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- Yes, I'm gonna talk a
bit about what I'm calling
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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the Hermetic Jung.
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Active imagination and the
journey through the planets.
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And this means I'm
gonna be looking at a
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central theme in
Hermetic philosophy,
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hermetic tradition, and seeing
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what connections we can make
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between it and some
of Jung's ideas.
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The idea that we can
make these connections
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shouldn't seem strange
because Jung's work
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itself, in a very
broad sense, you know,
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falls under the
Hermetic tradition.
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And both Jung's work and the
Hermetic tradition itself,
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I would say, falls under this
category of eternal knowledge
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that we're focusing
on this weekend.
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In different ways they
both express in some form
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some central themes
in what we can call
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the perennial philosophy.
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It's in a very,
very broad sense,
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and the broadest sense
possible means that, you know,
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we are not simply physical
beings, natural beings,
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beings of time and space,
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but there's a part of us,
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and perhaps the most
important part that exists
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in some realm beyond.
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This is one of my
favorite pictures of Jung.
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And I love the idea that
he has his glasses up there
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on his forehead.
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The one on the left side is
almost over his third eye.
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I guess, so this is in a way,
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I don't think Jung
did this on purpose,
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but in a way it's a
kind of unconscious.
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You could call it a
Jungean slip in a way
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where he's giving us a
sign about looking within,
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looking inside, you know,
metaphorically inside
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our heads.
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So Jung has his glasses
up there showing us
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where we should be looking.
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And the journey I'm
gonna be talking about,
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even though it's the
journey through the planets,
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is, in reality,
an inward journey.
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It's a journey within.
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It's a kind of journey that
Jung taught many of us to take.
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I know when I first became
interested in this sort of thing
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in my teens back in
the 1990s, excuse me,
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back in the 1970s,
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one of the first people
I was reading was Jung.
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I didn't understand
much of it then,
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I still don't understand
a great deal of it,
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but Jung, like myself,
and many others I believe,
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Jung was the one who
sort of showed us
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how to look inward.
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He certainly showed
modern man how to do that.
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And the whole idea
of inner journeying
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is part of the
esoteric tradition.
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It's part of what we call
the Western Inner Tradition,
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Western Hermetic Tradition.
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In recent times
there's been a movement
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in some Jungean circles
to sort of separate Jung
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from this way of seeing
him as part of this
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Western Inner tradition,
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separate Jung from being
seen as an esotericist
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or an occultist in some way,
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emphasize his scientific side,
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his more strictly
psychological side.
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And I think that's
all to the good.
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I think Jung's very
strict, rigorous,
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more or less scientific
work needs to be recognized.
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He was scientific
as Freud let's say.
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But he also had this other side,
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and I think to sort of try
and lose this other side,
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this esoteric inner
occult side of side,
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you get kind of a
Jung-lite in a way.
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Something similar can be
said about Emanuel Swedenborg
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who more or less I would say
is kind of the inspiration
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for this conference
center here, Purley Chase.
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It was started by
Swedenborgians.
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It's maintained by them.
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I've written a small
book on Swedenborg
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and I've given talks at the
Swedenborg Society in London,
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and quite a few
people come to them,
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don't like the idea
of seeing Swedenborg
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as an occultist in some way.
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They don't like the idea
of seeing Swedenborg
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as having something
to do with esotericism
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in this sort of thing
'cause they believe
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it takes away from his
religious significance
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and all that.
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And I can understand
that argument,
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but once again I
think if you do that
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you'd have a Swedenborg-lite
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So we have Jung
looking into worlds.
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And some of the inner worlds
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that I'm gonna try to
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introduce us to or
bring us to today
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have to do with what we
call the Hermetic tradition.
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What is the Hermetic tradition?
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What is Hermeticism?
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It's the body of knowledge,
body of philosophy,
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insights and spiritual wisdom
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associated with
Hermes Trismegistus.
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It means
"thrice-greatest Hermes".
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He's great, great, great.
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He's great as a philosopher,
great as a sage,
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great as a king, great as quite
a few other things as well.
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And the story goes
that Hermes was
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given a visionary experience
of the eternal mind
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of what we can
call nous in Greek.
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This kind of archetypal
mind at large
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as Aldous Huxley referred to it,
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not specifically
the Hermetic version
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but in the general
sort of sense,
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not in any particular mind
that my mind or your mind,
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but the sort of creative
mind behind existence,
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behind reality.
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And the story is that Hermes,
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in a very relaxed state,
or his body was quiet,
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his senses were quiet.
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He suddenly had this
vision of the eternal mind
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coming to him.
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And it was then that he
was given this revelation.
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Hermes is believed to
have been given this
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kind of revelation
about the true knowledge
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of the relations between
man, God, and the cosmos.
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And he is thought or was thought
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to be the author of a
series of philosophical,
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spiritual, inspirational,
and also magical tracks
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that have been come to be known
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as the Corpus Hermeticum,
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the Hermetic body
of work basically.
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We see him here as
an alchemical Hermes.
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You have the sun and the moon.
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One of the central
themes in Hermeticism
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as well as in Jung is
this bringing together
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of the opposites.
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This unification of contraries
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or holding in the
polarities in a kind of
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creative sort of tension.
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Here's another sort
of image of Hermes.
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This is much more, this
is a much later one that
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earlier one was, I forgot
exactly what century it's from,
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16th to 17th century.
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This is an illustration from
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Manly P. Hall's classic work,
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"The Secret Teachings
Of All Ages".
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If you're not familiar
with it, you should be.
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It's one of the great
compendiums of esoteric
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and inner and Hermetic
and kabbalistic and
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free masonic and so
and so knowledge.
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This is an illustration by
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someone named Augustus Knapp
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who did the illustrations
in the book.
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And we have Hermes here
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and his guise as the Egyptian.
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Now, throughout antiquity,
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through the Dark
Ages, the Middle Ages,
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and then especially
in the Renaissance,
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Hermes was believed to have been
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a contemporary of Moses,
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or perhaps even older.
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He was thought to have existed
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at the dawn of time.
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He was considered
to be a real person,
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a real individual.
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Subsequently in the
early 17th century
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through humanistic,
scholarly research,
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it was determined that the books
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making up the Corpus Hermeticum
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that had been lost
for about a millennium
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from late antiquity until
they were rediscovered
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by a book scout working
for Cosimo de' Medici,
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the power broker of Florence.
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For a long period of time for
a millennium, more or less,
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these Hermetic books were lost.
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A few bits of them
turned up here and there
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in different places.
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There were few scraps of them.
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There was one book
called the Asclepius
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which was known
during the Dark Ages
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and it's in Middle Ages.
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It's sort of a separate
text from the main
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body of the Corpus Hermeticum.
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But Hermes Trismegistus
was known during this time.
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His name was still known.
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It was an anti-conjure
with literally.
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And when the Corpus Hermeticum
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was rediscovered
in the Renaissance
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and was translated
by Marsilio Ficino,
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it had an immense impact
on the Renaissance.
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The Renaissance
wouldn't have been
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what it was without
this input from
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Hermes Trismegistus.
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And if you're interested
in following this line up
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you can read a wonderful
book by Frances Yates,
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Giordano Bruno and the
Hermetic Tradition,
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where she traces the rediscovery
of the Hermetic texts
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and their influence on the
Renaissance at the time.
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As we know the Renaissance
was a time of rediscovery
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of ancient works,
Greek philosophy.
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Plato was another one
who was more or less
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rediscovered during that time.
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Ficino translated Plato as well.
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But if we look at Hermes here,
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the Egyptian, he obviously
has got the pharaoh's
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sort of head cap.
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00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,480
He's holding the Emerald
Tablet in one hand.
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00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:07,480
This is the fabled Emerald
Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus
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00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:12,400
which is, I guess, the
central text in alchemy.
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Although the Emerald
Tablet itself is not part
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of the Corpus Hermeticum.
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It was not part of these
texts that was rediscovered
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00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,920
by Cosimo de' Medici's book
scout and translated by
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00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:27,280
Marsilio Ficino.
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There's no Greek original
of the Emerald Tablet
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00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,200
has ever come to light.
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The earliest version
that we know of is,
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appears in the 8th century.
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And it's a version
by Jabir ibn Hayyan
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who's the Arab alchemist
who's better known
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00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:48,520
in this Latinized
version as Gerber.
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There's also a 9th century
version to come out
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that was erroneously, it should
be to Appollonius of Tyna.
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We also see some other
motifs that associate
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Hermes Trismegistus with Egypt.
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There's the Ibis
which is the bird
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that's associated with him.
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There's the dog, faithful,
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trustworthy animal.
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And you see the pyramids
in the background.
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He's got one foot standing
on Typhon which is this
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sort of demon dark character
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in Egyptian mythology
that Hermes Trismegistus
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was said to have defeated.
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This is a symbolic
sort of side to that.
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It's the older animal,
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lower nature of ourselves that
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the Hermeticist,
the magician defeats
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and learns how to control
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and makes use of.
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And he also has in
his hands the caduceus
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which is Hermes'
sort of magic wand.
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We can see around
that it's a staff
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encircled, entwined
by two serpents.
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00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,840
And at the top there's
this orb with wings.
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Even though it's believed
that the Corpus Hermeticum
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00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:10,600
was written by Hermes
Trismegistus in
the ancient times
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00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:12,840
we're pretty clear that
it was more or less
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00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:16,120
written in the second or
third century in Alexandria,
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00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:17,920
which obviously still
is a city in Egypt.
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00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,480
It was founded by
Alexander the Great.
253
00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,440
And Alexandria was
a fascinating city,
254
00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:24,960
it was a fascinating
place at the time because
255
00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,000
it's the meeting ground
of many, many different
256
00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:30,800
sorts of ideas and
cultures and races
257
00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:32,800
and beliefs and religions,
much like our own today,
258
00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:34,800
much like our own sort
of multi-cultural,
259
00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:36,760
multi-faith time today.
260
00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:40,680
You had a lot of what's
called syncretism going on.
261
00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,760
The Greeks were very
happy to learn about
262
00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:45,920
the Egyptian gods.
263
00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:48,000
The Egyptians were happy
to learn about the Greeks.
264
00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:51,920
You also had large
Jewish population there,
265
00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:56,200
and a variety, early Christian
movement going on as well.
266
00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:58,120
So there was a kind of mash up,
267
00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:00,360
kind of mix up between
different deities
268
00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:02,400
and different gods
and different ideas.
269
00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:04,520
And the whole idea of
Hermes Trismegistus,
270
00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:07,320
Trice Greatest Hermes,
was one product of that.
271
00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:10,280
The figure of Hermes
Trismegistus is more or less
272
00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,880
a kind of amalgam of
the Egyptian god Toph
273
00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:16,760
who's the god of magic,
the god of writing,
274
00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:20,280
the scribe of the gods,
and the Greek god Hermes.
275
00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:23,280
He was a messenger god,
also a god of writing,
276
00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:25,320
a good of transition,
277
00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:29,600
a god of crossroads and so on.
278
00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:34,520
Now Jung was well aware
of the Hermetic tradition.
279
00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:36,520
He knew about it a great deal,
280
00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:41,360
but he focused on sort of later
281
00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:43,440
developments of it in one sense.
282
00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:47,880
Jung focused mostly on alchemy
and the Hermetic tradition.
283
00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:51,760
Alchemy is considered
the Hermetic art.
284
00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:55,680
But as I said earlier
it isn't a part of the
285
00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:57,080
Corpus Hermeticum.
286
00:13:57,120 --> 00:13:59,400
Alchemy was going
on in Alexandria.
287
00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,280
And at the time, and
there's some evidence
288
00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:04,440
that suggest that
some alchemists,
289
00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:07,720
early alchemists in Alexandria
knew of the Hermeticists
290
00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:09,400
who were there at the time
291
00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,280
and some ideas crossed
over between them.
292
00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:14,800
But Jung himself paid
more attention it seems
293
00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,120
to later developments
of Hermeticism.
294
00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:20,800
Most of the books that he
295
00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:25,400
consulted, the works he
consulted in his writings
296
00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:27,920
on alchemy tended to
come from the 16th
297
00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:30,760
and 17th century.
298
00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:33,840
But he did write an
important paper on
299
00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:37,800
an Alexandrian alchemist
from the third century,
300
00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:42,360
Zosimos, originally from
a city called Panopolis.
301
00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:44,800
And Zosimos had some
connection with the
302
00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:46,760
Hermeticists at the time.
303
00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,120
He incorporates
some Hermetic ideas
304
00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:54,080
into some of his
writings about alchemy.
305
00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:58,920
So the alchemists, Hermeticists
and also another group,
306
00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:01,840
the Gnostics, were
all contemporaries
307
00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:06,360
in this time in the
second or third century
308
00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:07,840
in Alexandria.
309
00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:13,720
Again, Jung's great work,
one of his last works,
310
00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:16,880
if not his last book,
Mysterium Coniunctionis,
311
00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:18,720
if I pronounce that correctly,
312
00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:21,640
published in 1955,
313
00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,160
was Jung's sort of magnum
opus about alchemy.
314
00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:27,840
And he writes about
Hermes in there
315
00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:30,120
but he tends to see Hermes as
a kind of trickster figure,
316
00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:32,200
as a kind of trickster
god in some way,
317
00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,720
and that is a true aspect of it,
318
00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:38,560
of Hermes, one aspect
of his character.
319
00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:42,280
But as I'm going to
sort of get on to Jung's
320
00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:44,680
whole sort of movement or theme
321
00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:46,960
in Hermetic philosophy
that Jung didn't
322
00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,680
pay too much attention to.
323
00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:54,720
Again, Jung used many volumes
324
00:15:55,080 --> 00:16:00,080
from Manly P. Hall's
library that he collected
325
00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:04,320
and is still available
for study at the
326
00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:07,680
Philosophical Research
Society in Los Angeles,
327
00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:08,840
Manly P. Hall.
328
00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:11,080
The early image of
Hermes, as I said,
329
00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:13,640
came from his book.
330
00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:19,200
But this is sort of the essence
of Jung's take on alchemy
331
00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:22,120
is this unification
of the opposites.
332
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:25,720
Here we have the lunar
queen and the solar king
333
00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:28,120
joining together.
334
00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:29,600
We see the sun and the moon.
335
00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:33,360
It's this bringing together
of these opposites.
336
00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:37,760
Although Jung wrote large
halfway unreadable texts
337
00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,960
about alchemy and a
variety of other things,
338
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,160
there's a short paper
that he did where he said
339
00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:45,720
what the essence of alchemy was,
340
00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:48,120
and it's something
that he called the
transcendent function.
341
00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:51,600
And this is where the conscious
and the unconscious mind
342
00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:55,000
come together, rather
than fighting it out
343
00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:58,640
as they do most of the
time, they come together
344
00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:00,640
and they produce
something that's
345
00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:02,560
more than either of them.
346
00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:04,640
It was a creative
union between the two
347
00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:08,480
and some new thing
that wasn't thought of
348
00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:11,280
that wasn't expected
comes of this.
349
00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:13,600
And that's very much
along the lines of
350
00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:16,160
this alchemical motif
that Jung focused on,
351
00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:17,920
the bringing together
of the opposites.
352
00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:21,600
In this sense it would be
creating the alchemical gold.
353
00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,560
And we know that although
there were a lot of
354
00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:26,320
alchemists who actually
tried to make gold,
355
00:17:26,360 --> 00:17:29,840
I mean, and that does go back
to the early days in Egypt,
356
00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:33,040
not only gold, the
actual metal that
357
00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:34,360
they were trying to make,
358
00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:35,520
they were trying to
make things golden,
359
00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:37,280
they were trying to
come up with new ways to
360
00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:39,560
basically make things
glitter and shine
361
00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:41,560
and have the appearance of gold.
362
00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,040
So there is actually
that root of alchemy.
363
00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:47,960
But even as early as
this fellow Zosimos,
364
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,360
there's a spiritual
aspect that comes into it,
365
00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:52,720
something to do with
inner transformation.
366
00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,560
and Jung sort of took that
and ran with it as it were,
367
00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:58,040
and as we said that's
what alchemy was about.
368
00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:00,000
It's about this
inner transformation.
369
00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,240
It's about making a
kind of inner gold.
370
00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:06,360
And this is what comes out
of the transcendent function.
371
00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:08,600
And Jung loyalists said that
the alchemists were doing
372
00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:10,800
what he was doing
that they didn't know
373
00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:12,320
that they were doing that.
374
00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:13,640
They thought they were
doing something else.
375
00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:15,600
They thought they were
doing these experiments,
376
00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:17,280
manipulating matter,
377
00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:19,400
going through a variety
of different operations.
378
00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:20,920
Jung is saying by doing
that they were somehow
379
00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:23,840
projecting unconscious material,
380
00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,240
projecting what he
called the archetypes
381
00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:29,640
onto these operations
and experiments.
382
00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:33,480
And they were
doing unconsciously
383
00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:37,200
something that Jung believed
that he had developed
384
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:42,000
or was able to somehow
formulate consciously.
385
00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:45,320
And this is something that
he called active imagination.
386
00:18:45,360 --> 00:18:48,240
We'll get back to
that a bit later on.
387
00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:50,920
But essentially active
imagination is a way
388
00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:55,160
of consciously inducing
this transcendent function.
389
00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:59,320
It's a way of trying to
bring unconscious contents
390
00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:00,960
together with the
conscious mind.
391
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:02,880
It's a way of
dreaming while awake.
392
00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,800
It's a way of having
an inner journey.
393
00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:10,600
It's a way of having an inner
visionary sort of experience.
394
00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:14,400
Much like the visionary
experience I mentioned earlier
395
00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,440
in which Hermes Trismegistus
was given this revelation
396
00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:21,040
about the truth, the
true knowledge of
397
00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:23,400
man, god, and the cosmos.
398
00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:26,920
Another Hermetic art
399
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:30,320
that Jung was interested
in was astrology.
400
00:19:30,360 --> 00:19:33,360
He studied astrology
throughout most of his career.
401
00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:35,840
He didn't talk about it much
until later in his career.
402
00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:40,280
Jung kept stumm a lot
about his interests in
403
00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:44,520
Hermeticism or any
other esoteric or occult
404
00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:47,600
kind of practice
because he wanted to
405
00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,360
protect his standing
as a scientist.
406
00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:53,520
In my book, Jung the Mystic,
407
00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:55,840
it's sort of short introductory,
408
00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:58,560
biographical study of Jung
409
00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:02,280
but from this esoteric
point of view.
410
00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:05,400
I originally wanted to
have a question mark here,
411
00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,800
but the publisher thought
that would inhibit sales.
412
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:10,560
So we didn't have that.
413
00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:12,280
But it raises the question
was Jung a mystic?
414
00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:14,480
And Jung, throughout
hiw whole career,
415
00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:17,400
said he wasn't.
416
00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:18,520
In a very late interview,
417
00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:20,280
he told the
interview that anyone
418
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:22,440
who thinks I'm a
mystic is an idiot.
419
00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:25,800
And that would've included
quite a few people by that time,
420
00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:28,640
not the least of which
was Jung's early mentor
421
00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,560
and well friend Sigmund Freud.
422
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,360
So Jung himself argued
his whole career
423
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:36,240
that he was a scientist,
he was an imperiasist,
424
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:37,720
he wasn't doing mysticism,
425
00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:38,960
he wasn't doing the occult,
426
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:40,280
he wasn't doing philosophy,
427
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,720
he was doing hard
kind of science.
428
00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:48,600
The professor doth
protest too much I think
429
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,040
because anyone who's familiar
with Jung's work knows
430
00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:52,920
that he was in this camp,
431
00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:54,800
he was part of this
sort of tradition.
432
00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:56,400
He was a scientist as well,
433
00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:58,080
but he was part of this
esoteric sort of tradition.
434
00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:00,440
But as I say Jung is
doing astrological charts
435
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:03,760
for his patients early on.
436
00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:06,600
Though it's much later in
his career that he came out
437
00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,400
and started talking
about it upfront.
438
00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:14,520
And he was very interested in
439
00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:18,040
the idea of the precession
of the equinoxes.
440
00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:19,680
As early as 1940 Jung
was talking about
441
00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:21,800
the age of Aquarius, the
age of Aquarius coming on,
442
00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:25,560
and he predated the
hippies by at least
443
00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:27,960
20 years if not more.
444
00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:32,120
He was aware of these
changes going on
445
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:34,240
in the zodiac.
446
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:37,200
And in a late book called Aion,
447
00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:38,920
it was published in 1951,
448
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:41,400
he more or less tries
to bring together
449
00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:43,840
this idea of the precession
of equinoxes which I assume
450
00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:45,200
you're all familiar with.
451
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:48,120
You know, it's the
movement of the zodiac
452
00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:51,000
against the sun rising
and we're sort of,
453
00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:52,200
I don't know where we are now.
454
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:53,520
We're kind of supposed
to be in the beginning
455
00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:55,360
or about to be in the
beginning of Aquarius.
456
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:57,440
We're coming out
of, what was it?
457
00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:58,080
Aries?
458
00:21:58,120 --> 00:21:59,360
Pieces, sorry.
459
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:00,880
Coming out of
Pieces and all that.
460
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,760
Jung put his ideas
about the archetypes,
461
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,360
again, which I'm
assuming you know.
462
00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:09,960
These fundamental sort
of psychic blueprints
463
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:11,800
that we're born with.
464
00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:14,440
Jung was a bit ambiguous
about where they came from.
465
00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:17,680
Do we inherit them genetically?
466
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:20,160
Are they part of the brain?
467
00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:22,440
Are they something
that's built up over time
468
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:24,200
after millions and
millions and millions
469
00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:25,960
and man have had
experience of women
470
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:27,680
we all inherit that now,
471
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,280
and likewise women for men.
472
00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:31,680
But he also talked
about them in a way
473
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:35,080
that's more in line with
some of the Hermetic ideas
474
00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:38,240
where they're kind of
these platonic ideals,
475
00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:42,440
they're these kind of
fundamental patterns
476
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:45,400
or structures that exist
outside of time and space,
477
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:47,960
outside of physical reality.
478
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,320
But somehow their influence
479
00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:53,080
is pressed onto it.
480
00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:57,880
Jung was aware of, again,
481
00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:00,000
astrology and he made use of it,
482
00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:04,160
another Hermetic art or idea.
483
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,760
But what I'm gonna talk
about now is one that Jung
484
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:09,920
didn't really pay
much attention to,
485
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,280
and I'm actually
surprised that he did it.
486
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,280
And it's called the journey
through the planets.
487
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,920
Now in this revelation
that Hermes Trismegistus
488
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:24,960
was said to have had by
Nous, the Eternal Mind,
489
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:27,800
among many other
things Nous explained
490
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:29,760
the creation of the world.
491
00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:33,000
And he explained
what happens to us
492
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,480
when we're born into the world.
493
00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:39,120
I'm sorry, this is a
rather dull, boring
494
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:41,040
version of this but
I just try to get
495
00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:44,760
the clearest kind
of picture of it
496
00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:48,080
without a lot of Latin
that I can't read
497
00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:49,800
or pronounce accurately.
498
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:54,400
But this is the old
Ptolemaic view of the world,
499
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:59,440
the Greek astronomer
Ptolomy had his vision
500
00:24:00,360 --> 00:24:03,160
of the universe was dominant
501
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:07,480
until basically
Copernicus pointed out
502
00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:09,200
that he was, you know,
503
00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:10,360
some problems with it.
504
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:11,960
And then from Copernicus' work
505
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,360
we developed it into our own
506
00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,240
modern heliocentric
view of the world.
507
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:19,600
This is the ancient
view where we have Earth
508
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:21,080
at the center,
509
00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:24,520
and you have these concentric
circles with spheres
510
00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:29,560
of the different planets
radiating from the Earth
511
00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:33,080
up to the orbit of the
fixed stars and then the
512
00:24:33,120 --> 00:24:36,800
Primum Mobile, the first
mover, the unmoved mover.
513
00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:40,200
And then beyond that is in
514
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,360
different traditions,
some unmanifest reality
515
00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,120
that we can't really talk about.
516
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:45,960
We don't really have
language to talk about this.
517
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,280
It's beyond anything we can say.
518
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:54,040
And the Hermetic sort
of creation myth,
519
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:57,800
basically Nous,
the Eternal Mind,
520
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,840
gets it into his head
to create a world
521
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,720
and he creates a second
Nous, the demiurge,
522
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:09,120
a kind of craftsman, a
kind of lieutenant god,
523
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:11,200
and says, "Why don't
you make me a world?"
524
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:15,480
And so the demiurge
makes this world
525
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:18,920
and basically Earth
at the center.
526
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:20,840
That's the space
where, you know,
527
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:25,240
the world, our world on
Earth is going to be made.
528
00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:27,280
And the demiurge
makes these sort of
529
00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:30,320
seven circles around it.
530
00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:32,800
And out of different influences,
different attributes,
531
00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:34,480
different characteristics
from these
532
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:36,400
concentric circles,
these spheres,
533
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:38,960
the Earth is made, and
the Earth is the place of
534
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,560
the elements and bodies
and time and space
535
00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:43,680
and so on and so on.
536
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:47,720
And what happens is
Nous, the Eternal Mind,
537
00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:49,120
basically wants to show off.
538
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,200
He wants somebody to
see his handiwork,
539
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,360
and so he creates
Man with a capital M,
540
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:56,920
that means man
and woman as well.
541
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,360
And he says, "Look
what I've done."
542
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:02,400
And Man is very
excited about this.
543
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:06,640
He pierces through the spheres
544
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:10,080
and sees the Earth, sees
this beautiful planet,
545
00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:12,320
sees nature and all
that sort of thing.
546
00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:16,640
Falls in love with his
reflection on water.
547
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:21,320
Nature herself sees
Man looking at her.
548
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,440
It's difficult to
avoid these sort of
549
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:27,880
gender ways of talking
about these things
550
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:29,320
but bear with me.
551
00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:32,760
And basically the two of them
fall in love with each other,
552
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:35,480
Man descends into Nature,
553
00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:37,280
and Nature embraces
Man and we'd be
554
00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:41,000
pretty much been in that
situation since then.
555
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:43,480
But on his descent
down to nature
556
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:47,040
Man acquires characteristics
of these different spheres.
557
00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,480
Takes on attributes from them.
558
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,440
If you think of
something starting out
559
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:56,000
as very etherial, very refined,
560
00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,880
mist-like and
gradually condensing,
561
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:00,800
gradually getting
more and more solid
562
00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:02,360
and taking on
different attributes
563
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:05,080
and then finally gets
down to the bottom here.
564
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:11,480
Now the idea, the journey
through the planets
565
00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:17,440
is that Nous tells Hermes that
566
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,120
through this creation process,
567
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:23,080
Man has become a
creature of two worlds.
568
00:27:23,120 --> 00:27:27,400
Man has a natural state,
569
00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:29,600
a state that's
acquired by picking up
570
00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:31,160
all these characteristics from
571
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,840
the different planetary
spheres, as a body,
572
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:35,520
existing time and space,
573
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:38,080
is subject to all the
laws and limitations and
574
00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:39,720
conditions and constraints
575
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,320
that everything has that
exists in time and space.
576
00:27:45,360 --> 00:27:50,280
And the way that this is
described and spoken of is that
577
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:53,120
the planets basically
control our fate.
578
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:55,960
the planets control
fate and destiny.
579
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,080
We on Earth are subject
to the influences
580
00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:01,520
of these different
planetary forces
581
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:03,960
and they basically
call the shots.
582
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,520
And if you awaken though
to the Hermetic call,
583
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:11,320
if you want ot regain access to
584
00:28:11,360 --> 00:28:13,400
your spiritual side,
585
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:14,880
as I said we have two natures,
586
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,960
you have a physical, earthly,
one in time and space,
587
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,120
but then we're also
a part of the source
588
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:22,840
from which creation started.
589
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:24,520
We're a part of
the eternal mind,
590
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:26,280
we're part of Nous.
591
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:28,920
And in fact when Nous
first speaks to Hermes
592
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,880
he basically says, "I'm
you talking to yourself.
593
00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:34,360
"I'm the part of you
that you don't recognize
594
00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,400
"and I'm talking to you,
I'm explaining to you
595
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:39,240
"what your true nature
is and your true place
596
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,640
"in reality is."
597
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:49,400
The central idea in
the Hermetic philosophy
598
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:51,560
was to journey back up
599
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:54,000
through the spheres,
600
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:58,360
journey back up through
the planetary circles.
601
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:02,240
And on each level you give
back what you acquired
602
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:03,960
or you transform it.
603
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:06,760
They talk about it
in different ways
604
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:08,160
but it's more or
less the same idea.
605
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,560
What was kind of an impediment,
606
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:12,320
what was the restraint on you,
607
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,360
what was something
that weighed you down
608
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:16,840
you transform it into
something useful,
609
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:18,480
you transform it into a power
610
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:19,920
that you can make use of,
611
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:21,120
and it empowers you.
612
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,600
Yourself becomes bigger
through these things.
613
00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:29,640
And so the Hermeticists
would go up
614
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:31,320
through these spheres,
615
00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:36,760
and that was the aim was to
go up through these spheres.
616
00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:44,640
And different
Hermetic philosophers
617
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,400
would say that those who
don't do this journey,
618
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:52,840
they're trapped in fate
and they become wanderers
619
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:54,200
on the Earth which
is an interesting way
620
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:57,800
to talk about them because
the planets themselves
621
00:29:57,840 --> 00:29:59,760
in Greek it means wanderer.
622
00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:02,760
So, if you don't free yourself
623
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:04,280
from the influences
of the planets,
624
00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:08,080
you remain sort of one
them on Earth itself.
625
00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:12,040
And the ultimate
aim of the journey
626
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:16,080
through the planets was
to get beyond the stars.
627
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:19,160
There's a realm
past the last sphere
628
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,520
where you get into
the realm of causes,
629
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:24,160
the realm of the noumena
rather than the phenomena.
630
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:27,760
This is back to the source,
back to the spiritual energies
631
00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:30,320
that created the cosmos
in the first place
632
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:31,960
and of which we're part of,
633
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,840
we have a strong
connection to it.
634
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:36,400
That's there but it's sunk.
635
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:37,880
It's hidden, it's obscured
636
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,040
by all the material that
we've acquired in our descent
637
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:44,880
from the source
down to the planets
638
00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:47,280
through the planets
down to Earth.
639
00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:51,440
Now a group who I
mentioned briefly earlier.
640
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,120
We have a very
similar sort of theme,
641
00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:57,080
very similar idea,
642
00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,960
and were contemporaries
with the Hermeticists
643
00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:03,840
that Jung knew quite a bit about
644
00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:06,520
and wrote quite a bit
about were the Gnostics.
645
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:09,520
This is an image of the
Gnostic god Abraxas.
646
00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:11,120
Here's a variety of
different interpretations
647
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:13,760
of what Abraxas means.
648
00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,040
Those of you who are
old enough to remember
649
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:20,000
the Hermann Hesse craze in
the late '60s, early '70s,
650
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:21,800
you know his novel Demian.
651
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:26,400
Abraxas is a central sort
of figure in that book.
652
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:31,360
This is a Gnostic
novel that Hesse wrote
653
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:36,120
after he went through a series
of psychoanalytic sessions
654
00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:39,320
first with Jung and then
later with a disciple of Jung,
655
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:41,600
a fellow named Joseph Lang.
656
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:45,440
And another reference
from the past is that the
657
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:48,840
rock group Santana had
an album called Abraxas
658
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:51,120
I think in the
early '70s as well.
659
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:55,920
So as I said the
Gnostics were someone,
660
00:31:55,960 --> 00:32:00,600
a group that Jung had been
reading about quite some time.
661
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,400
He says he first started
reading about them in 1912
662
00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:05,920
and even told Freud, they were
still friends at the time,
663
00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:07,920
that he thought
that psychoanalysis
664
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:10,160
could learn something
from the Gnostic Sophia.
665
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:14,840
Sophia means wisdom but it also
666
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:18,000
is a Gnostic diety,
a Gnostic goddess,
667
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:21,720
who, like all of us,
has fallen down to Earth
668
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:26,560
from the higher spheres and
has become lost on the Earth.
669
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:28,800
And one of the themes
or the metaphors
670
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:32,280
for the Gnostic journey
is to rediscover,
671
00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:35,560
is to find lost Sophia,
find the lost wisdom
672
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:40,600
and bring her back up to
her more divine state.
673
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:46,760
Jung went back to
reading the Gnostics
674
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:50,000
in between 1918 and 1926.
675
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:51,640
And what had happened in between
676
00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:53,240
his first reading
of them in 1912
677
00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:55,520
and when he went back
was that depending
678
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:59,280
how you look at it he had
either a psychotic episode,
679
00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:01,240
an extended one,
or he went through
680
00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:03,720
a long process of
spiritual transformation
681
00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:06,600
following his break with Freud.
682
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:08,400
If you're familiar
with the Red Book,
683
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,960
you're familiar with the
story between Freud and Jung.
684
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,320
Jung was a close,
685
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:17,720
Freud wanted Jung to
take on the mantle
686
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:21,760
of being the head of the
psychoanalytic movement.
687
00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:23,960
Jung in one sense is
very happy to do that.
688
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,520
He had a great love for Freud.
689
00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:28,280
He looked up to him
as sort of a father
690
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,320
but he also had his
genius of his own
691
00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:31,880
and he wanted to
go on his own path,
692
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,600
and the two had many
different opinions
693
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:37,200
about a variety of
different things,
694
00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:40,680
and eventually Jung felt
that he had to break away,
695
00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:45,640
and he went through a traumatic
experience after that.
696
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,200
Of you've read Memories,
Dreams, and Reflections,
697
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:49,640
Jung talks at length about
698
00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:50,920
what he went through.
699
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:52,800
He calls it his descent
into the unconscious.
700
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,960
And it was during
this crisis period
701
00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:58,640
Jung is having a series
of waking dreams,
702
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:00,920
visionary experiences,
703
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,080
strange paranormal episodes.
704
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:04,960
This is when he
developed this process
705
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:08,160
that I mentioned earlier
called active imagination
706
00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:10,000
where he developed
this way of actually
707
00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:14,280
having a conversation, a talk
with the unconscious contents,
708
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:16,080
with the archetypes as it were.
709
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:22,560
We know that Jung felt a close
affinity with the Gnostics.
710
00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:27,320
He told, I think
it's Jolande Jacobi,
711
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:30,200
one his followers that
the Gnostics were friends,
712
00:34:30,240 --> 00:34:32,760
that is he felt
in their company.
713
00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:37,160
And this was kind
of made official
714
00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:41,640
in the early '50s when
one of the Gnostic texts
715
00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:46,320
that were found at Nag
Hammadi in Egypt in 1945,
716
00:34:47,240 --> 00:34:49,520
some of Jung's
followers got together
717
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:51,440
and bought one of these codexes
718
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,400
and it's named the Jung Codex.
719
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:59,120
So Jung's association of the
Gnostics is rather official.
720
00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:05,160
One of the people
that Jung learned
721
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:09,680
about the Gnostics from was
a fellow named GRS Mead.
722
00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:13,480
Mead was a brilliant
scholar, a translator,
723
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:16,200
an interpreter of ancient
Hermetic philosophy
724
00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:19,560
who gets very little
attention these days.
725
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:22,480
Most academic scholars don't
pay much attention to him
726
00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:26,280
because unlike them
Mead believed in it.
727
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:28,240
He had a passionate,
728
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,560
emotional,
existential investment
729
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:32,800
in these works.
730
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:35,200
He wasn't a detached
academic scholar
731
00:35:35,240 --> 00:35:37,080
just doing it and it
could've been anything else.
732
00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,600
It was something that
he really believed in.
733
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:43,120
Jung even traveled
to London once
734
00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:47,480
to thank Mead for
his translation of
the Pistis Sophia.
735
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:49,560
That's a central Gnostic
text that was discovered
736
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:51,520
fairly early, earlier
than Nag Hammadi.
737
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:53,560
It was discovered
in the late 1700s
738
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:58,280
which talks about Jesus'
ministry after the resurrection.
739
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:00,400
It's a long text about
what Jesus taught
740
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:02,560
after he was resurrected.
741
00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,720
There's vast differences
between the Gnostic
742
00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:07,680
versions of Christianity
and what became
743
00:36:07,720 --> 00:36:09,480
the central one later on.
744
00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:11,440
And if you're familiar
Elaine Pegels' book,
745
00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:13,080
The Gnostic Gospels,
746
00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:14,560
and if you're not
familiar with it
747
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:15,840
it's definitely worth
reading 'cause she spells out
748
00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:18,960
and very clearly, very readably
749
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:21,360
what were some of the
central differences between
750
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:23,480
early Christianity
and Gnosticism.
751
00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:25,560
They all grew up in the same
752
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:27,520
kind of multi-cultural,
multi-faith mulch
753
00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:30,360
that was happening in
Alexandria at the time.
754
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:35,440
Mead was also a secretary to
HP Blavatsky in her last days.
755
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,040
And after falling out
with theosophical society
756
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:40,800
he started the Quest Society.
757
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:42,000
And probably his
most important book
758
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:43,880
was his book on ostracism called
759
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,600
the Fragments of
a Faith Forgotten.
760
00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:50,160
And just tangentially
PD Ouspensky
761
00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:52,920
the philosopher and
followed Gurdjieff,
762
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:54,720
his original title for
the book that we know
763
00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:56,320
is In Search of the Miraculous.
764
00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,240
It was called Fragments
of a Forgotten Teaching,
765
00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:02,600
but he realized that
Mead had got their first
766
00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:05,760
with his title of the book
and so he didn't use it.
767
00:37:06,720 --> 00:37:10,760
But there's enough of a
connection between Jung
768
00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:13,000
and the Gnostics for
some Jung interpretators
769
00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:16,840
to even say that Jung
essentially was a Gnostic.
770
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:20,160
And there's very good
reason to say this
771
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:23,040
because Jung himself
produced the Gnostic text.
772
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:30,040
His estranged, poetic
work that he wrote
773
00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:32,080
during this breakdown
that he went through
774
00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:34,520
following the break
up with Freud.
775
00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:37,040
It's called Seven
Sermons to the Dead.
776
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,280
And again this notion
seven comes in.
777
00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:41,120
We all know seven
is a big number
778
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:42,560
in the Hermetic esoteric world.
779
00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:43,840
But when you start looking,
780
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:45,400
actually you're
surprised how many times
781
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:47,320
it does turn up.
782
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:51,400
And Jung tells a
story in Memories,
Dreams, and Reflections
783
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,360
that while he was going
through this crisis
784
00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:57,840
or this paranormal,
psychic, visionary
785
00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:00,520
experiences were
happening to him,
786
00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:04,160
he's in his house in KuĆ¼snacht
which is just outside Zurich,
787
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:05,440
on Lake Zurich.
788
00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:06,760
His family's there.
789
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:08,440
They have been experiencing
these things as well,
790
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:11,480
and they suddenly hear this
ringing or loud banging
791
00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:13,480
at the front door.
792
00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:15,440
And they go to see and in
traditional ghost stories,
793
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:17,520
startled there's no one there.
794
00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:19,520
But then Jung starts
hearing this voice
795
00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:24,400
telling him that the dead
have come from Alexandria,
796
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:25,760
well they've come from
Jerusalem actually,
797
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:27,400
the dead have come
from Jerusalem
798
00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:29,880
and they need to speak to him.
799
00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:31,440
They want him,
they have to tell,
800
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:34,400
he has to tell them, he has
to give them the answers
801
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:35,800
to the questions they're asking,
802
00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:37,360
to the things they're seeking.
803
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:39,520
And so in this visionary state
804
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:41,560
he writes this
strange poetic work,
805
00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:43,840
called The Seven
Sermons to the Dead,
806
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:46,720
which is very much like the
kind of visionary material
807
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,440
that you do find in
the Corpus Hermeticum.
808
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:55,440
And basically it's
prophetic revelations
809
00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:59,480
passed on to the dead by
Basilides of Alexandria
810
00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:02,800
Basilides was a Gnostic,
a famous Gnostic teacher
811
00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:05,280
from this period in Alexandria
812
00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:06,760
that had been talking about.
813
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:09,720
The central theme in the
Seven Sermons to the Dead
814
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:12,360
is Jung's idea of individuation.
815
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:14,600
It's the need to
differentiate one's self
816
00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:16,200
from what he calls the Pleroma.
817
00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:17,680
The Pleroma is this Gnostic idea
818
00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:21,480
of this kind of one
that's beyond everything.
819
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:25,080
It's the unmanifest, the
undifferentiated one.
820
00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:28,720
And just in the process of
going down from the source
821
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:33,280
down to Earth is a process
of differentiation.
822
00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:37,320
Likewise in Jung's
psychology, the process of
823
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:39,000
coming from the
unconscious matrix
824
00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:40,920
into your own individual
self is a process
825
00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:43,800
of differentiation.
826
00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:49,360
What is this gnosis that
Jung is talking about?
827
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:51,920
It's a Greek word for knowledge,
828
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:54,760
but it's particular
kind of knowledge.
829
00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:56,360
Another Greek word
for knowledge,
830
00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:58,120
episteme is a knowledge
we're most familiar with.
831
00:39:58,160 --> 00:39:59,400
It's book-learning knowledge.
832
00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:00,920
It's knowledge that you
acquire step by step.
833
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:02,400
It's knowledge that
you get when you go
834
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:04,040
to the British Library.
835
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:07,160
It's knowledge that comes in
a logical kind of sequence.
836
00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:09,680
And it comes from observation
or experimental reasoning.
837
00:40:09,720 --> 00:40:12,360
But gnosis is a kind
of sudden knowledge,
838
00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:13,680
and it's not only the knowledge,
839
00:40:13,720 --> 00:40:16,080
it's the experience of
having the knowledge.
840
00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:18,400
So it's not only that
you know something,
841
00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:21,160
you have the experience
of knowing it.
842
00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:25,240
And Jung himself famously
843
00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:28,480
in a late interview
with him in 1959
844
00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:29,760
when he's asked by John Freeman
845
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:32,400
who's doing an interview
for the BBC about
846
00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:33,920
whether he believed in God,
847
00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:36,760
Jung said, "I don't
believe, I know."
848
00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:39,680
So Jung had this
kind of experience,
849
00:40:39,720 --> 00:40:41,920
and this experience that
he had during this crisis
850
00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:44,560
when he had these
visionary states.
851
00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:46,320
There's a difference
between the Gnostic
852
00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:49,160
approach to gnosis
and the Hermeticists.
853
00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:52,040
In a central sense, the Gnostics
854
00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:54,080
were more paranoid.
855
00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:56,280
The Gnostics believed
that the world we live in
856
00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:59,160
is a world created by
a kind of idiot god,
857
00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:01,920
this kind of false god
who's created this world
858
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:03,160
and we are trapped in it.
859
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:05,600
And there's a true
god beyond the world.
860
00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:08,040
And we still have a
spark from that true god.
861
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:11,120
And like the Hermeticists
we have to get back to it.
862
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:13,400
But whereas the
Gnostics want to escape
863
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:14,720
from the world in some sense,
864
00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:15,680
the Hermeticists
don't necessarily
865
00:41:15,720 --> 00:41:17,320
want to escape from the world
866
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:19,560
but they want to learn
knowledge within it
867
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:23,040
so that they can be who they
truly are within the world.
868
00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:24,680
They can fulfill their
real responsibilities
869
00:41:24,720 --> 00:41:26,400
and take their true
place within the world,
870
00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:28,360
not to escape it
to another realm,
871
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:30,880
but not to be trapped
and conditioned by
872
00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:32,360
the powers of fate.
873
00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:38,520
And what happens in
the gnosis experience
874
00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:41,240
for the Hermeticists was that
875
00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:44,040
when they finally
journey past the planets
876
00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:45,360
they get up into these areas,
877
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:47,720
what they called the
8th and 9th spheres.
878
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:50,360
And these are spheres
that are outside time,
879
00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:53,200
they're outside space,
they're beyond the cosmos.
880
00:41:53,240 --> 00:41:56,080
They're beyond the universe.
881
00:41:57,560 --> 00:41:59,680
We don't quite know
exactly what they did.
882
00:41:59,720 --> 00:42:01,120
We don't have a
lot of information
883
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:02,320
about the Hermeticists.
884
00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:03,600
We have more information
about the Gnostics
885
00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:05,560
than we do about
the Hermeticists.
886
00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:08,000
One thing we don't know, we
don't know any of their names.
887
00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:11,040
We don't know any of
the people at the time
888
00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:12,440
what their names were
who were doing this
889
00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:15,040
'cause they signed the text
either Hermes Trismegistus
890
00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:18,160
or some other kind
of sage character.
891
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:20,320
They were anonymous.
892
00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:24,160
There's some conjecture
based on a lot of research
893
00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:26,960
into contemporary
practices at the time.
894
00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,560
But we have good
reason to believe that
895
00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:31,320
there are Gnostic
communities, excuse me,
896
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:33,720
Hermetic communities
outside of Alexandria,
897
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:35,320
out into the desert.
898
00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:37,480
They shared space with the
Gnostics and the Essenes
899
00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:39,240
around the same time.
900
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:41,320
But they did go through a
variety of different practices
901
00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:44,000
to induce these sort
of visionary states.
902
00:42:45,720 --> 00:42:49,280
They did kind of chanting
with what is called
903
00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:51,480
barbarous words of evocation.
904
00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:54,680
They put together kind
of Greek syllables
905
00:42:54,720 --> 00:42:57,240
or different kind of
words and smash them up
906
00:42:57,280 --> 00:42:59,000
and would chant
these kind of things
907
00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:02,200
and induce a kind of
non-rational state
of consciousness
908
00:43:02,240 --> 00:43:04,360
to get beyond the
rational, logical mind.
909
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:07,080
They had guided inner journeys,
910
00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:08,120
guided inner meditations
911
00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:10,760
much like we have them today.
912
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:15,240
And when they were taken
up through the spheres
913
00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:16,600
and they finally
got up into the 8th
914
00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:18,600
and the 9th spheres,
they were then
915
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:19,760
considered that they had joined
916
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:21,160
the Brotherhood of the Ogdoad,
917
00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:23,840
it's the Brotherhood
of the Eighth.
918
00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:27,480
And the 8th sphere and
even the 9th sphere was,
919
00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:30,920
as I said, this kind
of mystical experience
920
00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:33,240
in which they had this
experience of gnosis
921
00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:34,800
when they had the true vision,
922
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:36,680
they had the true understanding
923
00:43:36,720 --> 00:43:39,240
of their relations to the cosmos
924
00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:40,840
and to god and to nous.
925
00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:43,160
And they had two
responses to that.
926
00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:45,240
On some of the texts
they talk about
927
00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:48,440
them singing these
songs of praise.
928
00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:52,240
GRS Mead translated a group of
929
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:54,120
these songs of praise
called the Hymns to Hermes.
930
00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:56,640
And they're rather
ecstatic, inspirational
931
00:43:56,680 --> 00:43:58,400
kind of text.
932
00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:00,920
And the other was silence.
933
00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:02,840
It was a kind of
mystical silence
934
00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:05,480
where they can't say anything.
935
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:07,120
They're beyond words.
936
00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:08,880
They reach the
sphere where words
937
00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:11,120
can no longer apply
to their experience.
938
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:14,960
And what they
called another term
939
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:16,440
of reaching this
8th and 9th sphere
940
00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:18,200
is becoming Aion.
941
00:44:18,240 --> 00:44:21,040
Aion in English
means a long time,
942
00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:23,000
but in the Greek
and in the context
943
00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:24,880
of Hermeticism and Gnostics,
944
00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:27,040
it was a state outside of time.
945
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:30,080
And this is a picture of
946
00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:34,120
a mithraic Aion.
947
00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:36,800
I can't go into much,
948
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:39,520
I can't go into detail
about Mithras now but
949
00:44:39,560 --> 00:44:41,400
the mithraic religion was
another mystery religion
950
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:43,600
around the same
time as the Gnostics
951
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:45,720
and the Hermeticists and so on.
952
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:48,600
And we see the snake
wrapped around him
953
00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:53,360
much like the snake wrapped
around Hermes' caduceus.
954
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:54,760
If you can make out the picture,
955
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:57,760
he's got the astrological
signs on him,
956
00:44:57,800 --> 00:44:59,800
and the wings and so on.
957
00:44:59,840 --> 00:45:02,040
And he's lion-headed.
958
00:45:02,080 --> 00:45:06,040
And in an interesting
but controversial book
959
00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:08,920
called the Jung Cult by a
fellow named Richard Noll,
960
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:13,040
he argues that Jung
himself tried to start
961
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:15,000
a kind of cult,
962
00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:17,240
an esoteric cult with himself
963
00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:19,040
as the sort of messiah figure.
964
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:21,160
And Jung records a
series of visions
965
00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:24,760
where he saw himself as
a character like this.
966
00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:28,120
And on one of the covers
I think of the book,
967
00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:30,960
there's a picture of
this with Jung's head
968
00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:33,920
on the top of it
rather than the lion.
969
00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:36,040
So, I mean, it's a good
read, the Jung Cult,
970
00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:37,400
it's very controversial.
971
00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:39,600
A lot of people have argued
against it and all that.
972
00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:42,240
But this is a particular
reference because
973
00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:44,160
it's been said that
Jung himself tried to
974
00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:46,120
make himself this
character in some way
975
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:48,640
and to have a
following around him.
976
00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:52,160
I'm just gonna quickly
run through some parallels
977
00:45:52,200 --> 00:45:54,520
to this same sort of
journey through the planets
978
00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:56,160
because it strikes me,
979
00:45:56,200 --> 00:45:57,800
it's an archetype
in the same way
980
00:45:57,840 --> 00:46:00,000
that Jung talked about
various other archetypes.
981
00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:01,520
We can see the same
sort of thing through
982
00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:03,120
the Kabbalah and
the Tree of Life
983
00:46:03,160 --> 00:46:05,080
where you start off from Malkuth
984
00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:07,640
which is our sphere
here, the Earth,
985
00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:09,040
and you work your way up through
986
00:46:09,080 --> 00:46:11,440
the different sephiroth.
987
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:14,000
The moon, Yesod's the moon,
988
00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:18,040
Hod is Mercury,
Netzach is Venus,
989
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:20,080
Tiphereth is the sun.
990
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:22,480
We got Mars and
Jupiter and so on,
991
00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:25,480
up until I guess Binah
is considered Saturn,
992
00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:29,080
and then you have the
fixed stars and the
993
00:46:29,120 --> 00:46:30,520
Primum Mobile as well.
994
00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:32,240
And then beyond that in
the Kabbalistic system
995
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:33,960
you have what's called
the Ain Soph Aur
996
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:35,480
which is this limitless light
997
00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:36,800
which is much like the pleroma,
998
00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:40,240
much like the sphere
beyond the stars
999
00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:41,960
that I've just talked about.
1000
00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:45,520
It also turns up in
a more modern version
1001
00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:49,800
in Gurdjieff's Ray of
Creation in the fourth way.
1002
00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:53,120
This is more or less taken
from Ouspensky's book,
1003
00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:54,960
In Search of Miraculous.
1004
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:58,080
In Gurdjieff's system,
you have the absolute
1005
00:46:58,120 --> 00:46:59,960
again which is like the
one, the Hermetic one,
1006
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:01,280
or the pleroma.
1007
00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:06,320
And from it descends in
this emanationist form
1008
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:12,760
through less
absolute conditions.
1009
00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:15,560
So you have the absolute
or worlds which I suspect
1010
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:17,400
means all galaxies, all suns,
1011
00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:19,960
all the stars within our galaxy,
1012
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:22,000
the sun, the planets, Earth.
1013
00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:23,720
We're not quite at
the lowest point.
1014
00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:26,920
The moon is lower
than ourselves.
1015
00:47:26,960 --> 00:47:29,400
But in the Gurdjiefs
work what one wants to do
1016
00:47:29,440 --> 00:47:33,440
is to subjecting yourself
to Gurdjieff's very rigorous
1017
00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:35,920
and difficult practices
and exercises.
1018
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:38,520
You free yourself
of different laws
1019
00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:41,040
that are associated with
the different planets
1020
00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:44,720
In the Ray of Creation much
like in the Hermetic idea
1021
00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:46,040
where you free yourself
of the influences
1022
00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:48,160
of the different planets.
1023
00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:50,520
We can only get as far as
the all suns Gurdjieff said.
1024
00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:53,040
We can't really go
any further than that.
1025
00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:57,000
Again, that's much
like getting up to the
1026
00:47:57,040 --> 00:47:59,960
end of the planetary spheres.
1027
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:01,960
Another system, it's
Rudolf Steiner's
1028
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:04,880
notion of the evolution
of consciousness.
1029
00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:06,160
Steiner says we start
off in something
1030
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:07,480
he called Old Saturn.
1031
00:48:07,520 --> 00:48:09,400
I don't know why he
calls them these names.
1032
00:48:09,440 --> 00:48:11,480
They're rather kind of clumsy.
1033
00:48:11,520 --> 00:48:14,400
Old Saturn, Old
Sun, then the moon,
1034
00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:16,840
and then on Earth, and
then they're moving
1035
00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:18,200
to go back up to
the source again.
1036
00:48:18,240 --> 00:48:20,680
So we start off in
the spiritual realm,
1037
00:48:20,720 --> 00:48:23,080
the less solid or less condensed
1038
00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:25,920
the more etheric kind of state,
1039
00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:29,600
and over time we condense.
1040
00:48:30,520 --> 00:48:32,200
I mean, with Steiner the
evolution of the cosmos
1041
00:48:32,240 --> 00:48:34,200
and the evolution of
consciousness go hand in hand.
1042
00:48:34,240 --> 00:48:36,000
They're both together.
1043
00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:39,040
And the Earth is
sort of rock bottom
1044
00:48:39,080 --> 00:48:40,680
and you can't go
any lower than that
1045
00:48:40,720 --> 00:48:42,000
and you move your way back up.
1046
00:48:42,040 --> 00:48:44,400
So there's another
version of the journey
1047
00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:45,800
through the planets
with Steiner.
1048
00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:47,200
After our Earth incarnation
which we're now,
1049
00:48:47,240 --> 00:48:50,840
the next one is Jupiter
and then Venus and so on.
1050
00:48:53,240 --> 00:48:57,560
And even in something
as old we can say,
1051
00:48:57,600 --> 00:48:58,840
and as ubiquitous these days
1052
00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:01,120
as the sort of
shamanic tradition,
1053
00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:05,120
you have a similar idea, the
sort of ladder to heaven.
1054
00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:07,440
And many accounts
of what shamans do
1055
00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:09,920
is that they put
themselves through a series
1056
00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:13,000
of practices into this
kind of visionary state
1057
00:49:13,040 --> 00:49:16,080
and they somehow climb a ladder
1058
00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:18,160
or they acquire wings and they
1059
00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:20,600
fly back up back to
the spirit world,
1060
00:49:20,640 --> 00:49:22,000
back to the source.
1061
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:27,480
Some people even said
this motif is embodied
1062
00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:29,840
in our own DNA.
1063
00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:31,400
Jeremy Narby who
wrote a book called
1064
00:49:31,440 --> 00:49:36,080
the Cosmis Serpent, he's
an anthropologist who was
1065
00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:40,720
influenced by reading
Michael Harner,
1066
00:49:40,760 --> 00:49:44,520
another anthropologist
account of taking the
1067
00:49:45,760 --> 00:49:47,360
drug ayahuasca.
1068
00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:50,960
And Harner says that he
encountered these snakes
1069
00:49:51,880 --> 00:49:54,200
in his visions that
gave him ancient wisdom,
1070
00:49:54,240 --> 00:49:56,560
and the snakes he said
resided in an ancient
1071
00:49:56,600 --> 00:49:58,120
part of the brain.
1072
00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:00,200
Narby took the ayahuasca.
1073
00:50:00,240 --> 00:50:01,800
He had a similar
experience where he met
1074
00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:03,880
these two boa constrictors.
1075
00:50:03,920 --> 00:50:06,360
They didn't eat him
but they imparted
1076
00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:08,960
ancient wisdom to him.
1077
00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:15,760
One of the things
they told him is,
1078
00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:17,840
well, one of the things he
learned through this experience
1079
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:22,400
was that the plants
talked to him.
1080
00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:26,600
The plants told him this
ancient wisdom they had
1081
00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:28,600
through his experience
with the ayahuasca.
1082
00:50:28,640 --> 00:50:30,440
So through this
visionary experience
1083
00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:33,560
he spoke to
1084
00:50:33,600 --> 00:50:37,480
a similar kind of spiral ladder
1085
00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:38,760
within the plants itself,
1086
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:41,920
and it's embodied in
our own DNA as well.
1087
00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:47,600
And just to get back
to the Hermetic belief,
1088
00:50:47,640 --> 00:50:49,000
we have a similar
theme here, again,
1089
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:51,720
with Hermes' caduceus
where you have
1090
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:54,120
the entwined snakes,
1091
00:50:54,160 --> 00:50:59,160
could be the entwined
spiral shape of the DNA.
1092
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:03,680
And we have the caduceus,
1093
00:51:03,720 --> 00:51:05,720
the staff going through.
1094
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:07,080
Now, some people have suggested
1095
00:51:07,120 --> 00:51:09,120
that the two snakes
are the two sides
1096
00:51:09,160 --> 00:51:11,880
of the sides brain,
left and right side,
1097
00:51:11,920 --> 00:51:12,960
the two halves of it.
1098
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:15,440
It's the
conscious/unconscious mind.
1099
00:51:16,560 --> 00:51:17,440
It could be either of those,
1100
00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:18,640
it could be both of them,
1101
00:51:18,680 --> 00:51:19,840
it could be many
other things as well.
1102
00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:21,840
But they come together
and their union,
1103
00:51:21,880 --> 00:51:26,880
the joining produces
this orb, solid,
1104
00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:29,400
a whole, it's the one,
1105
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:31,680
and the wings, it's
lifting itself above
1106
00:51:31,720 --> 00:51:33,000
the physical state.
1107
00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:35,120
It's going up into
the higher realms.
1108
00:51:35,160 --> 00:51:36,640
Now what has all this
got to do with Jung?
1109
00:51:36,680 --> 00:51:38,040
That's a good question
but I don't have time
1110
00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:39,120
to go into it right now.
1111
00:51:39,160 --> 00:51:42,680
Sorry.
[laughter]
1112
00:51:44,760 --> 00:51:47,880
I mentioned a few tiems
Jung's active imagination
1113
00:51:49,800 --> 00:51:51,880
and I've talked
about Jung's crisis,
1114
00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:54,000
his descent into
the unconscious.
1115
00:51:54,040 --> 00:51:56,920
But we can see this
descent as ascent as well,
1116
00:51:56,960 --> 00:51:59,200
and we're already seen it
in the Hermetic tradition
1117
00:51:59,240 --> 00:52:02,720
where the soul, the
source goes down,
1118
00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:04,560
and then it works
its way back up.
1119
00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:06,520
Heraclides said the
way up and the way down
1120
00:52:06,560 --> 00:52:08,640
are the same.
1121
00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:11,240
So, what I want to sort of say,
1122
00:52:11,280 --> 00:52:14,760
what I've slowly started
getting to is that
1123
00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:18,560
earlier I said that
Jung has been accused of
1124
00:52:18,600 --> 00:52:21,800
psychologizing alchemy.
1125
00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:23,760
Many people were
critical of Jung's
1126
00:52:23,800 --> 00:52:25,280
ideas about alchemy.
1127
00:52:25,320 --> 00:52:28,160
And not only rational scientists
but practicing alchemists
1128
00:52:28,200 --> 00:52:29,760
or esotericists.
1129
00:52:29,800 --> 00:52:32,360
They said that he took
something that was spiritual.
1130
00:52:32,400 --> 00:52:33,960
They complained from both sides.
1131
00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:35,680
They complained from
the spiritual side
1132
00:52:35,720 --> 00:52:37,800
and also from the material side.
1133
00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:39,840
They say he took something
that's a spiritual practice
1134
00:52:39,880 --> 00:52:42,200
and turned it into a
psychological practice,
1135
00:52:42,240 --> 00:52:43,920
or a kind of
psychological therapy,
1136
00:52:43,960 --> 00:52:45,560
and he also complained
that he took something
1137
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:47,440
that was actually happening
in the outerworld.
1138
00:52:47,480 --> 00:52:49,240
They're practicing
alchemist who say
1139
00:52:49,280 --> 00:52:52,320
there is a real transformation
of matter going on here.
1140
00:52:52,360 --> 00:52:54,200
It isn't something
that's just going on
1141
00:52:54,240 --> 00:52:55,640
in the psyche of the alchemists
1142
00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:58,560
and is mirrored outside
in their practices.
1143
00:52:58,600 --> 00:53:01,760
There's a real sort of
transformation going on
1144
00:53:01,800 --> 00:53:04,840
and they say that
Jung psychologized
1145
00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:06,120
alchemy in this way.
1146
00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:08,920
Well, I wanna say we
can Hermetacize Jung.
1147
00:53:08,960 --> 00:53:12,200
Jung said he's
discovered this practice
1148
00:53:12,240 --> 00:53:15,120
of active imagination
through his descent
1149
00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:16,640
into the unconscious
and he based
1150
00:53:16,680 --> 00:53:18,880
all of his psychology on it.
1151
00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:21,800
Well, did he discover it or
did he come upon something that
1152
00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:23,680
others have known for
a long time already.
1153
00:53:23,720 --> 00:53:25,640
Did he come upon something
that the Gnostics
1154
00:53:25,680 --> 00:53:27,720
and the Hermeticists
and a variety of other
1155
00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:29,560
esotericists knew before?
1156
00:53:29,600 --> 00:53:31,360
I mean, this may not
be news but it's a way
1157
00:53:31,400 --> 00:53:32,640
to look at it in
a different way.
1158
00:53:32,680 --> 00:53:34,880
And as we're talking
about eternal knowledge
1159
00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:36,680
I think we have reason to say
1160
00:53:36,720 --> 00:53:39,600
that Jung came upon
something through this crisis
1161
00:53:39,640 --> 00:53:42,560
that was known at
different times
1162
00:53:42,600 --> 00:53:45,120
to different people
and different areas
1163
00:53:45,160 --> 00:53:46,720
and different cultures.
1164
00:53:46,760 --> 00:53:49,400
But it's something that's
part of our own make up.
1165
00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:52,760
It's something that's part
of our sort of structure.
1166
00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:57,600
But this is perhaps
important today in a
1167
00:54:00,200 --> 00:54:03,640
more significant sense
because back in the day
1168
00:54:03,680 --> 00:54:05,520
when the Ptolemaic view
1169
00:54:05,560 --> 00:54:08,160
of the concentric
circles was dominant,
1170
00:54:08,200 --> 00:54:09,680
it was taken seriously.
1171
00:54:09,720 --> 00:54:11,720
The Earth was at the center.
1172
00:54:11,760 --> 00:54:13,560
There were these
concentric spheres,
1173
00:54:13,600 --> 00:54:16,440
crystalline spheres that
moved around the Earth,
1174
00:54:16,480 --> 00:54:18,360
and the other idea was that
1175
00:54:18,400 --> 00:54:20,840
the realm of the fixed
stars and the realms beyond,
1176
00:54:20,880 --> 00:54:22,480
they were somehow different.
1177
00:54:22,520 --> 00:54:23,960
If you went out there,
1178
00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:25,280
matter would be different.
1179
00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:27,920
It wouldn't be the
same as matter here
1180
00:54:27,960 --> 00:54:29,560
in the sub-lunar realms.
1181
00:54:29,600 --> 00:54:30,920
It would somehow be
tangibly different.
1182
00:54:30,960 --> 00:54:33,320
Now we know that's
not the case now.
1183
00:54:34,320 --> 00:54:36,880
We know that if you
send a rocket out
1184
00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:38,880
beyond the solar system
1185
00:54:38,920 --> 00:54:40,640
matter isn't going
to be very different.
1186
00:54:40,680 --> 00:54:42,600
Okay, it'll be different
at a black hole,
1187
00:54:42,640 --> 00:54:43,840
that's an exception.
1188
00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:45,600
Pretty much if you keep going
1189
00:54:45,640 --> 00:54:49,680
out, out, out into the area
that they call the fixed stars
1190
00:54:49,720 --> 00:54:51,720
and you could
somehow reach out and
1191
00:54:51,760 --> 00:54:53,040
grab a piece of
matter, it wouldn't be
1192
00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:55,640
any different than the
matter here on Earth.
1193
00:54:56,560 --> 00:54:58,440
So this makes the point
that, as I said earlier,
1194
00:54:58,480 --> 00:55:00,240
this journey is
an inward journey.
1195
00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:01,800
It isn't a real journey out.
1196
00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:03,480
It's real but it's not a journey
1197
00:55:03,520 --> 00:55:04,800
out into the physical planets,
1198
00:55:04,840 --> 00:55:06,400
out into the physical stars,
1199
00:55:06,440 --> 00:55:08,640
it's a journey inward.
1200
00:55:08,680 --> 00:55:10,560
And this again
was something that
1201
00:55:10,600 --> 00:55:12,720
the Hermeticists knew.
1202
00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:16,000
One of the central
themes of Hermeticism is
1203
00:55:16,040 --> 00:55:17,920
man is a microcosm.
1204
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:21,480
Man contains the whole universe.
1205
00:55:21,520 --> 00:55:24,600
Within ourselves we contain
the whole macrocosm,
1206
00:55:24,640 --> 00:55:27,080
as above so below
to which we can add
1207
00:55:27,120 --> 00:55:28,840
I'm not the first
one to do this,
1208
00:55:28,880 --> 00:55:31,440
as within so without.
1209
00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:34,040
We try to say as
behind so in front,
1210
00:55:34,080 --> 00:55:36,160
but that doesn't really work.
1211
00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:39,520
But what does this mean that
1212
00:55:39,560 --> 00:55:40,760
Man is a microcosm?
1213
00:55:40,800 --> 00:55:42,520
Now, you can take it
in a very literal sense
1214
00:55:42,560 --> 00:55:46,480
that heart is like the sun,
1215
00:55:46,520 --> 00:55:49,720
or like the sexual
organs are like the moon
1216
00:55:49,760 --> 00:55:50,640
or something like that.
1217
00:55:50,680 --> 00:55:51,840
There's a very literal way,
1218
00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:53,160
lots of books
written about that.
1219
00:55:53,200 --> 00:55:54,920
But I'd rather look at it
in broader sort of sense
1220
00:55:54,960 --> 00:55:57,360
that in some way
our consciousness,
1221
00:55:57,400 --> 00:56:00,480
our inner worlds contain
the entire world,
1222
00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:03,880
the whole universe is in here
1223
00:56:03,920 --> 00:56:05,480
and it's in there,
and there, and there.
1224
00:56:05,520 --> 00:56:07,560
Maybe not you but in
there, in there, in there,
1225
00:56:07,600 --> 00:56:09,520
and there as well.
1226
00:56:09,560 --> 00:56:11,080
We contain the whole thing.
1227
00:56:11,120 --> 00:56:13,600
So wee have everything we
need to take this journey
1228
00:56:13,640 --> 00:56:14,840
through the planets.
1229
00:56:14,880 --> 00:56:17,760
I mentioned earlier
that Hermes Trismegistus
1230
00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:20,800
was considered to
be an Egyptian sage.
1231
00:56:21,920 --> 00:56:24,480
He learned his wisdom in Egypt
1232
00:56:24,520 --> 00:56:29,120
or what we know of
his Egyptian wisdom
1233
00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:31,120
comes from Hermes Trismegistus.
1234
00:56:31,160 --> 00:56:33,440
And in very interesting
series of books,
1235
00:56:33,480 --> 00:56:34,760
a fellow named Jeremy Naydler,
1236
00:56:34,800 --> 00:56:38,440
not to be confused
with Jeremy Narby.
1237
00:56:38,480 --> 00:56:43,440
He's argued that in many
ways this Egyptian wisdom
1238
00:56:43,480 --> 00:56:47,120
is very similar to what
we know as shamanic
1239
00:56:47,160 --> 00:56:48,840
hunter traditions as well.
1240
00:56:48,880 --> 00:56:52,000
His central argument is that
the Egyptian book of the dead
1241
00:56:52,040 --> 00:56:55,400
isn't only for fundamentally
1242
00:56:55,440 --> 00:56:57,400
a funeral text.
1243
00:56:57,440 --> 00:57:00,320
It isn't only something
to be read after
1244
00:57:00,360 --> 00:57:02,120
someone's dead already
1245
00:57:02,160 --> 00:57:04,120
and to guide their soul,
1246
00:57:04,160 --> 00:57:08,240
much like the Tibetan
book of the dead is.
1247
00:57:08,280 --> 00:57:09,320
He's saying that it's actually,
1248
00:57:09,360 --> 00:57:10,800
and we know the Egyptian
book of the dead
1249
00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:12,960
is a huge collection
of different writings
1250
00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:14,800
from different sources
over different time
1251
00:57:14,840 --> 00:57:16,400
and it's always been added to.
1252
00:57:16,440 --> 00:57:19,120
The Tibetan book of the
dead is much more selective,
1253
00:57:19,160 --> 00:57:21,920
and also we know that
there isn't really,
1254
00:57:21,960 --> 00:57:24,200
in Tibet there isn't a
Tibetan book of the dead.
1255
00:57:24,240 --> 00:57:26,640
This was a name
Evans-Wentz gave to the
1256
00:57:26,680 --> 00:57:29,560
collection of texts
that he had translated.
1257
00:57:29,600 --> 00:57:31,920
But there is an Egyptian
book of the dead,
1258
00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:34,360
and it's a different
funerary text that come from
1259
00:57:34,400 --> 00:57:35,840
different places and so on.
1260
00:57:35,880 --> 00:57:39,840
But Narby, excuse me,
Naydler argues that
1261
00:57:39,880 --> 00:57:41,440
these texts were used
1262
00:57:41,480 --> 00:57:44,680
in initiatory practices.
1263
00:57:44,720 --> 00:57:47,360
And one of the things
that one learns
1264
00:57:47,400 --> 00:57:49,800
through these texts is
how to separate the soul
1265
00:57:49,840 --> 00:57:50,560
from the body.
1266
00:57:50,600 --> 00:57:52,760
This is the Bah rising
1267
00:57:52,800 --> 00:57:55,440
up above the,
1268
00:57:56,640 --> 00:57:58,600
mainstream
Egyptologists would say
1269
00:57:58,640 --> 00:58:00,360
that's someone dead.
1270
00:58:00,400 --> 00:58:03,520
That's the sarcophagus
and the Bah is lifting
1271
00:58:03,560 --> 00:58:05,880
up out of it to go do its thing.
1272
00:58:05,920 --> 00:58:07,440
And Naydler saying, actually no.
1273
00:58:07,480 --> 00:58:10,760
This is part of an
initiatory practice here.
1274
00:58:10,800 --> 00:58:14,480
We are the initiators
learning how to separate
1275
00:58:14,520 --> 00:58:17,320
his inner soul from the body.
1276
00:58:17,360 --> 00:58:19,720
And if you might remember from
the beginning of the talk,
1277
00:58:19,760 --> 00:58:23,720
I say when Hermes
Trismegistus has this vision,
1278
00:58:23,760 --> 00:58:26,680
his body is quiet,
his senses are quiet,
1279
00:58:26,720 --> 00:58:28,240
he's in a deep, relaxed state,
1280
00:58:28,280 --> 00:58:31,400
almost in a trance
kind of state.
1281
00:58:31,440 --> 00:58:34,400
Naydler is saying that
this kind of thing
1282
00:58:34,440 --> 00:58:36,840
that's going on here,
1283
00:58:36,880 --> 00:58:38,480
this was the Egyptian
wisdom that people
1284
00:58:38,520 --> 00:58:41,480
like Pythagoras and Plato
1285
00:58:41,520 --> 00:58:45,400
and other sages of the
olden days learned.
1286
00:58:45,440 --> 00:58:48,600
And it's also in
the hermetic work.
1287
00:58:48,640 --> 00:58:50,520
It's also a part of
their Corpus Hermeticum.
1288
00:58:50,560 --> 00:58:52,840
Originally as I said
it was thought that
1289
00:58:52,880 --> 00:58:55,280
Hermes anti-dated
Plato and Pythagoras.
1290
00:58:55,320 --> 00:58:57,840
They learned from him.
1291
00:58:57,880 --> 00:58:59,720
The text written later,
1292
00:58:59,760 --> 00:59:01,400
and this led some
scholars to say
1293
00:59:01,440 --> 00:59:03,440
there's no Egyptian
connection whatsoever.
1294
00:59:03,480 --> 00:59:06,000
It's all Greek philosophy
and some early Christianity
1295
00:59:06,040 --> 00:59:07,360
in there as well.
1296
00:59:07,400 --> 00:59:11,000
But if what Naydler
is saying is true
1297
00:59:11,040 --> 00:59:13,080
that this sort of initiatory
practice on learning
1298
00:59:13,120 --> 00:59:15,040
how to release the
soul from the body
1299
00:59:15,080 --> 00:59:17,400
is part of the Egyptian wisdom
1300
00:59:17,440 --> 00:59:20,160
and if people like Pythagoras
and Plato did go there
1301
00:59:20,200 --> 00:59:22,480
then there is a
Egyptian connection
1302
00:59:22,520 --> 00:59:24,000
to the Hermetic philosophy.
1303
00:59:24,040 --> 00:59:25,400
It's not just Greek
philsophy mixed up
1304
00:59:25,440 --> 00:59:26,880
with some other stuff
going on at the time.
1305
00:59:26,920 --> 00:59:31,120
It has its roots
in Egyptian ideas.
1306
00:59:32,440 --> 00:59:34,160
And what I wanna
say is that Jung
1307
00:59:34,200 --> 00:59:37,560
sort of came upon this
during his crisis.
1308
00:59:37,600 --> 00:59:40,280
He had a very
active imagination.
1309
00:59:40,320 --> 00:59:43,320
Carl Jung did, if you
know the Red Book,
1310
00:59:43,360 --> 00:59:45,720
I don't have to
convince you of that.
1311
00:59:45,760 --> 00:59:47,400
This is one of the
central images from it.
1312
00:59:47,440 --> 00:59:51,600
This is an inner guide
that Jung encountered
1313
00:59:51,640 --> 00:59:54,640
during his crisis, Philemon,
1314
00:59:54,680 --> 00:59:58,280
that Jung said Philemon
existed in his head.
1315
00:59:58,320 --> 01:00:00,320
He had nothing to do with him.
1316
01:00:00,360 --> 01:00:02,680
And Philemon himself
was surprised to think
1317
01:00:02,720 --> 01:00:04,560
that Jung believe that
everything going on his head
1318
01:00:04,600 --> 01:00:06,440
had something to do with him.
1319
01:00:06,480 --> 01:00:08,160
He said, well, there
are things in here
1320
01:00:08,200 --> 01:00:09,760
that have nothing
to do with you.
1321
01:00:09,800 --> 01:00:11,960
You just happen to open this
door and come in here now.
1322
01:00:12,000 --> 01:00:13,720
This stuff's going on all
the time whether you know
1323
01:00:13,760 --> 01:00:15,680
about it or not.
1324
01:00:15,720 --> 01:00:18,160
You've just found
your way in here now.
1325
01:00:18,200 --> 01:00:20,200
It's got nothing to do with you.
1326
01:00:20,240 --> 01:00:25,280
The psyche has an
objective content.
1327
01:00:25,320 --> 01:00:28,120
Aldous Huxley came to the same
1328
01:00:28,160 --> 01:00:30,640
conclusion after his
experiences with mescaline
1329
01:00:30,680 --> 01:00:33,200
and other sort of
visionary practices
1330
01:00:33,240 --> 01:00:35,960
when he said the mind has its,
1331
01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:38,240
and he's writing in
the mid 20th century,
1332
01:00:38,280 --> 01:00:41,960
the mind has its own
unexplored Amazonian basins.
1333
01:00:42,000 --> 01:00:44,120
It has its own dark continents.
1334
01:00:44,160 --> 01:00:46,400
It has its own Borneo
and things like that.
1335
01:00:46,440 --> 01:00:49,760
And when we travel into
it we're encountering
1336
01:00:49,800 --> 01:00:53,840
objective realities and
entities that exist there
1337
01:00:53,880 --> 01:00:55,120
and they have nothing
to do with us.
1338
01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:57,200
Now you can imagine why
Jung, a psychiatrist
1339
01:00:57,240 --> 01:00:58,720
and psychologist didn't want
1340
01:00:58,760 --> 01:01:00,200
too many people to know
that he was talking
1341
01:01:00,240 --> 01:01:02,600
to people inside his head.
1342
01:01:02,640 --> 01:01:05,280
That's the kind of thing
people came to him about
1343
01:01:05,320 --> 01:01:06,400
and talked to him about.
1344
01:01:06,440 --> 01:01:07,680
So we can understand
that he didn't want
1345
01:01:07,720 --> 01:01:09,280
news of that to get
around very much.
1346
01:01:09,320 --> 01:01:12,240
And so we can understand
why kept the Red Book secret
1347
01:01:12,280 --> 01:01:13,600
for many, many years.
1348
01:01:13,640 --> 01:01:15,480
But we look at this,
this has sort of
1349
01:01:15,520 --> 01:01:17,880
a kind of Egyptian
motif to it as well,
1350
01:01:17,920 --> 01:01:19,640
certainly an Alexandrian one.
1351
01:01:19,680 --> 01:01:22,840
And as I said
earlier, when Jung was
1352
01:01:22,880 --> 01:01:25,600
received the revelation of
the Seven Sermons to the Dead,
1353
01:01:25,640 --> 01:01:28,600
he was speaking through
the voice of Basilides,
1354
01:01:28,640 --> 01:01:32,240
the ancient Gnostic
from Alexandria.
1355
01:01:34,560 --> 01:01:37,280
I'm saying, Jung
basically rediscovered
1356
01:01:37,320 --> 01:01:40,280
or tripped upon or stumbled upon
1357
01:01:40,320 --> 01:01:43,040
something that the
Hermeticists were doing
1358
01:01:43,080 --> 01:01:44,320
centuries earlier.
1359
01:01:44,360 --> 01:01:49,240
And his encounter
with the archetypes
1360
01:01:49,280 --> 01:01:50,400
that took place
during this crisis
1361
01:01:50,440 --> 01:01:52,240
in which he built up his
own psychology around,
1362
01:01:52,280 --> 01:01:55,560
we can see this in the
same way as the Hermetic
1363
01:01:55,600 --> 01:01:59,960
encounter with the planets,
of the different forces,
1364
01:02:00,000 --> 01:02:02,360
impinging on the pseudo
planets which we have to
1365
01:02:02,400 --> 01:02:05,720
either free ourselves
from or transform
1366
01:02:05,760 --> 01:02:08,360
into something
useful and creative.
1367
01:02:08,400 --> 01:02:09,600
Jung's encounter
with the archetypes
1368
01:02:09,640 --> 01:02:11,480
is practically the same thing.
1369
01:02:11,520 --> 01:02:15,120
Like the planets the
archetypes push us around
1370
01:02:15,160 --> 01:02:16,720
until we become aware of them
1371
01:02:16,760 --> 01:02:19,520
and we can integrate them
into our conscious mind.
1372
01:02:19,560 --> 01:02:22,200
Until we do that we're
compelled to do things
1373
01:02:22,240 --> 01:02:24,760
we're pushed, influenced, in
a variety of different ways.
1374
01:02:24,800 --> 01:02:27,360
We're acting out the
influences of the archetypes,
1375
01:02:27,400 --> 01:02:30,360
just like the Hermeticists,
1376
01:02:30,400 --> 01:02:33,520
just like those of us who
don't take the Hermetic journey
1377
01:02:33,560 --> 01:02:36,720
or acting out the influences
of the planets on us.
1378
01:02:36,760 --> 01:02:38,080
We're controlled by them.
1379
01:02:38,120 --> 01:02:40,200
We're caught in the
wheels of necessity
1380
01:02:40,240 --> 01:02:43,320
as one of the
Hermeticists spoke of.
1381
01:02:43,360 --> 01:02:46,280
Now, very, very briefly,
last two things.
1382
01:02:49,160 --> 01:02:53,280
I mentioned the twin
serpents around the caduceus
1383
01:02:54,480 --> 01:02:56,720
that some people
have seen this as the
1384
01:02:56,760 --> 01:02:59,360
two sides of the brain
or the unconscious
1385
01:02:59,400 --> 01:03:01,360
and the unconscious
twirled together
1386
01:03:01,400 --> 01:03:04,560
and producing this winged orb.
1387
01:03:04,600 --> 01:03:06,200
I mentioned earlier Jung's idea
1388
01:03:06,240 --> 01:03:08,160
of the transcendent function.
1389
01:03:08,200 --> 01:03:11,120
That's what the essence of
his active imagination was,
1390
01:03:11,160 --> 01:03:13,720
his dialogue between conscious
and the unconscious mind
1391
01:03:13,760 --> 01:03:15,440
producing something
new, some new symbol
1392
01:03:15,480 --> 01:03:18,160
that resolved some horrible
situation you're in.
1393
01:03:18,200 --> 01:03:20,640
That gives you insight in
some problems you can't solve.
1394
01:03:22,200 --> 01:03:27,000
What Jung was doing when
he was in these states
1395
01:03:27,040 --> 01:03:29,880
and also what people like
Rudolf Steiner and Swedenborg
1396
01:03:29,920 --> 01:03:32,640
who I mentioned earlier
with Ouspensky too,
1397
01:03:32,680 --> 01:03:34,120
in other context,
1398
01:03:34,160 --> 01:03:37,760
they're doing
something each of us
1399
01:03:37,800 --> 01:03:40,760
experience at least
twice a day when we
1400
01:03:40,800 --> 01:03:43,160
go to sleep at night or
whenever we go to sleep
1401
01:03:43,200 --> 01:03:46,560
and we wake up in the day
or whenever we wake up.
1402
01:03:46,600 --> 01:03:48,320
We go through this
intermediate state,
1403
01:03:48,360 --> 01:03:49,840
the twilight state.
1404
01:03:49,880 --> 01:03:54,040
It's both sleeping and
waking at the same time.
1405
01:03:54,080 --> 01:03:56,200
You can talk about day dreaming
1406
01:03:56,240 --> 01:03:58,080
as a kind of night waking.
1407
01:03:58,120 --> 01:04:00,000
You can say, turn
it around in a way.
1408
01:04:00,040 --> 01:04:02,240
It's called
hypnagogia which is a
1409
01:04:02,280 --> 01:04:04,680
slightly impronounceable name.
1410
01:04:04,720 --> 01:04:05,960
But it basically means,
1411
01:04:06,000 --> 01:04:08,320
hypnagogia means
sort of sleep guide.
1412
01:04:10,000 --> 01:04:12,080
Gogue is a Greek word meaning
1413
01:04:12,120 --> 01:04:13,840
it's someone who takes you down,
1414
01:04:13,880 --> 01:04:15,040
leads you somewhere.
1415
01:04:15,080 --> 01:04:16,240
Hypnosis sleep.
1416
01:04:16,280 --> 01:04:18,320
So this state leads
you into sleep.
1417
01:04:18,360 --> 01:04:20,640
And there's some
researchers who split hairs,
1418
01:04:20,680 --> 01:04:22,160
and as we're coming out of sleep
1419
01:04:22,200 --> 01:04:23,880
they call it hypnopompic.
1420
01:04:23,920 --> 01:04:28,360
The pomp, the sort of the
ceremonial procession out.
1421
01:04:28,400 --> 01:04:30,800
But they're pretty
much the same, I think.
1422
01:04:30,840 --> 01:04:33,360
My own experience, we can all,
1423
01:04:33,400 --> 01:04:35,600
I'm sure some of you have
been induced into this
1424
01:04:35,640 --> 01:04:37,600
during my talk so you must
1425
01:04:37,640 --> 01:04:39,760
have some first-hand
experience of what
1426
01:04:39,800 --> 01:04:41,520
I'm trying to go on about here.
1427
01:04:41,560 --> 01:04:43,800
My own experience, it's much
better to try to do this
1428
01:04:43,840 --> 01:04:45,600
early in the morning
than late at night.
1429
01:04:45,640 --> 01:04:49,280
If you try to stay awake
as you're falling asleep
1430
01:04:49,320 --> 01:04:50,880
you can catch some
of these images,
1431
01:04:50,920 --> 01:04:52,360
but more times than not
these minor experience
1432
01:04:52,400 --> 01:04:54,200
you induce the
state of insomnia.
1433
01:04:54,240 --> 01:04:57,560
But if you can just lie
in bed a little bit later
1434
01:04:57,600 --> 01:04:59,560
in the morning when
you're waking up,
1435
01:04:59,600 --> 01:05:02,880
you can be aware of
this intermediary state.
1436
01:05:02,920 --> 01:05:04,320
And it's different from dreaming
1437
01:05:04,360 --> 01:05:06,920
because in dreaming you're
totally immersed in the dream.
1438
01:05:06,960 --> 01:05:08,640
You're in the dream,
you forget who you are
1439
01:05:08,680 --> 01:05:11,320
or what you're doing or
1440
01:05:11,360 --> 01:05:12,880
chairs don't fly, all
this kind of stuff.
1441
01:05:12,920 --> 01:05:14,400
You're completely
immersed in it,
1442
01:05:14,440 --> 01:05:16,120
you accept everything.
1443
01:05:16,160 --> 01:05:19,200
In this intermediate
that you can consciously
1444
01:05:19,240 --> 01:05:21,120
see the images,
1445
01:05:21,160 --> 01:05:24,400
you can constantly see the dream
1446
01:05:24,440 --> 01:05:26,120
or the proto-dream
images coming.
1447
01:05:26,160 --> 01:05:28,240
And you also still aware of your
1448
01:05:28,280 --> 01:05:29,520
external surroundings.
1449
01:05:29,560 --> 01:05:31,080
So you're aware
of the outer world
1450
01:05:31,120 --> 01:05:35,040
but you're also aware of this
inner processes going on.
1451
01:05:35,080 --> 01:05:38,520
And the best book
about hypnagogia,
1452
01:05:38,560 --> 01:05:40,760
it was published in
1987 by a fellow named
1453
01:05:40,800 --> 01:05:42,960
Andreas Mavromatis.
1454
01:05:43,000 --> 01:05:47,240
I write about his work in a bit
1455
01:05:47,280 --> 01:05:51,400
and a lot of the things when
talking about in my other book,
1456
01:05:51,440 --> 01:05:52,760
or the book having
to do with this talk,
1457
01:05:52,800 --> 01:05:55,040
Quest For Hermes Trismegistus.
1458
01:05:55,080 --> 01:05:57,840
This is about, basically
it's kind of a search
1459
01:05:57,880 --> 01:06:00,920
for this character Hermes
throughout history.
1460
01:06:00,960 --> 01:06:02,320
I also write about
it in a book called
1461
01:06:02,360 --> 01:06:04,240
the secret history
of consciousness
1462
01:06:04,280 --> 01:06:07,440
where I use this idea
of hypnagogia as a theme
1463
01:06:07,480 --> 01:06:10,520
relating different sort of
philosopher's consciousness
1464
01:06:10,560 --> 01:06:13,320
like Steiner and others.
1465
01:06:13,360 --> 01:06:15,480
When Steiner went
into his states
1466
01:06:15,520 --> 01:06:17,840
and he read the Akashic record,
1467
01:06:17,880 --> 01:06:19,840
I'm not reducing what he
was doing to hypnagogia
1468
01:06:19,880 --> 01:06:22,520
but we able to go into
these kind of states.
1469
01:06:22,560 --> 01:06:24,560
When Swedenborg was taken on
1470
01:06:24,600 --> 01:06:27,120
journeys to heaven
and hell by angels
1471
01:06:27,160 --> 01:06:31,920
he was able to induce himself
into these sorts of states.
1472
01:06:31,960 --> 01:06:34,600
And where these
encounters take place
1473
01:06:34,640 --> 01:06:36,880
even though these
parts of the brain,
1474
01:06:36,920 --> 01:06:38,200
and hypnagogia is
involved with the older
1475
01:06:38,240 --> 01:06:39,480
parts of the brain.
1476
01:06:39,520 --> 01:06:43,040
I mentioned earlier
that Jeremy Narby
1477
01:06:43,080 --> 01:06:46,440
and Michael Harner when
they took the ayahuasca
1478
01:06:46,480 --> 01:06:47,920
and they had these
encounters with the snakes,
1479
01:06:47,960 --> 01:06:49,760
the snakes lived.
1480
01:06:49,800 --> 01:06:52,320
They resided in some old
part of the brain they said.
1481
01:06:52,360 --> 01:06:54,040
Now there is a reptilian
part of the brain.
1482
01:06:54,080 --> 01:06:58,400
This connection between
this ancient wisdom, right,
1483
01:06:58,440 --> 01:07:00,320
and an ancient
part of the brain.
1484
01:07:00,360 --> 01:07:02,000
It's an ancient wisdom,
1485
01:07:02,040 --> 01:07:06,760
it is ancient in one sense,
really, physical sense because
1486
01:07:06,800 --> 01:07:09,040
it's being generated
or it's being induced
1487
01:07:09,080 --> 01:07:12,280
or access to it is through
this older part of the brain.
1488
01:07:12,320 --> 01:07:14,800
And what we're
getting access to is
1489
01:07:14,840 --> 01:07:19,040
something that
Jung's colleague and
1490
01:07:19,080 --> 01:07:22,440
other journeyer into
the inner worlds,
1491
01:07:22,480 --> 01:07:24,520
Henri Corbin called
the Mundus Imaginalis
1492
01:07:24,560 --> 01:07:25,800
which is the imaginal world.
1493
01:07:25,840 --> 01:07:27,320
Not the imaginary world,
1494
01:07:27,360 --> 01:07:28,880
not the fantasy world
of what I'm gonna do
1495
01:07:28,920 --> 01:07:32,000
later on today or if only
had a million dollars
1496
01:07:32,040 --> 01:07:34,680
I could go on a
journey or something.
1497
01:07:34,720 --> 01:07:36,960
It's this world of these images
1498
01:07:37,000 --> 01:07:39,960
that's halfway between the pure
1499
01:07:41,440 --> 01:07:44,000
spiritual world, of pure being,
1500
01:07:44,040 --> 01:07:45,760
and the physical world.
1501
01:07:45,800 --> 01:07:48,240
Now, where Steiner went,
1502
01:07:48,280 --> 01:07:49,840
where Swedenborg
went on his journeys
1503
01:07:49,880 --> 01:07:51,920
to heaven and hell
where Jung went
1504
01:07:51,960 --> 01:07:53,920
when he descended
into the unconscious
1505
01:07:53,960 --> 01:07:55,880
where the Hermeticists
went on their journeys
1506
01:07:55,920 --> 01:07:57,280
to the planets, they all
1507
01:07:57,320 --> 01:07:59,600
went into this imaginal
realm which is a real
1508
01:07:59,640 --> 01:08:00,760
objective realm.
1509
01:08:00,800 --> 01:08:01,920
It really exists.
1510
01:08:01,960 --> 01:08:05,560
It exists
metaphorically in here.
1511
01:08:05,600 --> 01:08:09,440
So, in conclusion let me
say that if we want to
1512
01:08:09,480 --> 01:08:12,200
take a journey
through the planets,
1513
01:08:12,240 --> 01:08:15,720
we can do that ourselves because
1514
01:08:15,760 --> 01:08:17,600
we have a head full of stars.
1515
01:08:17,640 --> 01:08:20,440
And they're waiting for
us to say hello to them.
1516
01:08:20,480 --> 01:08:21,840
Thank you very much.
1517
01:08:21,880 --> 01:08:23,600
[applause]
111821
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