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)
(6) “That which is born of the flesh is flesh: and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit.
(7) “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
(8) “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so
is everyone that is born of the spirit.”
To be born of water means simply to be born from the mother’s womb. To
be born of the spirit means to be born from the fructifying breath of
the wind; this we learn from the Greek text (where spirit and wind are
expressed by the same word, πνεῦμα) τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τῆς σαρκος σάρξ
ἐστιν, καὶ τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος πνεῦμά ἐστιν.—Τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου
θέλει πνεῖ,[455] etc.
This symbolism rose from the same need as that which produced the
Egyptian legend of the vultures, the mother symbol. They were only
females and were fertilized by the wind. One recognizes very clearly the
ethical demand as the foundation of these mythologic assertions: _thou
must say of the mother that she was not impregnated by a mortal in the
ordinary way, but by a spiritual being in an unusual manner_. This
demand stands in strict opposition to the real truth; therefore, the
myth is a fitting solution. One can say it was a hero who died and was
born again in a remarkable manner, and in this way attained immortality.
The need which this demand asserts is evidently a prohibition against a
definite phantasy concerning the mother. A son may naturally think that
a father has generated him in a carnal way, but not that he himself
impregnated the mother and so caused himself to be born again into
renewed youth. This incestuous phantasy which for some reason possesses
an extraordinary strength,[456] and, therefore, appears as a compulsory
wish, is repressed and, conforming to the above demand, under certain
conditions, expresses itself again, symbolically, concerning the problem
of birth, or rather concerning individual rebirth from the mother. In
Jesus’s challenge to Nicodemus we clearly recognize this tendency:
“Think not carnally or thou art carnal, but think symbolically, then art
thou spirit.” It is evident how extremely educative and developing this
compulsion toward symbolism can be. Nicodemus would remain fixed in low
commonplaces if he did not succeed in raising himself through symbols
above this repressed incestuous desire. As a righteous philistine of
culture, he probably was not very anxious for this effort, because men
seem really to remain satisfied in repressing the incestuous libido, and
at best to express it by some modest religious exercises. Yet it seems
to be important, on the other side, that man should not merely renounce
and repress and thereby remain firmly fixed in the incestuous bond, but
that he should redeem those dynamic forces which lie bound up in incest,
in order to fulfil himself. For man needs his whole libido, to fill out
the boundaries of his personality, and then, for the first time, he is
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account