Hi, I am Harry Venice, an Attachment, Trauma, and Jungian Therapist who is also certified to score the Adult Attachment Interview for Reflective Function.

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Narcissism, God, and the Shadow: Carl Jung’s Answer to Job Lecture 2 - Summary of Aion & Jung’s Trilogy

Lecture 2: Aion & Carl Jung’s Trilogy (which includes ‘Answer to Job’)

Today I will cover two things in my lecture on Carl Jung’s ‘Answer to Job’ as explained in Season 2, Episode 2 of the Harry Venice Psychology Podcast. For my newsletter followers, I condense my lecture below into a blog post for your convenience.

In today’s lecture I will cover two main topics:

I will explain why Carl Jung’s ‘Answer to Job’ is part of a trilogy in Jung’s Collected Works.
As part of explaining this trilogy, I will provide a summary of Aion which is known as one of Carl Jung’s most complicated texts.
This summary will explain the key parts of Carl Jung’s book ‘Aion’, focusing on the relevance of the Christian Aeon and the relevance of certain time periods between the birth of Christ and the present era. This is very important for understanding ‘Answer to Job’ and the entirety of the deeper levels of Jung’s thought and psychology. Quite frankly, its the stuff that is not really talked about or missed entirely, even by Jungian Analysts and Jungian scholars. The reason this happens: its damn complicated to understand and even harder to explain or discuss. Today I will do my best for you.

1. Carl Jung’s ‘Answer to Job’ is part of a trilogy in Jung’s Collected Works.

If you look deeper into Carl Jung’s Collected Works, you will learn that ‘Answer to Job’ is part of a trilogy within Jung’s scholarship. Only Edward Edinger (Jungian Analyst) has explicitly mentioned this before. The trilogy is as follows:

The first part of the trilogy is ‘Aion’ (Collected Work 9, part ii): the time period from the birth of Christ to the present day

Photo: a First Edition Hard Cover of Carl Jung’s “Aion”

Some specifics about Carl Jung’s book “Aion” and his identification of the Christian Aeon (the Birth of Christ to 2000 AD)

Carl Jung’s book, "Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self," was published in 1951 as Collected Work 9ii. In this book Carl Jung says that the Christian aeon lasted from the birth of Jesus Christ until the present day (or the year 2000). This Christian Aeon is represented by the archetype of the Self, and the archetype of the Self is symbolized by Christ.

In Aion, Carl Jung traces the development of the human psyche from ancient times to the present day, or the present ‘Aeon’. In doing so, Jung identifies patterns in human psychological behaviour across vast periods of time, e.g. these large periods of time are ‘aeons’ or ‘epochs’. He identifies the ‘Christian Aeon’ as beginning from the birth of Christ until 2000 (e.g. from the years 0 to 2000). He focuses on the individual psyche and the importance of holding the tension of opposites psychologically. Carl Jung particularly examines how Christianity emerged during the astrological age of Pisces and how Christ represents the archetype of the Self.

In ‘Aion’. Carl Jung uses astrological events as indicators of collective psychic occurences. In other words, he picks up patterns in the collective human psyche. In particular, Jung notices clusters of events occuring at around 500AD, 1000AD, and 1500AD

Below, I will briefly break down the patterns and clusters of events that Carl Jung noticed. To do this, I will directly cite and summarise some key observations that the late great Jungian Analyst, Edward Edinger made about these periods in Aion.

From the birth of Christ until about 500: the first half of the Christian aeon has reached its high point.

500AD (monasticism): Christian monstasicm began to reach its popularity and influence. Christian monasticism was a way of life which involved individuals withdrawing from society to dedicate themselves fully to prayer, spiritual contemplation, and service to God. Monastics, are commonly known to us in modern days as monks or nuns, who pursue a lifestyle dedicated to the basic principles of monastisicm. These values and lifestyle include: vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and often required living in monasteries or other communal setting

Monasticism became an immense collective process that extended over many centuries and had an influence on Christianity and the collective psyche of the middle ages (ie. the Middle Ages began around 500 AD and ended around 1500 AD in Europe).

Around 1000 A.D (the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost movement). At this time there was a great flowering of cults and heresies. Carl Jung viewed the beginning of monasticism to be quite significant. Carl Jung in agreement with Joachim, says that this brought about “the age of monasticism and the reign of the Holy Ghost”(Aion, para 139). Jung noted that in Joachim's view this brought about the beginning of “a new era” but also a “status” of the world. Jung clarifies that rather than a “status”, we could psychologically call it “a new attitude” (Aion, para 139). Jung said that "everyone felt the “rushing wind of the pneuma” and it was an age of “new and unprecedented ideas” (Aion, para 139).

In particular, Carl Jung noted two significant events. The first is when St. Benedict's founded the first Monastic monastery in 529. The second event is the later the impact of Joachim of Flora, who came a little after 1000 A.D and founded the monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore. Carl Jung believed that the phenomenon of Joachim (e.g. the remarkable occurence of it and questions as to its cause) and the stirrings of the Holy Ghost as it manifested in these sects (ie Cathari, Patarenes, Concorricci, Waldenses, Poor Men of Lyons, Beghards, Brethren of the Free Spirit,etc). These cults or sects were the first stirrings of the second fish: the first fish being Christ, the second Antichrist. So this in effect is the beginning of the ‘enantiodromia’ (ie. one thing turning to its opposite), where the first fish (the symbol of Christ, the Self, the first fish) showed signs of the manifestation of the stirrings of the second fish (the Anti-Christ, the Shadow side of the Self, the second fish).

Jung noted that the “repercussions of the Holy Ghost movement spread, in the years that followed” to four minds of immense significance for the future (Aion, par. 143). Those four minds were: Albertus Magnus (1193-1280) and his pupil Thomas Aquinas, both philosophers of the Church and adept at alchemy; Roger Bacon, a key player in inductive reasoning in science(1214- 1294); and Meister Eckhart (1260-1327), an independent religious thinker.

The above four figures takes us up to 1200s and 1300s. At this point, Jung notes that the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were also the beginnings of Latin alchemy and says that he tried to explain the “philosophical and spiritual content” of Latin alchemy in his book “Psychology and Alchemy” (Collected Work 12).

So in conclusion, the first fish of the Christian Aeon is the birth of Christ to about 1000 AD. The Second fish or the Anti-Christ or Shadow of the Christ/Self, starts to stir up from about 1000 AD becoming established by 1500 AD (e.g. by then it “comes very much into its own” as Edinger puts it) and then has fully manifested by our modern era of 2000 AD.

At about 1500 A.D (the Renaissance and Science period), the anti-Christian aspect of the aeon comes very much into its own. At around 1500 came events came which are well known to history: . the Renaissance (1400-1700),[1] the Reformation (1500s),[2] the emergence of science (1543)[3]. One other significant item is that the historical Doctor Faustus is supposed to have lived from 1450 to 1540. That is when the Faust legend begins.

Edward Edinger also emphasises that in 1543, Vesalius, having robbed the gallows for corpses for dissection, brought out his first major work on human anatomy. Edinger said: “Nothing was sacred anymore”. The Holy Ghost had descended and everything was up for grabs. Which reminds me of the modern era we are in because everything is up for grabs and nothing (no-thing) is sacred anymore … in the collective at least. If we become individua-ls and individua-ted… then much is sacred, and from within there is much power beyond the material.

Accordingly, the Christian Aeon has just passed (e.g. as Nietzsche said “God is dead”).

So we had a dual fish symbol throughout the Christian Aeon. In the first half of the Christian aeon, the collective psyche was influenced by Christ (the Self), who was symbolized by the first fish (from the Birth of Christ to 1000). However, the second half of the aeon was under Satan, the Anti-Christ, the Shadow of Christ (and the Self), the split off son of God, who was symbolized by the second fish (1000 to 2000). So when I now repeat Nietzsche’s words “God is dead” (or ‘the Self is dead’) … it should hit home harder and make more sense. No wonder we live in God-less society, a Self-less (in a bad way) society, and a Soul-less society.

We are now in the post 2000 era, entering a new Aeon without a Christian Myth or other God-image to guide the majority. Specifically, we are entering the age of Aquarius and it does not look good for the collective society if you read between the lines of what Jung wrote in Aion (which I will outline later in this lecture) and if you listen to Edward Edinger’s remarks on the issue (which lean towards dark times, Anti-Christ, and even apocalypse type events occuring if human consciousness does not come to terms with the opposites of good and evil in the psyche, both personally as individuals and collectively).

[1] The Renaissance was a period of significant cultural and intellectual rebirth in Europe, primarily from the 14th to 17th centuries. It's known as a transition period between the Middle Ages and the modern era, characterized by a renewed interest in classical learning, art, and philosophy.

[2] The Reformation was a religious, political, intellectual, and cultural upheaval in 16th-century Europe that led to the formation of Protestantism and the division of Western Christianity

[3] Believed by many to have begun in about 1543: the Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of modern science as we know it. It took place in Europe in the second half of the Renaissance period, with the 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus publication De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) which is often cited as beginning this scientif revolution.

The shadow of Pisces and the symbol of the Fish: the “hostile brothers” archetype

The Christian Aion coincides with its astrological sign, Pisces, where one fish represents Christ and the other its future opposite, the Antichrist.

This future opposite, or Christ and Anti-Christ element, brings the archetype of the “hostile brothers” into relevance ofr Aion. Jung said that the "hostile brother" archetype represents the shadow aspects of the Self (i.e remember that Christ and ‘fish’ are symbols the Self), but it is a symbol of a dual nature which has a shadow aspect (the Anti-Christ, Satan, the other ‘son’ or ‘brother’). These shadow aspects of the fish are particularly associated with darker qualities which are rejected and repressed by the ego. It is also good to note at this point, that this dual nature of the symbol of the fish is also found in the symbol of the snake, which also has a transformative side but also a shadowy, terrifying, darker triad side as well.

This conflict of opposites is embodied not only by the hostile brothers archetype but also by fish and snake symbols. These sorts of conlifcts of opposites are a universal motif that we find in myths, stories, dreams, and personal experiences: they depict the conflict and tension of opposites within our individual psyche. They bring to our consciousness the struggle between the opposites and the uniting of the opposites. The unconscious is bringing this conflict to our attention via symbols, especially in dreams, and it is our task, if we wish to individuate and find the Self, to engage with our shadow and inner world to make the conflict conscious. To idnetify these opposites which exist in our psyche and our shadow… and to make hold the tension of the opposites until we transform them and unite them into a third (within ego consciousness, time and space) and ultimately a fourth thing (wholeness with the feminine, alchemical transformation, the alchemical wedding, the holy wedding, the hieros gamos of masculine and feminine).

Back to Aion: the concerning part about Jung’s conclusions in Aion is that we are dealing with Good and Evil. This brings in Carl Jung’s idea of the ‘enantiodromia’, where one thing turns into its opposite. And here we have the aeon of Christ, turning into the aeon of the anti-christ. A dark period. Even apocalyptic. So our current Aeon, the age of aquarius, is where these two opposites will have to come to reckon. If individual’s, both individually and as a collective society, do not reconcile the opposites of Good and Evil and make them conscious… then this, according to Edinger and Jung, will have calamitous and disastrous consequences for humanity and mankind.

The importance of the astrological sign of Pisces and the symbol of the Fish

Pisces has a symbolic importance in Carl Jung’s Aion. It symbolizes the "Fisher of Men" and the idea that Christ's birth coincided with the beginning of the Age of Pisces. This ‘Pisces’ theme is further supported by the fish symbolism prominently featured in early Christian art and the Gospels. I also note the important element of being a ‘fisherman or fisherwoman’ in individuation and alchemy. Firstly, as part of separating from the parents and not relating to parents in an infantile manner, we need to be able to ‘catch’ our own fish and cook it. This is very important, especially for men with absent fathers, who need mentoring and initiation. Becoming ones own fisherman is a critical part of individuation and becoming an independent adult within one’s psyche. Secondly, in Alchemy, the symbolism of ‘food’ and ‘cooking’ is very important. When food, fire and cooking appear in dreams they symbolize a ‘heating’ up and an alchemical and transformative thing is taking place within the psyche.

Back to the fish:

From an astrological perspective, fish contain essential components of the Christian myth: the cross, the moral conflict (Good and Evil) and its splitting into two figures (Christ and Anti-Christ, as well as the Self and Shadow), the son of a virgin, the classical mother-son tragedy, the danger at birth, the hostile brothers archetype, and the savior (Christ, who also embodies the two fishes element already explored: Christian Aeon, first half 0-1000 AD, and Anti-Christ or Anti-Christian Aion. 1000-2000 AD).

From an alchemy perspective, the fish also symbolizes the Lapis and unconscious wholeness where we unite the opposites.

With this foundation, we now look at some key remarks by Carl Jung in Aion which will now make much more sense

In Aion, Carl Jung made the following key remarks about how all these things will effect the present and the future (the bolded text are important parts of the quotes that I am emphasizing):

First Carl Jung Quote from Aion

Firstly, Jung emphasized that we need to find that the present age we live in is in a deep split, The collective approach to politics is tearing the world apart and is creating a split in the human heart instead of wholeness. To resolve this, Jung says we to find our way back to our ‘original, living spirit’ because it is indifferent to these abstract things and allows us to mediate and unite the opposites (e.g. good and evil) which cause conflict. These opposites are what preooccupied alchemists for centuries and that is why Jung believes that alchemy is critical for getting back to our living spirit and uniting the opposites. The full quote is below:

“The present age must come to terms drastically with the facts as they are, with the absolute opposition that is not only tearing the world asunder politically but has planted a schism in the human heart. We need to find our way back to the original, living spirit which, because of its ambivalence, is also a mediator and uniter of opposites, an idea that preoccupied the alchemists for many centuries.”
- Aion, par. 141.

Second Carl Jung Quote from Aion

Secondly, Jung emphasized that the Aeon of the fishes (e.g. The Christian Aeon from the birth of Christ to 2000) is ruled by the archetype of the “hostile brothers” but it is then followed by the month or age of ‘Aquarius’. This age of Aquarius leads us to our current aeon and Jung says that the problem of the “union of opposites” (e.g. Good and Evil) will be constellated and will need to be resolved (note that the union of opposites is the key to individuation and alchemy). Jung says that we will no longer be able to dismiss or split the opposites of good and evil, instead “its real existence will have to be recognized” (ie. we can longer say ‘evil’ is out there and project it collectively… we will have to deal with it, the ‘problem’ of the opposites will have to dealt with finally).

The “individual human being” can only solve this “problem of the opposites” in our current aeon or age of “Aquarius”. As individuals we can “only” solve this problem of the opposites by our “experience of the living spirit”. Importantly, Jung is saying, and Edward Edinger has also emphasized, that we solve this issue of humanity not collectively, but as individuals. Edinger summarised it as: if enough people on the planet individuate and become conscious of the problem of opposites (e.g. good and evil) then we have a chance to avoid catastrophe as humans. If not, the wars, the political problems, the modern man’s melancholy and the modern woman’s malaise will continue and escalate to a climax.

Especially, with ‘artifical intelligence’ (AI) we see this enantiodromia occuring where the Christian aeon is turning into something moving away from the Self that Christ represented. Rather than entering the “living spirit” that Jung said we need in the age of Aquarius, we are moving towards “artificial” intelligence. The opposite of “spirit”, the opposite of “human”, the opposite of our “original” spirit, but rather towards “artificial” non-spirit, robots, and creating less. We outsource the creativity… we move away from nature, humanity, soul … to the Aquarian age of ‘un-living spirit’.

Our task in this aeon, the Aquarian Aeon, is to unite the ‘original, living spirit’ with the increasing ‘artificial, non-living spirit’ which falls upon us from the unconscious minds of the technology creators. We need to unite the opposites of ‘real intelligence’ with ‘artificial intelligence’, our human propensity of good and evil (rather than projecting it externally to others personally (eg. our parents) or collectively (e.g. races, groups, political sides, etc), the ancient past and modern civilization, etc. If we stay in one side of these opposites, if we identify with a ‘split’ or “schism” we get, as Jung puts it “a schism in the human heart”.

The spirit is an archetype. So Jung says we need “ambivalence” (Aion, par. 141, as per the first quote analysed above) to access this spirit because “the archetype of the spirit” has a “characteristic ambivalence” (Aion, par. 141).

Full quote below:

“If, as seems probable, the aeon of the fishes is ruled by the archetypal motif of the hostile brothers, then the approach of the next Platonic month, namely Aquarius, will constellate the problem of the union of opposites. It will then no longer be possible to write off evil as the mere privation of good; its real existence will have to be recognized. This problem can be solved neither by philosophy, nor by economics, nor by politics, but only by the individual human being, via his experience of the living spirit, whose fire descended upon Joachim, one of many, and, despite all contemporary misunderstandings, was handed onward into the future.”
- Aion, paragraph 142.

Third Carl Jung Quote from Aion

If you notice in the above quote, Jung mentioned the important monastic figure “Joachim”. Jung believed that the beginning of monasticism was quite significant. I mentioned Joachim earlier when discussing 1000 AD (the beginning of the Anti-Christ part of the Christian Aeon, or the second fish, shadow side of the Self, the evil side of the aeon). Joachim was an important monastic figure and monasticism had a big influence on the Christian aeon. Jung believes that Joachim had a “numinous experience” and was “gripped by an archetype” (Aion, paragraph 141).

I return again to the words of Edinger to help elucidate the significance of Joachim and the symbol of the “rock” before I launch into this third Aion quote from Jung.

Edinger notes about the 1000 AD (the turn of the Christian Aeon into the second fish or the shadow Anti-Christ side of the Self). If you recall, Edinger noted that this was the time Joachim created quite a phenomenon (he was “gripped by an archetype”, Aion, par. 141). Joachim “stirred” up the Holy Spirit in a collective way which manifested in certain sects (ie Cathari, Patarenes, etc) and these “stirrings” (e.g. stirring of the waters) were the first “stirrings” of the second fish (the Anti-Christ).

Photo: Gallarus Oratory, the best preserved Celtic stone church

In Aion, Jung lays out the influence of monasticism and new lines of thinking that brought us away from the Christian aeon (first fish) and towards the science focused, Anti-Christian aeon (the second fish). It is at this point in Aion at paragraph 143 that he draws attention to the symbolic importance of the “rock” symbol and its link to 12th and 13th century Latin alchemy. Jung draws attention to how the heretics (ie. the cults,Catharij Patarenes, etc) were described as believing “they have no need for God” and that "they are immutable in the new rock" (see Aion, par. 139 and 143).

Jung says that this reference this "immutability in the new rock" [Jung actually misquotes it at Aion par. 143, the original source says “immutable”] has a direct correlation to Alchemy. He says the phrase has a striking resemblance to the central idea of alchemy, the lapis philosophorum (the Philosopher’s Stone), which is used as a parallel to Christ, the "rock," the “stone”, the Self.

*Photo: “Cornerstone” in Psalm 118 of the Old Testament.* This is a psalm of giving thanks and praise to God for His enduring love, deliverance, and power. It celebrates God's faithfulness and His role in overcoming adversity. The psalm also features the theme of a "stone" that was rejected but ultimately made the chief cornerstone, often interpreted in Christian theology as referring to Jesus Christ.
*“Cornerstone” is also a term used twice in the New Testament ( Eph 2:20 ; 1 Peter 2:6 ):* to speak of the exalted Jesus as the chief foundation stone of the church, the cornerstone on which all the building depends.

Specifically, Jung lists there “rock” related parralels of the philosopher’s stone in alchemy (also known as the ‘lapis’): (Aion, par. 143)

It is a parallel to Christ, the "rock," the "stone," the "cornerstone."
Priscillian (4th century) says: "We have Christ for a rock, Jesus for a cornerstone."
Jung then refers to an alchemical text which says the "rock which is smitten thrice with Moses' rod, so that the waters
flow forth freely."
He notes that in alchemy, the lapis is called a "sacred rock" and is described as having four parts.
St. Ambrose says the water from the rock is a prefiguration of the blood that flowed from Christ's side.
Another alchemical text mentions the "water from the rock" as the equivalent of the universal solvent, the
aqua permanens.
By the Naassenes, Adam was called the "rock" and the "cornerstone."
Jung also notes that these “rock” or “stone” symbols of Christ are also mentioned by Epiphanius in his Ancoratus, and also by Firmicus Maternus.
Jung further notes that this image or symbol is common to Christian religious language and alchemical language, and that it goes back to I Corinthians 10:4 and I Peter 2 : 4.

The heretics were linked to a “new rock” and Jung links this to alchemy: what does this have to do with us today, and science, modern man, and individuation?!

“The new rock, then, takes the place of Christ”

- Carl Jung (Aion, par. 144)

To make this simpler to follow, I provide the following rough equation:

Christ or God = Self.
The new rock (the new non-christian, or heretic ideas, including science) replaces Christ, God (the old image of the Self, gets replaced by the ‘new rock’).
Science becomes the new religion, the new Self, “the new rock” (that is why Edward Edinger said that science is the new ‘religion’ of modern times).

Jung gives four examples of “new rocks” that leads us to our modern times. He shows us how the ‘religion’, the god-image, or symbol for the Self shifts:

First, there was a development that led, via monasticism, to the Holy Ghost movement.
Then, there was the “new rock” via Martin Luther who published his work the ‘Theologia Germanica’ and questioned the authority of the Catholic Church. Luther’s theology challenged the authority and office of the pope by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge on the Gospel. He also opposed sacerdotalism (the idea that priests are essential mediators between god and man) by considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood.
Then there was the “new rock” via alchemy because the practices of alchemists, particularly the pursuit of transmuting base metals into gold, were associated with magic, sorcery, and devil worship, which directly contradicted the Church's teachings. Of course, the ‘stone’, the ‘lapis’, the philosopher’s stone was the ultimate goal of alchemy which links it with the “new rock” analogy.
Which then led to what we now experience as “the new rock” or religion or symbol of the Self: modern science.

He then goes on to talk about this new rock as being analogous to the Philosophers' Stone, saying that it refers to the symbolic equation of Christ with the rock:

“The new rock, then, takes the place of Christ, just as the everlasting gospel was meant to take the place of Christ’s message. Through the descent and indwelling of the Holy Ghost the sonship, is infused into every individual, so that everybody who possesses the Holy Ghost will be a new rock, in accordance with I Peter 2 : 5: “Be you also as living stones built up.”” - Aion, par. 144.

So if we identify the “new rock” within us, the ‘religious’ aspect within us, we identify the Self.

If we do this, we find our myth, our religious purpouse, our “numinous experience” and way of living life.

If we do this, we are a Modern Man or Modern Woman with a myth. And we are not alone.

This is how we overcome the curse of modern man identified by Edward Edinger when he said (summarising the problem Jung had identified):

“Modern Man is without a myth. And he is alone.”

That is why the following quotes from Jung in Aion are so important (both from Aion, par. 144):

“Through the descent [ie. shadow, katabasis, descent, hero’s journey, individuation] and indwelling of the Holy Ghost the … sonship, is infused into every individual [ie. the lapis, the prima materia, the trinity, the masculine, the ‘new rock’ is in us all], so that everybody who possesses the Holy Ghost will be a new rock [we are the Self, the God image, the lapis, the philosopher’s stone, the prima materia, it is in us to find], in accordance with I Peter 2 : 5: "Be you also as living stones built up sons of the Highest,” (Luke 6 : 35) [we are “living stones”, the Self is living within us].”
(note: father, son and the holy spirit is in the triad, number 3, space and time: it is the religious christian masculine triad without the feminine Sophia wisdom for wholeness. To consciously find the “new rock” and not to just unconsciously identify with it, we need the feminine, Sophia, wisdom for the alchemical transformation where we unite the masculine and the feminine… the alchemical wedding, the hieros gamos).
“Is it not written in your law:
I said, you are gods?” (John 10 : 34)
(noting that 1. god = Self and 2. “new rock” / ‘philosopher’ stone in alchemy = Self)

2. The second part of the trilogy is ‘Answer to Job’: it is relevant for the entire Christian Aeon but especially for 1500-2000 (the Anti-Christian Aeon)

Prefatory note: ‘Answer to Job’ becomes even more relevant for the ‘Anti-Christian’ period of the Christian Aeon because: we have lost connection to a Christian myth and we have no ‘conscious’ religious God-image to follow. As Edinger said about Jung’s view on this: “Modern man is alone and he is without a myth”.

Carl Jung’s ‘Answer to Job’ tackles the God-Image and the shadow. This is most relevant for the Christian Aion of modern man which has just passed, which roughly correlates to the years 1500-2000.

3. The third part of the trilogy, is Carl Jung’s book ‘The Undiscovered Self’: this is relevant for the present and future

Carl Jung wanted the title of this book to be “Present and Future”, but he succumbed to pressure from his publisher to call it the ‘Undiscovered Self’. The relevance of the real title is the time element. As you note from the trilogy sequence of these books he wrote towards the end of his life, Jung was addressing the past psyche and ended up his trilogy addressing the issues facing modern man and woman. Accordingly, he wanted to title the book as ‘Present and Future’, which is what we are all currently dealing with psychologically and trying to make sense of.

Namely, how to not only survive but thrive in a modern world where the ‘God-image’ appears to be projected onto material items, science, and efficiency over the soul, creativity and meaning. Edward Edinger said that although we don’t have Christianity as a guiding religion in the west, this has been replaced by science and the material world. In effect, science has become the new religion for many.

Photo: Carl Jung’s ‘Undiscovered Self’ book cover. If you notice, the cover even mentions ‘the present world crisis’. Chronologically in Jung’s work, this was focused on the present and future of mankind and his psyche.

The key is how can we transform this God-image to one that aligns with our soul and the Self. It really means we have to be individuals, rather than follow the collective values of ‘the many’. We need to dig deep within, become individua-ls so that we can individua-te.

If you want to explore individuation, Jungian Analysis, Shadow Work, trauma healing or to repair insecure attachment, book a Free 1:1 Discovery Call with me today: https://calendly.com/harryvenicepsychology/30min

Always Believe. Stay Brave. Never Give Up.

Harry Venice

Attachment, Trauma, and Jungian Therapist

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