Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of ThoughtJung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Philosophy
Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of Thought
Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav)
Libido (Psychology); Mother and child; Psychoanalysis; Subconsciousness; Symbolism (Psychology)
Byron’s “Heaven and Earth” is a mystery founded on the following passage
from Genesis, chapter vi:2: “And it came to pass ... that the sons of
God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them
wives of all that they chose.” Byron offers as a further motif for his
poem the following passage from Coleridge: “_And woman wailing for her
Demon lover_.” Byron’s poem is concerned with two great events, one
psychologic and one telluric; the passion which throws down all
barriers; and all the terrors of the unchained powers of nature: a
parallel which has already been introduced into our earlier discussion.
The angels Samiasa and Azaziel burn with sinful love for the beautiful
daughters of Cain, Anah and Aholibama, and force a way through the
barrier which is placed between mortal and immortal. They revolt as
Lucifer once did against God, and the archangel Raphael raises his voice
warningly:
“But man hath listened to his voice
And ye to woman’s—beautiful she is,
The serpent’s voice less subtle than her kiss.
The snake but vanquished dust; but she will draw
A second host from heaven to break heaven’s law.”
The power of God is threatened by the seduction of passion; a second
fall of angels menaces heaven. Let us translate this mythologic
projection back into the psychologic, from whence it originated. Then it
would read: the power of the good and reasonable ruling the world wisely
is threatened by the chaotic primitive power of passion; therefore
passion must be exterminated; that is to say, projected into mythology.
The race of Cain and the whole sinful world must be destroyed from the
roots by the deluge. It is the inevitable result of that sinful passion
which has broken through all barriers. Its counterpart is the sea and
the waters of the deep and the floods of rain,[191] the generating,
fructifying and “maternal waters,” as the Indian mythology refers to
them. Now they leave their natural bounds and surge over the mountain
tops, engulfing all living things; for passion destroys itself. The
libido is God and Devil. With the destruction of the sinfulness of the
libido an essential portion of the libido would be destroyed. Through
the loss of the Devil, God himself suffered a considerable loss,
somewhat like an amputation upon the body of the Divinity. The
mysterious hint in Raphael’s lament concerning the two rebels, Samiasa
and Azaziel, suggests this.
“... Why,
Cannot this earth be made, or be destroyed,
Without involving ever some vast void
In the immortal ranks?...”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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