True Asa, the karmic energy is still here. Jung was one of us and he saw more than the most of us and he failed like all of us, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty he stood his ground like only few of us.
True Clueless, I find little fault with your synopsis. You are knowlegeable and place your accents well. Two points only: It is, thanks to Jung, that much which was called occult, nowadays has become common knowlege about the psyche-mind. Occult is a silly term to my mind and just as sterile as the mainstream of knowlege, which by naming it thus, ostracises it and by doing this, hides its inability to understand and deal with it. I don't like the term, because it places barriers within the mind. I find my own stupidity barrier enough and I don't need more, thankyou.
Alchemy is only occult to the beholder who does not see beyond the veil. Case in point, perhaps. Jung was fascinated by the Alchemists, because he saw parallels between their imagery and symbolism and that of his patients. The Alchemists, not knowing in terms of modern science what was going on within their bulbs and ovens, saw that their prime matter, they were working on, was transforming in appearance and substance and described this in a symbolism which can find its exact counterpart in dreams, visions, phanstasies of modern man, when he is undergoing change, is growing, transforming. Why thus: The anwser is very simple. To the Alchemists, the matter in their retorts was like a Rorschach test and they "projected". What they projected were transformative symbols, which to Jung lie dormant in our psyche and which come to life during our spiritual, intellectual and biological growing pains,when we should develop but yet do not quite know how. Jung went on to show, that quite a number of alchemists started to realise, that they projected. That it was they who underwent change and the symbolism, which popped up in their minds, concerned them just as much as the matter, they were observing. Sort of a Heisenbergian forerunner no?! Well there are a few Alchemists like Maier, or Lampspring, who in their language and symbolism in the 17th century described exact stages of the individuation process with a detailed knowlege about its steps and implications, which yet have to be reached by the mainstream of modern psychology.It was they, who realised, that the transformation, which took place, was in them as well as in the matter , they were observing. Fascinating,no?! It was Jung who gave us a key to its understanding and if you are, like me, familiar with the dreams and phantasies of modern man, you'd be amazed how to the point and knowledgeable those "occultists" were. To cut a long story short: What we call irrational probably only shows the boundaries of our rationality and unveils us as shortsighted and stupid.
I feel, since Jung and his occupation with the "occult", we have the chance to be a little less stupid about our ture reality. The East has been always and since centuries far more knowledgeabe about this. As far as the knowlege of ourselves is concerend, here, we in the West are underdeveloped country and in need of aid. Our pszchology basically is ridiculous in its blindness for our transcendent needs and in its obsession with measurements. What we manage to measure and statistically prove generally boils down to what every child knows anyway. Jung has closed the gap for us quite considerably by using the modalities of western thought. He is one of us, not an imported Guru. Quite an achievement, in the light of which his failings don't really interest me much. rather, like Clueless, I like him more for it.
