Carl Gustav Jung
Page from the original printing
of the
VII Sermones, c. 1917.
Click to enlarge.
Jung's first mandala drawing, inspired by the VII Sermones.
Click to enlarge.
The Gnostic Jung
by Stephan A. Hoeller
The classic translation and interpretation of Jung's VII Sermones.
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C. G. Jung and Gnostic Tradition:
Gnosis, Gnosticism and Jungian Psychology
IntroductionThroughout the twentieth Century the discipline of depth psychology gained much prominence. Among the depth psychologists who have shown a pronounced and informed interest in Gnosticism, a place of signal distinction belongs to C. G. Jung. Jung was instrumental in calling attention to the Nag Hammadi library of Gnostic writings in the 1950's because he perceived the outstanding psychological relevance of Gnostic insights.
The noted scholar of Gnosticism, G. Filoramo, wrote: "Jung's reflections had long been immersed in the thought of the ancient Gnostics to such an extent that he considered them the virtual discoverers of 'depth psychology' . . . ancient Gnosis, albeit in its form of universal religion, in a certain sense prefigured, and at the same time helped to clarify, the nature of Jungian spiritual therapy." In the light of such recognitions one may ask: "Is Gnosticism a religion or a psychology?" The answer is that it may very-well be both. Most mythologems found in Gnostic scriptures possess psychological relevance and applicability. For instance the blind and arrogant creator-demiurge bears a close resemblance to the alienated human ego that has lost contact with the ontological Self. Also, the myth of Sophia resembles closely the story of the human psyche that loses its connection with the collective unconscious and needs to be rescued by the Self. Analogies of this sort exist in great profusion.
Many esoteric teachings have proclaimed, "As it is above, so it is below." Our psychological nature (the microcosm) mirrors metaphysical nature (the macrocosm), thus Gnosticism may possess both a psychological and a religious authenticity. Gnostic psychology and Gnostic religion need not be exclusive of one another but may complement each other within an implicit order of wholeness. Gnostics have always held that divinity is immanent within the human spirit, although it is not limited to it. The convergence of Gnostic religious teaching with psychological insight is thus quite understandable in terms of time-honored Gnostic principles.
-- Stephan A. Hoeller
Publication of C. G Jung's Red Book - Gnosis and the New Aeon
This is the extraordinary book many of us have awaited for decades, and its importance cannot be overstated.
During WWI, Jung entered an extended visionary experience that he called his “confrontation with the unconscious.” Based on these visions, he subsequently developed his principal theories of the collective unconscious, the archetypes, psychological types and the process of individuation. Jung focused on transforming psychotherapy from a practice concerned with the treatment of pathology into a means for reconnection with the soul and the recovery of meaning in life. At the heart of this endeavor was his legendary Red Book, a large, leather bound, illuminated volume that he created between 1914 and 1930, which contained the substance of his visions. It became the nucleus of his later works. While Jung considered the Red Book, or Liber Novus (New Book) to be the central work in his oeuvre, it has remained unpublished till this day, and unavailable for study and unseen by the public at large.
The Red Book is best described as a visionary and prophetic work, and not simply as an imaginative literary or scientific document. It is possibly the most influential unpublished work in the history of psychology. Its publication is a watershed that inaugurates a new era in the understanding of Jung’s life and work; it fully reveals the experiential, Gnostic roots of Jung's psychology.
The Red Book - Liber Novus
Click to order at Amazon.comAs Jung stated:
"The years … when I pursued the inner images were the most important time of my life. Everything else is to be derived from this. It began at that time, and the later details hardly matter anymore. My entire life consisted in elaborating what had burst forth from the unconscious and flooded me like an enigmatic stream and threatened to break me. That was the stuff and material for more than only one life.... Everything later was merely the outer classification,the scientific elaboration, and the integration into life. But the numinous beginning, which contained everything, was then.”
Over a hundred-thousand copies have now been sold. It is available at Amazon.com at a discount price. Buy the Book. The compact "Reader's Edition," which includes the text only, is also now available (see our review for more information on this edition.)
See a preview of the Red Book contents, including several illustrations and the translation of the first page: Download and view in .pdf format. You will also enjoy viewing the video about the digital reproduction of the Red Book (available on YouTube).
The New York Times Magazine (September 20, 2009 edition) offered a very interesting article about Jung and the Red Book online: The Holy Grail of the Unconscious.
An excellent introductory lecture by Dr. Hoeller on Jung's vision of a coming new aeon of consciousness -- a central theme of the Red Book-- is available free at BC Recordings.
Jung, Gnosis and Religion - BBC Documentary
Part of a 1984 BBC Series, titled "Sea of Faith," this 16 minute clip offers a fine introduction to Jung's understanding of Religion, myth, and the tradition of Gnosis.
C. G. Jung and the Red Book: Eighteen Lectures by Dr. Lance Owens
Two series of introductory lectures presented by Dr. Lance Owens at Westminster College in 2010 and 2012 are now available free online. In these lectures Dr. Owens discusses the historical genesis and content of the Red Book, and explains the central place of Liber Novus in the life and work of C. G. Jung. To download or listen to the lectures, visit the Red Book lectures page.
C. G. Jung and the Tradition of Gnosis – The Zurich Lectures
These three lectures were delivered by Lance Owens MD at the C. G. Jung Institute, Zurich, on the subject of Jung and the Tradition of Gnosis. Dr. Owens here examines the roots of Jung's interest in Gnostic mythology. The focus of these talks is on Jung's study and use of Gnostic mythology during his work on Liber Novus, and the manner in which these primary Gnostic myths carried into his life work.
Jung and Aion: Time, Vision and a Wayfaring Man
This article, first published in Psychological Perspectives (Journal of the C. G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles) is now available online in pdf format. The article abstract reads:
C. G. Jung stated in 1957 that the visionary experiences recorded in The Red Book: Liber Novus were the foundation of his life work: “My entire life consisted in elaborating what had burst forth from the unconscious and flooded me like an enigmatic stream ... the numinous beginning, which contained everything, was then.” Liber Novus is now historically placed in a hermeneutic relationship with Jung’s subsequent writings.
Jung composed the first page of Liber Novus in 1915. On this introductory folio leaf he graphically intertwined a prophecy of the future and the coming of a new aeon: an epochal turning-point in human consciousness. Though this revelation was foundational to his subsequent work, Jung did not initially feel free to publicly disclose its keynote.
After several extraordinary near-death visions in 1944, Jung realized it was his duty to finally and openly communicate the central revelation recorded in Liber Novus. The first manuscript page of Liber Novus penned by Jung in 1915—deeply considered, dense with verbal and pictorial imagery formed in response to the Spirit of the Depths—and the complexly crafted commentary in Aion, composed three decades later, are fundamentally wed. They both declare the dawning of a new aeon. While each work might be studied as an independent text, one can only comprehend Jung and his struggle with Liber Novus in their conjunction.
C. G. Jung and the Red Book: The Hermeneutics of Vision
The Gnostic, the third issue of a new annual journal dedicated to "Gnosticism in all its forms", features a major essay by Lance S. Owens on C. G. Jung's visionary experience and the events that led to creation of the Red Book, "C. G. Jung and the Red Book: The Hermeneutics of Vision". The cover of the issue is dedicated to C. G. Jung's guide, Philemon, as painted by Jung in his Red Book.
This is the second major effort in recent decades to produce a regularly published journal dedicated to modern Gnostic studies. The first, Gnosis Magazine, began publication in 1985 and continued successfully with regular quarterly issues for fourteen years (back issues are still available for sale). Since the demise a decade ago of Gnosis Magazine no one has attempted a journal dedicated to the scope of Gnosticism in its modern resurgence. We found both of the first two numbers of this new journal very interesting and offer the publisher our best wishes for success. Give it a reading! No subscriptions are presently offered; it is being sold on a per-issue basis. Buy at Amazon.com
C. G. Jung and the Red Book: Thirteen Lectures by Dr. Stephan Hoeller
Dr. Stephan Hoeller has completing an amazing series of thirteen lectures on The Red Book, Liber Novus, at The Gnostic Society in Los Angeles. In this extended series Dr. Hoeller is reading through the text chapter by chapter, giving background, commentary and insights into the text. This is the definitive commentary on the Red Book. You will find these lectures a perfect companion to your own exploration of the Red Book.Individual lectures or the complete series of lectures can by purchased for immediate download and listening from BC Recordings, where you will also find an expansive catalog of Dr. Hoeller's many audio lectures on C.G.Jung and Jungian psychology.
An excellent introductory lecture by Dr. Hoeller on Jung's vision of a coming new aeon of consciousness -- a central theme of the Red Book-- is available free at BC Recordings.
Septem Sermones ad Mortuos – The Seven Sermons to the Dead
While Jung considered the Red Book to be the central work of his life, there is another independent text from this period of importance: the Septem Sermones ad Mortuos (Seven Sermons to the Dead. Written and privately published around 1916, and originally included within the Red Book, the Septem Sermones are Jung's earliest revealed formulation of his visionary experience. Unlike the Red Book which remained hidden and unpublished, throughout his life Jung shared the Sermones with a select group of his trusted students. When examining the imaginative work of Jung, it is essential to examine the Septem Sermones ad Mortuos in context of, and along with, the great Red Book. These are together the two crucial primary documents of Jung's "confrontation with the unconscious".
In 1982, Stephan A. Hoeller published the first critical study of Jung's Red Book writings, giving a compelling Gnostic hermeneutic to Jung's Septem Sermones ad Mortuos, the only then-published fragment from the Red Book. This ground-breaking study, The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead, still stands as a keynote introduction to Jung's visionary experience; it is highly recommended to those preparing to explore the Red Book. Buy the Book.
Read the introductory chapters from The Gnostic Jung by Stephan A. Hoeller: "The Gnosis of C. G. Jung"
C. G. Jung: A Biography in Books by Sonu Shamdasani
C. G. Jung: A Biography in Books is the most important biographical study of Jung published in a generation, and the essential companion to reading and understanding Jung's The Red Book: Liber Novus. And to boot, the book is beautiful - sumptuously illustrated, artfully designed, and exquisitely crafted (it is printed in Italy by Mondadori, the company that produced the Red Book). Whether you are just starting to read about Jung or have been studying his work for decades, an evening with A Biography in Books will open new perspectives.
Why is A Biography in Books essential reading? Here we have the first rendition of Jung's history that integrates an understanding of Liber Novus into the story. By illustrating the centrality of Liber Novus in Jung's life, Sonu Shamdasani radically transforms the way in which Jung's biography will hereafter be rendered and read. This is a landmark accomplishment. Read our complete online review.
Buy the Book
The Red Book of C. G. Jung: Its Meaning for Our Age – Video Seminar by Dr. Stephan Hoeller
View the videos of a four hour video seminar presented by Dr. Stephan Hoeller to the Theosophical Society in America: The Red Book of C. G. Jung - Its Meaning for Our Age. This presentation provides an extensive introduction to Jung, the contents of the Red Book (or Liber Novus, as Jung titled it) and its vital message.
Jung on Film
C. G. Jung: Face to Face -- The John Freeman Interview (1959)
Recorded for the BBC "Face to Face" TV series in 1959, this is the entire 40 minute interview with Dr. Jung, completed just 2 years before his death.
Jung on Film: The Richard Evans Interviews (1957)
Filmed in 1957 by Dr. Richard I. Evans for the Department of Psychology, University of Houston. Dr. Evans conducted four one-hour interviews with Jung at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH, Federal Institute of Technology), in Zurich, on August 5-8, 1957. They were filmed as part of an educational project designed for students of the psychology department. The four hours of interviews are here edited to about 85 minutes. (A complete transcript of the interviews appears in: C. G. Jung Speaking: Interviews and Encounters, ed. William McGuire and R. F. C. Hull.)
Evans is not a great interviewer, but Jung compensates well. And this is a very important documentary record. (The online copy offered here is an acceptable video transfer of the VCR edition.) Again ,just sit down and meet Dr. Jung.
Jung and Gnosticism
This is a clip from a British documentary, however the exact source is not identified (if you know, let us know). Whatever the source, it is well done. (Note that on YouTube this video has been watermarked by the SAW cult, who have no association with this site, or with either Jung or Gnostic tradition).
Dr. Sonu Shamdasani introduces Liber Novus
This video presentation was prepared in concert with the first exhibition of the Red Book at the Rubin Museum in New York City, and provides a brief overview of the Red Book.
