Carl Jung: I myself am the enemy who must be loved
“The acceptance of oneself is the essence of the whole moral problem and the epitome of a whole outlook on life.
That I feed the hungry, that I forgive an insult, that I love my enemy in the name of Christ — all these are undoubtedly great virtues.
What I do unto the least of my brethren, that I do unto Christ. But what if I should discover that the least among them all, the poorest of all the beggars, the most impudent of all the offenders, the very enemy himself — that these are within me, and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness — that I myself am the enemy who must be loved — what then?
As a rule, the Christian’s attitude is then reversed; there is no longer any question of love or long-suffering; we say to the brother within us “Raca,” and condemn and rage against ourselves.
We hide it from the world; we refuse to admit ever having met this least among the lowly in ourselves.” ~Carl Jung, CW 11, Para 520
I have shot down a proud enemy.. ~Carl Jung
Extract from autobiographical book Memories, Dreams, 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.
Chief Biano opened Jung’s eyes to the limitation of western ‘Rational’ thinking.
If I myself am the enemy who must be loved—what then?
Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 11: Psychology and Religion: West and East
Perhaps this sounds very simple, but simple things are always the most difficult.
In actual life it requires the greatest art to be simple, and so acceptance of oneself is the essence of the moral problem and the acid test of one’s whole outlook on life.
That I feed the beggar, that I forgive an insult, that I love my enemy in the name of Christ—all these are undoubtedly great virtues. What I do unto the least of my brethren, that I do unto Christ.
But what if I should discover that the least amongst them all, the poorest of all beggars, the most impudent of all offenders, yea the very fiend himself—that these are within me, and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness, that I myself am the enemy who must be loved—what then?
Then, as a rule, the whole truth of Christianity is reversed: there is then no more talk of love and long-suffering; we say to the brother within us “Raca,” and condemn and rage against ourselves.
We hide him from the world, we deny ever having met this least among the lowly in ourselves, and had it been God himself who drew near to us in this despicable form, we should have denied him a thousand times before a single cock had crowed. ~Carl Jung, CW 11, Para 520
The sun, rising triumphant, tears himself from the enveloping womb of the sea, and leaving behind him the noonday zenith and all its glorious works, sinks down again into the maternal depths, into all-enfolding and all regenerating night.
This image is undoubtedly a primordial one, and there was profound justification for its becoming a symbolical expression of human fate: in the morning of life the son tears himself loose from the mother, from the domestic hearth, to rise through battle to his destined heights.
Always he imagines his worst enemy in front of him, yet he carries the enemy within himself—a deadly longing for the abyss, a longing to drown in his own source, to be sucked down to the realm of the Mothers.
His life is a constant struggle against extinction, a violent yet fleeting deliverance from ever-lurking night.
This death is no external enemy, it is his own inner longing for the stillness and profound peace of all-knowing non-existence, for all-seeing sleep in the ocean of coming-to-be and passing away.
Even in his highest strivings for harmony and balance, for the profundities of philosophy and the raptures of the artist, he seeks death, immobility, satiety, rest.
If, like Peirithous, he tarries too long in this abode of rest and peace, he is overcome by apathy, and the poison of the serpent paralyses him for all time.
If he is to live, he must fight and sacrifice his longing for the past in order to rise to his own heights.
And having reached the noonday heights, he must sacrifice his love for his own achievement, for he may not loiter.
The sun, too, sacrifices its greatest strength in order to hasten onward to the fruits of autumn, which are the seeds of rebirth. ~Carl Jung, CW 5, Para 553
Only that which can destroy itself is truly alive. ~Carl Jung, CW 12, Para 93
When one has awoken from Muladhara, one goes into the water, which represents the unconscious where one faces the Leviathan/Crocodile from the depths which are ones own demons.
The Leviathan is the biggest and most fearsome creature of the watery depths.
(but it represents the same animal as the elephant, the one that supports your earthly life seems to become your worst enemy when you reach the next center, because here you leave this world and anything that hangs around is your worst enemy.
It is the water elephant, the whale that eats you, the same that has nurtured and supported you.
The good willing mother that raised you becomes a devouring one.
When one dreams of baptizing, taking a batch, the ocean or in water generally – you must realize you are being pushed into the unconscious for purification, you have to go into the water because of the renewal.
But it remains unknown what comes after. When one passes through this baptizing, you reach Manipura.
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