Was Carl Jung a Hindu?

October 12, 2004

Greetings all,

I am curious on what many of you think of Carl Jung's Personality Theories

(for those not familiar with this psychologist,

http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/jung.html explains a great deal about him and

his theories). Does his theories reflect much of the general Hindu

philosophy, or do you think they are bits and pieces? I ask this for many

people who studied him are convinced that he was possibly Hindu in personal

beliefs (I say convinced, for he never really told anyone his religious

affiliations). Add some additional commentaries if you want - I am just

curious on how you all perceive him and his theories as.

Blessings,

_______________

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October 12, 2004

Carl Justav Jung was more influenced by Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism)

than he probably revealed to the world.

I think he did that, because his standing as a psychologist /

psychiatrist did not allow him the freedom to be identified with a

religion, atleast an uncommon one for his time and place.

Ralph Waldo Emerson ("Boston Bramhin" from Concord, Mass) too, a

great thinker, rarely declared his influences from the vedic

traditions.

, "Anya Mortiis"

<angelusmortiis@h...> wrote:

> Greetings all,

>

> I am curious on what many of you think of Carl Jung's Personality

Theories

> (for those not familiar with this psychologist,

> http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/jung.html explains a great deal

about him and

> his theories). Does his theories reflect much of the general

Hindu

> philosophy, or do you think they are bits and pieces? I ask this

for many

> people who studied him are convinced that he was possibly Hindu in

personal

> beliefs (I say convinced, for he never really told anyone his

religious

> affiliations). Add some additional commentaries if you want - I

am just

> curious on how you all perceive him and his theories as.

>

> Blessings,

> Anya

October 12, 2004

Jung was heavily influenced by eastern spiritual paths, including

Hinduism but also Buddhism and Taoism. Jung remained,

however, a staunch Swiss Protestant who, while heavily

influenced by eastern religions, stiill maintained a belief in an

individual ego or self. Because of this he was a dualist and

could not be considered an Advaita Vedantin.

Omprem

, "Anya Mortiis"

<angelusmortiis@h...> wrote:

> Greetings all,

>

> I am curious on what many of you think of Carl Jung's

Personality Theories

> (for those not familiar with this psychologist,

> http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/jung.html explains a great deal

about him and

> his theories). Does his theories reflect much of the general

Hindu

> philosophy, or do you think they are bits and pieces? I ask this

for many

> people who studied him are convinced that he was possibly

Hindu in personal

> beliefs (I say convinced, for he never really told anyone his

religious

> affiliations). Add some additional commentaries if you want - I

am just

> curious on how you all perceive him and his theories as.

>

> Blessings,

> Anya

>

_______________

> Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan

from McAfee®

> Security.

http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

October 12, 2004

Jung was heavily influenced by eastern spiritual paths, including

Hinduism but also Buddhism and Taoism. Jung remained,

however, a staunch Swiss Protestant who, while heavily

influenced by eastern religions, stiill maintained a belief in an

individual ego or self. Because of this he was a dualist and

could not be considered an Advaita Vedantin.

Omprem

, "Anya Mortiis"

<angelusmortiis@h...> wrote:

> Greetings all,

>

> I am curious on what many of you think of Carl Jung's

Personality Theories

> (for those not familiar with this psychologist,

> http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/jung.html explains a great deal

about him and

> his theories). Does his theories reflect much of the general

Hindu

> philosophy, or do you think they are bits and pieces? I ask this

for many

> people who studied him are convinced that he was possibly

Hindu in personal

> beliefs (I say convinced, for he never really told anyone his

religious

> affiliations). Add some additional commentaries if you want - I

am just

> curious on how you all perceive him and his theories as.

>

> Blessings,

> Anya

>

_______________

> Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan

from McAfee®

> Security.

http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

October 12, 2004

Dear Anya,

You may want to check out "Inner City Books" for some

excellent work by Jungian therapists on various

themes, but for some of them you have to be well

versed in the jargon.."Phallos: Sacred Image of the

Masculine". by Dr. Eugene Monick, is a landmark study

and will be of great interest to Shaivites. There is

"The Sacred Prostitute", by Nancy Qualls-Corbett,

"Descent to the Goddess; A Way of Initiation for

Women" by Sylvia Brinton Perera, and one of my

personal favourites and one that contains a very

interesting insight into the Goddess Lilith,

"Saturday's Child: Encounters with the Dark Gods" by

Janet O. Dallet. There are many others of particular

interest to women, because they throw light on why we

do what we do, and most women I know could do with a

bit more insight into themselves. I wouldn't call Jung

a "Hindu" (Hindus hate being called that, by the way,

the term you are looking for is more like "Vedic".)

But he WAS well versed in archetypal imagery and

symbolism, and the "Hindu" religion is seething with

archetypes that are very much alive and active. I have

had no or very little trouble cross-correlating the

Eastern symbolism with the Western, using the

Qabalistic methodology. I will remark that the Western

is relatively primitive by comparison to the

sophisticated ( though quite stagnant) spiritual

system of the East; it is rather like grade school as

compared to university. We have Christianity and its

persecutions to thank for this. There are many

concepts in Eastern systems that have no correlation

in the Western system. One that instantly springs to

mind is the concept of "darshan", or "seeing". When a

Hindu goes to the temple for worship, he calls it

"going for darshan", that is, he is going to "see

God", and God in turn, in the form of the resident

icon in the temple, will "see" him there. The concept

is similar to that of Meister Eckhardt's "The eye with

which I see God is the eye with which God sees me".

But that is as close as Western spirituality gets to

the idea of "darshan"!(Oh, and except maybe for "The

pure in heart shall see God"!) Anyone who has read

"Anil's Ghost" may recall the ritual of "Neti

Mangalam", the painting of the eyes of a statue of the

Buddha exactly at sunrise, done by a consecrated

priest who works facing away from the statue, using a

mirror, so that he does not look directly into those

eyes as he paints them. It is the "finishing touch",

so to speak. Anyway, that is just one concept out of

many that are alien to our Western way of thinking,

though I have found that integrating the concept (and

many others) into my Western spiritual methodology has

enriched it in many ways.

Lilith M.

--- Anya Mortiis <angelusmortiis wrote:

> Greetings all,

> I am curious on what many of you think of Carl

> Jung's Personality Theories

> (for those not familiar with this psychologist,

> http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/jung.html explains a

> great deal about him and

> his theories). Does his theories reflect much of

> the general Hindu

> philosophy, or do you think they are bits and

> pieces? I ask this for many

> people who studied him are convinced that he was

> possibly Hindu in personal

> beliefs (I say convinced, for he never really told

> anyone his religious

> affiliations). Add some additional commentaries if

> you want - I am just

> curious on how you all perceive him and his theories

> as.

>

> Blessings,

> Anya

October 13, 2004

I had a feeling that some members of *starts trying to use more proper

terms* the Vedic religion hated the term "Hindu", since I suspected that it

was a term slapped on by the Britains when they took over. However, I

noticed that both Vedic individuals and Westerners used the term, so I

became careless with using it.

I agree though that Western ways of thinking, though from a broad religious

perspective has similar themes, is totally alien to the Eastern way of

thinking. Our logic tends to be more on the analytical side and I noticed

that a lot of Eastern writings and individuals from the East take a more

holistic approach. I am guilty of being very analytical with all things,

but I am trying hard to learn how to shift that view to a more holistic

perspective.

Thank you for your recommendations. I will add the books on the "books to

rent/buy" list and I am confident that they will be very good references for