Carl Jung and Introduction to Kundalini Yoga Seminar

Munich, 30 May 1930. At a memorial for his deceased colleague, the sinologist Richard Wilhelm, Jung echoed these dramatic events:

If we look to the East: an overwhelming destiny is fulfilling itself. . . .

We have conquered the East politically.

Do you know what happened, when Rome subjugated the near East politically?

The spirit of the East entered Rome. Mithras became the Roman military god. . . .

Would it be unthinkable that the same thing happened today and we would be just as blind as the cultured Romans, who marvelled at the superstitions of the Christians? . . .

I know that our unconscious is crammed with Eastern symbolism.

The spirit of the East is really ante portas. . . .

I consider the fact that Wilhelm and the Indologist Hauer were invited to lecture on yoga at this year’s congress of German psychotherapists, as an extremely significant
sign of the times.

Consider what it means, when the practising doctor, having to deal directly with suffering and therefore susceptible people, establishes contact with an Eastern system
of healing! ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminars, Pages xvii-xviii

Inasmuch as I regard the psychoanalytical and psycho-synthetic methods likewise as means of self-improvement, your comparison with the yoga method seems thoroughly plausible to me.

It appears to me, however, as one must emphasize, that it is merely an analogy which is involved, since nowadays far too many Europeans are inclined to carry Eastern ideas and methods over unexamined into our occidental mentality.

This happens, in my opinion, neither to our advantage nor to the advantage of those ideas.

For what has emerged from the Eastern spirit is based upon the peculiar history of that mentality, which is most fundamentally different from ours. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminars, Page xxi.

Jung specified his psychological understanding of tantric yoga as follows:

Indian philosophy is namely the interpretation given to the precise condition of the non-ego, which affects our personal psychology, however independent from us it remains.

It sees the aim of human development as bringing about an approach to and connection between the specific nature of the non-ego and the conscious ego.

Tantra yoga then gives a representation of the condition and the developmental phases of this impersonality, as it itself in its own way produces the light of a higher supra-personal consciousness. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminars, Page xxiii

Fowler McCormick, who accompanied Jung on this trip, recalled an experience of Jung’s that had tantric overtones:

As we would go through temples of Kali, which were numerous at almost every Hindu city, we saw the evidences of animal sacrifice: the places were filthy dirty—dried blood on the floor and lots of remains of red betelnut all around, so that the colour red was associated with destructiveness.

Concurrently in Calcutta Jung began to have a series of dreams in which the colour red was stressed.

It wasn’t long before dysentery overcame Dr. Jung and I had to take him to the English hospital at Calcutta. . . .

A more lasting effect of this impression of the destructiveness of Kali was the emotional foundation it gave him for the conviction that evil was not a negative
thing but a positive thing. . . . The influence of that experience in India, to my mind, was very great on Jung in his later years. ~Fowler McCormick, Kundalini Seminars, Page xxviii.

I will be silent on the meaning of yoga for India, because I cannot presume to pass judgment on something I do not know from personal experience.

I can, however, say something about what it means for the West.

Our lack of direction borders on psychic anarchy.

Therefore any religious or philosophical practice amounts to a psychological discipline, and therefore a method of psychic hygiene. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminars, Page xxviii.

The Indian concepts are alien to us Westerners; most people are incapable—it is just the theosophists who prove this—of acquiring an inner relation to them.

Moreover, physiologically we are all Christians, whether our consciousness recognizes this or not.

Thus every doctrine which continues in the Christian spirit has a better chance of taking hold of our innermost being than the profoundest doctrine of foreign origin. Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminars, Page xxxi.

Carl Jung: "Kundalini Seminar" - Quotations

In Sahasrara there is no difference. The next conclusion could be that there is no object, no God, there is nothing but Brahman. There is no experience because it is One, without a second. It is asleep, it is not, and that is why it is nirvana. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminars, Page 59.

We are entangled in the roots, and we ourselves are the roots. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 29

We make roots, we cause roots to be, we are rooted in the soil, and there is no getting away for us, because we must be there as long as we live. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 29

It is most important that you should be born; you ought to come into this world—otherwise you cannot realize the self, and the purpose of this world has been missed. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 28

It is utterly important that one should be in this world, that one really fulfills one’s entelechia, the germ of life which one is. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 28

You see, the shoot must come out of the ground, and if the personal spark has never gotten into the ground, nothing will come out of it; no linga [creative core] or Kundalini will be there, because you are still staying in the infinity that was before. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 29

For you should leave some trace in this world which notifies that you have been here, that something has happened. If nothing happens of this kind you have not realized yourself; the germ of life has fallen, say, into a thick layer of air that kept it suspended. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 28

Everything that has life is individual—a dog, a plant, everything living—but of course it is far from being conscious of its individuality. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 5

Individuation only takes place when you are conscious of it, but individuation is always there from the beginning of your existence. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 5

The instinct of individuation is found everywhere in life, for there is no life on earth that is not individual. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 4

The world itself becomes a reflection of the psyche. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 50

There are plenty of people who are not yet born. They all seem to be here, they walk about—but as a matter of fact, they are not yet born, because they are behind a glass wall, they are in the womb. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 28

They are in the world only on parole and are soon to be returned to the pleroma [fullness] where they started originally. They have not formed a connection with this world; they are suspended in the air; they are neurotic, living the provisional life. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 28.

You must believe in this world, make roots, do the best you can, even if you have to believe in the most absurd things—to believe, for instance, that this world is very definite, that it matters absolutely whether such-and-such a treaty is made or not. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 29

You see, the shoot must come out of the ground, and if the personal spark has never gotten into the ground, nothing will come out of it; no linga [creative core] or Kundalini will be there, because you are still staying in the infinity that was before. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 29

Today, instead of the sea or leviathan, we say analysis, which is equally dangerous. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 17

We could not possibly judge this world if we had not also a standpoint outside, and that is given by the symbolism of religious experiences. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 27

Small children are very old; later on we soon grow younger. In our middle age we are youngest, precisely at the time when we have completely or almost completely lost contact with the collective unconscious, the samskaras. We grow older again only as with the mounting years we remember the samskaras anew. ~Carl Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga, Page 74.

Individuation is not that you become an ego—you would then become an individualist. You know, an individualist is a man who did not succeed in individuating; he is a philosophically distilled egotist. ~Carl Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga, Pages 39-40.

If you succeed in remembering yourself, if you succeed in making a difference between yourself and that outburst of passion, then you discover the self; you begin to individuate. ~Carl Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga, Pages 39-40.

Without personal life, without the here and now, we cannot attain to the supra-personal. Personal life must first be fulfilled in order that the process of the supra-personal side of the psyche can be introduced. ~Carl Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga, Page 66.

Carl Jung: She said that she had a black serpent in her belly.

After the war a twenty-eight-year-old girl came to see me, wanting to be cured within ten hours.

She said that she had a black serpent in her belly.

She came to see me because of this serpent, for she thought that it should be awakened. Her problem was that she was not on earth.

She was only intuitive, entirely without a sense of reality.

She was living in a secret brothel without being aware of it; she did not hear her own steps and had never seen her body.

She dreamed that she was inside or on top of balloons, from which I had to shoot her down.

One day she came and said that the serpent in her belly had moved; it had turned around.

Then the serpent moved slowly upward, coming finally out of her mouth, and she saw that its head was golden.

This is the shortest Kundalini path of which I have heard.

To be sure, it was not experienced but only intuited; but already this had a curing effect for the time being.

This case is a simple example of the spontaneous appearance of the Kundalini.

I got to know about the cakras only later, but even then I did not say anything about it, so as not to disturb the process in my patients. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Pages 84-85

Carl Jung on "Kundalini" - Anthology

While the video above represents Dr. Jung’s words, the written commentary presented with it does not necessarily represent assumptions, assertions and/or conclusions made by Dr. Jung.

Below is some of what Dr. Jung had to say about “Kundalini.”:

Small children are very old; later on we soon grow younger. In our middle age we are youngest, precisely at the time when we have completely or almost completely lost contact with the collective unconscious, the samskaras. We grow older again only as with the mounting years we remember the samskaras anew. ~Carl Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga, Page 74.

Individuation is not that you become an ego—you would then become an individualist. You know, an individualist is a man who did not succeed in individuating; he is a philosophically distilled egotist. ~Carl Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga, Pages 39-40.

If you succeed in remembering yourself, if you succeed in making a difference between yourself and that outburst of passion, then you discover the self; you begin to individuate. ~Carl Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga, Pages 39-40.

Without personal life, without the here and now, we cannot attain to the supra-personal. Personal life must first be fulfilled in order that the process of the supra-personal side of the psyche can be introduced. ~Carl Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga, Page 66.

The second part of it, the secretary-bird and the snake, has been correctly interpreted, in spite of the fact that the snake is not exactly Kundalini because the Kundalini serpent actually dissolves into light. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. 1, Pages 95-97.

In Sahasrara there is no difference. The next conclusion could be that there is no object, no God, there is nothing but Brahman. There is no experience because it is One, without a second. It is asleep, it is not, and that is why it is nirvana. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminars, p. 59.

We are entangled in the roots, and we ourselves are the roots. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 29

We make roots, we cause roots to be, we are rooted in the soil, and there is no getting away for us, because we must be there as long as we live. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 29

It is most important that you should be born; you ought to come into this world—otherwise you cannot realize the self, and the purpose of this world has been missed. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 28

It is utterly important that one should be in this world, that one really fulfills one’s entelechia, the germ of life which one is. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 28

You see, the shoot must come out of the ground, and if the personal spark has never gotten into the ground, nothing will come out of it; no linga [creative core] or Kundalini will be there, because you are still staying in the infinity that was before. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 29

For you should leave some trace in this world which notifies that you have been here, that something has happened. If nothing happens of this kind you have not realized yourself; the germ of life has fallen, say, into a thick layer of air that kept it suspended. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 28

Everything that has life is individual—a dog, a plant, everything living—but of course it is far from being conscious of its individuality. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 5

Individuation only takes place when you are conscious of it, but individuation is always there from the beginning of your existence. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 5

The instinct of individuation is found everywhere in life, for there is no life on earth that is not individual. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 4

The world itself becomes a reflection of the psyche. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 50

Today, instead of the sea or leviathan, we say analysis, which is equally dangerous. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 17

We could not possibly judge this world if we had not also a standpoint outside, and that is given by the symbolism of religious experiences. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 27

There are plenty of people who are not yet born. They all seem to be here, they walk about—but as a matter of fact, they are not yet born, because they are behind a glass wall, they are in the womb. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 28

They are in the world only on parole and are soon to be returned to the pleroma [fullness] where they started originally. They have not formed a connection with this world; they are suspended in the air; they are neurotic, living the provisional life. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 28.

You must believe in this world, make roots, do the best you can, even if you have to believe in the most absurd things—to believe,
for instance, that this world is very definite, that it matters absolutely whether such-and-such a treaty is made or not. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 29

You see, the shoot must come out of the ground, and if the personal spark has never gotten into the ground, nothing will come out of it; no linga [creative core] or Kundalini will be there, because you are still staying in the infinity that was before. ~Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 29

Carl Jung: For you should leave some trace in this world which notifies that you have been here, that something has happened.

It is utterly important that one should be in this world, that one really fulfills one’s entelechia, the germ of life which one is.

Otherwise you can never start Kundalini; you can never detach.

You simply are thrown back, and nothing has happened; it is an absolutely valueless experience.

You must believe in this world, make roots, do the best you can, even if you have to believe in the most absurd things—to believe, for instance, that this world is very definite, that it matters absolutely whether such-and-such a treaty is made or not.

It may be completely futile, but you have to believe in it, have to make it almost a religious conviction, merely

for the purpose of putting your signature under the treaty, so that trace is left of you.

For you should leave some trace in this world which notifies that you have been here, that something has happened.

If nothing happens of this kind you have not realized yourself; the germ of life has fallen, say, into a thick layer of air that kept it suspended.

It never touched the ground, and so never could produce the plant.

But if you touch the reality in which you live, and stay for several decades if you leave your trace, then the im- personal process can begin.

You see, the shoot must come out of the ground, and if the personal spark has never gotten into the ground, nothing will come out of it; no linga [creative core] or Kundalini will be there, because you are still staying in the infinity that was before. Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 29

Carl Jung: There are plenty of people who are not yet born.

There are plenty of people who are not yet born.

They all seem to be here, they walk about—but as a matter of fact, they are not yet born, because they are behind a glass wall, they are in the womb.

They are in the world only on parole and are soon to be returned to the pleroma [fullness] where they started originally.

They have not formed a connection with this world; they are suspended in the air; they are neurotic, living the provisional
life. Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 28

Carl Jung on the importance of being Born

There are plenty of people who are not yet born.

They all seem to be here, they walk about—but as a matter of fact, they are not yet born, because they are behind a glass wall, they are in the womb.

They are in the world only on parole and are soon to be returned to the pleroma [fullness] where they started originally.

They have not formed a connection with this world; they are suspended in the air; they are neurotic, living the provisional
life. Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 28

It is most important that you should be born; you ought to come into this world—otherwise you cannot real- ize the self, and the purpose of this world has been missed.

It is utterly important that one should be in this world, that one really fulfills one’s entelechia, the germ of life which one is.

Otherwise you can never start Kundalini; you can never detach.

You simply are thrown back, and nothing has happened; it is an absolutely valueless experience.

You must believe in this world, make roots, do the best you can, even if you have to believe in the most ab- surd things—to believe,
for instance, that this world is very definite, that it matters absolutely whether such-and-such a treaty is made or not.

It may be completely futile, but you have to believe in it, have to make it almost a religious conviction, merely for the purpose of putting
your signature under the treaty, so that trace is left of you.

For you should leave some trace in this world which notifies that you have been here, that something has hap- pened.

If nothing happens of this kind you have not realized yourself; the germ of life has fallen, say, into a thick layer of air that kept it suspended.

It never touched the ground, and so never could produce the plant.

But if you touch the reality in which you live, and stay for several decades if you leave your trace, then the im- personal process can begin.

You see, the shoot must come out of the ground, and if the personal spark has never gotten into the ground, nothing will come out of it; no linga
[creative core] or Kundalini will be there, because you are still staying in the infinity that was before. Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 29

Even if you don’t become a complete realization of yourself, you become at least a person; you have a certain conscious form.

Of course, it is not a totality; it is only a part, perhaps, and your true individuality is still behind the screen— yet what is manifested on the surface is
surely a unit.

One is not necessarily conscious of the totality, and perhaps other people see more clearly who you are than you do yourself.

So individuality is always.

It is everywhere.

Everything that has life is individual—a dog, a plant, everything living—but of course it is far from being con- scious of its individuality.

A dog has probably an exceedingly limited idea of himself as compared with the sum total of his individual- ity.

As most people, no matter how much they think of themselves, are egos, yet at the same time they are indi- viduals, almost as if they were individuated.

For they are in a way individuated from the very beginning of their lives, yet they are not conscious of it.

Individuation only takes place when you are conscious of it, but individuation is always there from the begin- ning of your existence. Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 5

The instinct of individuation is found everywhere in life, for there is no life on earth that is not individual. Each form of life is manifested in a differentiated being naturally, otherwise life could not exist.
An innate urge of life is to produce an individual as complete as possible. Carl Jung, Kundalini Seminar, Page 4