Feature Articles The automatic writings of Jung

Carl Gustav Jung is notorious for being more liberal in his psychology than his friend Freud. But what is less known is that Jung was more of an alchemist and Gnostic then a psychotherapist. Philip Coppens

Watkins bookstore in Cecil Court, just off Charing Cross Roa in !on on, was foun e in "#$" b% John Watkins, an is still !on ons premier hermetic bookstore& 'ne of its man% notorious (isitors was Carl )usta( Jung, the famous *wiss ps%chiatrist who woul , together with Freu , efine the fiel & Watkins was later to

become Jungs publisher, bringing out the pri(ate "$+, e ition of Jungs -.// *ermones a 0ortuos1& For a well2known ps%chiatrist to chose a hermetic bookstore as the publisher of a book might seem o , an it is& The te3t is purporte l% b% -4asili es of Ale3an ria1 an is a )nostic te3t 5 a religious ocument, largel% Christian in nature& Wh% Watkins was chosen as the publisher howe(er becomes clear when we know that Jung ha recei(e this ocument (ia automatic writing 5 something most ps%chiatrists woul push towar s the lunatic fringe6 but not Jung& Freu an Jung are consi ere to be the instrumental characters of efining ps%chotherap%& 4oth originall% worke together, but Jung broke with Freu in "$""& Jung felt that ps%chotherap% was too narrow in focus 5 an his i eas were base on personal e3perience& Jung ha -spirit gui es1, one of whom was name -Philemon1& Jung obser(e that -Philemon an other figures of m% fantasies brought home to me the crucial insight that there are things in the ps%che which / o not pro uce, but which pro uce themsel(es an ha(e their own life& Philemon represente a force that was not m%self& /n m% fantasies / hel con(ersations with him, an he sai things which / ha not consciousl% thought& 768 Ps%chologicall%, Philemon represente superior insight&1 To an%one else, Philemon might be a figment of Jungs imagination, or e(i ence of his ma ness& 4ut Jung felt that Philemon was real 5 %et somehow ea , an somehow -talking1 to Jung 5 to Jungs min & Jung thus felt he was not insane9 he felt that Philemon was a source of information that was legitimate: somehow, Jung was able to recei(e information from a source of information outsi e of his hea 5 not e3isting in this ph%sical realit%& /t opene the wa% for his theor% of the collecti(e unconscious, a t%pe of librar% containing e(er%thing e(er known, an archet%pes, -acti(e principles1 that interacte between that - imension1 an ours& Was Jung sane; <e ha a life2long fascination with =iet>sche, but he reali>e the nee to istance himself from =iet>sche for

fear that he might be like him an therefore suffer the same fate: =iet>sche ?"#@@2"$AAB became hopelessl% insane& 4ut more than ", %ears later, Jung spoke to a -highl% culti(ate el erl% /n ian1, who tol Jung that his e3perience was i entical to man% m%stics& /n his case, his -spirit gui e1 or guru ha been a commentator on the .e as who ha ie centuries ago& Rather than be ma , Jung felt that he ha steppe into the same shoes as the ancient priests an others thought ha(e e3perience the i(ine& Thus, in "$"C, Jung recei(e the best2 ocumente help from emons: *eptem *ermones a 0ortuos, or -The *e(en sermons to the ea written b% 4asili es in Ale3an ria1, -transcribe b% Carl )usta( Jung1& Jung state that the start of the work was (er% i entical to a possession& -Then it was as if m% house began to be haunte & 0% el est aughter saw a white figure passing through the room& 0% secon aughter, in epen entl% of her el er sister, relate that twice in the night her blanket ha been snatche awa%9 an that same night m% nine2%ear2ol son ha an an3iet% ream& Aroun fi(e oclock in the afternoon on *un a% the front oorbell began ringing franticall%& /t was a bright summer a%9 the two mai s were in the kitchen, from which the open sDuare outsi e the front oor coul be seen& E(er%one imme iatel% looke to see who was there, but there was no one in sight& / was sitting near the oorbell, an not onl% hear it but saw it mo(ing& We all simpl% stare at one another&1 With such ma ness about the house, Jung felt he ha to act& <e shoute : -For )o s sake, what in the worl is this;1 Then the% crie out in chorus, -We ha(e come back from Jerusalem where we foun not what we sought&1 '(er the ne3t three e(enings, the book was written, an as soon as he ha begun to write, -the whole ghostl% assemblage e(aporate & The room Duiete an the atmosphere cleare & The haunting was o(er&1

4asili es was a real person, born in *%ria, teaching in Ale3an ria uring the %ears "FF2",, AG& Whereas most channelle material is often nothing better than that which can be foun in gossip columns, Jungs te3t has been labelle a -core te3t in epth ps%cholog%1& The te3t is intriguing for se(eral reasons& For one, he uses the name Abra3as to escribe the *upreme 4eing that ha first generate min ?nousB an then the other mental powers& *till, Jung i not teach the return of human essence to the )nostic pleroma, where in i(i ualit% was lost, but instea a here to in i(i uation, which maintaine the fullness of human in i(i ualit%& 0ost metaph%sics to a% argue that both possibilities can be encountere 5 an are encountere in man% religions: that the soul at its final stage can chose to melt with the 'ne ?the pleromaB or maintain its separate i entit% insi e the 'ne ?in i(i uationB& The easiest parallel is with the hologram, in which each -replica1 is uniDue, %et also the whole& /f an% -replica1 was aware, an woul at one point ha(e to ask what it wante , some woul ask to surren er into the greater hologram, whereas other -replicas1 woul ask to retain their in i(i ual memories 5 e(en though the% are part of the whole& /t is clear that this e3perience create the framework in which later the collecti(e unconscious woul take a prominent place& <e escribe it as such: -The collecti(e unconscious is common to all: it is the foun ation of what the ancients calle the s%mpath% of

all things& /t is through the me ium of the collecti(e unconscious that information about a particular time an place can be transferre to another in i(i ual min &1 4ut anal%sts ha(e state that it was not just the automatic writing, but the contents of the writings themsel(es, that shape his i eas& Jung himself wrote: -These con(ersations with the ea forme a kin of prelu e to what / ha to communicate to the worl about the unconscious & & & All m% works, all m% creati(e acti(it%, has come from those initial fantasies an reams which began in "$"+, almost fift% %ears ago& E(er%thing that / accomplishe in later life was alrea % containe in them, although at first onl% in the form of emotions an images&1 As earl% as August, "$"+, Jung ha intimate in a letter to Freu that he ha an intuition that the essentiall% feminine2tone archaic wis om of the )nostics, s%mbolicall% calle *ophia, was estine to re2enter mo ern Western culture b% wa% of epth2ps%cholog%& 'f primar% sources, the remarkable Pistis *ophia was one of (er% few a(ailable to Jung in translation, an his appreciation of this work was so great that he ma e a special effort to seek out the translator in !on on, the then age an impecunious )eorge R& *& 0ea , to con(e% to him his great gratitu e& *ubseDuentl%, he state to 4arbara <annah that when he isco(ere the writings of the ancient )nostics, -/ felt as if / ha at last foun a circle of frien s who un erstoo me&1 )nosticism woul remain his main e ication for the rest of his life& With the success of books such as <ol% 4loo , <ol% )rail, The Templar Re(elation an The Ga .inci Co e, all which car(e out a special place for the feminine, an often the Pistis *ophia itself, it is clear that Jung successfull% pre icte the -return of the feminine1& Philemon an 4asili es are but two of the -spirit gui es1 that were in contact with Jung& The list of other gui es also inclu e one -*alome1& /n "$+C, Jung ha a remarkable ream& <e felt himself transporte back into the "Hth centur%, an saw himself as an alchemist, engage in the )reat Work& Jung felt that alchem% was

the connection between the ancient worl of the )nostics an the mo ern era, which woul see the return of -*ophia1& For Jung, alchem% was not the search for the substance that woul transform lea into gol , but the transformation of the soul on its path to perfection& Jungs reams in "$+,2C an thereafter freDuentl% foun him in ancient houses surroun e b% alchemical co ices of great beaut% an m%ster%& /nspire b% such images, Jung amasse a librar% on the great art which represents probabl% one of the finest pri(ate collections in this fiel & Jungs collection of rare works on alchem% is still e3tant in his former house in IJsnacht, a suburb of Kurich& <is work culminate in his chef oe(re, publishe in "$@@, an entitle Ps%cholog% an Alchem%& Jung belie(e that the cosmos containe the i(ine light or life, but this essence was enmeshe in a mechanical trap, presi e o(er b% a emiurge: !ucifer, the 4ringer of the !ight& <e containe the light insi e this realit%, until a time when it woul be set free& The first operation of alchem% therefore a resse itself to the ismemberment of this confining structure an re ucing it to a con ition of creati(e chaos& From this, in the process of transformation, the true, creati(e binaries emerge an begin their interaction esigne to bring about the alchemical union& /n this ultimate union, sa%s Jung, the pre(iousl% confine light is re eeme an brought to the point of its ultimate an re empti(e fulfilment&

!igmund Freud Jung ma e it clear that his theor% was not new& /t is similar to the Cathar octrine an he himself state that he was restating the <ermetic gnosis an e3plaining the misun erstoo central Duest of alchem%& Alchem%, sai Jung, stoo in a compensator% relationship to mainstream Christianit%, rather like a ream oes to the conscious attitu es of the reamer& /t has been -un ergroun 1, part of a secret tra ition that ran throughout Christianit%, but alwa%s -subconscious1 5 (isible b% its sha ows an theh traces it lea(es onl%& <e also felt that this process allowe for a better un erstan ing of male2feminine relationships, an notions such as lo(e& /t is in this approach that he no oubt left Freu the furthest behin & /n The Ps%cholog% of the Transference, Jung state that in lo(e, as in ps%chological growth, the ke% to success is the abilit% to en ure the tension of the opposites without aban oning the process, e(en if the process an its result appear to ha(e been brought to naught& /n essence, it is the -stress1 that allows one to grow 5 to transform& The union of opposites, the focus of the alchemist, was for Jung also the focus of the )nostics, whom he felt ha been incorrectl%

labelle as ra ical ualists, i&e& belie(ing in the battle between goo an e(il 5 without an% apparent union possible between the two& For Jung, ualism an monism were not mutuall% contra ictor% an e3clusi(e, but complimentar% aspects of realit%& As such, there was no goo or wrong, no or er or chaos, just two opposites, who constantl% create gre%, an eman e of mankin to be unite , transforme & /t is clear that Jungs ps%cholog% is that of the en of the +Ath centur%& /n essence, he was the father of the =ew Age, gi(ing a theoretical framework for channelling an other -=ew Age practices1& *till, it is clear that Jung is sel om if e(er mentione in this line& /nstea , he is referre to as the -opposite1 of Freu , who was fi3ate in tr%ing to re uce the entire human ps%cholog% to the se3ual constitution of 0ankin & <owe(er, it was Jung who state that such opposites ha to be integrate 6
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