Jung: A Study in Individuation, Picture 3
One can only conclude that the unconscious tends to regard spirit and matter not merely as equivalent but as actually identical, and this in flagrant contrast to the intellectual one-sidedness of consciousness, which would sometimes like to spiritualize matter and at other times to materialize spirit. That the lapis or in our case the floating sphere, has a double meaning is clear from the circumstance that it is characterized by two symbolical colours: red means blood and affectivity, the physiological reaction that joins spirit to body, and blue means the spiritual process.
Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious
A Study in the Process of Individuation
Drawing 3
The patient has understood that the floating sphere symbolizes the “true personality.” At present, however, it is not quite clear how she understands the relation of the ego to the “true personality.” The term chosen by her coincides in a remarkable way with the Chinese chen-yen, the “true” or “complete” man, who has the closest affinity with the homo quadratus of alchemy; As we pointed out in the analysis of Picture 2, the rotundum of alchemy is identical with Mercurius, the “round and square.” In Picture 3 the connection is shown concretely through the mediating idea of the wings of Mercury, who, it is evident, has entered the picture in his own right and not because of any non-existent knowledge of Bohme’s writings.
Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious
A Study in the Process of Individuation
Paragraphs 545-555