References to Yoga in Memories, Dreams and Reflections.
I was frequently so wrought up that I had to do certain yoga exercises in order to hold my emotions in check.
But since it was my purpose to know what was going on within myself, l would do these exercises only until I had calmed myself enough to resume my work with the unconscious.
As soon as I had the feeling that I was myself again, I abandoned this restraint upon the emotions and allowed the images and inner voices to speak afresh.
The Indian, on the other hand, does yoga exercises in order to obliterate completely the multitude of psychic contents and images. ~Carl Jung, Memories Dreams and Reflections
After some time had passed again the interval was four years I once more had a feeling of incompleteness.
The building still seemed too primitive to me, and so in 1931 the tower-like annex was extended.
I wanted a room in this tower where I could exist for myself alone.
I had in mind what I had seen in Indian houses, in which there is usually an area though it may be only a corner of a room separated off by a curtain to which the inhabitants can withdraw.
There they meditate for perhaps a quarter or half an hour, or do Yoga exercises.
Such an area of retirement is essential in India, where people live crowded very close together. ~Carl Jung, Memories Dreams and Reflections
I saw that Indian spirituality contains as much of evil as of good.
The Christian strives for good and succumbs to evil; the Indian feels himself to be outside good and evil, and seeks to realize this state by meditation or yoga.
My objection is that, given such an attitude, neither good nor evil takes on any real outline, and this produces a certain stasis.
One does not really believe in evil, and one does not really believe in good.
Good or evil are then regarded at most as my good or my evil, as whatever seems to me good or evil which leaves us with the paradoxical statement that Indian spirituality lacks both evil and good, or is so burdened by contradictions that it needs nirdvandva, the liberation from opposites and from the ten thousand things.
The Indian’s goal is not moral perfection, but the condition of nirdvandva.
He wishes to free himself from nature; in keeping with this aim, he seeks in meditation the condition of imagelessness and emptiness.
I, on the other hand, wish to persist in the state of lively contemplation of nature and of the psychic images.
I want to be freed neither from human beings, nor from myself, nor from nature; for all these appear to me the greatest of miracles.
Nature, the psyche, and life appear to me like divinity unfolded and what more could I wish for?
To me the supreme meaning of Being can consist only in the fact that it is, not that it is not or is no longer.
To me there is no liberation a tout prix.
I cannot be liberated from anything that I do not possess, have not done or experienced.
Real liberation becomes possible for me only when I have done all that I was able to do, when
I have completely devoted myself to a thing and participated in it to the utmost. If I withdraw from participation,
I am virtually amputating the corresponding part of my psyche.
Naturally, there may be good reasons for my not immersing myself in a given experience.
But then I am forced to confess my inability, and must know that I may have neglected to do something of vital importance.
In this way I make amends for the lack of a positive act by the clear knowledge of my incompetence. ~Carl Jung, Memories Dreams and Reflections
