Carl Jung on Saint Paul

The idea of angels, archangels, “principalities and powers” in St. Paul, the archons of the Gnostics, the heavenly hierarchy of Dionysius the Areopagite, all come from the perception of the relative autonomy of the archetypes. ~Carl Jung, CW 7, Page 66, Para 104.

Please give X. my best greetings and tell him-because his love is all too easily injured-he should meditate on Paul's words in the Epistle to the Corinthians: "Love endureth all things." ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. 1, Pages 120-121.

These signs appear in Gnosticism, St. Paul's sayings are undoubtedly connected with Gnosticism. ~Carl Jung, ETH Lecture 8March1935, Pages 199.

I don't believe in the tiger who was finally converted to vegetarianism and ate only apples. My solace was always Paul, who did not deem it beneath his dignity to admit he bore a thorn in the flesh. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Pages 276-277.

St. Paul for instance was not converted to Christianity by intellectual or philosophical endeavouror by a belief, but by the force of his immediate inner experience. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Pages 183-184.

From this you can easily see the origin of my psychology: only by going my own way, integrating my capacities headlong (like Paul), and thus creating a foundation for myself, could something be vouchsafed to me or built upon it, no matter where it came from, and of which I could be reasonably sure that it was not merely one of my own neglected capacities. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Pages 257-264.

St. Paul was definitely not insane nor was his vision extraordinary. I know quite a number of cases of visions of Christ or auditions of a voice from within. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Page 380.

As experience shows, the figure one sees is not necessarily identical with the person one identifies with it, just as the picture by an artist is not identical with the original; but it is obvious that the vision of Christ was a most important religious experience to St. Paul. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Page 380.

St. Paul’s teacher, Gamaliel, was a noted Cabbalist. ~Carl Jung, Meetings with Jung, Page 301

Carl Jung: That is why converts are always the worst fanatics.

Although the actual moment of conversion often seems quite sudden and unexpected, we know from experience that such a fundamental upheaval always requires a long period of incubation.

It is only when this preparation is complete, that is to say when the individual is ripe for conversion, that the new insight breaks through with violent emotion.

Saul, as he was then called, had unconsciously been a Christian for a long time, and this would explain his fanatical hatred of the Christians, because fanaticism is always found in those who have to stifle a secret doubt.

That is why converts are always the worst fanatics. ~Carl Jung, CW 8, Para 582

There is no other way open to us; we are forced to resort to conscious decisions and solutions where formerly we trusted ourselves to natural happenings.

Every problem, therefore, brings the possibility of a widening of consciousness, but also the necessity of saying goodbye to childlike unconsciousness and trust in nature. This necessity is a psychic fact of such importance that it constitutes one of the most essential symbolic teachings of the Christian religion.

It is the sacrifice of the merely natural man, of the unconscious, ingenuous being whose tragic career began with the eating of the apple in Paradise.

The biblical fall of man presents the dawn of consciousness as a curse.

And as a matter of fact it is in this light that we first look upon every problem that forces us to greater consciousness and separates us even further from the paradise of unconscious childhood. ~Carl Jung, CW 8, Para 751

Carl Jung: In this way Christ realized the idea of the Self.

These mythological statements, coming from within the Christian sphere as well as from outside it, adumbrate an archetype that expresses itself in essentially the same symbolism and also occurs in individual dreams or in fantasy-like projections upon living people (transference phenomena, hero-worship, etc.).

The content of all such symbolic products is the idea of an overpowering, all-embracing, complete or perfect being, represented either by a man of heroic proportions, or by an animal with magical attributes, or by a magical vessel or some other “treasure hard to attain,” such as a jewel, ring, crown, or, geometrically, by a mandala This archetypal idea is a reflection of the individual's wholeness, i.e., of the Self, which is present in him as an unconscious image.

The conscious mind can form absolutely no conception of this totality, because it includes not only the conscious but also the unconscious psyche, which is, as such, inconceivable and irrepresentable.

The archetype of the Self in the soul of every man that responded to the Christian message, with the result that the concrete Rabbi Jesus was rapidly assimilated by the constellated archetype.

In this way Christ realized the idea of the Self.

But as one can never distinguish empirically between a symbol of the Self and a God-image, the two ideas, however much we try to differentiate them, always appear blended together, so that the Self appears synonymous with the inner Christ of the Johannine and Pauline writings, and Christ with God (“of one substance with the Father”), just as the atman appears as the individualized Self and at the same time as the animating principle of the cosmos, and Tao as a condition of mind and at the same time as the correct behaviour of cosmic events.

Psychologically speaking, the domain of “gods” begins where consciousness leaves off, for at that point man is already at the mercy of the natural order, whether he thrive or perish.

To the symbols of wholeness that come to him from there he attaches names which vary according to time and place The Self is defined psychologically as the psychic totality of the individual.

Anything that a man postulates as being a greater totality than himself can become a symbol of the Self.

For this reason the symbol of the Self is not always as total as the definition would require. Even the Christ-figure is not a totality, for it lacks the nocturnal side of the psyche's nature, the darkness of the spirit, and is also without sin ~Carl Jung

, CW 11, Paras 230-232

Prayer of the Apostle Paul [Jung Codex]

PRAYER OF THE MESSENGER PAUL

Grant me your mercy.
My redeemer, redeem me,
for I am yours.

I came from you.
You are my mind:
give me birth.

You are my treasure:
open for me.

You are my fullness:
accept me.

You are my rest:
give me unlimited perfection.

I pray to you,
you who exist and preexisted,
in the name exalted above every name,
through Jesus the anointed,
lord of lords,
king of the eternal realms.
Give me your gifts, with no regret,
through the human child,
the spirit,
the advocate of truth.

Give me authority, I beg of you,
give healing for my body, as I beg you,
through the preacher of the gospel,
and redeem my enlightened soul forever, and my spirit,
and disclose to my mind the firstborn of the fullness of grace.

Grant what eyes of angels have not seen,
what ears of rulers have not heard,
and what has not arisen in the hearts of people,
who became angelic,
and after the image of the animate god
when it was formed in the beginning.
I have the faith of hope.

And bestow upon me
your beloved, chosen, blessed majesty,
you who are the firstborn, the first-conceived,
and the wonderful mystery of your house.

For yours is the power and the glory and the praise and the greatness,
forever and ever.

Amen.

Prayer of Paul (the) Apostle [or, Messenger].
In Peace.
Christ is holy.