C.G. Jung: “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

 

jung-shadow-conscious-aivavovksy
Ivan Iavazovsky: The Creation of the World
    

Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the shadow and the world of darkness.

One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.

The later procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.

 

The Philosophical Tree (1945)
Collected Works 13: Alchemical Studies
Paragraph 335

6 Comments

  1. In keeping with a sense of parallelism, the quote is about bringing the unknown into the light; when darkness encounters light, there is only light … and in this sense, it”s a progression from the weakness we exist in to awareness … (to what is greater).

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