~Jeffrey Raff, Jung and the Alchemical Imagination, Page 8-10
INTRODUCTION
When I was 22 years old, I experienced a spiritual awakening.
Long before I ever heard of either C. G. Jung, or alchemy, a spiritual current raced through my soul and summoned me to experiences I had never imagined could exist. I was young and very ignorant, and had no way to conceptualize the experiences that I was undergoing.
In my need to comprehend, I sought teachers and traditions that might help me to understand. I found none—until I came upon the writings of C. G. Jung.
Though his ideas, and the complexity of his writings puzzled me, in my heart I knew I had found a kindred spirit.
I could sense, long before I could understand, that Jung provided the framework in which I could decipher the visions that I experienced.
My study of Jung introduced me to earlier traditions that also spoke to my depths. Of these, the most important was alchemy.
For me, alchemy was a vast cauldron of image and symbol, a chaotic mixture of the reasonable and the bizarre, the endearing and the terrifying.
At the core of it all stood the fascinating image of the philosopher’s stone, the magical substance with the power to transmute metals, heal the sick, reveal the mysteries of the spirit, and bestow immortality on its fortunate creator.
It was the image of the stone, more than any other, that captured my imagination and moved me to the study of alchemy—a study that has continued for over twenty years.
Originally I did not seek intellectual understanding about the origins of alchemy, nor did I wish to get into the minds of the early alchemists to deduce what they might have intended in their writings.
Rather, it was the symbols that they created and the imagery that they used that held my attention.
I felt that if I could understand the meaning of these symbols I would gain insight into my own experiences, and the experiences that clients
shared with me.
I am, I suppose, a mystic. I have never been at home in organized religion, but have had to find my own path and decipher my own
truths. Without either Jung or alchemy, though, my efforts would have failed.
I have continued my exploration of the inner world for over thirty years. And I still find in the symbolic language of alchemy much that is useful in
understanding the inner terrain. In writing this book, it is my intention to share the keys to understanding that alchemy presents and to unlock some of the secrets of the inner world.
I make no claim to being definitive, nor do I presume to argue that my understanding is the only one possible.
However, I do believe that the combination of my own inner experience and my work with many others in analysis creates a unique perspective on the spiritual dimensions of alchemy, which in turn illumines the spiritual path of individuation.
There can be no hope of understanding my perspective on alchemy without considering the Jungian model that serves as my starting point.
For this reason, I touch on some of the basic ideas of Jungian theory such as the self, active imagination, dream interpretation, and the transcendent function.
My approach to these concepts is not that of a theoretician attempting to explicate Jung’s theoretical constructs.
I approach Jung as if he were an alchemist, the latest in a long tradition of spiritual teachers.
For purposes of this book, I am not interested in Jung in his entirety, but only in those aspects of his work that clarify the spiritual meaning of alchemical symbols.
In other words, I explore alchemical images to understand inner experience, and I explore Jung to understand the alchemical images.
The reverse holds true as well. Understanding inner experiences sheds light on the meaning of alchemical images that, in turn, amplify the concepts that Jung formulated.
There are some who might object to this view of Jung, who might question his role as a spiritual teacher or as an inner alchemist.
In my opinion, however, Jung’s most important contribution was not that of a practicing psychologist, but of a teacher to the world, of one who reintroduced the wisdom of many ancient traditions into the contemporary Western world.
Indeed, Jung was not a practicing alchemist, but he recognized and honored the alchemical imagination, the imaginative world in which many alchemists lived and worked.
In the alchemical imagination, the world may be perfected, disease vanquished, matter transformed into spirit, and spirit into matter.
In the imaginative universe, the opposites unite, creating a magical third, which transcends ordinary consciousness.
Fundamentally, Jung’s commitment to the processes of transformation and the creation of a new psychic center, which he termed the self, place him in the imaginative world of the alchemist.
To be sure, many Jungians today reject the spiritual aspect of Jung’s psychology and repudiate the notion of him as a prophet of some kind.
They are not completely wrong.
It would be a mistake to elevate Jung to an extramundane position and make his teachings into contemporary scripture.
He, himself, would abhor that! Yet, Jung was a great teacher.
In the model that he presents for spiritual exploration and transformation, the world acquired a great legacy. In recent years, the Jungian world has dramatically abandoned the spiritual dimension of Jung’s work, preferring to restrict its perspective to the narrowly clinical and personal field.
This is a great loss.
Despite the self-conscious protestations of many that they have surpassed Jung—that he is outmoded and outdated—the deeper aspects of Jung’s writings have yet to be understood.
I believe that the Western world is in search of a new paradigm for inner development and spiritual awakening.
By probing and expanding Jung’s spiritual model I hope to contribute to that search. Viewed as a spiritual teacher, Jung offers a modern path to enlightenment.
I was most fortunate to have had the late Marie-Louise von Franz as one of my teachers in Zurich.
I owe much of my understanding of Jung’s spiritual contribution to her.
In the pages that follow, I explore that legacy and its relevance for today, as well as its usefulness in penetrating the secrets of alchemical symbols.
First, however, I outline a working overview of alchemy’s nature and history. ~Jeffrey Raff, Jung and the Alchemical Imagination, Introduction, Page 8-10
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