Carl Jung: The nature of the redeeming symbol is that of a child,
[For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)] (Footnote 3)
Footnote 3: In 1921, Jung cited this passage, noting:
“The nature of the redeeming symbol is that of a child, that is the childlikeness or presuppositionlessness of the attitude belongs to the symbol and its function.
This ‘childlike’ attitude necessarily brings with it another guiding principle in place of self-will and rational intentions, whose ‘godlikeness’ is synonymous with ‘superiority.’
Since it is of an irrational nature, the guiding principle appears in a miraculous form.
Isaiah expresses his connection very well (9:5) …
These honorific titles reproduce the essential qualities of the redeeming symbol.
The criterion of ‘godlike’ effect is the irresistible power of the unconscious impulses” (psychological Types, CW 6, §442-43). ~Carl Jung, The Red Book, Page 229.
[Isaiah said: Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53: 1-4)] (Footnote 2)
Footnote 2: In 1921, Jung cited the first three verses of this passage (from Luther’s Bible), noting: “The birth of the Savior, the development of the redeeming symbol, takes place where one does not expect it, and from precisely where a solution is most improbable” (psychological Types, CW 6, §439).
