harold coward - taoism and jung

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TAOISM AND JUNG: SYNCHRONICITY AND THE SELF

InmybookJungand EasternThought,1exploredthe influenceof Indian

concepts such as karma,citta,buddhitattva,apas,and mandalaon the

developmentof CarlJung'snotionsof "archetype,""psyche,"the "col-

lective unconscious," "active imagination,"and "circumambulation."

But the questionof Easternnfluenceon Jung'smostcomplex concept,"the Self,"was given only very sketchytreatment.Followingthe lead

of one of Jung'ssenior North Americanstudents,JosephHendersonof

StanfordUniversity, suggested hat the notion of Atman,as found in the

Hindu Upanisads,was the majorEastern ormative nfluence in Jung's

concept of "the Self."2Additionalresearch, however, has led me to

conclude that ChineseTaoism,rather han Hinduism,provided he fun-

damentalformative nfluence in Jung'sdeveloping notionof "the Self."

This Taoist influence, I will argue, came to Jung's"Self" concept not

directly,but by way of anotherof Jung'sideas, namely synchronicity.

"Synchronicity,"t will be shown,dependsdirectlyon the TaoistChinese

text the I Ching,with which Jungexperimented or a whole summerin

1920.3 Hisexperimentsdemonstrated o Jungthat there are meaningfulconnections between the innerpsychic realm and the externalphysicalworld. In his autobiography ung says, "Timeand time again I encoun-

tered amazing coincidences which seemed to suggest the idea of an

acausalparallelism a synchronicity,as I latercalled it)."4It is this notion of correlativeparallelsbetween the inner and the

outer realmsof experiencethat is fundamental or understanding ung's

complex notionof the "Self."Failureo recognizethe Taoistbackgroundto Jung's hinkinghas, I will argue,resulted n the mistakenchargethat

Jungis simplya gnostic in modernpsychologicaldress. This mistake is

made when the external halfof the correlationof the outer world with

the innerpsyche in Jung'sindividuatedSelf is ignored.By highlightingthe TaoistcontextofJung's hinking, hiserror, ommonamongJungians,is avoided.

Inaddition, he analysisofferedwill show thatin the case of Eastern

influenceon his notionof the Self,Jungrejectssome aspectsof the Hindu

atman,butfully accepts Taoist hinking.Thisarticleis divided into three

sections:(1)TheTaoistBackground f Jung'sThinking, 2)Synchronicityand Individuation f Archetypes,and (3) Tao and the Self. Inthis essayIam explicitlyconcerned withJung'sown reading,not the Chinese texts

themselves.

The TaoistBackground f Jung'sThinking

Jungwas led to Taoistand Indianthought n the period1915-1920,while he was doing the research or his book Psychological Types.5Of

this bookJungsays:

Professor f HistoryandDirectorof the Centrefor Studies n Religion

and Society, Universityof Victoria

PhilosophyEast& WestVolume46, Number4October1996477-495

? 1996

by University fHawai'i Press

477

HaroldCoward



This work sprangoriginally rommy need to define the ways in which myoutlook differed rom Freud'sandAdler's.Inattemptingo answerthis ques-tion, I came across the problemof types;for it is one's psychologicaltypewhich from he outset determinesand limitsa person's udgement.Mybook,therefore,was an effort o deal withthe relationship f the individual o the

world,to people andthings.6

Alreadywe see here Jung's nterest n correlating he innerpsychewith the externalworld. The identification f opposite personality ypes

(e.g., introversion ersusextroversion) ave Jungthe insightthat every

judgmentmadeby an individual s conditionedby how his orherperson-

alitytyperelates o the surroundingworld.Extrementroverts rextroverts

suffered roma verylimitedexperienceof theirworld orthemselves.This

insightraised orJung hequestionof how one couldfind a unity nwhich

theseopposite personality ypeswould be balancedand theirnarrowness

transcended.The search foran answer,saidJung, ed himdirectly o the

Chineseconceptof Tao,7he idea of a middleway

between theopposites.8JohnHendersonhas recentlydemonstrated hatTaoism,along with

most othertraditional orms of Chinese thinking,is rooted in "correla-

tive thinking,"a sort of perennial philosophyof Chinese civilization.9

Correlativehinkingdrawssystematiccorrespondencesbetween various

ordersof realitysuch as the human,the world of nature,and the divine.

"Itassumes that these related orders as a whole are homologous, that

they correspondwith one anotherin some basic respect,even in some

cases thattheiridentitiesare contained one within the other."10Under-

lying "correlative hinking"is the notion of cosmological resonance

(kan-ying).Correlations,t is held, can interactat a distanceby virtueof

a mutualsympathy,an idea based on music theoryor harmonics."1nChinesethought, his notionof resonance is appliedeven in social rela-

tions, as, forexample, inthe Confucianconcept of filialpiety. Inits most

generalformthe theoryof resonance is stated as "the principlesof the

cosmos are the same as the principlesof my mind."12

Muchof the groundworkor this theoryof resonanceor correlative

thinkingwas establishedby the classical Taoists,especially LaoTzu in

his proposalthat humanspattern hemselves after heaven and earth.13

While Lao Tzu's idea did not lead directlyto the pairingof the human

with the cosmic, it did much to create a context in which correlative

thoughtcould develop. Whatcaught Jung'sattention n his Psychologi-cal Typeswas Lao Tzu's discussionof Taoas the middleway between

opposites such as man-and-nature nd heaven-and-earth,as well as

being the source of all arisingsand the receiverof all subsiding.Jung

quotesfromthe Tao TeChing:

One maythinkof itas the motherof all thingsunderheaven.

Its rue name we do not know;

PhilosophyEast&West "Way" s the name thatwe give it.14

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Therewas also the centralTaoistteachingthatthe Taomanifests n crea-

tion as a fundamentalpairof opposites,yang and yin. Jungsummarizes

as follows:

Yang ignifieswarmth, ight,maleness;yin is cold, darkness,emaleness.Yangis also heaven,yinearth.From he yangforce arisesshen,the celestialportion

of the humansoul, and from yin force comes kuei, the earthlypart.As amicrocosm,man is a reconcilerof the opposites.'5

The aim of the Taoistsage is to live in harmonywith the Tao and

therebyavoid fallinginto one extremeor the other,neither ntrovert or

extrovert, o use Jung'sterms,but strikinga balance between the two.

Specificguidancetoward hat end is providedby the IChing,whichJungtried out on himself with convincing results.16A few years later,JungreadRichardWilhelm's ranslation f the IChingand invitedWilhelm to

Zurich.FromWilhelmJunglearneda greatdeal aboutChinesethought.This

friendshipled

Jungto write commentaries on two of Wilhelm's

translations:irst The Secret of the Golden Flower,and laterthe I Chingitself.

In his Foreword o the I Ching,Jungnotes that the coincidence or

correlationbetweenthe opposites is the chief concern of the work.17To

enter into the "Chinese mind" of the text requires hat modernWest-

ernersdropforthe momenttheirfixationon rationaland causalthoughtas the only validthinking.This is why Jungrefers o the meaningfulcor-

relationsof the I Chingnot as chance but "acausal"18 nd why W. A.

Callahan, n a recentarticle,refers o Taoistthoughtnot as irrational ut

"arational."19Both agree that the acausal, arational,relationalexperi-ence described in Taoist texts like the I Ching is a direct reflection ofnaturalreality.All of this confirmedJung's ntuitionof a connection that

is potentiallypresent n each of us between our innerpsychic realmand

the external cosmos. Jungcoined the term "synchronicity"o describe

this correlationbetween inside andoutsideevents.20The I Chingoffered

a traditionalChinesetechniquefor reflectingon these correlations.Jungfelt that his method of active imaginationwould achieve the same goaland was moreappropriateorthe modernWesterner.ButJungwas con-

vinced that the goal of the I Ching, namelya reestablishing f balance

between the yangand yin in the Tao,and the goal of his psychotherapy,

namely a balancingof the psychic opposites in the experience of theSelf, were parallelprocesses. Let us now examine in depth the way in

which Taoism and the I Ching influencedJung'snotions of "synchro-

nicity"and its crucial role in the realizationof the "Self."

Synchronicity

Althoughone of his earliestnotions,"synchronicity"was a conceptthatJung struggled o express adequatelythroughouthis life. When in HaroldCoward

479



1960 he finallyproduceda littlemonographon the subject, containingan extended discussion of astrology, t was generallyassumed that this

was simplyJung'sattempt o explainodd psychicevents such as a table

splitting n half, a steel knifeshattering,or seances for communicatingwiththe dead. Indeed,in his "Editorial reface" o the volume,Michael

Fordhamlargely consigns synchronicity o Jung'sattempts o deal with

the occult.21 It is not surprising, herefore,that synchronicityhas notbeen seen as a key concept in Jung'spsychology.JolandeJacobi, for

example, in her authoritativepresentationof Jung'spsychology, does

not even treat it as a separateconcept and offersonly one ratherweak

paragraphunder the heading "archetype."22This consigningof "syn-

chronicity" o Jung'soffbeat nterest nthingsoccult has helpedto create

a seriousmisperceptionof Jung's heoryas being almosttotallyinward,focused on the collective unconscious and the archetypes.Ithas led to a

misunderstandingf the process of individuation,with externalfactors

being given short shrift.And it has paved the way forthe chargeto be

leveled thatJungis nothingmore than a modern-daygnosticwho doesnot take the externalworldseriously.In whatfollows we will show that

all of these errorsare correctedif "synchronicity"s approachedfrom

Chinese Taoism rather han from modernparapsychology.The differ-

ence this makes for one's estimate of Jung's thought and the under-

standingof hisconcept of "the Self" is enormous.

Jung'searliestthinkingon synchronicitywas promptedby a con-

versationover dinner with AlbertEinstein ometime between 1909 and

1913. Einsteinwas developinghis first heoryof relativity ndthis started

Jung thinkingabout the relativityof time and space "and theirpsychic

conditionality."23utit is inthe "Chineseorientation" f a 1930 memo-

rial addressfor sinologistRichardWilhelmthatJungfirstclearlyspeaksaboutsynchronicity:

Thescienceof the I Chings not basedon thecausality rinciple, uton a

principlehithertonnamed ecausenotmetwithamongus)whichI have

tentativelyalledthe synchronisticrinciple.My occupationwith the psy-chologyof unconscious rocesses ong ago necessitatedmy looking oranother rinciplef explanation....Thus found hat herearepsychicpar-allelismswhich cannotbe related o each othercausally....24

Jung's sense of the existence of psychic parallelismor correlations

between inner and outer events was stronglynourished as a result of

readingWilhelm's ranslations f the I Chingand a book on TaoistYoga,The Secret of the Golden Flower, or which he wrote a psychological

commentary.To understand he importanceof this notion of synchronicity or

Jung'spsychology,it is usefulto remindourselvesof the main constructs

Philosophy ast&West of histheory.It sJung'sview thateach of us shares nthreedifferent evels

480



of consciousness:the conscious level of the ego; the dreams,memories,and repressionshatcomprisethe personalunconscious;and the predis-

positions o universalhumanreactions, he archetypes, hatcompose the

collective unconscious. Itis, of course,the notion of the archetypesand

the collective unconsciousthat is the trademark f Jung's hought. It is

in the raisingof the archetypes o the conscious level and in the shiftingof the center of gravityof the personality romthe ego to the Self that

synchronicityplays a vital role. Without synchronicityboth of these

processescould not take place, forJung'spsychologywould be encap-sulatedwithin the innerpsyche and out of touch with the externalworld.

Then the charge againstJungof gnosticismor mere idealism could be

made to stick.

AlthoughJung'ssynchronicityconcept saved him fromfalling into

the gnostictrap,Jungneverdevelopeda theoretical rameworkhatwould

enable him to discuss this concept systematically.About this failingof

Jung,Ira

Progoff ays:"Hisvision was so rich and

essentiallyvalid, yethe could not reduce it to a form that he could communicate...."25 It

remains or us, then, to rereadJung'snotionof "synchronicity"hroughhis references o the Chinese texts so that the meaningintendedby Jungwill be understood.

To be clear about the archetype and its creative individuation

through he use of materials f the externalworld,one needs to knowtheChinese doctrine T'ien-jenchih chi ("the interrelation f heaven and

man").In Englishwe mightuse the term "correlativeanthropocosmol-ogy."26This is what underliesJung'snotion that an archetypeincludesnot only psychic equivalences but psychophysical equivalences too.27

Like he Chinese doctrine of the interrelation f the individualwith the

cosmos, Jungconceived of the archetypeas interrelatinghe meaningcontent of the innerpsyche with the meaning content of the external

cosmos. When the two connected, an experienceof synchronicity ook

place. Thedeepermeaningwithinone's psychewas experiencedin rela-tion to a correspondingmeaning in the externalreality.Jungsaid, the

"archetypehas a tendencyto behave as though it were not localized in

one personbutwere active in the whole environment."28Or,as he put itin a letterdatedAugust1951, the archetype s an "arranger"f psychicformsinside and outside the psyche into meaningfulpatterns.29When

thisoccursone is takenout of one's smallego consciousnessby experi-encing contact with the largermeaning-wholeof oneself withinthe cos-mos. As is the case in Chinesethought,this notionof Jung's s not alle-

goricalor prelogical,but is based on the idea of an ordereduniverse ntowhich everything itsharmoniously.

Ina letterto PastorBernet,Jungindicates that the archetypemedi-

atingthe phenomenaof synchronicitys embedded inthe brainstructureand is physiologicallyverifiable hroughelectrical stimulationof certain HaroldCoward

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PhilosophyEast&West

areas of the brainstem that produce mandala visions.30But in a letter

to WalterSchmid,Jungwarns that even thoughthe archetypeand syn-

chronicityare rootedin the psychic realm,we should not take them to

be only psychic. "In so far ... as synchronistic vents include not only

psychic butalso physicalformsof manifestation,he conclusion is justi-

fied that both modalitiestranscend he realm of the psychic and some-how belong to the physical realm."31The inherentpatterningactivity

by the archetype s notonly presentat the level of the collective uncon-

scious but, under Chinese influence, came to be regardedby Jungas

a psychophysicalcontinuumpresentthroughout he cosmos. Thus the

deepest levels of the collective unconscious were seen to participate n

the underlyingpatterns f the externalworld of nature.When the two are

brought ogethera significantmomentof synchronicity s experienced,and the archetypalmeaning is revealed. In Eastern eligionthis is the

revelationof the divine.

Insummary, hen,Jung's"synchronicity"

s the idea that aperson

is

a participant n and meaningfullyrelatedto the acausal patterningof

events in nature.32The weakness in Jung'stheory is that he does not

consistentlydemonstratehow the synchronisticevent and its meaningare clearlyrelatedto the depth psychologyof the individual.33What is

clear is thatJungbecame quitesure thatthe multiplicity f the empiricalworld rests on an underlyingunity. It is this underlyingunitythatgives

oppositessuch as inner versusouter,psychicversusphysical,and spiri-tualversusworldly he potential o become linked n meaningfulacausal

synchronistic xperiences. It is the Chineseworldviewthat startedJungin this direction,and it is Jung'sreadingof Chinese thoughtthat can

renderhis thoughtmoresystematic n relation o synchronicity.In his discussionof the forerunners f the idea of synchronicity ung

pointsstrongly o Chinesethought.34Therenatureconstitutesa dynamic,

organicwhole. The individualparticipates n the whole in accordance

with itscomprehensivepattern theTao).Whenwe thinkof the unfoldingof events in this interactionbetween humansand nature,Western deas

of cause and effect are replacedin Chinesethoughtby notionsof inter-

dependence. This interdependence s based on the idea of a simulta-

neous resonance between otherwise independententities.35As men-

tionedearlier t is morelikea musictheoryof resonance hanNewtonian

physics. Accordingto Joseph Needham, the key word in the Chineseworldviewis "pattern": Thesymboliccorrelationsor correspondencesall formedpartof one colossal pattern."36 hingsbehave as they do not

because of cause-effectrelationshipswith other things but because of

their intrinsic nterdependent elationshipwith the existentialpatternof

all life.Jungquotes ChuangTzu sayingthe Tao thewhole) is obscured

when one fixes one's eye on littlesegmentsof existence only.37Limita-

tionsare notgrounded nthe patternof the whole of life.Thusthe vision

482



of the successfulartist s of one who "can follow Nature'sspontaneityand be awareof the subtletyof things,and his mind will be absorbedbythem. His brushwill secretlybe in harmonywith movement and quies-cence and all formswill issue forth."38One who is not in tune with the

harmonicsof reality"becomes a slave of passionand his naturewill be

distortedby externalities."From he viewer's perspective,when a Chinese artist s successful,

the painting s said to reveal the potentialitiesof the "spiritual ourt,"a

term firstused by ChuangTzu to mean what Jungcalls the depth of

the unconscious.So, when FuTsai saw ChangTsao'spaintingsof pinesand rocks,he said: "When I sense the vigorof ChangTsao'spainting,I no longer see a painting,I see Tao.... [T]hingsbroughtout are not

fromconsciousnessof the eye and ear, but from the SpiritualCourt."39

InJung'sview this is also what happens in the makingof the best man-

dalas.40The potentialitieswithinand without come togetheraccording

to the divine pattern,and synchronicityis complete. The Tao is re-vealed.4' In otherplaces Jungdescribes this as the mysteryof the con-

iunctio,in which the extremeoppositesunite,nightis wedded withday,outsidewith inside,and male with female. There-isa universalvalidity,he observes,fromthe Taoof Lao-Tzu o the coincidentiaoppositorum f

Cusanus.42

The Taoistapproachis the synchronisticway. As in the I Ching,it

involves the studyand classificationof events whereinmeaningful nter-

dependence transcendsspace, time, and causalityas the determiningfactor.Thearchetypecontains the meaningfulpattern hat waitsto reso-

nate sympatheticallywith events sharing he same pattern n the exter-nal world. News of the externalworld is first aken intothe psyche by the

sensingfunctionand then takendeep within the psyche by the intuitingfunction.There,under the influenceof the archetype,contact is made

between the inner and outer forms of the pattern.The work of indi-

viduationor symbolformation nvolvesthe creativeworking ogetherofthe archetypalormswiththe interiorized ontentsof the psychicalworlduntil a "synchronous it" is achieved and the interdependentmeaningrevealed (usually in a series of dreamsending finally in a conscious

experience).While in Chinese culturethe throwingof the yarrowstalks

inaccordance with the IChinghelpsthe processof seeingthe Taoalong,in the WestJungfelt that his practiceof "ActiveImagination" layed a

parallelrole in a way more suited to the modernWestern mind. Inbothcases the end resultwas an experience of the inner psyche and theexternalworldcoming togethersynchronisticallyn a meaningfulwhole.

Self

Jungtypically describes spiritualmaturityand psychological inte-

grationas the shiftingof the center of gravityof the personality rom the HaroldCoward

483



PhilosophyEast& West

ego to the self.43Jung'sdiscovery of the self as the goal of psychicdevelopmentoccurred as a resultof his studyof Taoism in 1918 while

writingPsychologicalTypesand in 1927 while writinga commentaryor

Wilhelm's ranslation f TheSecret of the GoldenFlower.TheseChinese

texts taught Jungthat in the developmentof the self there is no linear

evolution;there is only a circumambulation n which everything s re-lated to the center.44And this circumambulationprocess of the self

includes materials rom both the inner psyche and the externalworld

in ever widening circles. The equal inclusionof the external world is

of crucial importance, n Jung'sview, for it saves one fromfalling into

the theosophical trapof much Hinduthought, namelythat the external

world is mere mayaand ultimatelydisappears, eavinga pure,universal

consciousness.45Jungmakes it clear that his concept of the self is not

that kind of "universal onsciousness,"which he says is simplyanother

name for the unconscious. The Taoist insistence on a balance between

inner andouter,

betweenyin

andyang,

confirmedinJung's

mind that

both sides were essential for the development of the self. As Frieda

Fordhamputs it: "[Theself] consists ... in the awareness on the one

handof ouruniquenatures,andon the other of our intimaterelationshipwith all of life, not only human,but animaland plant,and even that of

inorganicmatterand the cosmos itself. Itbringsa feeling of "oneness"

and of reconciliationwith life...."46 The two Chinese notions of corre-

lationbetweenthe innerandouter(synchronicity)nd a balanced center

thatexpandsor circumambulates o as to include both the innerand the

outerare fundamental o Jung'snotionof the self.

In explaininghis concept of self, Jungpoints to the Hindu Upani-sadic teachingthat it is not the individualego that speaks,thinks,and

acts. Rather t is the universalBrahman,which speaksthrough he indi-

vidual and so uses the individualas a means of expression.47But the

danger n Hinduthought s that Brahman ecomes one-sidedlyidentified

as pure consciousness and, as such, is no longer in dynamic interrela-

tion with the physicalworld. This is exactlySankara'snotionof nirgunaBrahman,Brahmanwithoutqualities.48FromJung'sperspective,as soon

as one gets out of dynamicinterrelationwith the empiricalworld,one is

either unconscious or out of life altogether.On the other extreme is

the modern Westernmind,which is overbalancedon the externalem-

piricalconsciousnessandvirtually ut off fromthe internalunconscious.Because it balanced both extremes,Jungfound his readingof Chinese

thought,andTaoism nparticular,o offera betterclue to the self.Taoism

is structured uch that an overbalanceon one side is necessarilycom-

pensated by a stress on the other so that withinthe personality he two

sides arealways seekingto be in balance.Inthe Taoistbook, TheSecret

of the Golden Flower,Jungfound for the first time an outline for the

developmentof a balancedself.

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In his Introduction o the Causeway Editionof The Secret of the

Golden Flower,CharlesSan states that the aim is "an enrichmentof

consciousnesswhich will unite the inner and outer worldsof reality."49Thetranslator,RichardWilhelm,addsthatthe book teachesa correlation

of the innerspiritualprinciplewith the psychogenicforces of the cosmos

so as to preparefor the possibilityof life after death in a transfiguredbodily form.50In the text, MasterLuteaches that the one primordialwhole is the Tao.The Taophenomenalizes into a multiplicityof indi-

viduals in the formof hunand p'o. Hun dwells in the eyes and is brightand active. It is identified with yang and associated with the lighter,

higher spirit,which after death rises in the air and flows back into the

reservoir f life. P'odwells in the abdomen and is darkand earthbound.

It is identified with yin and associated with the body and its sexual

energy.Atdeath itdecays and returnso the earthwhence itcontinually

begets.51Thegoal of the yoga as taught nthe text is to arousethe sexual

energyof the

yinor

p'oand convert it intothe

lighter piritual nergyof

yangor hun until a balance is achieved.52

WhatstruckJungabout this Taoistmodel forthe developmentof the

self was that it neverattempted o force the pairsof oppositesso farapartthat all connection between them is lost. Yetthe TaoistYogaof the text

soughtout a pointof balance orfreedom hatwould take one beyondthe

clash of oppositeswithoutbecoming one-sided or overbalanced.53The

self, said Jung, is the midpointof the opposites. It is equivalentto theTao.54Problemscaused by being overbalancedon one side orthe othercan never be solved but only outgrown.To remainoverbalancedand

caught up in a conflict between the opposites is pathological.Growth

into the self, however, is normal.Jungcomments:

When examinedhewayofdevelopmentfthosepersonswho,quietly, ndas if unconsciously,grew beyond themselves, I saw that their fates had

something n common.Whetherarising romwithoutorwithin,the new thingcame to all those personsfrom a darkfield of possibilities; hey accepted it

and developedfurtherby means of it. Itseemed to me typicalthat, in some

cases, the new thingwas found outsidethemselves,and in otherswithin;or

rather, hat it grew into some personsfrom without, and into others fromwithin.But t was neversomething hatcame exclusivelyeither romwithinorfromwithout.... [l]nno case was it conjured ntoexistence

throughpurposeandconsciouswilling,but rather eemed to flow out of the streamof time.55

Thisnew thing, the developingself, Junggoes on to say, seldom corre-

sponds to conscious expectation,does not permitmechanicalduplica-tion, contradictsdeeply rootedinstincts,and yet is "a singularlyappro-priateexpressionof the total personality,an expressionthat one couldnot imagine in a more complete form."56All this was accomplishedby doing nothing, or, as Master Lu Tzu said, by wu wei (actionless HaroldCoward

485



action). This art of lettingthings happen-action in nonaction, lettinggo of oneself-became for Jung the key to opening the door to the

development of the self. Later he was technically to designate the

process as "active imagination."In fact, at this point in his Com-

mentary, Jung provides one of his clearest descriptions of "active

imagination"as inspired by his reading of the Taoist notion of wuwei.57

As the Taoist ext makesclear,saidJung,some have to enlargetheir

personalityinto a self by taking from without, others by expandingwithin. Itdepends on theirstartingpersonality ype-introvert or extro-

vert. Eitherway, an enlargement nto a self occurs by making present

partsof one's inneror outerworldthat one had previouslyblocked out.

Theprocessinvolves an enlargementof consciousnessthrougha unitingor correlating f what was separated.InChineseterms,says Jung, his is

the bringingabout of Tao.InWestern terms this makingthe opposites

consciouslyin

harmonywith the

largerpatternof life is "conversion"-

conversionfromthe ego as the center of the personality o the self as

center.58

This expansion of the personalityand the union of the opposites

through he processof lettinggo of the ego expressesitselfin symbols.Such symbols are mandalas.The term impliesa circular nature.Man-

dalas pictoriallyrepresent he harmonious nclusion of both the inner

and outerrealmswithin the self. InJung'sview, findingone's own man-

dala symbol is crucial for the developmentof the self. Earlier 1918-

1920), says Jung,"I had a dream about the centerand the self which I

representedn a mandalapaintingcalled 'Windowon Eternity'." yearlaterJung painteda second picture,likewisea mandala,thatwas veryChineseincharacter,with a goldencastle atthe center.Someyearslater,in 1927, when Jung read TheSecret of the Golden Flower,he found

confirmationof his ideas about the self, the man.dala, nd the circum-

ambulation the circlingaround)of the center.59In the Taoisttext, the

Golden Flowerof HeavenlyLight s the mandala.As was the case with

Jung,the mandalaof the text, the Golden Flower,symbolizesthe self

in which the unconscious has become conscious in a harmoniousunion

with all of life. The union of these two, life and consciousness, is the

Tao.60In a later article, Jung comments that Atman, Tao, and Christ are

different ultural ymbolsfor wholenessthat correlate he innerself withthe animating principle of the cosmos.61

Behind the opposites and in the opposites is true reality,which sees and

comprehends he whole.... We use the word "self" for this contrasting t

with the littleego.... [T]his elf is notjusta rathermoreconscious or inten-

sifiedego, as the words"self-conscious,""self-satisfied,"tc. might ead one

to suppose.What is meantby the self is notonly in me but in all beings,like

PhilosophyEast& West the Atman, ike Tao.Itis psychictotality.62

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In The Secret of the Golden FlowerJungwas particularly truckby a

drawingof a yogi with five humanfiguresgrowingout of the top of his

head andfive morefiguresgrowingout of the top of each of their heads.

The picture,thoughtJung, portrayshe spiritual tate of the yogi who is

aboutto rid himselfof his manysmallegos and passover into the more

completeobjectivestateof the self.63Jungfound the process of circumambulation,by which the self is

built up, fully represented n the man.dala nd text of The Secret of the

Golden Flower.A circumambulatio r circularcourse of developmentis

prescribed. Throughmeditation,claims Jung, the Tao begins to take

leadership.Action is submerged nto nonaction,and everythingperiph-eral is subjectedto the command of the center. Psychologically,says

Jung, he turning n everwideningcircles aboutoneselfengagesall sides

of the personality.

Thus he circularmovement as alsothe moral ignificancef activatingll

the lightanddark orcesof humannature, ndwiththem,all the psycho-logical pposites f whatever indheymaybe.Thatmeansnothinglse than

self-knowledgeymeansofself-incubationHindi,apas).64

For this circularmovement to take place, a symbol such as the sun, a

castle, or, as in this text, a golden flower is necessary.The symbol is a

visual image of the divine pattern,which gathers up and integratesmaterialsrom he unconsciouswiththose of the externalworldreceived

through he senses. As such the symbol is a manifestation f the God or

self archetype.As it refocuses one's psychic energyfromthe ego to the

self, there is felt a heighteningand clearnessof consciousness,a freeingof oneself fromemotional or sensory entanglements,and a deepeningsense of unityof being.65

Jungobserves that the Taoist text is aware of certaindangersthat

arise when such an expansionof consciousness is takingplace. Newlyactivated unconscious contents are frequentlyprojected upon the out-

side world. The textoffersvisualrepresentationsf such projectionsanddescribesthemas "thought-fragments"hat areemptycolors and shapes

possessing no being in and of themselves. Jung comments that such

psychic partial systems are common in mental illnesses (like schizo-

phrenia),mediumisticphenomena,and religious phenomena(in which

the thought-fragmentsmay be personifiedas spiritsor gods).The begin-

ningformation f a self givesone a centerfromwhich to recognizethese

partialpsychic systemsfor what they are and, in turn,makes possibletheirdepotentializationand assimilationby the center.66Againthe cir-

cular movementdominates he process.This is not an easy or quick processbut, as the TibetanBookof the

Dead (theBardoTh6dol)makesclear,one thatmayengageone even be-

yond one's death.67Theassimilation f such psychic projections hrough HaroldCoward

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Philosophy ast&West

the processof circumambulations an essentialpartof the individuation

of the self from its entrapment n either the inner unconscious or the

external world. The instructions n The Secret of the Golden Flower,

thoughtJung, each the pupilhow to free himselfor herself rom inneror

outer bondage. The unconscious is not projected any more;therefore,

the participationmystique, he primordialnterweaving f consciousnesswith the world, has been disentangled.LevyBruhldefinesparticipation

mystiqueas "the ndefinitelyargeremnant f non-differentiationetween

subjectand object."68Inprimitivepeoples this nondifferentiationakes

the form of plantsand animalsbehavinglike humansand vice versa.In

modernpeople this nondifferentiationakes another orm.AsJungputsit,one is identifiedwith one's parentsor with one's affects,or one accuses

others of things one does not see in oneself. In both kinds of non-

differentiation,people feel themselves to be magically influenced by

things, circumstances,and other people. Butwhen these unconscious

projectionsare made

conscious,the

participation mystiqueis tran-

scended and the center of gravityof the personality hifts tsposition."It

ceases to be the ego, which is merelythe centerof consciousness,and

is located instead in what mightbe called a virtualpoint between the

conscious and the unconscious. This new center mightbe called the

self."69This is what is meantby the text, says Jung,when it speaks of

"the diamond body." Such an expressionsymbolizes a psychologicalattitude hat is invulnerableo entanglementsn the outer or innerworld.

Jungagreeswith the text thatthe timefor this processto take place is in

the second half of life as a preparationor death.Thisnaturally ollows

the focus of the firsthalf of life on "begettingand reproduction."70nthe

second half of life, one's sexual energy is transmuted, hroughyoga

practice, nto the universalspiritual nergyof the self.

Jung's reading of the Taoist text highlighted another important

aspect, namelythe text'semphasison directexperienceand the refusal

to attempta metaphysical description.Whereas in Taoismany meta-

physical description s negated(e.g., LaoTzu: "TheTaothat can be told

of is not the eternalTao."71), n Westernreligionmetaphysicshas be-

come the normand,Jungthinks,an obstacleto directexperienceof the

divine. Jung'sfollowing of Taoismon this point has led to chargesof

"psychologism."Ifby "psychologism" s meantthe bringingof "meta-

physics"within the rangeof experience,thenJungsays he pleads guiltyand is flattered, or that indeed is the aim: "To understandmetaphysi-

cally is impossible; t can only be done psychologically."72TheTaoists,

says Jung,understand his well. Theyarereallysymbolicalpsychologists.When the text speaks of the "diamondbody," the indestructible pirit

body thatdevelops in the Golden Flower,it is describingnot a dogmabut a real experience, which MasterLuTzu has had and expects his

pupilto have. Nor do the Taoistsmake the mistakeof taking his breath

488



or spirit"diamondbody"to be separated rom the physical.Thereis no

dualism here. What is experienced is a purifyingand correlatingof the

physical and the mental into a balanced self symbolized by the "dia-

mondbody."73Thisultimateexperiencecan only be hinted at in words

such as "It s not I who live, it lives me," or, to use the Christian ontext,

"No longerdo I live, but Christ ives in me."74Jungadds: "Ina certainsense, the thing we are tryingto express is the feeling of having been

'replaced,'but withoutthe connotationof having been 'deposed.' It is

as if the leadershipof the affairsof life had gone over to an invisible

center."75

The experienceof this new center is the Taoor, inJung's erms,the

self. It is not skepticismor agnosticismbut, saysJung,an experienceof

Kant'sDing-an-sich, he thing in itself. This is why, when asked, in an

interviewwith the BBC,"Do you believe in God?"Jungpausedand re-

sponded,"Ido notbelieve, Iknow!"76Thisdirectknowledge,saysJung,

bringswith it a releasefromthe

compulsionand

impossibleresponsibil-ity that are the inevitable results of dogmatismand the participation

mystique.Instead, here is a feeling of reconciliationwith oneself and

with what is happening n the world. One is releasedto live in wu-wei,

spontaneousaction centered not in the ego but in the self, the Tao.77

Jungconcludes his Commentaryon The Secret of the Golden Flower

with the followingwords: "It is ... the atmosphereof suffering, eeking,andstriving ommon to all civilizedpeoples; it is the tremendousexperi-ment of becoming conscious, which nature has imposedon mankind,

uniting he mostdiverse cultures n a commontask."78 n his readingof

Taoism,Jung ound notonly an adequateexpressionof synchronicitybut

also a trustworthy uide to the experience of the self as the spiritualcenter.

Conclusion

Thisstudyhas shown that two of Jung'scentral and often misunder-stoodconcepts, "synchronicity" nd "theself,"were strongly nfluencedin their initial ormulationby his readingof Taoist hought.When placedagainst the backgroundof Chinese correlationalcosmology, synchro-nicity is seen as primarily oncerned with the inherent nterrelation fthe inner psyche with the externalworld, and only secondarilyas an

explanationof occult events. When examined in relation o the I Ching,synchronicitys understood o be a fundamentalprincipleunderlyinghe

archetypesand the way in which the opposites withinand without the

psyche interact.As such it becomes a basic buildingblock for Jung'sconcept of self. First ncountered in his dreamsand laterconfirmedand

explainedin TheSecretof the GoldenFlower, ungdeveloped his notionof the self in a detailedreflectionon the Tao.Of central mportancehereis the idea that the contents of the innerpsyche andthose of the external HaroldCoward

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Philosophy ast&West

world must be assimilatedand balanced to approximate he Tao. Fol-

lowing the lead of TheSecret of the Golden Flower,Jungfinds thattheself evolves by a processof circumambulationround he centerin ever

expanding circles. When a sufficientnumberof projectionshas been

made conscious and archetypes ndividuatedhrough hisprocess,a self

symbol, usually in the formof a mandala,will be born. This is not aprocessof the conscious ego, however, but,again followinghis readingof Taoism,a lettinggo of ego in wu-wei or spontaneousaction. The

evolving self is not somethingthatcan be described,metaphysicallyor

otherwise,butsimplyexperienced.All of this is importantnot just for our understanding f how Jung

developed his basic ideas, but because it corrects some major mis-

understandings. he first s thatJung'spsychologyis so dominantly ntra-

psychic or inwardly ocused that for him everythingcomes out of the

collective unconscious. The Taoist backgroundhelps us to see that

throughouthere is a balancebetween innerand outerin

Jung's hinking,that the physicalworld is as important s the innerarchetypes,and that

both areexpressionsof the same fundamentalpatternor whole, the Tao.

The second misunderstanding elates to the same basic problem.Commentatorswho have not seen Jung throughhis readingof Taoism

havefrequently hargedhim withbeinga gnostic-Maurice Freedman79

and R.C. Zaehner80have brandedJungas "a moderngnostic."Gnosti-

cism places a one-sidedemphasison the subjective, he unconscious as

the source of knowledge,a fact thatJunghimselfrecognizes in Aion.81

Thepartof gnosticism hatJungacceptedwas that there was knowledgeto be found within the psyche. But this was immediatelybalanced byhis Taoistinsightthatany innerknowledge must be interrelatedwith a

correspondingknowledgeof the externalworld.This insightis basic to

Jung'sconceptsof synchronicity nd the self andeffectivelysafeguarded

Jung rombecominga gnostic.ForJung, he inner, houghreal,is alwaysintensionwith theouter,which isequallyreal.Jung'spsychologyrequiresthat we expand our personality ypes of introvert nd extrovert n ever

wideningcircles untilthe oppositeaspect is assimilatedand made con-

scious in the new whole of the self, the Tao.

The thirdmisunderstandingelatesto suspicions,usuallyvoiced byministersor theologians,thatJungis a skepticor agnostic, that he has

done awaywith Godby psychologizingGod intoan archetype.That his

chargebotheredJunga greatdeal is evident from he attention t receives

in hisCommentary n TheSecretof the GoldenFlower.82 asinghimself

on Lao Tzu'steaching, "TheName that can be spoken or described is

not the trueName,"Jungseeksto demonstratehat he is neithera skepticnor an agnostic but a direct experiencerof the divine. Followinghis

readingof Taoism,Jungrejectsmetaphysicsas havinganygripon reality.All dogma, all theology, is necessarilyone-sided because it engages in

490



makingdistinctions.Thedivine,the underlyingwhole, which gives birth

to, supports,and receivesbackall of existence, provides he cosmic pat-ternin which all distinctions nhere.To know God, the Tao, he Atman,

requiresnotmetaphysicsbut a directexperienceof the whole-and that,

Jungmaintains, s availableto us all through he Self.

Itis not likelythattheologiansor metaphysicianswill be happywithJung'sTaoistexperience of the divine. But it is something quite differ-

ent fromskepticismor gnosticism.Ifit is to hit the mark,any discussion

of Jung's religion would be advised to begin with the Taoist back-

groundandthento grapplewith his contentionthatin Paul'sexperienceof Christ"the deepest religiousexperience of the West and the East

meet."83Jungseems to have been convinced that in PaulinetheologyTaoistand Christianhoughtcoalesce.

NOTES

1 - HaroldCoward,Jungand EasternThought Albany:StateUniversityof New YorkPress,1985).

2 - Ibid.,pp. 52-55.

3 - C. G. Jung,Memories,Dreams,Reflections,ed. AnielaJaffe, rans.

Richard and Clara Winston (New York:Vintage Books, 1965),

p. 373.

4 - Ibid.,p. 374.

5 - C. G. Jung, PsychologicalTypes, n TheCollected Worksof C. G.

Jung,vol. 6 (Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress,1971).

6 - Jung,Memories,Dreams, Reflections,p. 207.

7 - Ibid.,p. 208.

8 - Jung, Psychological Types,p. 214.

9 - John B. Henderson, The Development and Decline of Chinese

Cosmology(New York:ColumbiaUniversityPress,1984), p. xv. In

an even more recent book, BenjaminSchwartzsuggeststhe term

"correlativeanthropocosmology"as a more exact translationofthe Chinese principle (The World of Thought n Ancient China

[Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress,1985]).

10 - Ibid.,p. 1.

11 -Ibid., p. 22.

12 - Ibid.,pp. 154-155.

13 - The TaoTeChingof Lao Tzu,Chapter25, trans.JamesLegge, in HaroldCoward

491



The Textsof Taoism New York:Dover Publications,1962), pt. 1,

p. 68.

14 - As quoted by Jung from Waley's translation; ee Jung, Psycho-logical Types, n CollectedWorks,6:214.

15- Ibid.,pp.

216-217.

16 - Jung,Memories,Dreams,Reflections,p. 374.

17 - C. G. Jung, Foreword o TheI Chingor Book of Changes,trans.Richard Wilhelm (Princeton:Princeton UniversityPress, 1950),p. xxii.

18- Ibid.,p. xxiv.

19 - W. A. Callahan,"Discourseand Perspective n Daoism:A Linguis-tic Interpretationf Ziran,"PhilosophyEastand West39 (1989):171.

20 - Jung,Foreword o The I Ching,p. xxiv.

21-C. G. Jung, Synchronicity:An Acausal Connecting Principle(Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress,1973) (see CollectedWorks,vol. 8), pp. v-vi.

22 - JolandeJacobi, The Psychologyof C. G. Jung(New Haven:Yale

UniversityPress,1973), pp. 49-50.

23 - Jung, Synchronicity, p. vi.

24 - The Secret of the Golden Flower,trans. RichardWilhelm with

CommentarybyC.

G. Jung(New York:CausewayBooks, 1975),p. 142.

25 - IraProgoff,Jung, Synchronicityand Human Destiny (New York:

Dell, 1973), p. 158.

26 - Schwartz,TheWorldof Thoughtn AncientChina,p. 350.

27 - Jung, Synchronicity, p. 99.

28 - C. G. Jung,Civilizationn Transition,n CollectedWorks,10:451-

452.

29 - C. G. Jung: Letters,vol. 2, ed. GerhardAdler and Aniela Jaff6

(Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress),p. 22.

30 - Ibid., pp. 258-259.

31 - Ibid., p. 447.

32 - As RobertAziz has demonstrated,he "meaningfulness" ungasso-

ciates with synchronistic vents consists in four interrelatedlayersof deepening significance: a)the intrapsychic tate and the objec-

Philosophy ast&West tive event as "meaningfulparallels," b)the numinouschargeasso-

492



ciated with the synchronisticexperience (fromR. Otto, a feelingof "grace" is conveyed), (c) the importof the subjective level of

interpretation,nd (d)the archetypal evel of meaning(RobertAziz,Ph.D.thesis,C. G.Jung'sPsychologyof ReligionandSynchronicity,

pp. 98-99; subsequentlypublishedby StateUniversity f New York

Press,1990).33 - Ibid.,p. 110.

34 - Jung,Synchronicity, p. 69 ff.

35 - NathanSivin, ChineseAlchemy:Preliminary tudies(Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress,1968), p. 5.

36 - Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation n China (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1956), 2:281.

37 - Jung,Synchronicity,n CollectedWorks,8:488.

38 - Chang Huai's "Treatiseon Painting"as quoted in Creativity ndTaoism,by Chang Chung-yuan (New York: HarperColophon,1963), p. 206.

39 - Ibid.,p. 207.

40 - Jung,Commentary n The Secretof the GoldenFlower,p. 137.

41 - C. G. Jung,TheSymbolicLife, n CollectedWorks,18:68-69.

42 - C. G. Jung,MysteriumConiunctionis,n CollectedWorks,14:166.

43 - C. G. Jung,TheHoly Men of India, n Collected Works,11:576-

586.44 - Jung,Memories,Dreams,Reflections,pp. 196-197.

45 - Jung, Commentaryon The Secret of the Golden Flower,in Col-lected Works,13:6-7.

46 - FriedaFordham,An Introduction oJung'sPsychology(Harmonds-

worth,England:Penguin,1957), p. 63.

47 - See, e.g., ChandogyaUpanisad6.12.1-3.

48 - See KarlH. Potter,AdvaitaVedantaUp to Samkara nd His Pupils

(Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress,1981), pp. 76ff. It should,however,be noted thatHinduTantric ystemsshare withTaoism abalancedemphasison the inner and outerworlds. Itjust happensthatJung ound his help in this regard romChineseTaoist exts.

49 - CharlesSan, Introductiono TheSecret of the GoldenFlower,rans.RichardWilhelm (New York:CausewayBooks, 1975), p. xii. Thebook is said to go back in oral formto LuYen, an eighth-centuryTaoistadept. HaroldCoward

493



50 - Ibid.,p. 4. Itwould be interestingo comparethis Taoist notion of

the transfigured ody-spiritpersonality hat survivesdeathwith the

Christian octrineof a resurrectedtransfigured ody-spirit ntity.

51 - Ibid., pp. 14ff.

52 - Ibid.,p.

xi.

53 - Ibid., p. 87.

54 - C. G. Jung; Two Essayson Analytical Psychology, in Collected

Works,7:221.

55 - Jung,Commentary n TheSecretof the GoldenFlower,p. 89.

56 - Ibid., p. 90.

57 - Ibid., pp. 90-92.

58 - Ibid.,p. 96. This is one of the few timesJunguses the term"con-

version."59 - Jung,Memories,Dreams,Reflections,p. 197.

60 - Jung,Commentary n TheSecretof the GoldenFlower,p. 100.

61 - C. G. Jung,A PsychologicalApproachto the Trinity,n Collected

Works,11:156.

62 - C. G. Jung,Good and Evil in AnalyticalPsychology, n Collected

Works,10:463.

63 - C. G. Jung, "Ulysses":A Monologue,in CollectedWorks,15:126.

Jungsees the

many figuresn

JamesJoyce's Ulyssesas

manysmall

egos, like the many small egos of the drawingfrom The Secretof

the GoldenFlower.There is no one characteror figure n the novel

to representhe self.

64 - Jung,Commentary n The Secretof the Golden Flower,pp. 101-

102. Asa modernparallel o thisdescription rom he ancientTaoist

text, Jung quotes from an experience of EdwardMaitland:"Once

startedon my quest, I found myself traversinga succession of

spheres or belts ... the impression produced being that of mountinga vast ladderstretchingrom he circumferenceoward he centerof

a system,which was at once myown system,the solarsystem,andthe universalsystem,the three systems being at once diverseand

identical ..." (p. 102).

65 - Ibid.,p. 104.

66 - Ibid.,pp. 106-113.

67- Jung,of course, usually rejectedthe Easternnotion of individual

Philosophy ast&West rebirth, lthough oward he end of his lifehe came close to accept-

494



ing it. InMemories,Dreams,Reflections,he toys with the idea that

rebirthmightbe conceived as a psychic projectionand offers evi-

dence from his own dreams(pp.322-323).

68 - TheSecretof the GoldenFlower,p. 123.

69 - Ibid.

70 - Ibid.,p. 124.

71 - LaoTzu, Tao-TeChing, in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy,trans.Wing-tsitChan(Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress,1969),

p. 139.

72 - Jung,Commentary n The Secretof the Golden Flower,pp. 128-

129.

73- Ibid.,p. 131 n. 1.

74 - Ibid.,pp. 131-132.

75 - Ibid.,p. 132.

76 - "TheStoryof CarlGustaveJung," nterview,BBCTV,1972.

77 - Jung, Commentary n TheSecret of the Golden Flower,pp. 133-

134.

78 - Ibid.,p. 136.

79 - MauriceFriedman,To Deny our Nothingness(New York:Delta,

1967), pt.vi.

80 - R. C. Zaehner,"A New Buddha and a New Tao," in A Concise

Encyclopedia of Living Faiths,ed. R. C. Zaehner (New York:

HawthornBooks, 1959). Zaehner representsJung as identifyingGod and the self withthe collective unconscious(p. 404).

81 - C. G. Jung,Aion, in CollectedWorks,vol. 9, pt. 2, p. 223.

82 - Jung, Commentary n TheSecret of the Golden Flower,pp. 128-

135.

83 - Ibid.,p. 133. Jung frequentlyquotes from Paul, "No longer do I

live, butChrist iveth in me," as a manifestation f the self withinaChristian ontext (e.g., p. 132).

HaroldCoward

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harold coward - taoism and jung

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