PSYCHOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS

PSYCHOLOGICAL
REFLECTIONS
An Anthology of
the Writings of

C. G. JUNG
SELECTED AND EDITED BY
JOLANDE JACOBI

HARPER TORCHBOOKS The Bollingeri Library

HARPER ROW, PUBLISHERS

New York
 PSYCHOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS
Copyright 1953 by Bollingen Foundation Inc„ New York N. Y.
Printed in the United States of America

This volume is the thirty-first in a series of books sponsored by Bollingen Foundation

This book was originally published in German as Psychologische Betrachtungen: Eine
Auslese aus den Schriften von C. G. Jung by Rascher Verlag, Zurich, 1945 (second
edition 1949). It was first published in English in 1933 by Pantheon Books, Inc., New
York, for Bollingen Foundation, and is reprinted by arrengement.

First HARPER TORCHBOOK edition publisbed 1961

Library of Congress catalog card number: 52 – 10521

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Note on Sources

In the following, line or two is drawn from the text to

suggest the gist of each page,

THE NATURE AND ACTIVITY OF THE PSYCHE

 RECOGNITION OF THE SOUL
Body and soul are One and the Same life.
The mind deserves to be taken as a phenomenon in its own right.
Psychology inevitably involves all philosophical sciences.
The psyche is indistinguishable from its manifestation.
Much of the soul is projected into what is unknown of outside phenomena.
Man's psyche holds the balance between idea and thing.
Psyche: mother of all human facts, of culture and of murderous wars.
Psyche: the essential condition for a general experience of the world.
Even a lie is a psychic fact. Discord of the instinctive psychic fores is an
ever-open wound.
Natural man is the mass and the particle in the mass.
Myths are first and foremost manifestations of the psyche.
It is not only primitive man whose psychic process are archaic,
Except for the colour-play of the soul, man would rot away in idlenes.
Our religious teaching has few kind words for the actual human psyche.
The soul must contain in itself the faculty of relation to God.

MOTTO
Little effect have spoken remarks and rejoinders, if many
Join in the talk and each Will listen more to his own words
Than to his neighbours’ and takes from his neighbours’ what he is
pleased With.
Nearly the same is the case with books; for every one will Find
himself in the book, unless in his strength he decide on Putting
himself into it and amalgamating the substance.
Ever in vain, therefore, you endeavour by writing to change man's
Strong inclination, the form of his thought and his natural bias. If you
achieve success, you strengthen him in his own mindi Or. if he have
none, into a tub you dip and you dye him.
 —GOETHE, “First Epistle”

THE NATURE AND ACTIVITY

OF THE PSYCHE

The soul of man

Resem bleth water:
From heaven it cometh,
To heaven it soareth,
 And then again
To earth descendeth, Changing
ever.
—GOETHE, “Spirit Song over
the Waters”

RECOGNITION OF THE SOUL

"All outer things are also within," as Goethe says: aud this "within," which
modern rationalism likes to make subsidiary to the "outer," has its own structure
which precedes all conscions experience and is in fact an a priori of unconscious
experienee also. For it is impossible to imagine how “experience” in its widest
sense, and indeed how anything psychic, can be made up exclusively of outer
phenomena. The psyche belongs to the very core of the mystery of life, and like all
organic living phenomena, it has its particular characteristic structure and form.
Whether the structure of the soul and its elements, the archetypes, ever had a
beginning is a metaphysical question and as such not one to be answered. The
structure is a given fact, it is that which in every case was already present, the
precondition. It is the mother. [XLIII, 436 f
 "Todas las cosas exteriores están también dentro", como dice Goethe: y este
"interior", que el racionalismo moderno quiere hacer subsidiario de lo "exterior",
tiene su propia estructura que precede a toda experiencia consciente y es, de hecho,
un a priori de la experiencia inconsciente también. Porque es imposible imaginar
cómo la "experiencia" en su sentido más amplio, y de hecho, cómo cualquier cosa
psíquica, puede estar compuesta exclusivamente por fenómenos externos. La
psique pertenece al núcleo mismo del misterio de la vida y, como todos los
fenómenos orgánicos vivos, tiene sus características particulares estructura y
forma. Si la estructura del alma y sus elementos, los arquetipos, alguna vez
tuvieron un comienzo, es una cuestión metafísica y, como tal, no debe ser
respondida. La estructura es un hecho dado, es lo que en todos los casos ya estaba
presente, la condición previa. Es la madre.

The human psyche is in no way outside nature. It is one of the natural

phenomena and its problems are as important as the questions and riddles raised by
bodily disease. Furthermore, there is scarcely a disease of the body in which
psychic factors do not play a part, just as bodily factors are also involved in so
many psychogenic disorders. [XLVIII 128

La psique humana de ninguna manera está fuera de la naturaleza. Es uno de los

fenómenos naturales y sus problemas son tan importantes como las preguntas y los
acertijos planteados por las enfermedades corporales. Además, apenas existe una
enfermedad del cuerpo en la que los factores psíquicos no intervengan, al igual que
los factores corporales también están involucrados en tantos trastornos psicógenos.

A wrong functioning of the psyche can injure the in important ways, just as
conversely a bodily illness can involve the psyche sympathetically, for body and
soul are not separate entities but one and the same life. [LI, 206 (D118)

Un funcionamiento incorrecto de la psique puede dañar de manera importante,

así como, a la inversa, una enfermedad corporal puede involucrar a la psique
simpáticamente, porque el cuerpo y el alma no son entidades separadas sino una y
la misma vida.

Merely to establish the fact that certain people have this or that appearance is of
of significance if it does not allow to infer a psychic correlative, We have learned
something only when we have determined what mental attributes go with a given
bodily constitution. The body means as little to us with. out the psyche as the latter
without the body. When we try to derive a psychic correlative from a physical
characteristic, we are proceeding—as already stated—from the known to the
unknown. [XIX, 117 (j, 86 f)
Simplemente establecer el hecho de que ciertas personas tienen tal o cual
apariencia no tiene importancia si no permite inferir un correlativo psíquico.
Hemos aprendido algo sólo cuando hemos determinado qué atributos mentales van
con una determinada constitución corporal. El cuerpo significa tan poco para
nosotros sin la psique como ésta sin el cuerpo. Cuando tratamos de derivar un
correlativo psíquico de una característica física, estamos procediendo —como ya
se ha dicho— de lo conocido a lo desconocido.
The mind is a series of images in the widest sense, not an accidental
juxtaposition or sequence, but a structure that is throughout full of meaning and
purpose; it is a picturing of vital activities. And just as the material of the body that
is ready for life has need Of the psyche in order to be capable of life, so the psyche
presupposes the living body in order that its images may live. [XIX; 380 (G, 84f)

La mente es una serie de imágenes en el sentido más amplio, no una

yuxtaposición o secuencia accidental, sino una estructura que está llena de
significado y propósito; es una representación de actividades vitales. Y así como la
materia del cuerpo que está lista para la vida necesita de la psique para ser capaz de
vivir, así la psique presupone el cuerpo vivo para que sus imágenes puedan vivir.

In spite of the materialistie tendency to conceive of the soul mainly as a mere

result of physical and chemical processes, there is not a single proof of this
hypothesis. On the contrary, innumerable facts show that the soul translates the
physical processes into images which frequently bear hardly any recognizable
relationship to the objective process. The materialistic hypothesis is much too bold
and oversteps the limits of experience with "metaphysical" presumption. There is
no reason whatever to picture the soul as a something secondary or as an
epiphenomenon; there are indeed sufficient reasons for regarding it, at least
hypothetically, as a factor sui generis, and for continuing so to regard it until it be
adequately proved that psychic processes can also be made in the test tube. [XXIX,
4

A pesar de la tendencia materialista a concebir el alma principalmente como un

mero resultado de procesos físicos y químicos, no hay una sola prueba de esta
hipótesis. Por el contrario, innumerables hechos demuestran que el alma traduce
los procesos físicos en imágenes que, con frecuencia, apenas guardan relación
reconocible con el proceso objetivo. La hipótesis materialista es demasiado audaz y
traspasa los límites de la experiencia con presunción "metafísica". No hay razón
alguna para imaginar el alma como algo secundario o como un epifenómeno; de
hecho, existen razones suficientes para considerarlo, al menos hipotéticamente,
como un factor sui generis, y para seguir considerándolo así hasta que se
demuestre adecuadamente que los procesos psíquicos también se pueden realizar
en el tubo de ensayo.

A psychology that treats the mind as an epiphenomenon would do better to call

itself brain-physiology, and remain satisfied with the meagre results that such a
psychophysiology can yield. The mind deserves to be taken as a phenomenon in its
own right; for there are no apparent reasons why it should be regarded as a mere
epiphenomenon, dependent though it may be upon the functioning of the brain.
One is as little justified in so regarding it as in conceiving life as an
epiphenomenon of the chemistry of carbon compounds. [XIII, 13 ff (G, 6)

Una psicología que trata a la mente como un epifenómeno haría mejor en

llamarse a sí misma fisiología del cerebro, y quedaría satisfecha con los magros
resultados que tal psicofisiología puede producir. La mente merece ser considerada
como un fenómeno por derecho propio; porque no hay razones aparentes por las
que deba ser considerada como un mero epifenómeno, por muy dependiente que
sea del funcionamiento del cerebro. Uno está tan poco justificado en esa
consideración como en concebir la vida como un epifenómeno de la química de los
compuestos de carbono.

Limitation to material reality cuts out from the world as a whole an

immeasurably large piece but still only a piece, and produces thereby a dark region
which we call unreal or supernatural. The Eastern philosophy of life, for instance,
has not this limiting barrier, and therefore it needs no philosophical conception of a
super-reality. Our arbitrarily circumscribed conception of reality is constantly
threatened by such conceptions as "supersensory," supernatural," "superhuman,"
etc. Eastern reality quite naturally includes all these conceptions, For the Western
mind the point of disturbance begins with our conception of the psychic factor. In
our "reality" the psychic factor is nothing else than an indirect effect proceeding
from something which has its origin in the physical realm, a "brain secretion" or
something equally savoury. And yet this mere appendage of the material world is
considered capable not only of over-reachin itself and recognizing the mysteries of
the psychic world ut also of recognizing itself in the form of "mind," and all this in
spite of the fact that it is not accredited with anything more than an indirect reality.
[XXII, 844

La limitación a la realidad material extrae del mundo en su conjunto una pieza

inconmensurablemente grande, pero todavía sólo una pieza, y produce así una
región oscura que llamamos irreal o sobrenatural. La filosofía oriental de la vida,
por ejemplo, no tiene esta barrera limitante y, por lo tanto, no necesita una
concepción filosófica de una super-realidad. Nuestra concepción arbitrariamente
circunscrita de la realidad se ve constantemente amenazada por concepciones como
"suprasensorial", "sobrenatural", "sobrehumano", etc. La realidad oriental incluye
de forma bastante natural todas estas concepciones. En nuestra "realidad", el factor
psíquico no es más que un efecto indirecto que procede de algo que tiene su origen
en el ámbito físico, una "secreción cerebral" o algo igualmente sabroso. Y sin
embargo, este mero apéndice del mundo material se considera capaz no sólo de
sobrepasarse en sí mismo y reconocer los misterios del mundo psíquico sino
también de reconocerse en forma de "mente", y todo esto a pesar de que no está
acreditado con nada más que una realidad indirecta.
 Everything which is discovered by valid or apparently valid methods about
the nature of the soul automatically and inevitably involves the entire scope of
all philosophical sciences; for whatever is thought about the nature of psychic
happenings touches the psychic foundations of all philosophical sciences even
when the actual decisions fall within the discipline of medical science, which,
of course, does not count itself among the philosophical sciences. [XLV

Todo lo que se descubre por métodos válidos o aparentemente válidos

acerca de la naturaleza del alma, implica automática e inevitablemente el
alcance total de todas las ciencias filosóficas; porque todo lo que se piensa
sobre la naturaleza de los sucesos psíquicos toca los fundamentos psíquicos de
todas las ciencias filosóficas, incluso cuando las decisiones reales caen dentro
de la disciplina de la ciencia médica, que, por supuesto, no se cuenta entre las
ciencias filosóficas.

Like all sciences, psychology has gone through its epoch of scholasticism,
and something of the scholastic spirit has lasted on into the present time.
Against this kind of philosophical psychology it must be objected that it makes
an ex cathedra decision as to how the soul shall be constituted and what quali
ties must belong to it in every possible respect. [V, 236 (D, 1)

Como todas las ciencias, la psicología ha pasado por su época de

escolasticismo y algo del espíritu escolástico ha perdurado hasta nuestros días.
Contra este tipo de psicología filosófica hay que objetar que toma una decisión
ex cathedra sobre cómo se constituirá el alma y qué cualidades deben
pertenecerle en todos los aspectos posibles.

Every natural science becomes descriptive at the point at which it can no

longer explore experimentally, but it does not thereby cease to be scientific.
An empirical Science, however, becomes impossible when it limits its field of
action by theoretical conceptions. The psyche does not come to an end where
the scope of some physiological or other assumption reaches its limit; that is to
say, in every single case which we are considering scientifically, we have to
take into account the entire aspect of the psyche. [XXXIX, 151
Toda ciencia natural se vuelve descriptiva hasta el punto en el que ya no
puede explorar experimentalmente, pero no por ello deja de ser científica. Una
ciencia empírica, sin embargo, se vuelve imposible cuando limita su campo de
acción por concepciones teóricas. La psique no llega a su fin donde el alcance
de alguna suposición fisiológica o de otro tipo alcanza su límite; es decir, en
cada caso que estemos considerando científicamente, tenemos que tener en
cuenta todo el aspecto de la psique.
 To the dismay of the busy practitioner of the present day, the psyche is
completely refractory in the face of any method which attempts to consider it from
one point of view only, to the exclusion of all others. [XIII, 151

Para consternación del atareado practicante de la actualidad, la psique es

completamente refractaria frente a cualquier método que intente considerarla
desde un solo punto de vista, con exclusión de todos los demás.

The psychological investigator is always finding himself obliged to make use of

extensive, and in a sense indirect, description for the presentation of the reality he
has observed. Only in so far as elementary facts are accessible to number and
measure can there be any question of a direct presentation. But how much of the
actual psychology of man can be witnessed and observed as mensurable facts? [IX,
587 (I, 518)

El investigador psicológico siempre se encuentra a si mismo obligado a utilizar

una descripción extensa, y en cierto sentido indirecta, para la presentación de la
realidad que ha observado. Sólo en la medida en que los hechos elementales sean
accesibles en número y medida, puede haber alguna cuestión de presentación
directa. Pero, ¿cuánto de la psicología real del hombre se puede presenciar y
observar como hechos mensurables?

I do not find it surprising that psychology should also touch the field of
philosophy, for the act of thinking which is the basis of philosophy is a psychic
activity and as such an object of psychology. By psychology I always mean the
entire scope of the psyche, and this involves philosophy and theology, and a great
deal more besides. For over against all philosophies and all religions stand the facts
of the human soul, which may perhaps be able in the last resort to decide between
truth and error. [XIII, 178

No me sorprende que la psicología deba tocar también el campo de la filosofía,

porque el acto de pensar que es la base de la filosofía es una actividad psíquica y,
como tal, un objeto de la psicología. Por psicología siempre me refiero a todo el
ámbito de la psique, y esto implica filosofía y teología, y mucho más. Porque frente
a todas las filosofías y religiones se encuentran los hechos del alma humana, los
cuales tal vez puedan, en última instancia, decidir entre la verdad y el error.

There is no Archimedean point from which to judge, since the psyche is

indistinguishable from its manifestation. The psyche is the object of psychology
and—fatally enough—at the same time its subject, and there is no getting away
from this fact. [XLVI, 91 f (B, 62)
 No hay un punto de Arquímedes desde el cual juzgar, ya que la psique es
indistinguible de su manifestación. La psique es el objeto de la psicología y—
fatalmente— al mismo tiempo su sujeto, y no hay forma de escapar de este hecho.

Only that which is psychic has direct reality—indeed, every form of psychic
activity, even the so-called "unreal" imaginings and thoughts which have no
relation to the outside world. We may call such thoughts imagination or madness,
but their power is by no means destroyed thereby, indeed there is no "real" thought
which cannot at times be pushed aside by an "unreal" thought which thus proves
itself to be of greater strength and effectiveness. The gigantic effects of insane
imaginings are greater than all physical dangers, and yet our world-conscious ness
tries to deny them all reality. Our much prized reasoning power and our
boundlessly over-rated will-power prove at times to be powerless a ainst these
"unreal" thoughts. The world powers which, for ietter or worse, govern the whole
of humanity are unconscious psychic factors, and thev it is that also bring forth
consciousness and thereby the conditio Sine qua non for the very existence of a
world. We are overpowered by a world which was created by our psyche. [XXII,
845

Sólo lo psíquico tiene realidad directa—de hecho, todas las formas de actividad
psíquica, incluso las llamadas imaginaciones y pensamientos "irreales" que no
tienen relación con el mundo exterior. Podemos llamar a tales pensamientos
imaginación o locura, pero su poder no se destruye de ninguna manera, de hecho,
no hay ningún pensamiento "real" que a veces no pueda ser dejado de lado por un
pensamiento "irreal" que, por lo tanto, demuestra ser de mayor fuerza y eficacia.
Los efectos gigantes de las imaginaciones dementes son mayores que todos los
peligros físicos y, sin embargo, nuestra conciencia del mundo trata de negarles
toda la realidad. Nuestro preciado poder de razonamiento y nuestra ilimitadamente
sobrevalorada fuerza de voluntad demuestran a veces ser impotentes frente a estos
pensamientos "irreales". Los poderes mundiales que, para bien o para mal,
gobiernan a toda la humanidad, son factores psíquicos inconscientes, y son ellos
los que también producen la conciencia y, por tanto, la condición Sine qua non
para la existencia misma de un mundo. Estamos dominados por un mundo que fue
creado por nuestra psique.

Since we do not know everything, practically every experience, fact. or

object contains something which is unknown. Hence if we speak of the totality
of an experience, the word "totality" can refer only to the conscious part of the
experience, As we cannot assume that our experience covers the totality of the
object, it is evident that its absolute totality must needs cone tain the part that
has not been experienced, The same holds true; as I have mentioned, of every
experience and also of the psyche, whose absolute totality covers a greater
surface than consciousness. In other words, the psyche is no exception to the
general rule that the universe can be established only in so far as our psychic
organism permits. [XLVI, 75 (B, 48 f)

Como no sabemos todo, prácticamente todas las experiencias, hechos u

objeto contienen algo que es desconocido. Por tanto, si hablamos de la totalidad
de una experiencia, la palabra "totalidad" sólo puede referirse a la parte
consciente de la experiencia. Como no podemos suponer que nuestra
experiencia cubre la totalidad del objeto, es evidente que su totalidad absoluta
debe conozca la parte que no ha sido experimentada. Lo mismo es cierto, como
he mencionado, de toda experiencia y también de la psique, cuya totalidad
absoluta cubre una superficie mayor que la conciencia. En otras palabras, la
psique no es una excepción a la regla general de que el universo sólo puede
establecerse en la medida en que nuestro organismo psíquico lo permita.

Although common prejudice still believes that the chief foundation Of our
knowledge comes from outside, and that nihil esse in intellectu, quod non antea
iuerit in sensu, it is nevertheless true that the atom theory of the ancients
Leucippus and Democritus, which should by no means be undervalued. was not
based on observation of splitting the atom, but on a "mythological" conception
Of the smallest possible particles (such as are also known to the paleolithic
central Australian aborigines as "soul-atoms," animated smallest particles),
Every student of ancient natural history and natural philosophy knows how
much of the soul is projected into what is unknown of the outside phenomenon.
In fact so much is projected that we are absolutelv unable ever to give an
account of how the world itself is actu•ally made, since we are forced to
translate the physical facts into a psychic process, if we wish to speak at all of
knowledge. But how can we guarantee that any sort of adequate "objective"
picture of the world is achieved by this transfer? [XXXiX, 3 f
Aunque el prejuicio común todavía cree que el fundamento principal de nuestro
conocimiento proviene del exterior, y que nihil esse in intellectu, quod non antea
fuerit in sensu, es cierto que la teoría del átomo de los antiguos Leucipo y
Demócrito, que de ninguna manera debería estar infravalorado, no se basó en la
observación de la división del átomo, sino en una concepción "mitológica" de las
partículas más pequeñas posibles (como las que también conocen los aborígenes
australianos centrales paleolíticos como "átomos del alma", partículas animadas
más pequeñas). Cada estudiante de la antigua historia natural y la filosofía natural
saben cuánto del alma es proyectado en lo que es desconocido del fenómeno
exterior. De hecho, se proyecta tanto que somos absolutamente incapaces de dar
cuenta de cómo el mundo mismo está realmente hecho, ya que nos vemos
obligados a traducir los hechos físicos en un proceso psíquico, si deseamos hablar
de conocimiento. Pero, ¿cómo podemos garantizar que con esta transferencia se
logre cualquier tipo de imagen "objetiva" adecuada del mundo?
 The necessity of a plurality of explanations, however, in the case of a
psychological theory is definitely granted, since, unlike any other natural-science
theory, the object of psychologieal explanation is of like nature with the subject:
one psychological process has to explain another. This serious difficulty has
already driven thinking minds to remarkable subterfuges, as, for instance, the
assumption of an "objective mind" which should stand outside psychology and,
hence, be able to regard objectively its own psyche; or the similar assumption that
the intellect is a faculty which can also stand outside itself and regard itself. With
these and similar expedients, that Archimedean, extraterrestrial point is to be
created by means of which the intellect shall raise itself from its own hinges. I can
understand the profound human need for comfort and ease, but I do not understand
why truth should bend to this need, i also understand that, aesthetically, it would be
far more satisfactory if, instead of the paradox of mutually contradictory
explanations, we could re\uce the psychic process to the simplest possible
instinctive foundation and be at rest, or if we could credit it with a metaphysical
goal of redemption and find peace in that hoper—But whatever we strive to fathom
with our intellect will end in paradox and relativity, if, indeed, it be honest work
and not a mere petitio principii in the service of comfort and convenience. [IX,
702 f (I, 627 f)

Sin embargo, la necesidad de una pluralidad de explicaciones en el caso de una

teoría psicológica está definitivamente garantizada, ya que, a diferencia de
cualquier otra teoría de las ciencias naturales, el objeto de la explicación
psicológica es de naturaleza similar al sujeto: un proceso psicológico tiene que
explicar otro. Esta grave dificultad ya ha llevado a las mentes pensantes a
subterfugios notables, como, por ejemplo, la suposición de una "mente objetiva"
que debería estar fuera de la psicología y, por tanto, ser capaz de considerar
objetivamente su propia psique; o la suposición similar de que el intelecto es una
facultad que también puede estar fuera de sí misma y considerarse a sí misma. Con
estos y otros expedientes similares, se creará ese punto extraterrestre de
Arquímedes por medio del cual el intelecto se levantará de sus propias bisagras.
Puedo entender la profunda necesidad humana de comodidad y tranquilidad, pero
no entiendo por qué la verdad debe ceder a esta necesidad, también entiendo que,
estéticamente, sería mucho más satisfactorio si, en lugar de la paradoja de
explicaciones mutuamente contradictorias, podríamos llevar el proceso psíquico a
la base instintiva más simple posible y estar en reposo, o si pudiéramos atribuirle
un objetivo metafísico de redención y encontrar la paz en esa esperanza. —Pero
todo lo que nos esforzamos por desentrañar con nuestro intelecto terminará en una
paradoja y la relatividad, si es que es un trabajo honesto y no una mera petitio
principii al servicio de la comodidad y la conveniencia.

To the esse in intellectu, tangible reality is lacking; to the esse in re, the mind.
Idea and thing come together, however, in the psyche of man, which holds the
balance between them. What would the idea amount to if the psyche did not
provide its living value? What would the objective thing be worth if the psyche
withheld from it the determining force of the sense impression? What indeed is
reality if it is not a reality in ourselves, an esse in anima? Living reality is the
exclusive product neither of the actual, objective behaviour of things nor of the
formulated idea; rather does it come through the gathering up of both in the living
psychological process, through the esse in anima. Only through the specifie vital
activity of the psyche does the sense-perception attain that intensity and the idea
that effective force, which are the two indispensable constituents of living reality.
This peculiar activity of the psyche, which can be explained neither as a reflex to
sense-stimuli nor as an executive organ of eternal ideas is, like every vital process,
a perpetually creative act, Ox, 74 f 68 f)

Para el esse in intellectu, falta la realidad tangible; para el esse in re, la mente.
Sin embargo, la idea y la cosa se unen en la psique del hombre, que mantiene el
equilibrio entre ellas. ¿A qué ascendería la idea si la psique no le proporcionara su
valor de vida? ¿De qué valdría la cosa objetiva si la psique le privase de la fuerza
determinante de la impresión sensorial? ¿Qué es realmente la realidad si no es una
realidad en nosotros mismos, un esse in anima? La realidad viviente no es
producto exclusivo ni del comportamiento objetivo real de las cosas ni de la idea
formulada; más bien viene a través de la reunión de ambos en el proceso
psicológico viviente, a través del esse en anima. Sólo a través de la actividad vital
específica de la psique, la percepción-sensorial alcanza esa intensidad y la idea de
esa fuerza efectiva, que son los dos constituyentes indispensables de la realidad
viviente. Esta peculiar actividad de la psique, que no puede explicarse ni como
reflejo de los estímulos-sensoriales ni como órgano ejecutivo de las ideas eternas,
es como todo proceso vital, un acto perpetuamente creativo.

It is a remarkable fact, which we come across again and again, that

absolutely everybody, even the most unqualified layman, thinks he knows all
about psychology as though the psyche were something that enjoyed tbe most
universal understanding, But anybody who really knows the human psyche will
agree with me when I say that it is one of the darkest and most mysterious
regions in the whole of our experience. There is no end to what can be learned
in this field. [LVIII, 14 (M, 2)

I am of the opinion that the psyche is the most powerful fact in the human
world. It is indeed the mother of all human facts. Of culture and of murderous
wars. All this is at first psychic and imperceptible. As long as it remains "merel
psychic. it is not perceived by the senses, but it is never eless indisputablv real.
[.uvtl, 40B
 What is illusion? By What criterion do we judge something to be an
illusion? Does there exist for the psyche anything which we may call
"illusion"? What we are pleased to call such may be for tfie psyche a most
important factor of life—something as indispensable as oxygen for the
organism—a psychic actuality of prime importance. Presumably the psyche
does not trouble itself about our categories Of reality, and it would there fore be
the better part Of wisdom for us to everything that acts is actual. He who would
fathom the psyche must not confuse it with consciousness, else he veils from
his own sight the object he wishes to explore. On the contrary. even to
recognize the psyche, he must learn to see how it differs from consciousness, It
is highly probable that what we call illusion is actual for the psyche: for which
reason we cannot take psychic actuality to be commensurable with conscious
actuality. [xrx, 118 (J, 83 f)

Each new day, reality is created by the psyche. The only expression I can use
for this activity is '"phantasy." Phantas is just as much feeling as thought; it is
intuitive just as mu as sensational There are no psychic functions which in
phantasy are not inextricably inter-related with the other psychic functions- At
one time it appears primordial, at another as the latest and most daring product
of gathered knowledge. Phantasy, therefore, appears to me as the clearest
expression of the specific psychic activity. Before everything it is the creative
activity whence issue the solutions to all answerable questions; it is the mother
of all possibilities, in which too the inner and the outer worlds, like all
psychological antitheses, are joined in living union. [rx, 75 (r, 69)

Phantasy is simply spontaneous psychic activity; and it wells up whenever the

repressive action of the conscious mind relaxes or ceases altogether, as in [,XIX, 6
(J, 36)

The soul, as a reflection of the world and of humanity, is so complex that one
can consider it and judge it from innumerable different angles. With the psyche it is
the same as with the universe; to work out a system of the world is beyond human
grasp, and therefore we have merely technical rules and points of interest. Every
man cuts his own slice from the world, and makes his private System to fit his
private world, Often with air-tight walls, so that after a time it seems to him that he
has realized the very sense and structure of the world. The finite can never grasp
the infinite. Although the psychic world of phenomena is only a part of the whole
world, it would seem that, for this very reason, it could be more easily grasped than
the world as a whole. But one does not sufficiently realize that the psyche is the
Only immediate world phenomenon and therefore also the essential condition for a
general experience of the world,
[XIX, 144
All activity of the psyche is an image and an imagining; otherwise no
consciousness and no phenomenality of the process
 RECOGNITION OF SOUL
could exist. Imagining is also a psychic process, and therefore it is totally
irrelevant whether a "revelation" is described as "real" or "imagined." He who
has. or says he has, a revelation believes in any case that he has been
enlightened. What others think about it means nothing to him in regard to his
experience. Even if he were lying, his lie would also be a psychic fact.
[xr.rr, 18
Naturally, no human action is quite simple—like an isolated reaction to a single
stimulus—but each of our actions and reactions is influenced by complicated
psychic preconditions. Using the military analogy, we might compare these
processes with the situation at general headquarters, To the in the ranks it might
seem that the army retreated simply because it attacked, or that an attack
were made because the enemy had been seen in the wood, Our conscious
function is ever inclined to play the role of the common soldier. and to believe
in the simplicity of its actions. But in reality battle has been given on this spot
and at this moment because of a general plan of attack which in its ordered
unfolding has for days been marshalling the common soldier to this point. And
again this general torn Ian is not a mere reaction to reconnaissance reports; it
results the creative initiative of the leader. Furthermore; it is conditioned by the
action of the enemy, and also perhaps by wholly unmilitary, political
considerations Of which the common soldier is quite unaware. These last factors
are of a very complex nature and lie far outside the understanding of the
common soldier, though they may be only too clear to the leader of the army.
But even to him certain factors are unknown, namely, the preconditions of his
own personality, with all their complicated presuppositions. Thus the army
stands under a simple and single command. but the latter is the result Of the co-
ordinated operation of infinitely complex factors. (MN, 297 f (G, 142) The
breaking up Of the harmonious CO-operation Of the psychic forces that exists
in instinctive life is like an ever-open, a never-healing Wound, a veritable
Amfortas's wounds since the differentiation of one function among several
inevitably leads to overgrowth of the one and to neglect and crippling of the
rest. [tx, 101 (i, 90 f)
NATtJi1E ACTIVITY PSYCKE

To recognize the psyche's protean life and constant metamorphases is to

admit a truth less comfortable than a one-sided theory that stands secure in its
rigidity. It makes the problems of psychology less simple. Yet we are liberated
from the incubus of "nothing but,"' which is the inevitable leitmotiv of each
onesided view. [w, 34

It is all part Of the banality Of its outward aspect that the gold is minted. i.e.,
shaped into coins, stamped, and valued. Applied psychologically' this is what
Nietzsche refuses to do in his Zarathustra; to give names to the virtues. By
being shaped and named, psychic life is broken down into coined and valued
units, But this is Only possible because it is intrinsically a great variety Of
things, an accumulation Of unintegrated hereditary factors. Natural man is not a
"self'—he is the mass and the particle in the mass, collective to such a degree

19
 THE AND OF
that heis not even sure of his own ego. That is why since time immemorial he
has needed the transformation mysteries to turn him into something and to
rescue him from the animal collective psyche, which is nothing but an
assortment, a "variety performance,"
[LVIII, 122 (M, 104)

So long as one knows nothing of a psychic existence, it is pro. jected if it

appears at all. Thus the first knowledge of the laws and rules of the psyche was
found in the stars, and further knowledge in unknown matter. From both fields
of experience, sciences have branched off; from astrology came astronomy,
from alchemy came chemistry. The peculiar relationship between astronnmic
estimation of time and character is, on the contrary, only recently beginning to
form itself into something like scientific empiricism. The really important
psychic
(The following evplanatory note is entered from the English edition of
psychotouy and where it has been added by the editors: term •nothing but"
{nichts occurs frequently in Jung. and is used to denote the common habit of
explaining something unknown by reducing it to something apparently known
and thereby devaluing it. For instance, when a certain illness is said to be
•nothing but psychic,' it is explained away as imaginary and is thus
devalued."—TRANsL..vron.)

elements cannot be measured with the ruler, or the balance, or the test-tube, or
the microscope. They are therefore (supposedly) imperceptible, or, in other
words, they must be left to those people who have an inner feeling for them. just
as one shows eolours to those who can see and not to the blind.
[LIT, 148
In mythological research, we have contented ourselves until now with solar, lunar,
meteorological, vegetal, and other comparisons, But we have almost completely
refused to see that myths are first and foremost psychic manifestations that
represent the nature of the psyche. The mind of the primitive is little concerned
with an objective explanation of obvious things; it has an imperative need or,
rather; his unconscious psyche has an irresistible urge—to assimilate all
experience through the outer senses into inner. psychic happening. The primitive
is not content to see the sun rise and set: this external observatinn must at the
Same time be psychic event—that is, the sun in its course must represent the fate
of a god or hero who dwells, in the last analysis, nowhere else than in the psyche
of man. All the mythologized occurrences of nature, such as summer and winter,
the phases Of the moon, the rainy seasons, and so forth, are anything but
allegories of these same objective experiences, nor are they to be understood as
"explanations" of sunrise, sunset, and the rest of the natural phenomena. They are,
rather, symbolic expressions for the inner and unconscious psychic drama that
becomes accessible to human consciousness bv wav of projection—that is, by
being mirrored in the events of nature. [XX:U. 182 54) It was reserved to modern
natural science with its objective knowledge Of the material world to
20
 RECOGNITION OF SOUL
despivitllalize nature. All anthropomorphic projections were withdrawn one by
one from their objects: on the one hand the mystic identity of man with nature was
reduced to an unheard-of degree, while on the other hand the withdrawal of such
projections into the psyche caused such a stimulation of the unconscious that the
modern age could no longer possibly avoid the postulation of an unconscions
psyche. The first signs of this can be seen in Leibniz and Kant, and then in rapidly
increasing degree in Schelling; Carus, and von Hartmann, until modern
psychology also discarded

21
 THE NATURE AND OF
Acrrvrry THE

the last metaphysical claims of the philosophical psychologists and reduced the
idea of psychic existence to the psychological assertions, i.e., to the
psychological henOmenOlOCfY4 Instead Of the lost Olympian gods, there was
•sclosed the inner wealth of the soul which lies in every muffs heart, [L, 120 f

In a sense, the Old alchemists were nearer to the central truth of the psyche
than Faust when they strove to redecm the fiery spirit from the chemical
elements, and treated the mystery as though it lay in the dark and silent womb of
nature, It was still outside them. But the upward thrust of evolving
consciousness was bound sooner or later to put an end to the projection and to
restore to the psyche what had been psychic from the beginning. Yet, ever since
the Age of Enlightenment, and in the poch Of scientific rationalism, what
indeed was the psyche? It had become synonymous with consciousness. The
psyche was "what I know." There was no psyche outside the ego. Inevitably,
then, the ego identified itself with the contents accruing from the withdrawal Of
projection. Cone were the days when the psyche was still for the most part
"outside the body" and when it imagined "those greater things" which Ibe body
could not grasp. The contents that were formerly projected were now bound to
appear as personal possessions, as ellimerieal phantasms of the ego-
consciousness. The fire chilled to air, and the air became the great wind of
Zarathustra and caused an inflation of consciousness which, it seems, can only
be mitigated by the most terrible catastrophe to civilization, another deluge let
loose by the gods upon inhospitable humanity.
642 562)
But if the historical process of the despiritualization of the world—the
withdrawal Of projections—is going on as hitherto, then everything Of a divine
or daemonic character must return to the soul, to the inside Of the unknown
from where it apparently sprang originally, [XLVI, 153 f (B, 102f)

It is not only primitive Whose psychic processes are archaic. The civilized
man of today shows these archaic processes as well, and not merely in the form
of sporadic throw-backs from the level of modern social life, On the contrary,
every civilized human being, whatever bis conscious development, is an archaic
man at the deeper levels of his psyche. Just as the human body links us with the
mammals and displays numerous relics of earlier evolutionary stages back even
to the reptilian age, so the human psyche is likewise a product of evolution
which, followed up to its origins, shows countless archaic traits. [xtx, 212 (J,
144) The psychology of the individual can never be exhaustively explained
from himself a clear recognition is also needed of the way in which his
individual psychology is conditioned by contemporary history and
circumstances. It is not merely a physiological, biological, or personal problem,
but also a questiOn Of contemporary history. [rx, 658 0, 578)

22
 RECOGNITION OF SOUL
No psychological fact can ever be exhaustively explained from its causality
alone, since, as a living phenomenon, it is always indissolubly bound up with
the continuity of the vital process, so that it is always something that on the one
side is and on the other is becoming and therefore always creative. The
psychological moment is Janns-faced—it looks both wards and forwards.
Because it is becoming, it also prepares for the future event. Were this not so,
intentions, aims, the setting up of goals, the forecasting or divining Of the
future, would be psychological impossibilities. 578)

Being that has soul is living being. Soul is the [icing in man, that which lives
of itself and causes life: God breathed into Adam a living breath so that he
should live. With cunning and playful deception the soul lures into life the
inertia of matter that does not want to live. It creates belief in incredible things,
in order that life should live. It is full of snares and traps in order that man
should fall, should reach the earth, entangle himself there, Stay caught, in Order
that life should live. Were it not for the motion and the colour-play Of the soul,
man would suffocate and rot away in his greatest passion, idleness,
[xxxx, 207 (F, 75 f)
ACTIVITY THE PSYCHE

The soul holds as many riddles as the world with its starry systems, before
whose sublime display only a mind devoid of imagination can fail to feel its
own inadequacy. In face of this extreme uncertainty Of human comprehension,
all effort at enlightening and theorizing is not only laughable but also sadly
lacking in spiritual understanding, [ xxvu, 229

It is tnae that our religious teaching speaks of an immortal soul; but it has
very few kind words for the actual human psyche, which would go straight to
eternal damnation if it were not for a special act Of divine grace, [XLVI, 30 f
(B, 19)

The immortality of the soul insisted upon by dogma exalts it above the
transitoriness Of mortal man and causes it to partake Of some supernatural
quality, It thus infinitely surpasses the perishable, conscious individual in
significance, so that logically the Christian is forbidden to regard the soul as a
"nothing but." As the eye to the sun, so the soul corresponds to God. Since our
conscious mind does not comprehend the soul it is ridiculous to speak of the
things of the soul in a patronizing or depreciatory Even the believing Christian
does not know God's hidden ways and must leave it to Him whether He will
work on man from the outside or from within, through the soul. 22 f (M, 11)

23
 THE NATURE AND OF
Metaphysical theories are assertions Of the psyche and therefore they are
psychological, But to the Western mind, this Obvious truth appears either too
obvious, since owing to a certain resentment our mind enjoys its slavery to
rationalism, or else an inadmissible denial of metaphysical "truth." To the
Westerner, the word "psychological" always sounds like "only psy. chological,"
The psyche appears to him as something very small, unimportant, personal, and
subjective. Therefore one prefers to use the word "mind" whereby one always
gives the unspoken impression that perhaps a really very subjective assertion of
the "mind" has been made, but of course always of the "general'S or, if
possible, the "absolute" mind. This somewhat ridiculous arrogance is a
compensation for the lamentable smallness of the soul. It seems almost as if
Anatole France had

24
 RECOGNITION OF THE SOUL
spoken a compelling truth for the whole Western world When be makes
Catherine of Alexandria in L' Ile des pingouins advise God: "Donne: leur une
time mais une petite!" [xxxn, 18 f

It would be blasphemy to assert that God can manifest himself evecywhere

save only in the human soul. Indeed the very intimacy Of the relationship
between God and the soul antomatically precludes any devaluation of the latter.
It would be going perhaps too far to speak of an affinity; but at all events the
soul must contain in itself the faculty of relation to God, i.e., a correspondence,
otherwise a connection could never come about. [LVIH, 23 (M, Il)
However we may picture the relationship between God and sonle one thing is
certain: that the soul cannot be a "nothing but"; on the contrary it has the dignity
of a creature endowed with and conscious of a relationship to Deity, Even if this
were only the relationship of a drop of water to the sea, that sea would not exist
but for the multitude of drops.
22 (M. 11) I
did not attribute a religious function to the soul, I merely produced the facts
which prove that the soul is naturaliter religiosa, i.e., possesses a religious
function. I did not invent or interpret this function, it produces itself of its own
accord without being prompted thereto by any opinions or suggestions Of mine,
With a truly tragic delusion these theologians fail to see that it is not a matter of
proving the existence of the light, but of blind people who do not know that their
eyes can see. It is high time we realized that it is pointless to praise the light and
preach it if nobody can see it, It is much more needful to teach people the art of
seeing. For it is obvious that far too many people are incapable of establishing a
connection between the sacred figures and their own that is to say they cannot
see to what extent the equivalent images are lyino dormant in their own
unconscious, In order to facilitate this inner vision we must first clear the way
for the faculty of seeing. How this is to be done without psychology, that is,
without acrrvrry PSYCHE making contact with the psyche, is, frankly, beyond
my comprehension. ILVIII, 26 f (M, 14)
It is always only the few who reach the rim of the world, where its mirage
begins. For the man who stands always upon the normal path the soul has a
humans and not a dubious, daemonic character; neither do his fellow men
appear to him in the least problematical, Only complete abandonment either to
one world or to the other evokes their duality. [lax, 244 (1, 212)

The doctrine that all evil thoughts come from the heart and that the human
soul is a sink Of iniquity must lie deep in the man-ow of their bones. Were it so,
then God had made a sorry job of creation, and it were high time for us to go
over to Marcion the Gnostic and depose the incompetent demiurge. Ethically, Of
course, it is infinitely more convenient to leave Cod the sole responsibility for
25
 THE NATURE AND OF
such a Home for Idiot Children—as they conceive the world to be—where no
one is capable of putting a spoon into his own mouth. But man is worth the pains
he takes with himself, and be has something in his own soul that can grow. It is
rewarding to watch patiently the silent happenings in the soul, and the most and
the best happens when it is not regulated from outside and from above.
[L.vnr, 148 f (M, 126)
People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their
own souls. They will practise Indian yoga and all its exercises, observe a strict
regimen of diet, learn theosophy by heart, or mechanically repeat mystic texts
from the literature Of the whole world—all because they cannot get on with
themselves and have not the slightest faith that anything useful could ever come
out of their own souls, Thus the soul has gradually turned into a Nazareth from
which nothing good can come. Therefore let us fetch it from the four corners Of
the earth—the more far-fetched and bizarre it is the better!
148 (M, 126)
Whoever speaks of the reality of the soul or psyche is accused of
"psychologism." Psychology is spoken of as if it were "only" psychology and
nothing else. The notion that there can be pyyehic factors which correspond to
the divine figures is re-
ON

garded as a devaluation of the latter, It smacks of blasphemy to think that a

religious experience is a psychic process; for, so it is argued, a religious
experience "is not only psychological." Anything psychic is Nature and therefore,
people think, nothing religious can come Out of itl At the same time such critics
never hesitate to derive all religions—with the exception of their own—from the
nature of the psyche. [LVIII, 21 (u, 9)

Were it not a fact of experience that supreme values reside in the soul (quite
apart from the antimimOn pneuma Who is also there), psychology would not
interest me in the least, for the soul would then be nothing but a miserable
vapour. I know, however, from hundredfold experience, that it is nothing of the
sort, but on the contrary contains the equivalents of everything that has been
formulated in dogma and a good deal more, which is just what enables it tn be an
eye destined to behold the light, This requires limitless range and unfathomable
de th Of vision. I have been accused Of "'deifying the Not T ut
God himself has deified it! [LUU, 26 (M, 14)

To have soul is the risk of life, for the sonl is a life-bestowing demon who
plays his elfin game beneath and above human cxistence, for which reason—in
the realm of dogma—he is threatened and propitiated with superhuman
punishments and blessiings that go far beyond the possible deserts Of human
beings, Heaven and hell are the fate of the soul and not of civil man, who. in his
God-created nakedness and imbecility, would have no idea what to do with
himself in a heavenly Jerusalem.
[xxxr, 207 (F, 76)

26
 CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS

Our consciousness does not create itself—it arises from unknown depths. In
childhood it awakens gradually, and all through life it wakes each morning out
of the depths of sleep, i.e., out Of an unconscious condition. [LIV,47 (L, 176)

The world begins to exist when the individual discovers it, He discovers it
when he sacrifices the "mother," when he has freed himself from the mists of
his unconscious condition within the mother. [IV, 392

If one reflects upon what consciousness really is, one is deeply impressed by
the extremely wonderful fact that an event which occurs within the cosmos
produces simultaneously an inner image; thus it also occurs within, so to speak:
in other words, it becomes conscious. [xxxxv, 1
How could man have conceived the idea of dividing the cosmos into a bright
day-world and a dark world filled with fabulous beings—as, for instance, the
simile of night and day, or summer and rainy winter—if he had not found the
model within himself both in his conscious mind and in his active but invisible
and unknowable unconscious? The comprehension of an object is only partly
determined by the objective behaviour of the thing observed; it is also
determined—and often to a greater extent—by intrapsychic elements which are
only related to the things Observed by means of projection. This is due simply
to the fact that primitive man has not yet experienced the asceticism of a critical
attitude towards his own discernment, but knows the world as a general
phenomenon only dimly amidst the stream of visions which fill him and in
which the subjective and the objective are not distinguished but merge one into
the other, [xr.nr, 436

The primitive cannot assert that he thinks; it is rather that "something thinks in
him." The spontaneity Of the act Of thinking does not lie, causally, in his
conscious mind, but in his unconscious, Moreover, he is incapable of any
conscious effort Of will; he must put himself beforehand into the "mood of
willing," or let himself be put—hence his rites de sortie, His
conscious mind is menaced by an almighty unconscious: hence his fear of
magical influences which may cross his path at any moment; and for this reason,
too, he is surrounded by unknown forces and must adjust himself to them as best
he can. Owing to the chronic twilight state of his consciousness, it is often next to
impossible to find out whether he merely dreamed something or whether he
really experienced it. The spontaneous manifestation of the unconscious and its
archetypes intrudes everywhere into his conscious mind, and the mythical world
of his ancestors —for instance, the aliira or bugari of the Australian aborigines—
is a reality equal if not Superior to the material world, It is not the world as we
27
 AND OF PSYCEE
know it that speaks out of his unconscious, but the unknown world of the psyche,
of which we know that it mirrors our empirical world only in part, and that, for
the other part, it moulds this empirical world in accordance with its own psychic
assumptions. The archetype does not proceed from physical facts; it describes
how the psyche experiences the physical fact; and in so doing the psyche often
behaves so autocratically that it denies tangible reality or makes statements that
fly in the face of it. [XL.rx, 108 f (o, 100 f)
The world iS as it ever has been, but our consciousness undergoes peculiar
changes. First, in remote times (though it can, however, still be observed with
living primitives), the main body of psychical life was apparently in human and
in non-ho. man objects: as we should say now, it was projected. Consciousness
can hardly exist in a State Of complete projection. (At most it would be nothing
but a heap of emotions,) Through the witlidrawal of projections, conscious
knowledge slowly developed. Science, curiously enough, practically began with
the discovery of astronomical laws, which was a first stage in the
despiritualization of the world. One step slowly followed another. In antiquity
they removed the gods from mountains and rivers, from trees and animals. Our
science has subtilized its projections to
THE NATURE acrrvtTY

an almost unrecognizable degree. But our ordinary psychological life is still

swarming with projections, You can find them spread out in the newspapers,
books, rumours, and ordinary social gossip. All gaps in actual knowledge are
still filled with projections. We are still almost certain we know what Other
people think or what their true character is,
[XLVI, 149 f (B, 100 f)
However one may designate the depths of the soul, the fact remains that the
existence and nature of consciousness are influenced by them to the highest
degree; and the more so the less one is conscious of it. The layman can hardly
conceive to what extent he is influenced in his preferences, moods, and de•
cisions by the dark facts of his soul, and how dangerous or how helpful is their
fateful power. Our intellectual consciousness is like an actor who has forgotten
that he is playing a part. But when the play is over, he must be able to recollect
his subjective reality, for he cannot continue to live as Julius Caesar or Othello,
but only as his own particular self, from which a temporary deception of
consciousness had separated him. He must realize once again that he was
merely a figure on a stage where a play of Shakespeare was being played, and
that a producer and a director had an important say in his playing both before
after the performance. [xxvu, 66 f

Since the stars have fallen from heaven, and our highest symbols have paled,
a secret life holds sway in the unconscious' It is for this reason that we have a
psychology today, and for this reason that we speak of the unconscious. All this
discussion would be superfluous in an age or culture that possessed symbols.

28
 CONSCIOVSNESS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS
For these are spirit from above; and at such a time, also, spirit is above. It
would be a foolish and senseless undertaking for such people to wish to
experience or investigate an unconscious that contains nothing but the silent,
undisturbed sway of nature. But our unconscious conceals natural spirit, which
is to say, spirit turned to water; and this spirit disturbs it, Heaven has become
empty space to us, a fair rnemory of things that once were, But our heart glows,
and secret unrest gnaws at the roots of our being. [xxxr, 203 (F, 72) Until
recently psychological empiricism was fond of explaining the "unconscious"
(as indeed the term itself implies) as the mere absence of consciousness, as
shade is absence of light. But it is recognized not only by all the ages before us
also by present-day exact observation of unconscious processes that the
unconscious has a certain creative autonomy wliic•h could never belong to a
mere shadow nature, I xy.vm, 152 f

He who would penetrate into the unconscious with biological presuppositions

remains stuck in the sphere of the instincts and can get no further but only back
again into the physical existence. 24

Never, nor in any place, has man governed matter, unless it be when he has
exactly observed its behaviour and followed its laws with great attention. And
only in so far as he has done this can he govern it and only just to this extent.
And so it is also With that spirit which nowadays is called the unconscious; it is
as refractory as matter, as mysterious and evasive, aud it follows laws which in
their unhuman and superhuman character mostly appear to us as a crirnen laesae
majcstatis humanae, When man lays his hand to this work, he repeats, as the
alchemists say, the creative work of Cod. For to challenge the unformed chaotic
world is in fact the primordial experience. [LIU 150

We know that the mask of the unconscious is not rigid—it refleets the face
we turn towards it, Hostility lends it a threatening aspect, friendliness softens its
features, It is not question of mere optical reflection but of an autonomous
answer which reveals the self-sufficing nature of that which answers,
[i„vm, 44 (M, 29)
The unconscious is not a demonic monster but a thing Of nature that is perfectly
neutral as far as moral sense, aesthetic taste, and intellectual judgment go. It is
dangerous only when our conscious attitude towards it becomes hopelessly
false, And this danger grows in the measure that we practise repres-
sions. [xxvu, 89 f (J, 19 f)

Its nursery-tales about the terrible old man of the tribe and

29
 AND OF THE PSYCHE
TYE NATt7iE ACTIVITY

its teachings about the "infantile-perverse-criminal" uncon scions have led

people to make a dangerous monster Out Of the unconscious, that really very
natural thing. As if all that is good, reasonable, beautiful, and worth living for
had taken up its abode in consciousness! Have the horrors of the World War
really not opened our eyes? Are we still unable to see that man's conscious
mind is even more devilish and perverse than the unconscio us ? [xxvu,
89 (J, 19)

The conscious mind allows itself to be trained like a parrot, but the
unconscious does not—which is why St, Augustine thanked God for not
making him responsible for his dreams. The unconscious is a psychic fact; any
efforts to drill it are only apparently successful, and moreover harmful to
consciousness. It is and remains beyond the reach of subjective arbitrary
control, a realm where nature and her secrets can be neither im proved upon
nor perverted, where we can listen but may not meddle, [LV1i1, 75 (M, 51)

It is typical of the modern hvpertrophy of the conscious mind —in other

words a hubris—to ignore the dangerous autonomy of the unconscious and to
explain it purely negatively as absence of consciousness. The assumption of
unseen gods and demons would be psychologically a much more suitable
description of the unconscious, although this would be an anthropomorphic
projection. But since the development of consciousness demands the
withdrawal of all possible projections, no theory of gods in the sense that they
exist outside the psyche can be mains tained. [XLVI, 153

But the mind is exceeding its limits when it asserts the metaphysical
existence Of the gods, Such a statement is just as presumptuous as the opinion
that they could be invented, for undoubtedly they are personifications of
psychic forces. Not that ipsyehie forces" have anything to do with the
conscious mind, though we are very fond of playing with the idea that the
conseious mind and the psyche are identical, This is mere intellectual
presumption, but we are afraid of the "metaphysical" and therefore have
developed a mania for rational explanation. The two were always hostile
brothers and it is only natural that we
should fear this conflict. "Psychic forces" really belong to the unconscious,
Everything that approaches us from this dark realm either comes from
outside—and then we are sure that it is real—or is considered a
hallucination and therefore not true. The idea that anything can be true
which does not come from outside has hardly yet dawned on mankind,
[XXXV1i 662 (K. 7
f) As the State tries to "comprehend" the individual, so the individual
imagines that he can "comprehend? his soul. He even makes a science of it
in the absurd assumption that the intellect, which is only a part and function
of the psyche, is capable of comprehending the much greater totality of the
soul. In reality the psyche is the mother, the subject, and even the
possibility for consciousness itself, The psyche reaches so far beyond the

30
 CONSCIOVSNESS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS
boundary line Of consciousness that the latter could easily be compared to
an island in the ocean. While the island is small and narrow, the ocean is
immensely wide and deep and contains life which is far greater in every
way than that Of the island. One can lodge the criticism against this
eoneeption that there is no proof that consciousness is but a small island in
the ocean. But such a proof is a priori impossible, for opposed to the known
limits of consciousness is the unknown extension of the unconscious, of
which we only know that it exists, and. by Virtue Of its existence,
influences consciousness and its freedom in a limiting sense, [ MM, 152

Man has managed to build up the structure of the world from the little
which he can imagine clearly at any one time. What a godly aspect would
meet his eyes if he were able to imagine much and at the same time clearly!
This question can only apply to the conceptions of which we are capable.
Could we add to these the unconscious—that is, the not-yet- or nolonger-
knowable contents—and then try to imagine the whole, even the boldest
imagination must fail. [XL.II, 27

The reason why consciousness exists and why there is an urge to widen
and deepen it is a very simple one, Without eonsciousness things go worse,
This is obviously the reason Why
•n•tE NAIVP.E THE

Mother Nature has allowed consciousness, that most remarkable Of all

nature" curiosities, to be produced. The well-nigh unconseious primitive can
adapt and can make his power felt, but only in his primitive world.
Accordingly he falls victim to countless dangers which wc on a higher level
Of consciousness escape without effort. True, a higher consciousness is
exposed to dangers undreamed of by the primitive; but the fact remains that
conscious and not unconscious man has conquered the earth. Whether in the
last analysis, and from a superhuman point Of Vie", this is an advantage or
otherwise we are not in a position to decide. [SIX, (G, 144)

The Book of Genesis represents the act of becoming conscious as the

breaking of a taboo, as though the gaining of knowledge meant that a sacred
barrier had been impiously overstepped. Genesis is surely right, inasmuch as
each step to a greater consciousness is a kind of Promethean guilt. Through
the realization, the gods are in a certain sense robbed Of their fire. That is to
says something belonging to the unconscious owers has been torn out of its
natural connections and has subordinated to conscious choice. The man who
has usurped the new knowledge suffers, however, a transformation or
enlargement of consciousness, which no longer resembles that of his fellow
men. He has certainlv raised himself above the human level of his time ("ye
will become like God"), but in doing so, he has also alienated himself from

31
 AND OF PSYCEE
humanity. The pain Of this loneliness is the gods' revenge, for he can never
again return to men. He is, as the myth says, chained to the lonely Cliffs Of
the Caucasus, forsaken of God and man.
[31. 62 (D. 164)
The man whom we can with justice call "modern" is solitary. He is so Of
necessity and at all times, for every Step towards a fuller consciousness of
the present removes him further from his original participation mystique with
the mass of men—from submersion in a common unconsciousness, Every
step forward means an act of tearing himself loose from that all-embracing,
pristine unconsciousness which claims the bulk of mankind almost entirely.
402 (J, 227)

32
 CONSCÄOCSNESS AND THE
vscosscnovs
Every Step forward, even the smallest. along the path Of consciousness,
adds to the world. to the visible tangible God, There is no consciousness
without the distingnishing of opposites, That is the father principle. of the
Logos. engaged in an unencling fight to free itself from the primeval warmth
and darkness of the maternal WOtnli Which is •tneonsciousness, Shrinking
from no conflict, no suffering. no crime. the godlv sense Of curiosity strives
for birth. for, as St, s;ws,• Spirit searcheth all things. yea. the deep
things Of God," Unconsciousness is the One primary sin. the absolute crime
— for the Logos. Ilit• latter's world.creating act of deliverance is matricide,
and the spirit which ventured into every height

ment of the gods to be bound Oti the rock Of the

Neither can exist without the Other, for in the beginning both were one and in
the end they must again be one. Consciousness can only exist through
subjection to the unconscious, just as all living things must pass through
matiY deaths.
430 f
It is ust man's turning awav from instin t—his opposinc• himSe to instinct
—t at creates nstinöt-fs nature can only
Seek Culture or its denial. Even When we bzuck to nature, ins ired a
Rousseauesque longing, we "cultivate" nature, As ong as We are still
submerged in nature We are unconscious, and we live in the security Of
instinct that knows no problems, Everytl li ng that still belongs to shrinks
away from

there ts t possibilitv of divergent wavs.

t 1 e away from the
certain guidance of instinct and are handed over . For consciousness is
called to dei that which ure has alwavs done for her children—
namely. to give a eertain, and unequivocal decision. And here we are
beset by an all-too-human fear that consciousness—our Promethean conquest
—mav in the end not be abl serv an orphaned an where we are
abandoned by nature and ave driven to consciousness. (MN, 249 f (J, 110)
THE NATURE ACITVITY THE
Pro ems t us raw us
ated state When we must deal
with problems, we instinctively refuse to try the
way that leads through darkness and obscurity. We wish to hear only Of
unequivocal results, and completely forget that these results can only be
brought about When we have ventured into and emerged again from the
darkness. But to penetrate the darkness we must summon all the powers of
enlightenment that consciousness can offer, [xxx, 251 (J, 111)

33
 AND OF PSYCEE
In studying the history of the human mind one is im again and
again by the fact that the growth of the min is the widening of the range of
consciousness, and that each step forward has been a most painful and
laborious achievement. One could almost say that nothing is more hateful to
man than to •ve up even a particle of his unconsciousness. Ask those who {ve
tried to introduce a new ideal 25 f (G, 840)
Every forward step in culture is psychologically an extension of
consciousness, a coming to consciousness that can take place Only through
discrimination, An advance, therefore, always be• gins with individuation,
that is to say, through the fact that an individual, conscious of his uniqueness,
cuts a new way through hitherto untrodden country. To do this he must first
return to the fundamental facts of his own being, quite irrespective of all
authority and tradition, and allow himself to become conscious of his
distinctiveness. In so far as he succeeds in giving collective validity to his
widened consciousness, he creates a tension of the opposites that provides the
stimulation needed by culture for its further advance. [xm, 100 f (G, 68)

If psychic life consisted only Of overt happenings—which on a primitive

level is Still the case—we could content Ourselves With a Sturdy empiricism.
The psychic life Of civilized man, however, is full of problems; we cannot
even think of it except in terms Of problems. Our psychic processes are
made up to a large extent Of reflections, doubts, and experiments, all Of
which are almost completely foreign to the unconscious, instinctive mind of
primitive man. It is the growth of consciousness which we must thank for the
existence of problems; they are the dubious gift Of civilization. [XlXi 248 f (J,
109 f)
mNSC10VSNESS Tilt: UNCONSCIOUS

Reflection is a provision of human freedom over against the compulsion of

natural laws. As the word reflexio, i.e., bending back. indicates, it is a mental
act in opposition to the natural processes; it is a pausing, a thinking over. a
forming of images, and an establishing of an inner connection with that which is
seen while making an effort to come to terms with it. Reflection is thus to be
understood as an act of becoming conscious.
[r.,46
There is no other way open to us; we are forced to resort to decisions and
solutions where we formerly ourselves to Every probl
erefore, brings sibility of a wideiiing of consciousness—but
also the necessity Of saying good-bye to m, childlike pos-
unconsciousness and trust in nature. This necessity
that it constitutes one Of the
essential symbolic teachings of the Christian religion. It is the sacrifice of the
merely natural man— of the unconscious, ingenuous being whose tragic career
beg with the eating of the apple in Paradise, The biblical fall of man
 AND
presents the dawn of consciousness as a curse, And as a matter of fact it is in
this light that we first look upon every problem that forces us to greater
consciousness and separates us even further from the paradise of unconscious
childhood.
[XTX, 250 (J, 110 f)
Since we cannot imagine—unless we have lost our critical powers altogether
—that mankind today has attained the highest possible degree Of
consciousness, there must be some potential unconscions psyche left over
whose development would result in a further extension and a higher
differentiation Of consciousness. No one can say how great or small this
"remnant" might be. for we have no means of measuring the possible extent of
conscious development, let alone the extent of the unconscious. [rx, 44 f
(N, 362)

There are many people who are only partially conscious. Even among
absolutely civilized Europeans there is a disproportionately high number Of
abnormally unconscious individuals who spend a great part Of their lives in
an unconscious to them. but theydygpgy know eonseqyences
THE NATURE Ac•nvrry THE their actions. who are
_abuu:ually uncoLscions, that state. What then
finallymåkes em consctoa ap in the face, then
they be- is. in a rimitive
come ey et conscious; something really
happens. and that makes them conscious, They meet with
something fatal and then they
suddenly realize what they are doing. I xxxxv, 6

An inflated consciousness is always egocentric and conscious Of nothing

but its own presence. It is incapable Of learning from the past, incapable of
understanding contemporary events, and incapable of drawing right
conclusions about the future. It is hypnotized by itself and therefore cannot be
argued with. It inevitably dooms itself to calamities that must strike it dead.
642 f 563) Everything that man should, and yet cannot, be or do—be
it in a positive or ative sense—lives on as a mvthological figure or an his
consciousness, either as a religi0Lts projection or—what is Still more
dangerous—as unconscious contents which then project themselves
spontaneously into in• congruous objects, e.g., hygienic and other
"salvationist" doctrines or practices. Ali these are so rationalized
substitutes for mythology, and their unnaturalness does more harm than good.
129 (Oi 121 f)

The stirring up of conflict is a Luciferian quality in the true sense Of the

word. Conflict creates the fire Of affects and tions, and like every fire it
has two aspects: that of burning and that of giving light. Emotion is on the

35
 AND OF PSYCEE
one hand the alchemical fire whose heat brings everything to light and whose
intensity amnes superfluitales comburit (burns up all superfluities), but on the
other hand emotion is the moment where steel meets rock and a spark is
thrown off. Emotion is the chief source of all becoming-conscious. There can
be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement
without emotion, [MN', 431 Since the
differentiated consciousness of civilized man has been granted an effective
instrument for the practical realization of its contents through the dynamics
of his will, there is all the more danger, the more he trains his will, of his
getting lost
CONSCIOUSNESS THE UXmNSCIOUS

er from the

Instincts suffice only for a nature which. on the whole, remains on one
level, An individual conscious choice a r
Who is more nided bv nn-
out en c ic conserva Ism.
n te conscious one ten t ere orc
rs •s the reason the

it is a so e eanse o rmg everyt ung strange and usua .

ere e ess conservative, i malada-vtathus to the greatest of psychic
dangers, namely a kind Of neurosis. A higher and wider
consciousness which only comes by means of mug ea assimilating the
unfamiliar tends toward autonomy. toward revolution against
the old gods, who are nothing other than those powerful,
unconscious, primordial images which, up to this time, have held
consciousness in thrall. The more powerful and independent consciousness
becomes, and With it the conscious will, the more is the unconscious forced
into the background, When this happens, it becomes easily possible for the
conscious structures to be detached from the unconscious images. Gaining
thus in freedom, they break the chains Of mere instinctiveness, and finally
arrive at a state that is deprived Of or contrary to instinct. Consciousness thus
torn from its roots and no longer able to appeal to the authority of the
rimordial images possesses a Promethean freedom, it is true ut it rtakes of the
nature of a odless hubris. It soars a ve the danger of capsizing is there, not for
every individual, to be sure, but collectively for the weak members of such a
society who, again Prometheuslike, are bound by the uneonsci011S to the
Caucasus,
[xv, 535 f (H, f)
When there is a marked change in the individual's s
even a ove man -m ons ,coliutent ew are t
consciousness, the
uncon erelov con-
 AND
ste ate WI so e Lange. e er t e conscious situa-
point of equilibrium, the more forceful
and accordingly the more dangerous become the unconscious contents that are
struggling to re-establish the balance. This leads ultimately to a dissociation;
on the one hand, ego-consciousness makes convulsive efforts to shake off

37
 OF PSYCHE
AND ACTIVITY

an invisible Opponent (if it does not suspect a neighbour Of being the

devil!) while on the other hand it increasingly falls a victim to the
tyrannical will of an internal "Government opposition" which displays all
the characteristics Of a daemonic subman and superman combined,
When a few million people get into this state, it gives rise to the sort Of
situation which has afforded us such an edifying object-lesson every day
for the last ten vears. These contemporary events betray their
psychological background by their very singularity. The insensate
destruetion and devastation are a reaction against the deflection of
consciousness from the point of equilibrium, For an equilibrium and that
does equilibrium in fact exist is between a religio, the a pvschic areful
ego consideration" and non-ego,of ever-present unconscious forces
which we neglect at our peril. The resent crisis has been brewing for
centuries because Of this {ift the state Of man's consciousness.
[rx, 52 f (N. 369 f)
Nothing is so apt to challenge consciousness and awareness as being at war
with Oneself. One can hardly think Of any other Or more effective means
Of waking humanity out Of the irrespon• Sible and innocent, semi-
slumbering condition Of the primordial state Of mind and Of bringing it to
a state of conscious responsibility. [xxxv, 266

It is not without justification that the biblical story of creati01i put tie
undivided harmony Of plant, animal, man, and Cod into the symbol of
Paradise at the beginning of all psychic being, and described the first act of
becoming shall be as gods, knowing good and the fatal sin. For it
must appear as a sin to the naive mind to break the law of the sacred
primordial oneness ot all-consciousness. It is a luciferian defiance of the
individual against the oneness. It is a hostile act Of disharmony against
harmony, it is separation over against allembracing unity. And yet the gainin
of lie of consciousness was the most precious fruit on the tree and the magic
weapon which gave man mastery over the earth, and which we hope will
enable him to win the even greater victory of mastery over him-

34

cowscrovsxess TUE UNCONSCIOUS

The hero's main feat is to overcome the monster of darkness: the long-
hoped-for and expected triumph of consciousness over the unconscious. Day
and light are synonyms for consciousness, night and dark for the
unconscious. The coming of conscious• ness was probably the most
tremendous experience of primeval times, for with it a world came into being
whose existence no one had suspected before. "And God said. Let there be
light" is the projection of that immemorial experience pxue•eparation 126 (o ,
19)

one at all costs reach a higher state of consciousness?" This question strikes
at the core Of the problem. and I cannot easily answer it. It is a confession of
faith. I believe that finally someone had to know that this wonderful universe
of mountains, seas, suns and moons, milky ways. and fixed stars exists,
Standing on a little hill on the East African plains, I saw herds of thousands of
wild beasts grazing in soundless peace, beneath the breath of the primeval
world. as they had done for unimaginable ages Of time, and I had the feeling
of being the first man. the first being to know that all this is, The whole world
around me Still in the primeval silence and knew not that it was. In this very
moment in which I knew it the world carne into existence, and without this
rnornent it would never have been. All nat'l eks on in the most differentiated
most co us man. 429 f

s it fu

85