Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00321)

Art:<I can not help but think of this as anything but the individuated Self
that Carl Jung speaks about as the new center of consciousness discovered
through the initiation of therapy.>
 Art, first of all, thank you for the nice posting on Emerson. Here
you mentioned Jung and the Self, which is an interesting topic. Jung taught
that the Self was itself an archetype; the central archetype of the psyche,
of which the other contents of the psyche are but expressions, pulled
together by the power of attraction of the Self. He calls the archetypal
Self a "psychoid factor" which implies that the Self is as substantial and
"real" as the body, albeit in a different continuum - what Jung calls the
psychic continuum. Anyway, Jung talks about the sacrifice made by the Self
to lower itself down into conscious awareness in order for the ego to become
aware of it. His description makes the Self seem a lot like the inner
god/goddess of theosophy which sacrifices itself too (ala the Hanged Man of
the Tarot). And his individuation process is much like the spiritual path,
because its goal is the union of the ego (personality) with the Self
(individuality). He says that individuation is an endless process, just like
occultism says that the Path never ends. It is interesting how Jung, who was
very familiar with Eastern concepts, was able to put these concepts into the
dress of modern psychology, and no wonder that Jungian psychology is still
not accepted by mainstream psychologists, who are virtually all materialistic
in their worldviews.

 Jerry S.