When my soul fell into the hands of evil
When my soul fell into the hands of evil, it was defenseless except for the weak fishing rod which it could use, again with its power, to pull the fish from the sea of emptiness. ~Carl Jung, Liber Novus, Page 289.
Jung’s marginal note to the calligraphic volume:
“Khandogya-Upanishad I,2,I-7-” The Chandogya Upanishad reads:
“Once, when the gods and demons, both children of Prajapati, arrayed themselves against each other, the gods got hold of the High Chant.
‘With this we will overpower them,’ they thought. / So they venerated the High Chant as the breath within the nostrils.
The demons riddled it with evil. As a result, one smells with it both good and evil odors, for it is riddled with evil. / Then they venerated the High Chant as speech. The demons riddled it with evil. As a result, one speaks with it both what is true and what is false, for it is riddled with evil. / Then they venerated the High Chant as sight. The demons riddled it with evil. As a result one sees with it both what is good to see and what is not, for it is riddled with evil. / Then they venerated the High Chant as hearing.
The demons riddled it with evil. As a result, one hears with it both what is good to hear and what is not, for it is riddled with evil. / Then they venerated the High Chant as the mind.
The demons riddled it with evil. As a result, one envisages with it both what is good to envisage and what is not, for it is riddled with evil. / Finally; they venerated the High Chant as just this breath here within the mouth. And when the demons hurled themselves at it, they were smashed to bits like a clod of earth hurled against a target that is a rock” (Upanishads, tr. P. Olivelle [Oxford: Oxford University Press, I996]). The “High Chant” is OM. ~Liber Novus, Page 289, Footnote 145.
