Thus the anima and life itself are meaningless in so far as they offer no interpretation.
Yet they have a nature that can be interpreted, for in all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order, in all caprice a fixed law, for everything that works is grounded on its opposite.
It takes man's discriminating understanding, which breaks everything down. into antinomial judgments, to recognize this.
Once he comes to grips with the anima, her chaotic capriciousness will give him cause to suspect a secret order, to sense a plan, a meaning, a purpose over and above her nature, or even-we might almost be tempted to say-to "postulate" such a thing, though this would not be in accord with the truth.
For in actual reality we do not have at our command any power of cool reflection, nor does any science or philosophy help us, and the traditional teachings of religion do so only to a limited degree.
We are caught and entangled in aimless experience, and the judging intellect with its categories proves itself powerless.
Human interpretation fails, for a turbulent life-situation has arisen that refuses to fit any of the traditional meanings assigned to it.
It is a moment of collapse.
We sink into a final depth-Apuleius calls it "a kind of voluntary death."
It is a surrender of our own powers, not artificially willed but forced upon us by nature; not a voluntary submission and humiliation decked in moral garb but an utter and unmistakable defeat crowned with the panic fear of demoralization.
Only when all props and crutches are broken, and no cover from the rear offers even the slightest hope of security, does it become possible for us to experience an archetype that up till then had lain hidden behind the meaningful nonsense played out by the anima.
This is the archetype of meaning) just as the anima is the archetype of life itself. ~Carl Jung, CW 9i, Page 32, Para 66.
Carl Jung across the web:
Blog: http: http://carljungdepthpsychology.blogspot.com/
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Great Sites to visit:
1. Jenna Lilla's Path of the Soul http://jennalilla.org/
2. Steve Jung-Hearted Parker's Jung Currents http://jungcurrents.com/
3. Frith Luton's Jungian Dream Analysis and Psychotherapy: http://frithluton.com/articles/
4. Lance S. Owens The Gnosis Archives http://gnosis.org/welcome.html
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