Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult ArtsSilberer, Herbert
Religion
Hidden Symbolism of Alchemy and the Occult Arts
Silberer, Herbert
Alchemy; Society of Rosicrucians; Symbolism (Psychology)
Psychoanalytic procedure, employed in the interpretation of dreams of any
person can be called a scientifically organized confession that traces out
with infinite patience even to the smallest ramifications, the spiritual
inventory of what was tucked away in the mind of the person undergoing it.
Psychoanalysis is used in medical practice to discover and relieve the
spiritual causes of neurotic phenomena. The patient is induced to tell
more and more, starting from a given point, thereby going into the most
intimate details, and yet we are aware, in the network of outcropping
thoughts and memories, of certain points of connection, which have
dominating significance for the affective life of the person being
studied. Here the path begins to be hard because it leads into the
intimately personal. The secret places of the soul set up a powerful
opposition to the intruder, even without the purposive action of the
patient. Right there are, however, so to speak, the sore spots (pathogenic
“complexes”) of the psyche, towards which the research is directed. Firmly
advancing in spite of the limitations, we lay bare these roots of the soul
that strive to cling to the unconscious. Those are the disfigured elements
just mentioned; all of the items of the spiritual inventory from which the
person in question has toilsomely “worked himself out” and from which he
supposes himself free. They must be silent because they stand in some
contradictory relation to the character in which the person has clothed
himself; and if they, the subterranean elements still try to announce
themselves, he hurls them back immediately into their underworld; he
allows himself to think of nothing that offends too much his attitudes,
his morality and his feelings. He does not give verbal expression to the
disturbers of the peace that dwell in his heart of hearts.
The mischief makers are, however, merely repressed, not dead. They are
like the Titans [On this similarity rests the psychologic term “titanic,”
used frequently by me in what follows.] which were not crushed by the gods
of Olympus, but only shut up in the depths of Tartarus. There they wait
for the time when they can again arise and show their faces in daylight.
The earth trembles at their attempts to free themselves. Thus the titanic
forces of the soul strive powerfully upward. And as they may not live in
the light of consciousness they rave in darkness. They take the main part
in the procreation of dreams, produce in some cases hysterical symptoms,
compulsion ideas and acts, anxiety neuroses, etc. The examination of these
psychic disturbances is not without importance for our later researches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account