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THE DETACHMENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS FROM THAT WHICH IS CONSIDER TO BE "OTHER" When the difference between subject and object [me and not me] does not become conscious, unconsciousness [instinctive] identity prevails: plants, animals and all things are alive with spirit. A civilized person usually regards himself above such things. Instead, he identifies more with his parents throughout his life; or he identifies with pretenses and prejudices, and shamelessly accuses others of the things he refuses to see in himself. In other words, he too is affected by his subconscious, however, often in a conflicted mode; there is nondifferentiation between subject and object in his case too, but it is often steeped in debilitating alienation. If the unconscious can be recognized as a co-determining factor along with the conscious, if we can live in such a way that our conscious thoughts and instinctive needs are both fully recognized, the personality’s center of gravity [priorities] shifts. The ego ceases to predominate, an instead becomes located in a hypothetical place between the conscious and the unconscious [instinctive], which might be called the self [true self]. The creation of this kind of personality is the aim of our Chinese yogis. The Western tradition has tended to use a different array of symbols and magical practices, faith or a “Christian way of life”, in its attempt to produce the ideal spiritual person. Here we again stand on a foundation quite apart from that of the East. It may sound as if the yogis are not very far from Christian ascetic morality, but nothing could be more mistaken than to assume they were actually dealing with the same thing. Their background is that of a culture thousands of years old, one that was built organically upon ancient instincts and which, therefore, owes little to the arbitrary morality that violates the instincts of more recently “civilized” Teutonic barbarians. The milieu of the Asian yogi was originally without the impulse towards violent repression of the instincts that so hysterically exaggerates and poisons Western spirituality. The idea of heroic self-denial is basically antithetical to the integration that yoga is meant to promote, however, when Westerners take the ancient Eastern instructions too literally [failing to fully appreciate that metaphors and analogies are being liberally employed] they can unfortunately end up doing just that We had better not forget our historical circumstances. Only little more than a thousand years ago did Western culture stumble out of polytheism into Asian religious concepts, thus lifting the minds of half-savages to a height that did not correspond to their degree of psychological maturity. In order to maintain this height, in some fashion or another, the instinctual sphere inevitably had to be repressed to a great extent. Thus Western religious practice and morality took on a markedly violent, almost malicious, character. The repressed elements then fail to develop properly and drop out of conscious awareness. For the children of this culture to heal this wound they must bring these repressed elements back into conscious awareness. Until then they will find it difficult to achieve the level of consciousness Eastern yoga aspires to. With apparent success, despite protests of the unconscious, the increasing development of Western-style intellect has given its adherents an almost fiendish capacity for aping Eastern yoga’s attitude: nondualistic receptivity of life’s seemingly paradoxical aspects, higher conscious, modest acceptance of humankind’s true nature. Aping an attitude always produces an unstable situation, which can be overthrown by the subconscious at any time. A safe foundation is established only when the instinctive needs of the human mind are given the same consideration as those of the conscious mind [intellect]. [ For a more complete version of the original text refer to The Secret of the Golden Flower, translated and explained by Richard Wilhelm, with a commentary by C.G. Jung, published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, ISBN #0-15-679980. ] |
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