Carl Jung on Salome,Pleasure, Forethinking, & Elijah
The Corrected Draft has: “Guiding Reflection” (p. 103). In the Draft and Corrected Draft, a lengthy passage occurs. What follows here is a paraphrase:
I wonder whether this is real, an underworld, or the other reality, and whether it was the other reality that had forced me here.
I see here that Salome, my pleasure, moves to the left, the side of the impure and bad.
This movement follows the serpent, which represents the resistance and the enmity against this movement.
Pleasure goes away from the door. Forethinking [Corrected Draft: “the Idea,” throughout this passage] stands at the door, knowing the entrance to the mysteries.
Therefore desire melts into the many, if forethinking does not direct it and force it toward its goal.
If one meets a man who only desires, then one will find resistance against his desire behind it.
Desire without forethinking gains much but keeps nothing, therefore his desire is the source of constant disappointment.
Thus Elijah calls Salome back.
If pleasure is united with forethinking, the serpent lies before them.
To succeed in something, you first need to deal with the resistance and difficulty, otherwise joy leaves behind pain and disappointment.
Therefore I drew nearer.
I had first to overcome the difficulty and the resistance to gain what I desired.
When desire overcomes the difficulty, it becomes seeing and follows forethinking.
Therefore I see that Salome’s hands are pure, with no trace of crime.
My desire is pure if I first overcome the difficulty and resistance.
If I weigh up pleasure and forethinking, I am like a fool, blindly following his longing.
If I follow my thinking, I forsake my pleasure.
The ancients said in images that the fool finds the right way.
Forethinking has the first word, therefore Elijah asked me what I wanted.
You should always ask yourself what you desire, since all too many do not know what they want.
I did not know what I wanted.
You should confess your longing and what you long for to yourself.
Thus you satisfy your pleasure and nourish your forethinking at the same time” (Corrected Draft, pp. 103-4). ~Carl Jung, Liber Novus, Page 249, Footnote 190
