In 1932 Carl Jung wrote a very interesting commentary for the Chinese yoga classic The Secret of the Golden Flower, which had just then been translated into German by his friend Richard Wilhelm.  Jung's comments address the differences between the modern Western mindset and that of the pre-industrialized Chinese who formulated such yoga manuals.  These days this commentary seems to be largely unknown or overlooked, being tucked away in the back of a rather cryptic yoga manual, yet it offers a unique bridge by which citizens of the modern Western world can revisit the attitudes of citizens of the time and place that gave birth to Chinese yoga philosophy.  As Jung points out, it is a mistake to assume that the ancient Asians regarded the world in the same way as we do now, or to presume that the purpose of their yoga emerged from the same psychological circumstances that we find ourselves in today.  Nonetheless, by considering the mindset of this other time, other place and other culture we gain some important clues as to the objectives of those yogis, as well as to the possible causes of our own modern malaise and psychic disintegration. 

Being as preoccupied as we modern people tend to be with being purely intellectual or scientific or logical, Jung, working with both an appreciation of the merits of scientific thought and a practical awareness of the necessity of acknowledging the seemingly less rational components of the human condition, offers a particularly informed perspective on how would-be Western yogis can make the most of Eastern wisdom.   He helps shed light on issues that still regularly confound students who assume they can directly translate ancient Asian wisdom into their lives without first accounting for what has changed across the intervening years. 

Without further ado, but with paraphrasing, yoginis and yogis and all sentient beings, Carl Jung’s insights regarding yoga…

NEXT: Difficulties encountered by Westerners in trying to understand Eastern yoga.