Jung’s present-day approach to the Gnosis was never content with anything short of a knowledge of the heart Contemplating the mysterious panorama of the Seven Sermons, one is reminded of a saying of the philosopher Bacon: “Animus ad amplitudinem Mysteriorurn pro modulo suo dilatetur; non Mysteria ad angustias animi constringantur.” (Let the mind, so far…
Isaac Luria, the most Gnostic of all the Kabbalistic teachers The religions of the masses demand obedience to God’s will, while the Gnosis demands both obedience and isobedience. Not all commandments come from the true God, said the ancient Gnostics, for many come from a Demiurge, whose law may be useful to the unenlightened (the…
The world, especially the Western world, is in evident need of a new Gnosis, even of a new Gnosticism. Another conclusion that should be considered is that Jung’s essential message cannot be regarded as an isolated, contemporary phenomenon, but rather as an organic outgrowth, nay perhaps even the culmination, of a distinguished spiritual tradition of…
In psychotherapy, Jung sought to enable his patients to recover a sense of meaning in life In Liber Novus, Jung articulated his understanding of the historical transformations of Christianity, and the historicity of symbolic formations. He took up this theme in his writings on the psychology of alchemy and on the psychology of Christian dogmas,…
We must first create it by learning to live with our incapacity. We must give it life. The hero wants to open up everything he can. But the nameless spirit of the depths evokes everything that man cannot. Incapacity prevents further ascent. Greater height requires greater virtue. We do not possess it. We must first…