Carl Jung: The union of opposites is a trans-conscious
The psychological union of opposites is an intuitive idea which covers the phenomenology of this process.
It is not an “explanatory” hypothesis for something that, by definition, transcends our powers of conception.
For, when we say that conscious and unconscious unite, we are saying in effect that this process is inconceivable.
The unconscious is unconscious and therefore can neither be grasped nor conceived.
The union of opposites is a trans-conscious process and, in principle, not amenable to scientific explanation.
The marriage must remain the “mystery of the queen,” the secret of the art, of which the Rosarium reports King Solomon as saying:
This is my daughter, for whose sake men say that the Queen of the South came out of the east, like the rising dawn, in order to hear, understand, and behold the wisdom of Solomon. Power, honour, strength, and dominion are given into her hand; she wears the royal crown of seven glittering stars, like a bride adorned for her husband, and on her robe is written in golden lettering, in Greek, Arabic, and Latin: “I am the only daughter of the wise, utterly unknown to the foolish.”
The Queen of Sheba, Wisdom, the royal art, and the “daughter of the philosophers” are all so interfused that the underlying psychologem clearly emerges: the art is queen of the alchemist’s heart, she is at once his mother, his daughter, and his beloved, and in his art and its allegories the drama of his own soul, his individuation process, is played out. ~Carl Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, Page 381.
Image: Medieval depiction of the Queen of Sheba from Prague, Bohemia
Marion Woodman: One of our tasks on this earth is to work with the opposites
Whether we like it or not, one of our tasks on this earth is to work with the opposites through different levels of consciousness until body, soul and spirit resonate together.
Initiation rites, experienced at the appropriate times in our lives, burn off what is no longer relevant, opening our eyes to new possibilities of our own uniqueness.
They tear off the protective veils of illusion until at last we are strong enough to stand in our own naked truth.
The process is mirrored in dreams, often in images of cooking, cars, cupboards and clothes. The Cinderella work is accomplished in the kitchen.
Having brought the wild things of nature in, taken off their feathers, cleaned out their entrails, cooked them and made them accessible to consciousness, the ego stands firm. Mother and Father no longer drive the car.
The incessant sorting through actual cupboards and drawers has ceased, and the sorting in dreams has reached a finely differentiated level of detail.
What clothes to wear is no longer a constant frustration, and the incongruous shoe combinations have at last settled into pairs that are the same color with the same size heel.
Or maybe no shoes at all—just good solid feet on good solid ground. Usually the Self allows the ego time to enjoy this period of experiencing its new strength—perhaps months, perhaps years.
Each process in unique, moving at its own appointed pace.― Marion Woodman, The Pregnant Virgin, Page 26
Behind the opposites and in the opposites is true reality, which sees and comprehends the whole.
Civilization in Transition CW 10
My attitude, it may be objected, is empirical in the extreme, but we need such an attitude in order to find a solution.
When we observe how people behave when they are faced with a situation that has to be evaluated ethically, we become aware of a strange double effect: suddenly they see both sides.
They become aware not only of their moral inferiorities but also, automatically, of their good qualities.
They rightly say, “I can’t be as bad as all that.”
To confront a person with his shadow is to show him his own light.
Once one has experienced a few times what it is like to stand judgingly between the opposites, one begins to understand what is meant by the self.
Anyone who perceives his shadow and his light simultaneously sees himself from two sides and thus gets in the middle.
That is the secret of the Eastern attitude: observing the opposites teaches the Easterner the character of Maya.
It gives reality the glint of illusion.
Behind the opposites and in the opposites is true reality, which sees and comprehends the whole.
The Indian calls this Atman.
Reflecting on ourselves we can say, “I am he who speaks good and evil,” or better, “I am he through whom good and evil are spoken.
The one who is in me, who voices the principles, uses me as a means of expression.
He speaks through me.”
This corresponds to what the Indian calls Atman—that which, figuratively speaking, “breathes through” me.
Not through me alone, but through all; for it is not only the individual Atman but Atman-Purusha, the universal Atman, the pneuma, who breathes through all.
We use the word “self” for this, contrasting it with the little ego.
From what I have said it will be clear that this self is not just a rather more conscious or intensified ego, as the words “self-conscious,” “self-satisfied,”
etc. might lead one to suppose.
What is meant by the self is not only in me but in all beings, like the Atman, like Tao.
It is psychic totality. ~Carl Jung, CW 10, Para 872-873
#AnalyticalPsychology #DepthPsychology #CarlJung #TheUnconscious #JungianPsychology #Psyche #JungianConcepts #PsychologicalType #Archetypes #Individuation
