C.G. Jung: His Myth in Our Time by Marie-Louise von Franz

Author:Marie-Louise von Franz [Marie-Louise von Franz]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8: Coincidentia Oppositorum

When he was eleven (1887) Jung had a vision which left its stamp on him for the rest of his life. It was an event of such significance that it must be given in his own words:

One fine summer day that same year I came out of school at noon and went to the cathedral square. The sky was gloriously blue, the day one of radiant sunshine. The roof of the cathedral glittered, the sun sparkling from the new, brightly glazed tiles. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the sight, and thought: "The world is beautiful and the church is beautiful, and God made all this and sits above it far away in the blue sky on a golden throne and ..." Here came a great hole in my thoughts, and a choking sensation. I felt numbed, and knew only: "Don't go on thinking now! Something terrible is coming, something I do not want to think, something I dare not even approach. Why not? Because I would be committing the most frightful of sins ... the sin against the Holy Ghost.... All I need do is not go on thinking."

I reached home in a pretty worked-up state.... That night I slept badly.... The next two days were sheer torture....

On the third night, however, the torment became so unbearable that I no longer knew what to do. I awoke from a restless sleep just in time to catch myself thinking again about the cathedral and God. I had almost continued the thought!... Sweating with fear, I sat up in bed...." Now it is coming, now it's serious! I must think. It must be thought out beforehand. Why should I think something I do not know? I don't want to, by God, that's sure. But who wants me to?... Where does this terrible will come from?... it has come on me like a bad dream. Where do such things come from? This has happened to me without my doing. Why? After all, I didn't create myself, I came into the world the way God made methat is, the way I was shaped by my parents."[1]

He went on thinking then and realized that his parents could not have been responsible, nor their parents. Finally his thoughts led him back to Adam and Eve, who had been created directly by God himself.

They were perfect creatures of God, for He created only perfection, and yet they committed the first sin.... How was that possible? They could not have done it if God had not placed in them the possibility of doing it. That was clear, too, from the serpent, whom God had created before them, obviously so that it could induce Adam and Eve to sin.... Therefore it was God's intention that they should sin.

This thought liberated me instantly from my worst torment, since I now knew that God Himself had placed me in this situation. At first I did not know whether he intended me to commit my sin or not.

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