is at the cen-
tre. It stands for evil and the Devil and, at the same
time, the most sacred, the Holy Spirit, the ignis sa-
pienta.
The idea that Lucifer was the most beautiful of the angels
also comes from the centre. The Christian God is God
the Father, God the only begotten son, and the Holy Spi-
rit. But three qualities are not sufficient to determine
the world. One part is left out: Evil, or the Devil. The

47
remedy lies in the fourth part. The Holy Spirit has to
come into contact with the material world and beget;
He is the new Yahweh standing on the third step. ·Satan
unlike Christ, was created, not begotten. When I create
I am free and not dependent.
We talk of the ambivalence of evil, but the real question
is whether an apparent evil is ever a hundred per cent
bad. We see again and again that what is morally repul-
sive can have moral qualities and sometimes lead to good
ends. Evil can be either a dazzling or a repellent exam-
ple for virtue. We might ask, "Has the unconscious ar-
ranged it like this because it knows that in no other way,
without this detour into evil, can any good be accom-
plished?" A similar situation occurs in the case of the
good; we see what often happens to good intentions. A
generous father raises a wastrel of a son. Giving a be g-
gar some money may be the cause of his never working
again. I often have to say to an anxious mother, "It is
your dam ned love and anxiety that are preventing your
children from ever growing up." Those who are always
on the look out to do charitable works serve virtue out of
their moral cowardice and fall into the worst depravity.
They are really in the depths; they never do evil them-
selves but force those in their immediate surroundings to
commit evil. Even the Church speaks of f e 1 i x c u 1 p a .
Christ said of Peter who disavowed him, "On this rock I
will build my Church. " It is a psychological fact that
someone who is disloyal or a liar can be capable of ut-
te ring the truth to an extent that we cannot fore see.
When the phenomena of guilt appear we have to ask,
"What have I done?" Yet often we have done nothing but
avoided a duty . Not doing something can arouse guilt
even when there is no sin and no wicked deed in evidence.
To evade action is really to bury one's talents. He who
is most guilty is most innocent; the most holy man is
the one most conscious of his sin .
Sin is considered to be the opposition of the human will
to the Divine will. It is also said to be unavoidable , and
there are many e xa mples through the centuries that at-
te st to this. But if we think that God were responsible
for the original sin, there would be no more mystery abou t
sin. Adam and Eve would indeed have been inadequate
people if they had not noticed which tree the right apples
grew on.
Man is neve r by himself; there are always two. His will

48
is always crossed by a good and a bad desire which un-
fortunately cannot be combined. But who says they are
not both the same? Our human criteria of good a nd evil
are open to criticism. Good can grow out of evil and out
of good can come evil. All these considerations show us
that we need to revise the Christian conception of God.
The Book of Job could foreshadow a revision. In the
Christian image of God, evil is split off and personified
by Satan; in our conception of God only the s u m m u m
bonum is represented. Job did not have to suffer for
his sins as his friends thought; it was rather that God
required Job to look at His dark side as well.
I could unite the opposites good and evil if I could say,
"The right is as wrong as the wrong is right. " Unfor-
tunately good and evil are separate and we are unable to
see the whole. We ought to be as detached from good as
we are from evil but this is not practically possible. At
best we can have an idea of this and each of us can ask,
"Where am I wrong? Where am I at odds with myself?" i.
We can seek unity within, not only in our own persons,
but also vicariously in the realm of politics -- in the
great conflict represented by America and Russia, for
instance.
If someone has experienced too much evil he has to seek
compensation. Someone who has experienced too much
evil instinctively wants to cut himself off from it. Indeed
there are some experiences that cannot be conquered be-
cause they have taken a part of our soul with them. In
that case the unacceptable evil has fallen through the bot-
tom of the sack and been lost, taking with it a part of
the truth and a piece of the world. A part of us dies in
such an experience. Those who have lived through limit-
ed evil are more easily able to imagine evil and war.
But extreme experiences of war or concentration camp
often do not allow conscious realisation and have to be
compensated for by another extreme position, the extreme
good. If we study the horoscopes of a murderer and his
victim we find that the victim has murdered himself.

49
Memories 1) I have pointed out many times , that
p. 329 as in the past, so in the future ,
the wrong we have done, thought or
intended, will wreak its vengeance
on our souls. Only the contents of
jugement are subject to the diffe r-
ing conditions of time and place anct
therefore take correspondingly dif-
ferent forms.

C. W. Nr 11 2) ... for instance it is good, if evil

Job, p. 434 is sensibly covered up, to act un-
consciously is evil.

C.W. Nr 11 3) An apocryphal insertion at Luke

Job , p. 434 6. 4: "Man , if indeed thou knowe st
what thou doest, thou art blessed,
but if thou knowest not, thou art
cursed and a transgressor of the
law."

50
Men and Women

A man often makes a decidely infantile resistance to a

woman and therefore at the same time to his own uncon-
scious side. 1 Women and the unconscious are , to him,
closely connected and he believes he must save himself
from both of them, sometimes in panic. A man also has
a secret fear of a woman's opinions. Yahweh had this
fear of Sophia and yet she helped him to create the world;
he took on too much, without moderation. A woman is
more likely to acknowledge her own duality. A man is
continually blinded by his intellect and does not learn
through insight. 2
A woman is necessary to force a man to live in the con-
crete world. If he has a relationship with a woman he is
no longer only an intellect whose wings hover over every-
thing. When he marries he becomes concrete, is the hus-
band of this particular woman in the world, and has a
real address and specific responsibilities.
Love between male and female is only the compensation
for the enormous tension between the two principles. This
contrast between male and female is expressed cosmolo-
gically in India through Shiva and Shakti. Shakti creates
Maya to make Shiva visible; the female principle builds
reality.
The greatest darkness is always felt through the opposite
sex. A woman thinks, for instance, "If he were only dif-
ferent." But her supposed vis-a-vis is only her own pro-
jection.
There are women who believe that man will deflect them
from their goals and men who often believe that women
want to keep them from their work; yet the real causes
are either fear of the other sex or of one's own uncon-
scious.
A marriage is more likely to succeed if the woman fol-
lows her own star and remains conscious of her whole-
ness than if she constantly concerns herself with her hus-
band's star and his wholeness. A man would not think of
following his wife's star because this function of relation-
ship is not developed in him. He thinks of his own star
and of his own work. The woman must think of herself
and although she may be more advanced in wholeness

51
than her husband she must not look back at him, for only
then is the way clear for him to follow her. She must not
cling too closely or he will feel like a baby being fed
groats. The wrong kind of behaviour by the woman, can
prevent the man's growth.
When an erotic relationship comes to an end, a woman
can lose her mind; but a man can also look at other wo-
men. I am not saying this just because I am a man, but
because I often hear women complain, saying that their
husbands are so true and attached to them. The woman's
intention is to hold onto the man, as this is inherent in
the breeding instinct. But it is not interesting for a man
to be harnessed to one woman; he wants freedom. Evi-
dently Nature has arranged the female psyche accordingly.
Women who live by their instincts only find a man inter-
esting if they are not quite sure of him, if he might pos-
sibly run off; such a man is far more interesting to them
than one paralysed by fidelity. Nature is not foolish and
means the woman to exert all her charms in order to
hold the man. Many women unfortunately make terrible
mistakes once they are married; they put all their efforts
into keeping the house and not into the erotic sphere. 3
The woman often plays with the hope that the man she
loves will fall ill, so that he is no longer able to escape
and is completely at her mercy.
In a marriage neither partner sits on a throne. When
there is infidelity and one despairs and believes that life
is impossible without a relationship with the partner, fate
has demonstrated that one is not grown up and is not yet
mature. It implies an extraordinary maturity for one to
be able to renounce the support given by a relationship.
We must be careful not to give up our existence; we must
be able to exist alone.
In such a situation the attitude of the person to the supra-
personal is decisive and the problem of the religious de-
cision becomes the determining factor. We can only ad-
just to the will of God. We must not establish a power
complex of superiority; the i m p o r tan t and on 1y
problem is how to confront the conflict
one self, not what the other person does. All of nature
goes along with a man when his decision in answer to his
great problem is right. 11 All grain means wheat; all ore
means gold. 11 The only thing that matters is what a man
does with his problem -- what he himself does for him-
self.

52
Only when the people involved are dull, or when there
are serious material needs, is a marriage free from cer-
tain difficulties between the man and the woman. When
culture and differentiation are present, marriage imme-
diately becomes more problematical.
There are some women who unconsciously desire their
husband's death and this wish can actually kill -- it only
needs a chair that tilts or a rug that skids. Everything
that vitally concerns us but is suppressed and not acknow-
ledged, whether it is good or evil, will be pursued with-
out our knowing -- and this can lead to murder.

53
C. W. Nr 11 1) . . . to take the woman's image, in
Psych. and other words, the unconscious.
Religion
p. 43

C.W. Nr 8 2) Perfection is a masculine deside-

Job, p. 395 ratum, while woman inclines by
nature to completeness.

Memories 3) It is a widespread error, to ima-

p . 168 gine, I do not see the value of
sexuality. On the contrary it plays
a great part in my psychology as
an essential, though not the sole
expression of psychic wholeness.

54
Synchronicity

When someone is w1der a grave threat, and the arche-

types are constellated, synchronistic situations can arise
-- events that are independent of him, existing in the
outside world. 1
Synchronous events are widely acceptet in Chinese philo-
sophy 2 and are the basis of astrology. 3
We should be particularly watchful when synchronous events
occur for a numen is then in sight. In a certain mood one
notices that the crows fly towards the left. When an arche-
typal event approaches the sphere of consciousness, it also
manifests itself in the outer life.
Darwin's idea was discovered in different places simul-
taneously; it corresponds to a certain pattern in the un-
conscious. There are indeed many strange and extraor-
dinary natural laws .
When an archetype is constellated it can appear in the in-
ner and the outer world at the same time. Each distinct
case is an example of creation.
Here are two more examples of synchronism: A woman
dreamt of three small tigers that changed into one large
tiger (her "bush soul"). The next day she went for a walk
outside the town and passed a barn where she saw three
baby tigers in the winter quarters of a circus. Another
woman passed a new construction site. She saw a slater
on the roof who slid along it in the course of his work.
She thought, "If he should fall now ... " At this moment
another workman, unnoticed by her, did fall and was
killed. She had the feeling it was her fault. But there is
no causal connection between the woman's thoughts and
the death of the workman; it is a case of an a-causal
significant coincidence.
Is the oracle of the I Ching (the Chinese Book of Chan-
ges) so effective because each hexagram contains so many
ambiguities that the unconscious can pick out something
suitable for every situation? Does the hexagram really
give the right solution for a particular situation? There
are some hexagrams that have multiple meanings and
others that fit a situation uniquely. The I Ching does not
contain information that can be learnt or can be experi-
mented with. 4 There are only unique situations and when

55
one consults it a second time the influence of the first
reading has already changed. I do not use the I Ching
very often myself but it has always given me something .
Even when I could have sworn that the text did not fit my
situation, I always took the time to meditate carefully on
the text. By doing this, I found the text brought me to a
different line of thought. I sometimes think something is
important but by the next day it is evident that it is com-
pletely unimportant. The I Ching can change me, if I
have the patience to meditate. It is like a wine of noble
vintage.
It is possible to participate in the unconscious with other
persons, with animals and even with objects, through an
unconscious a b a i s s e men t d u n i v e au mental. A con-
nection is made and something may happen. I may, for
example, verbalise what the other person intended saying.
But even the clouds, or a glass, can reflect the inner
psychic situation.
Matter may be stimulated by the inner psychic process,
understood archetypally, to produce something analogous.
A latent tension, for example, can manifest itself in
creaking wood. Matter plays along with the psychic pro-
cess. There is a story that says that when Mohammed
ascended into Heaven the stone in the Temple of Jerusa-
lem wanted to go too. The archetype manifests itself in
the outer world as sympa thia.

56
C.W . Nr 8 1) Synchronicity means the simultan-
Synchronicity eous occurrence of a psychic state
p. 441 with one or more external events,
which appear as meaningful paral-
les to the momentary subjective
state.

C.W. Nr 11 2) Just as a causality describes the

Foreword sequence of events, so synchron-
I Ching icity to the Chinese mind, deals
p. 593 with the coincidence of events.

C . W. Nrll 3) The irrational fullness of life has

Foreword taught me, never to discard any-
I Ching thing, even if it goes against all
p. 602 our theories.

C.W. Nr 8 4) The method like all divinatory or

Synchronicity intuitive techniques is based on an
p. 452 acausal or synchronistic connective
principle.

57
Science

The articles of faith of science are: space, time and cau-

sality. The fourth is missing and rejected: the pleroma.
Science can collect experiences and find averages but the
central and essential phenomena are passed over. Science
only reaches the crudest basic conclusions. The philosophy
of natural science is not realistic but abstract. Whole
areas of life are considered by science to be non-existent
so that it can concern itself with the laws of space and
time. But in the world it is not what is usual or general
that is essential, but the exceptional and the individual;
there is no such thing as a normal person, even in biolo-
gy. The result of science is to reduce everything abstract-
ly to an average; in spite of all its ingenuity it cannot
create identity.
Physics does admit that there are exceptions that can be
expressed as statistical truths, but it has no room for the
a-causal. A scientist who was once cornered by me did
not want to admit any exceptions to causality and said,
"Let us call these occurrences transcendental."
The scientist is prejudiced by reason which acts to hide
the world from him. Reality does not lie in statistical
averages but in exceptions. There are events which do not
obey statistical laws but only those of probability .
Analysts and mathematicians both consider themselves in-
fallible; they live with invisible magic cloaks around them .
They are both concerned with archetypes . Archetypes are
living powers, they are the "thoughts of God." 1
I should like to study the theory of numbers. What is a
number, an entity, a sequence, an archetype? We think
we can perceive and grasp a number logically and sudden-
ly it behaves quite differently from the way we expected.
We are not thinking of prime numbers when we string
beads together. We do not think of numbers as symbolis-
ing laws. It is a fundamental phenomenon of mathematics
that numbers are not just mathematical entities but indi-
vidualities. We believe we are playing with equations and
suddenly it transpires that certain equations express the
laws of electric currents. God played and formulated cur-
rents. The unconscious creative power concerns itself with
the idealised reality; so mathematics has tremendous reality.

59
It is characteristic of the transcendent that it can be pic-
tured and escribed by numbers; the passage of time, quan-
tity, and identity, are spiritual substances. The character
of the image is not determined by numbers. Pure spiritual
substance is eternal. An image as such needs neither time
nor space. Where numbers indicate a measure we move
into the material. A concrete image is a manifestation re-
quiring space in which the spirit clothes itself in the ma-
terial in order to draw to man. Images and numbers are
doors through which the spiritual can reach man.
Newton experienced a · breakthrough into the unconscious
through his spiritual isolation. When we leave society and
the community of human intelligences the spirits rise from
the unconscious. As intelligent beings, however, we are
dependent on human society; the unconscious is no sub-
stitute for reality . Newton was isolated by his discoveries
and such spiritually isolated persons are more in danger
of splitting -- as Beethoven was, for example, when his
music was not accepted. Although Newton received recog-
nition he could not find his way back from the spheres he
had discovered; he could not free himself from them.
The announcement of an important truth, even with the
best of intentions, can lead to an extraordinary mess.
That was the fate of Prometheus. It is therefore impor-
tant to husband dangerous material very carefully so that
first graders do not get hold of dynamite.

60
C. W. Nr 12 1) When I say as a psychologist , that
Psych. and God is an archetype, I mean by
Alchemy that the "type" in the psyche.
p. 14

61
Miscellaneous Remarks

Schizophrenics with visions and hallucinations have a bet-

ter prognosis than those who hear voices. The latter are
more enslaved by the unconscious.
There is no difference between ''my" objective unconscious
(my pictures drawn from the objective unconscious) and the
objective world or world events. If "it" happens to me I
do not have it any more in my hands than if it happened
in Russia, in the air, in the house, or on the street. It
can be compared with radio waves; it is everywhere in
the air around us, we receive everything that moves
through the aether independently of us. The concert is
not played in the radio set; those sounds are not made
in the receiver. Whatever happens psychically in me I
can perceive, but i_t is as objective as if it were taking
place in Siberia. There is really no distinction; the flow
of objective events passes through the outer as well as
the inner senses. The contents of our psyche is a part
of the larger, objective course of events.
It seems to me that we are at the end of an era. The
splitting of the atom and the nuclear bomb bring us a new
view of matter. As physical man cannot develop any fur-
ther, it would seem that this particular evolution ends
with man. Like the caterpillar dissolves and turns into a
butterfly, it is conceivable that the physical body of man
could change into a more subtle body. It might not be
necessary for him to die to be clothed afresh and be
transformed.
All misdirected mass-psychology leads to the destruction
of the individual and the decay of civilisation.
Superman is an inflated ego and a disappearing self. He
lacks the spark. What would the rainbow be if it had no
dark cloud behind it?
Mandalas are more than geometrical designs expressing
order; they have a qualitative character. The "four" in
the mandala requires to be qualitatively determined. In
the trinitarian mandala there is a lack of quality; criti-
cism is missing, for there is no shadow that stands as a
fourth element in opposition to the trinity. It would seem
that time is added as a fourth dimension as a contrast
to the threedimensionality of space.

63
After a comparison of the magnetic field of an atom and
its various circles, with the fresco "L'Universo" by
Pietro di Puccio da Orvieto at the Campo Santo in Pisa,
we might ask, "If we could measure a thought would it
be like an atomic quantity in the world of the infinitely
small?" The closer we are to the atom the greater is
the force it contains, and the greater therefore its ex-
plosive potential.
The circular movements in the head between the eyes 1
are described in "The Secret of the Golden Flower'' as
the circumambulatio of the lights. I watched the
circumambulatio in India, when pilgrims circled the stu-
pas of the temples of Sante hi, for example. (The stupas
contain a picture or relics of the Buddha.) In Southern
India I also saw pilgrims walking clockwise and counter-
clockwise around two half-figures of Shiva and Shakti. 2
The idea of a "Golden Age" is seen as an absolute illu-
sion when we look with the eyes of consciousness, it is
produced by the unconscious. The Egyptians did not "know"
that a meridian passed through the Cheeps Pyramid but
they managed to hit the exact spot without any subjective
knowledge of nature. This happens to insects too. An in-
sect may lay its eggs in the ganglia of a particular ani-
mal because they will only thrive there; it does not "know"
the spot, but again it hits it.
There may be unpleasant consequences if one withdraws
too much from the body in times of illness. I once owned
a bulldog that suffered from rheumatism. The dog dis-
appeared one evening and could not be found. I wondered
where he had hidden himself as he had been very moody
for a few days. I found him hidden in the reeds in the
garden, half in the water. I found him when I noticed his
eyes reflecting my lantern and I pulled him out. With the
help of hot water bottles and warm towels he was well
again in three days and lived another three years. But
he would have given up and willed himself to death if I
had not found him. So we must take care not to give way
to the urge of being released from the body.
At three different times completely trustworthy friends of
mine observed flying saucers. My doctor saw two above
the lake of Zurich and he was corroborated by two other
people. My son-in-law saw a flying saucer while he was
out hunting. It described a triangle with abrupt changes
of course and stopped equally suddenly. My grandson, with
a hundred other people, saw a flying saucer from the
Boulevard Haussman in Paris.
64
c .w. Nr 13 1) This light dwells in the " square
Alch. Studies inch" or in the "face", that is
p. 25 between the eyes. It is the visu-
alisation of the "creative point."

c.w. Nr 13 2) The circulation is not merely move-

Alch. Studies ment in a circle, but means on the
p. 25 one hand the marking off of the
sacred precint, and on the other,
the fixation and concentration.

65
Biographical Notes

It is good to be old in years for it often looks as if we

were arriving at the end of the history of our world; or
at least that it will get terribly dark before the light can
shine again and make it possible to see clearly.
When I was painting my sailing boat and standing on a
plank over the water, I suffered three times from ver-
tigo and nearly fell into the lake. I realised this must
be collilected with some unconscious problem. In those
days I needed to find out that when I drew a dream pic-
ture I should not just draw it realistically: I had to give
it ornamental detail. The subject of the drawing was a
figure struck in the heart by the Sun-hor se. This heart
I had to draw not just anatomically but ornamentally --
in this case, for example, like a flower carefully drawn
in the form of a rose.
I suffer from the fact that I can so seldom have a con-
versation with an adequate partner . The women in my
circle understand me, but for women their home, their
husband , and their children, come first. Only when this
is all taken care of, does a woman still have a little
time for the spirit; then it is interesting. Talking with
a man, on the other hand, I get a response from the
cosmic spheres of the spirit.
The problem of my destiny goes back a hundred and fifty
years. Indeed it appeard as early as the twelfth century,
as I have now discovered. Formerly I believed it only
went back to Goethe's Faust. (Jung now told the dream
of his ancestors in which the last was only able to move
his little finger.) The problem that appeared as a ques-
tion in the twelfth century became my extremely personal
destiny. Already Goethe had found an answer a hundred
and fifty years ago. My father was so tormented by it
that he died at the age of fifty-four.
Toward the end of my illness in 1944, when I felt I was
recovering, I wanted not to have to return to "this box"
(his body). My family later told me that I had frequently
looked at my hands in a strange way. I had the feeling
my fingers were grown together, and for two or three
days I was afraid I would soil my shirt when I was fed
with soup. I believed I had openings on both sides of my
neck through which the soup would run out. When I re-

67
gained the consciousness of my body I was , so to speak,
at the stage of a fish, like an embryo with fins for hands
and gills in the neck; so far had I regressed.
The fracture of my fibula was highly symbolic to me. I
asked myself for some time where my fault lay. It looked
to me rather like inflation. If only someone could have
told me where it had come from, I would have been ready
to accept it. After a while I found out: I had trespassed
into foreign territory. (It is as if one were walking in
one's garden after dark and had fallen into a hole. ) Ignor-
ance also acts in the same way as guilt, so that although
one is not always aware of straying into a strange land,
it can happen and lead to inflation. I had written about
anima and animus believing I was just working with psy-
chology; but I had transgressed into "God's country." Al-
chemy had seemed to me to be a legitimate branch of
science but its contents -- anima, animus, the self, the
alchemical marriage -- are not simply scientific concepts;
they are gods. 1 I had not been aware of this, not through
presumption but through naive stupidity (like Parsifal).
At night I had the most wonderful visions, like in an in-
visible theatre from a seat high up in a wide valley. I
experienced there everything I described in my book
Ai on. I did not actually see it all, but knew it -- Christ-
ian alchemy, the union of Teferet and Malchut, the mar-
riage of the Lamb. I also had my questions answered;
not in words, yet all was revealed, everything correct,
everything meaningful and complete. This continued for
three weeks. I was as if free of my body and had the
feeling of floating in space. . . as quiet as the centre of
the universe. Nothing was missing; everything was there.
It was like the peace of the father; I was ages old. Then
I returned to the consciousness of the body, felt its weight,
knew I was on my back, and thought, "This is ghastly; I
am getting well."
Before my illness I had often asked myself if I were per-
mitted to publish or eben speak of my secret knowledge.
I later set it all down in A ion . I realised it was my
duty to communicate these thoughts, yet I doubted whether
I was allowed to give expression to them. During my ill-
ness I received confirmation and I now knew that every-
thing had meaning and that everything was perfect.

68
Memories 1) With the archetype of the anima,
C.W. Nr 9 we enter the realm of the gods,
Archet. of the or rather, the realm that meta-
Coll. Unconscious physics has reserved for itself.
p. 28

69
Misprints
p. 21: instead of characterise read
characterises
p. 23: instead of Via read Memories
p. 41: instead of creative God read
Creator God
p. 68: instead of eben read even

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