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I. Carl Jung (1875-1961) and Gnosticism; The Gnostic Jung (1992) ed. Robert Segal, selected writings; particularly 1951 Interpretations of the History of Symbols -> Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self. Chapter 13, Gnostic Symbols of the Self The Psychology of Rebirth (Salvation) A. Psychological Orientation: Jungs Psychology (contra metaphysics), Religion and Psychology: A Reply to Martin Buber CW 18 1952 (Jung 77 yrs old) 1. Bubers reaction to Jungs Septem Sermones ad Mortuos (Seven Sermons of the Dead 1916, Jung 41 yrs old) 36 yrs ago a. Seven Sermons, unpublished, circulated among friend, written as a surprise gift for a birthday, not approved by Jung for Collected Works (1) Seven Sermons a sin of my youthwhen I once perpetuated a poemexpressing certain aperus in Gnostic style (impressions) (2) His enthusiastic for studying Gnostic as first thinkers to concern themselves with the contents of the collective unconscious (156) 2. In the Gnostic texts Jung is analyzing anthropomorphic ideas and not actual gods and angels though such images behave so autonomously that one could describe them as psychic daimonia. [distinct from ego] a. As autonomous manifestations, they represent first, the dissociability of the psyche and secondly, the basis for a dialectical discussion between ego and the unconscious (157) (1) egos confrontation with psychic powers which from ancient times have sacred names, and are thus identified with metaphysical beings 3. For Jung such Gnostic powers are archetypal images of the unconscious which are not identical with the corresponding intellectual concepts a. The image is not the idea; an archangel many be experienced, but the interpretation as a real metaphysical being is not a fact but a belief (1) such powers are numinous types reflecting unconscious contents and processes, experiential description not metaphysical content (2) such images form a counterpoint to the subjective ego because it manifests an aspect of the objective psyche (as daimons)

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4. The reality of the psyche is Jungs working hypothesis, his principle activity is collecting factual material to describe and explain (psychology of rebirth) a. He has neither a system nor a general theory, only auxiliary concepts to serve as tools for analysis, no metaphysical concepts, facts not faith (1) Concepts of God are never detached from human thought or experience, even as an archetypal image of light => a similitude b. Jung: I hold the view that all statements about God have their origin in the psyche as primal experience, giving rise to faith based dogma (1) whereas the actual psyche (dreams) is an eclectic assortment of west, east, indigenous images, in the direct experiential sense (2) focus on religious experiences -> images, symbols, archetypes and angels as primary expressions of collective psyche (all religions) c. Gnosis: hypostatizing of psychological apperception ie integration of [real] archetypal contents, distinct from revealed truth of religion (1) Gnosis NOT knowledge of a metaphysical object study of anthropomorphic / archetypal images, not metaphysical signification (a) archetype = the psychic image of a noumenon 1960 letter B. Why Gnosticism? Chpt 13, Aion, Gnostic Symbols of the Self (1951) primary statement of Jung on his interest / enthusiasm for Gnosticism (Jung 76) 1. Jungs Sources: two primary sources, Irenaeus (d. 202) and follower Hippolytus (d. 253), both writing Against Heresies (Adversus Haereses) & Refutation of all Heresies (Philo-sophu-mena or Elen-chus Refutation) a. Anti-Gnostic works, highly critical and dismissive, biased in terms of presentation of gnostic ideas; most frequent reference is Hippolytus (1) also Pistis Sophia (George Mead 1896) as Christian Gnostic text b. Nag Hammadi texts, discovered December 1945, in Upper Egypt, 52 Gnostic tractates, in Coptic from Greek, printed in English 1975 c. Jung Codex: purchased by American, four Gnostic texts (plus prayer), purchased by Dutch Gilles Quispel $ from Jung Foundation, presented to Jung c.1952 (but untranslated), after 1951 (Hans Jonas, Gnostic Religion, not published until 1958)

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2. Psychological Theory: Gnosticism = a product of cultural assimilation and a mythic synchronicity of the Redeemer archetype, as Nassenes (Hippolytus) a. Archetypal symbolism: Christ as an image of Redeemer archetype = Christ as serpent (from the dark) and fish (from unknown depths) (1) Christ-snake = ther-io-morphic symbol, fusion of animal-human, typical manifestation of unconscious, in commonly in dreams (a) cold-blooded image = represents greater distant from human than warm-blooded indicating deep degree of unconscious (2) Redeemer archetype has magnetic = numinous attraction, fascination, attracts what is necessary for integration (rebirth) (a) water as living waters = magnetic, Logos expression, as mythic discourse, visible doctrine by mantic word and ritual (b) serpent fascinates or frightens, the dark unfathomable invisible aspect yet unintegrated psychically, mysterium (unconscious) (c) god-man image = dynamic power of thought & word, expressing mysteries related to integration and psychic assimilation/rebirth b. Gnostic symbols/images represent prototypes of the Redeemer archetype, slumbering in the unconscious > Gnosticism = historical awakening (1) historical stage of human psychological development, numinous images hypostatized into metaphysical concepts (Jaspers Axial age) (a) Bonnelle Lewis Strickling, Dreaming About the Divine. (b) Jung: This revolutionized the ego-oriented psyche by setting up another center/goal characterized by all manner of symbols (2) Myth of the ignorant demiurge who imagined he was the highest divinity illustrates perplexity of the ego dethroned & subordinate (a) Many Gnostic myths have teaching of a high god that rules over humanity, ignorant of the even higher powers (Demiurge) c. Christ Anthropos = divine human, savior, an archetype of indescribable wholeness consisting of the sum of conscious + unconscious processes

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3. Practical Therapy: to add to the conscious mind contents of the unconscious, to create a wider personality whose center does not necessarily coincide with the ego a new magnetic center -> self a. Archetype of the Self: self appears a priori, that is as a given wholeness, often symbolized by the circle and 4-directional mandala (1) However, only careful and patient effort can actually integrate the unconscious material with the conscious mind, a new synthesis (2) Agnosia: not-knowing (ignorance), a lack of engagement with unconscious images, must solicit ennoia (thoughtful intent) b. Gnostic Demiurgos creates unconscious beings - the Higher God required a Redeemer to awaken individuals to their latent potential (1) Gnostics teach repentance of sin (of unconsciousness), of forgetting, of mindless habit, conditionality, ignorance (Plato amnesia) (2) Deity = numinosity of the unconscious, Redeemer is image of revitalized human wholeness that connects with the numinous 4. Jung: Psychology must refrain from passing metaphysical judgments on images of the numinous, archetypal images are symbols of wholeness a. Symbols representing conjunction of opposites, overcoming confusion and psychic uncertainty, for the individual => a process of individuation (1) Must learn to distinguish between God concepts and God images, such images reflect a human aspiration for wholeness, of a numinous more b. Many images in Gnosticism reflect universal Ground (arcanum) in figures of Aeons/Deities, all images of a single transcendental (archetypal) idea (1) Symbols of the Archanthropos (Higher Adam), Sophia/Mother, symbols of crown, scepter, starry heavens, divine insignia, snake, water, etc. (2) Only Gnostic pneumatikoi (spiritual humans) know wholeness, not the psychikoi (psychic humans) or hulikoi (material humans) (3) the highest Gnostic type = teleios anthropos, perfect man as both male and female, animus and anima, father and mother = wholeness

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c. These images express a psychologem which is transrational, a concrete symbol, seen in a dream, that transforms thought/ground into image (1) Such images must be interpreted as-if (not literal) even if clothed in sensual imagery, meaning is hidden from (ego) consciousness (a) e.g. mountain = ascent, Christ = Anthropos = whole person, Woman from side of man = union of male-female aspects, etc. (b) Sexual intercourse = hieros gamos, sacred union of opposites, conjunction, integration, alchemical process, and so on d. Hermeneutics = ethical sense: a negotiation with psychic minority that has equal rights (with majority aspects) ego displaced from center (1) ego is not a monarch or head of a totalitarian state, the true center is the Self as the whole person no longer dominated by ego (2) the vain unconscious ego (Demiurge) is transformed through individuation, a search for a more complete identity (Self) C. What about actual Gnosticism? Jungs view based on conceptions that served his psychological theories no real access to Nag Hammadi texts/scholarship 1. Gnostic is a disputed designation, a scholarly construct for a complex set of religious groups, with very different goals and aspirations a. Many different schools of Gnosticism, with similar but not identical goals, distinguished from Hermeticism, as a world affirming, alchemical group (1) Jung conflates Gnostic and Hermetic texts, and fails to recognize an important distinction; Hermeticism = positive embodied transformation (a) Alchemical traditions align entirely with hermetic texts and the Greco-Egyptian Hermes archetype, world affirming (2) Corpus Hermeticum in Latin (and Italian) after 1470s, instigates alchemical interest in 16-17th century (not medieval) (a) Explicitly address wholeness and health, Ficino s medical model was Hermetic and psychologically sophisticated (integral) (3) Theory of inauthentic ego alienated from Self = Gnostic; Hermetic = metaphysical gnosis, but transformation over transcendence

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2. Classic Gnostic worldview multivalent construct: based on various themes/motifs (Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures, 1995). a. Transcendent Deity vs Lower Creator Gods/Aeons (Demiurgos) b. serial emanations into lowers levels (Theosophical) c. intermediary beings, archangels, angels, spirits d. material realm is darkness and sleep e. human beings all have a divine spark f. redemption: salvation from ignorance (agnosia) g. gnosis = knowledge = awakening to pure, ethical life h. mythic narratives with allegorical interpretation i. double movement of devolution and reintegration j. epignosis = personal revelation, non-scriptural, open 3. No consensus, shared field of discourse, each had unique mythic structure, explanations, and self definitions some more negative than others a. Gnostic refers to attitude or outlook shared among many groups, NOT a group name, possibly initiatic or ritual/symbolic designation (1) Hans Jonas: gnosis = knowledge as a means of attaining salvation b. Methodology: not by intellectual definition (not ego) but by prayer, moral action, ascetic life, and ritual activity, meditation, to stages of gnosis (1) mythic cosmology + religious epistemology

D. Jungs use of gnostic = eccentric but psychologically consistent theory applied to religious texts whose goals were metaphysical, world-transcending 1. Gives psychological nuance to texts which were apparently interpreted allegorically so perhaps deeply psychological (as in Neoplatonism) a. Psychological Facts NOT simply given, but perhaps fostered or engendered/shaped by beliefs and conscious attitudes (1) Belief in the metaphysical nature of the archetype may engender unique types of experience (relative to ordinary dreamers) (2) Gnostics/Hermeticists clearly developed techniques for psycho-spiritual development that affirmed metaphysical (supraliminal) perception

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b. Language of myth as transrational, archetypal imagery meant to induce metaphysical or psychological insights, as salvation through gnosis (1) Not unconscious content but visionary imagery meant to induce transformation, not blind literalism, but functional imagery (2) Gnostics not cultural dopes (simply dominated by the unconscious) but active agents of transformation, constructing a typology for gnosis c. Hermetic texts seem to align better with Jung, in that they address issues of wholeness through personal transformation in the world (1) Also demonstrate considerable intellectual sophistication far beyond the fascinans of gnostic imagery, many without any such imagery (2) Book Four, Corpus Hermeticum: take the cup of Nous (mind) and immersed in Nous, through love of Self, see with the eyes of the heart (3) Alluding thus to some greater reality not easily reducible to collective unconscious perhaps deeply metaphysical and factual, and knowable