[Carl Jung – Visiting the Pueblo Indians in Taos, New Mexico]
As I sat with Ochwiay Biano on the roof, the blazing sun rising higher and higher, he said, pointing to the sun, “Is not he who moves there our father?
How can anyone say differently? How can there be another god? Nothing can be without the sun.”
His excitement, which was already perceptible, mounted still higher; he struggled for words, and exclaimed at last, “What would a man do alone in the mountains? He cannot even build his fire without him.”
I asked him whether he did not think the sun might be a fiery ball shaped by an invisible god. My question did not even arouse astonishment, let alone anger.
Obviously it touched nothing within him; he did not even think my question stupid.
It merely left him cold, I had the feeling that I had come upon an insurmountable wall.
His only reply was, “The sun is God. Everyone can see that.”
Although no one can help feeling the tremendous impress of the sun, it was a novel and deeply affecting experience for me to see these mature, dignified men in the grip of an overmastering emotion when they spoke of it. ~Carl Jung, Memories Dreams and Reflections
Conversation with Native American Chief, Ochwiay Biano:
‘See.’ Ochwiay Biano said, ‘how cruel the whites looks. Their lips are thin and their noses are sharp, their faces furrowed and distorted by folds. Their eyes have a staring expression; they are always seeking something. What are they seeking? The whites always want something, they are always uneasy and restless. We do not know what they want, we do not understand them. We think that they are mad.’
I asked him why he thought the whites were all mad.
‘They say that they think with their heads,’ he replied.
‘Why, of course, what do you think with?’ I asked him in surprise.
‘We think here,’ he said, indicating his heart. ~From Memories Dreams and Reflections
