jung, campbell, mayan and christian mythology

8/6/2019 Jung, Campbell, Mayan and Christian Mythology

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All the Jung and Campbell material that Ive been exposed to, as well as other esotery such as the Nag

Hammadi texts and writings on Kundalini all seem to be pointing at the same essential human

experience; namely, of coming out of the mist of the unconscious and into greater conscious awareness,

whether in the sense of human evolution as whole, or in the sense of one's individual life experience.

Always waking up, always emerging from the depths.

On a recent visit to a museum exhibit on Mayan mythology which focused on water/sea based images, I

was intrigued by a sculpture piece of a turtle rising up from the dark watery depths. His shell breaks the

surface of the water. And then an alligator rises up front he surface of the shell and begins to consume

the turtle on which he rests, thus returning back to the depths from where it came, only to rise again.

This sculpture was said to be symbolic of the rising and setting of the sun which in turn is a symbol of

birth, life, death and rebirth. We might also consider these themes from a psychological perspective

whereby the turtles shell forms the basis of ego consciousness (i.e. the Self) resting atop the abyss of

the unconscious sea below. The alligator can be seen as the ego, the Will, the exertion of which leads to

its own destruction and return to the primordial depth (an image likewise recalled by Uroboros.)

And so in this little sculpture we see a mythological depiction of consciousness emerging, destroyingitself, returning to the unconscious, and rising again; an entire mythological tale within a single piece of

art. Similar themes of creatures emerging from the watery depths are ubiquitous in Mayan myths, and

seem to similarly point to the process consciousness emerging from a vast and dark unconscious source.

In Jung's book, Aeon and also in Psychology and Alchemy, he cites passages from the Bible and

references works of art and other texts that depict Christ as the King fisher, the fisher of men, that is to

say, a fisher of human souls, which are delivered from the unconscious like fish from the water. In one

medieval depiction, Christ hangs from the cross as if bait on a line and is plunged into the sea to catch

the leviathan.

The following is from Hermes Trismegistus vision of the creation of the Universe (amythology believed to derive originally from ancient Egypt) which also uses images water, darkness,

chaos, and emergence of differentiated forms:

All became dissolved in Light

united within one joyous Love.

Yet the Light cast a shadow,

grim and terrible,

which, passing downwards,

became like restless water,

chaotically tossing forth spume like smoke.

And I heard an unspeakable lament- an inarticulate cry of separation.

The Light then uttered a Word,

which calmed the chaotic waters.

My guide asked:

'Do you understand the secrets of this vision?

I am the Light- the Mind of God,



which exists before

th e chaotic dark wat ers of pot entiality .

My calming Word is th e Son of G od -

th e id ea of beautiful ord er ;

th e harmony of all things with all things .

P rimal Mind is par ent of th e Word, j ust as, in your own experi enc e,

your human mind giv es birth to sp eech .

Th ey cannot be divid ed, on e from th e oth er,

for lif e is th e Union of Mind and Word .

Now, fi x your att ention upon th e L ight,

and becom e On e with it .'

Wh en h e had said this,

h e look ed into m e,

I to I,

until , tr em bling, I saw in thought limitl ess pow er within th e L ight,

to form an infinit e y et ord er ed world -

and I was amaz ed .

I saw in th e darkn ess of th e d eep,

chaotic wat er without form

p erm eat ed with a su btl e int ellig ent br eath of divin e pow er .

Atum's [G od's] Word f ell on th e f ertil e wat ers

making th em pr egnant with all forms .

In th e Jud eo -Christian Bi bl e th e s erp ent is an activ e participant in th e em erg enc e of s elf - awar en ess (i .e.

ego consciousn ess ) as it t empts Adam and Ev e to eat th e fruit of K nowl edg e. It must be so that Adam and Ev e must d estroy th e paradis e that sustains th em . This is th e first expr ession of th e ego . Th e ego is

awak en ed and w e becom e awar e of "I" and "oth er " and th e world becom es diff er entiat ed and chaotic .

And so it is for humanity . We must br eak th e rul e of th e on e for bidd en thing . Th e pain of th e fall of

Adam and Ev e fits with Herm es d escription of th e "unsp eaka bl e lam ent ", th e "inarticulat e cry of

s eparation ". Th e p erf ect Union is lost . But so it always must be with coming into consciousn ess . It

always involv es th e painful loss of unconscious unity ; a wound which can only be m end ed by a sacrific e

in kind . Th e Sacrific e is n ec essary in ord er to r e-esta blish th e Union that has been brok en . In

Christianity, th e supr em e sacrific e tak es th e form of th e crucifi ed Son of G od (th e Word mad e Fl esh ). In

Buddhism, it is Siddartha G otoma's r enunciation of all worldly and t emporal d esir es and th e s ev er e

d eprivation of his body at th e foot of th e Bohdi tr ee.

In Camp bell's "Cr eativ e Mythology ", h e r ef er enc es an anci ent G r eek sculptur e; a cycl e of imag es that

begins with captur e and d eliv eranc e of a fish (th e unconscious s elf, th e sl eeping soul ) from th e wat er

by Morph eus th e fish erman . Th e fish th en becom es a young man, an initiat e, who is l ed to th e

und erworld (sacrificial d eath ) by a godd ess wh er e h e encount ers a s erp ent /crocodil e that d evours th e

world of illusion within th e initiat es h eart . Yet, containing in his h eart a k ern el of what is tru e , th e

initiat e is a bl e to surviv e th e wrath of th e und erworld monst er and ris e up again to th e world a bov e an

enlight en ed and transform ed being . He is no long er th e young initiat e, but a fully r ealiz ed man . His



encounter with the underworld (unconscious) leaves him transformed. What he emerges with (i.e. what

is true in his heart) is the Higher Self, which is awakened from slumber below and brought to the light

above. Characteristic of the enlightened mind, the ego now becomes the subject of the Higher Self

which is beyond the endless demands and desires of the ego. In alchemical terms, the Higher Self is the

lap is p hilosop horum (the Philosop hers Stone) which is identified within and arduously wrend from the

common stone by he who is willing to undergo the ordeal.

Bu the p rocess of coming into fuller consciousness always begins with the exertion of the ego; exertion of

the will (the Original Sin); and with that all sep aration and desire and p ain and suffering and destruction

of unity and harmony. It is the first ripp le of karma which radiates outward and disturbs the still water; it

is the first stirring of life, of sep aration and differentiation of all matter and form. Adam and Eve must

eat the app le. It is the first wounding of the heart that sets into motion the cycle of desire and suffering

which we undergo as we strive to return again to wholeness. We must have an ego, for without ego

consciousness, there is no basis for the individual exp erience of reality at all. And so the way back to

unity, the way back to calming the chaotic waters is p lunge the ego back into the waters of the

unconscious (Bap tism). The ego must face its reckoning with the beast that devours all illusion. The

illusion is the mistaken identity of the ego with the Self. The ego is a function of the Self. The Self contains the ego, and not the other way around. What is devoured (or burned in Hell fire) is all

attachment and karma which arises from this first misconcep tion. What emerges from the trial and

ordeal is (to p ut it in Jungian terms), the individuated Self. In order to discover ones true self, one must

die to ones self.

In Christianity, the Higher Self within us corresp onds to the Christ image who descends from above into

death below and rises again. In Christian Gnosticism, Sop hia is the female p rincip le of the universe who

lie asleep in the underworld and who is awakened by Christ as the male p rincip le that descends and

awakens the female p otentiality. In the Bible, Sop hia app ears as Mary Magdalene and hence the image

of Mary Magdalene as the bride of Christ; the female counterp art (Eros) to the male p rincip le (Logos) and

also as the dark feminine (the whore, the sinner). And this is the p erfect Union of opp osites. In

Mysterium Coniunctionis (Mysterious Union), Jung p oints to an alchemical text from the Middle Ages

that uses the image of the moon as a symbol of the universal female p rincip le who bears within her

womb the "Light" of the Sun which grows to its fullness inside her and then is shed to the world as she

drains herself back into darkness. And then in full darkness she becomes a rabid dog that bites the

newborn child, afflicting it with her darkness. She then drowns herself in the sea where she becomes the

leviathan of the deep . The sick baby is then saved by a p air of doves that make him whole and strong

again. The baby child then transforms into a man who heroically p lunges himself into the dark sea

(sacrificial death) where he infuses the darkness with his light and where the leviathan is transformed

again into the benevolent moon of light which rises back out of the water. So in this mythology centered

around the cycle of the moon (very Pagan), we see an allegory also of the Virgin Mary (the bright full

moon) bearing the Christ child (light of the sun) who is born to the world; who suffers in a world of evil

(the bite of the rabid dog); he is saved by the p air of doves (bap tism); and descends into death to infuse

it with life and bring forth the new Life (the rising of the full moon). I have a statue of the Virgin Mary in

my home from Germany that dates back to the Middle Ages. The Virgin Mary stands with the moon at

her feet. Under the surface of the moon is the face of the devil. The moon of Darkness (Ego) is

vanquished by the Light bore within the Virgin (the Light if Christ/ the Self).

All of these allegories, and mythologies and esoteric writings are all describing something that is

happ ening right now, right now in the eternal p resent; within each individual heart, within the collective

jung, campbell, mayan and christian mythology

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