“I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven” [1] was once scribed long ago, a writing that passed down through centuries; an expression that struck me when I read it quoted in Answer to Job. One of Carl Jung’s last books, Answer to Job brought shock to Christian culture in the 1950s. In the book a reader may find an intriguing cycle of lament, pause, reflection, analysis, ah-HA! …and repeat. In my first reading, interpreting such a cycle lead to questioning what is pushing, transforming, some force of life, itself grappling with eternity, inside the Swiss founder of analytical psychology. Reading the concluding chapters, I found the author faced with a deep, raw sense of the infinite and infinitesimal, God and Humanity. And in reflection, an analysis of the God from the Old Testament, unlike anything modern theologists might expect: Jung wrote a psychological interpretation reaching from pre-history to Christ, to present day, to the future, articulating images of the future that culture may anticipate, and the unknown than only time will tell. A psychological analysis of God… nineteen centuries after Christ? And untold centuries beyond the afflicted protagonist? Such was my first major experience with Jung. From my first reading of a full work of Jung, I have been overwhelmed with curiosity and compelled to investigate, study, ponder and integrate discoveries.
Many more writings by Jung have entered and passed through my reading list, and have transformed how I see the world. The twenty-first century is full of life and passions, the dreams of tomorrow one may say, of those who lived and have passed on. But people are still people, century-on-century, and they dream; dreams and the unconscious form the primary sources of his investigations.
Jung’s body of work spans his full adult life, 1902–1961 [2]. From his late twenties, until days before his death, at age 85, he was creating written works. In his book Dreams, it is claimed he analyzed 1500–2000 dreams per year, over many years of his career[3]. He was also very interested in visual art, and had traveled much for this interest. His oeuvre is so great in volume that material continues to be first-published in very-recent years [4], still more yet in development, to be published [5].
Even in the very last days of his life, Jung completed a work[6]. This final particular writing is published as the first part of Man and His Symbols, entitled Approaching the Unconscious. Man and His Symbols was edited by Jung prior to his death, and contains collaborations with several long-time associates. His part is written in English and with a style and content for a general reader, and it summarizes, simplifies, his own ideas. In addition, the essay covers some of his personal history with Sigmund Freud, and elaborates where he found difficulty with Freud’s lack of imagination and lack of curiosity to delve deeper. Jung also considers an objective view for the future. Now nearly two decades into the twenty-first century, over fifty years have passed since the publication of the book. Approaching the Unconscious was later reworked and retitled Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams[7]. In new and used book stores, and online, new readers have been discovering this and others of his work every year.
Fast-forward to 2009, The Red Book: Liber Novus was published which contains a facsimile of a calligraphic volume and translation, being a record of a series of self-experimentations and later interpretations, both written interpretations and full-scale reproductions of paintings that were inspired throughout reflections on the original experimentations. The exceptionally vivid experiences and reflections were had through a process Jung termed “active imagination”. These experiments, dated 1913–1916, were almost one hundred years old at final publication, and are now considered by some as the central work of Jung. Jung himself had written that the content of Liber Novus was the origin of everything that came later[8].
There are countless introductions and renderings, observations, summaries and criticisms, interpretations and applications, and it is quite possible a curious mind may begin and end reading on the subject of “Jungian ideas” without reading anything of the material by Jung himself. One comfortable, standard approach is the reading of a biography, but even these have been lately considered “filled with shortcomings” [9] by Sonu Shamdasani. So where does a curious mind begin? And does it really matter, in our age of exponential growth, yearly, even daily chaotic cultural transformations and new writing by other authors?
One could even envision a reader of this essay and given the flow of life and chance, carry on without finding a book by C. G. Jung and picking it up. How can one begin to find the significance of Jung’s work now, as a reader? The answer, I believe is beginning one’s own inner conversation, developing a deep understanding of one’s own personal unconscious, and this understanding can only be achieved effectively, by using radical honesty[10].
The above discussion on Man and His Symbols considered Jung’s part, the first part of several. Throughout the book, collaborators Joseph L. Henderson, M.-L. von Franz, Jolande Jacobi, and Aniela Jaffé, wrote parts “Ancient myths and modern man”, “The process of individuation”, “Symbolism in the visual arts”, “Symbols in an individual analysis”, and a conclusion “Science and the Unconscious”. These parts consider with much detail, easy reading style, the core elements of Jung’s work. A non-exhaustive list includes the psyche, the unconscious, the symbol, the functions of the psyche including the symbol-making function, the transcendent function and individuation, the shadow, anima, animus, extroversion and introversion, the self.
Jung’s pursuit of knowledge was adventurous, pioneering, and above all: scientific. He saw himself and his work within the modern world, yet he looked to the future: the advancing of human civilization and culture through time, through and beyond the chaos of world wars. He esteemed reason, bristled at dogmatic superstition, but maintained a high openness to that which is currently beyond the realm of science, what science is attempting to shed light upon… both forward-looking, and reflecting on human history. The reflection of the nature of human beings’ individual and commonly shared experiences eventually lead to his writing on the collective unconscious, its nature and contents to which he applied and popularized the term archetypes. Until such time as other forms of intelligence can independently consume and interpret human-written material, we as humans will be refining our ideas of objective reality, all the while continuing the subjective human experience.
An excavation of Jung’s ideas is not unlike an archeological dig, given his work is so vast, and so deeply interlinked with notes and references. Like his process with Man and His Symbols, before one sets about to a task, one might find great benefit in finding a collaborator, a friend or colleague who similarly expresses curiosity in any of the above ideas. In my own initial exposure to Jung’s work, it was fortuitous I found some men and women in my close social network who were previously exposed to, had some familiarity with the ideas and writings of Jung, M.-L. von Franz, and others of Jung’s associates. This helped get the adventure started. Along the way, discussion of the raw ideas has polished up understanding, and improved application of the ideas in life. In addition, use of online research tools and collaboration via the Internet, intensified and enhanced the results of my own personal excavation.
Like great tomes of the ancient world, a reader might look at a great volume of writing, and question how much is applicable to one’s personal life in today’s world, or what axioms can be derived and applied within families and communities and across culture. One significant life axiom of Jung is the critical importance of balance. Balance was a major focus in The Red Book. Lines deifying[11], and other larger passages given to it [12]. Balancing is a quality of Answer to Job. It is the seeking of unification of two opposing forces or ideas, bringing harmony but avoiding perfection in balance, which could lead to stillness, stagnation, and decay. A tension is achieved by balancing opposites: a tension that should bring life and new meaning. I find this greatly applicable both internally, and to the world at large today. Political polarization and cultural movements are ever-increasingly unbalanced. And to each reader may be his or her own interpretation of any given writing. Once reading and study, discussions, interpretation, and integration has begun, one may seek more.
The Collected Works of C. G. Jung is a monumental set of his writings. It is a series of twenty volumes, most of which were published from late 1960s to early 1970s [13]. Other writings have been published separately: Jung’s letters have been published in two volumes, Letters Vol. 1: 1906–1950, and Letters Vol. 2: 1951–1961. Various portions of the Collected Works have been extracted and published as stand-alone books, like Answer to Job as described above.
In recent years the material has been made available electronically, as online e-books. In 2014, the entire Collected Works was published as a single digital edition [14]. This may be beyond the scope of a casual reader but represents an overwhelming new potential for further exploration as a reader finds his or her motivational interests and chooses to excavate further. The digital edition is full-text searchable, enabling exceptionally fine-grained study, or simply rapid-access to any other portion of the vast core Jungian library with the click of a mouse.
Carl Jung’s career, his insatiable exploratory curiosity, his science and seeking for balance with the humanity of the future and reason with the humanity of antiquity, and his colossal creative force in writing yielded a story, an epic character. This reputation drew people to him and what remains for us is encapsulated in the Collected Works, the various other published books, the very recent published and forthcoming books. Beyond the written words, many curious searchers may find video documentaries containing footage of the man himself. Many will enjoy connecting with the culture via online media, digital social networks. With such an epic character, very much of his effect on culture may be found filtered and represented well or poorly, and yet the source material abounds, is widely and openly discussed. It is with great hope the reader will find fresh interest to pick up an original Jung work, and discover an invigorated spirit in themselves, find new applications for his writing, and share it with the world.
[1] Luke 10:18, re-quoted from Answer to Job; here Jesus is responding to some disciples giving him a report
[2] On the Psychology and Pathology of So-Called Occult Phenomena, Jung’s doctoral dissertation, 1902; Man and His Symbols, Approaching The Unconscious, shortly before his death, 1961
[3] Dreams, published 1974
[4] The Question of Psychological Types: The Correspondence of C. G. Jung and Hans Schmid-Guisan 1915–1916, published 2012
[5] Forthcoming: The Black Books 1913–1932 (http://philemonfoundation.org/current-projects/black-books/)
[6] Man and His Symbols (1964), Introduction by John Freeman
[7] Collected works 18, II: Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams
[8] “The Years, of which I have spoken to you, when I pursued the inner images, were the most important time of my life. Everything else is to be derived from this. … Everything later was merely the outer classification, the scientific elaboration, and the integration into life. But the numinous beginning which contained everything, was then.” The Red Book, C. G. Jung, 1957
[9] Back cover text for Jung Stripped Bare: By His Biographers, Even
[10] “If one focuses attention on the unconscious without rash assumptions or emotional rejection, it often breaks through in a flow of helpful symbolic images. But not always. Sometimes it first offers a series of painful realizations of what is wrong with oneself and one’s conscious attitudes. Then one must begin the process by swallowing all sorts of bitter truths.” from Man and His Symbols: The process of individuation: The first approach of the unconscious
[11] “The spirit of this time is ungodly; the spirit of the depths is ungodly; balance is godly.” The Red Book: “Descent into Hell In the Future” layer 2
[12] The Red Book: “Descent into Hell In the Future” layer 2, “Death” layer 2, “Second Day” hot-cold path
[13] Volumes in the Bollingen Series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collected_Works_of_C._G._Jung)
[14] The Collected Works of C.G. Jung: Complete Digital Edition (https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10294.html)
