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)
Gunkel places Rahab as identical with Chaos, that is, the same as
Tiâmat. Gunkel translates “the breaking to pieces” as “violation.”
Tiâmat or Rahab as the mother is also the whore. Gilgamesh treats Ishtar
in this way when he accuses her of whoredom. This insult towards the
mother is very familiar to us from dream analysis. The dragon Rahab
appears also as Leviathan, the water monster (maternal sea).
_Psalm_ lxxiv:
(13) “Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the
heads of the dragons in the waters.
(14) “Thou brakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces and gavest him to
be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
(15) “Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou didst dry up
mighty rivers.”
While only the phallic meaning of the Leviathan was emphasized in the
first part of this work, we now discover also the maternal meaning. A
further parallel is:
_Isaiah_ xxvii:1:
“In that day, the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword shall
punish Leviathan, the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked
serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.”
We come upon a special motive in Job, chap. xli, v. 1:
“Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord
which thou lettest down? Canst thou put an hook in his nose? or bore
his jaw through with a thorn?”
Numerous parallels to this motive are to be found among exotic myths in
Frobenius, where the maternal sea monster was also fished for. The
comparison of the mother libido with the elementary powers of the sea
and the powerful monsters borne by the earth show how invincibly great
is the power of that libido which we designate as maternal.
We have already seen that the incest prohibition prevents the son from
reproducing himself through the mother. But this must be done by the
god, as is shown with remarkable clearness and candor in the pious
Egyptian mythology, which has preserved the most ancient and simple
concepts. Thus Chnum, the “moulder,” the “potter,” the “architect,”
moulds his egg upon the potter’s wheel, for he is “the immortal growth,”
“the reproduction of himself and his own rebirth, the creator of the
egg, which emerged from the primitive waters.” In the Book of the Dead
it says:
“I am the sublime falcon (the Sun-god), which has come forth from his
egg.”
Another passage in the Book of the Dead reads:
“I am the creator of Nun, who has taken his place in the underworld.
My nest is not seen and my egg is not broken.”
A further passage reads:
“that great and noble god in his egg: who is his own originator of
that which has arisen from him.”[532]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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