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The Aryan Christ: The Secret Life of Carl Jung Hardcover – August 26, 1997
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Richard Noll
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Carl Gustav Jung, along with Sigmund Freud, stands as one of the two most famous and influential figures of the modern age. His ideas have shaped our perception of the world; his theories of myths and archetypes and his notion of the collective unconscious have become part of popular culture. Now, in this controversial and impeccably researched biography, Richard Noll reveals Jung as the all-too-human man he really was, a genius who, believing he was a spiritual prophet, founded a neopagan religious movement that offered mysteries for a new age.
The Aryan Christ is the previously untold story of the first sixty years of Jung's life--a story that follows him from his 1875 birth into a family troubled with madness and religious obsessions, through his career as a world-famous psychiatrist and his relationship and break with his mentor Freud, and on to his years as an early supporter of the Third Reich in the 1930s. It contains never-before-published revelations about his life and the lives of his most intimate followers--details that either were deliberately suppressed by Jung's family and disciples or have been newly excavated from archives in Europe and America.
Richard Noll traces the influence on Jung's ideas of the occultism, mysticism, and racism of nineteenth-century German culture, demonstrating how Jung's idealization of "primitive man has at its roots the Volkish movement of his own day, which championed a vision of an idyllic pre-Christian, Aryan past. Noll marshals a wealth of evidence to create the first full account of Jung's private and public lives: his advocacy of polygamy as a spiritual path and his affairs with female disciples; his neopaganism and polytheism; his anti-Semitism; and his use of self-induced trance states and the pivotal visionary experience in which he saw himself reborn as a lion-headed god from an ancient cult. The Aryan Christ perfectly captures the charged atmosphere of Jung's era and presents a cast of characters no novelist could dream up, among them Edith Rockefeller McCormick--whose story is fully told here for the first time--the lonely, agoraphobic daughter of John D. Rockefeller, who moved to Zurich to be near Jung and spent millions of dollars to help him launch his religious movement.
As Richard Noll writes, "Jung is more interesting . . . because of his humanity, not his semidivinity." In giving a complete portrait of this twentieth-century icon, The Aryan Christ is a book with implications for all of our lives.
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Print length336 pages
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LanguageEnglish
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PublisherRandom House
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Publication dateAugust 26, 1997
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Dimensions6.5 x 1.5 x 10 inches
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ISBN-100679449450
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ISBN-13978-0679449454
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Editorial Reviews
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Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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From Kirkus Reviews
Review
Richard Wolin, The New Republic, 27 October 1997
Noll's aim is neithe to 'diagnose' nor 'idealize' his subject, but instead to supply some of the 'missing chapters' in the story of Jung's life. He succeeds in this with a clear, accessible style theat makes compelling reading. His scholarly, thought-provoking assessment of Jung's secret 'shadow' side casts fresh light on some of the man's most celebrated theories.
Veronica Groocock, Times Literary Supplement, 16 January 1998
Richard Noll's previous book on Jung, The Jung Cult, was published in 1994. Since Noll is a gifted writer and thorough researcher, this book received considerable acclaim, although it upset the Jung family and some of Jung's more dedicated followers. The Aryan Christ contains much of the same material as The Jung Cult and promotes exactly the same view of Jung; but Noll has made some new discoveries and adds interesting accounts of Jung's millionaire American patients . . . . I admire Noll's scholarship . . . .
Anthony Storr, The Washington Post Book World, 14 September 1997
. . . an eloquent account of Jung's life. . . . It is fascinating and edifying to observe how Noll interweaves the several dimensions of Jung's secret life and systematically peels away the masks that he devised to make his religion accessible in a secularized world.
Louise J. Kaplan, The Boston Globe, 28 September 1997
This serious work of scholarship may cause widespread controversy for it is quite accessible to the lay reader.
Ted Leventhal, Booklist, August 1997
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Product details
- Publisher : Random House; 1st edition (August 26, 1997)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0679449450
- ISBN-13 : 978-0679449454
- Item Weight : 1 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.5 x 1.5 x 10 inches
-
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#352,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #151 in Physical Impairments (Books)
- #944 in Scientist Biographies
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About the author

Richard Noll is a clinical psychologist and historian of medicine. His books and scholarly articles have been, or are in the process of being, translated into fifteen foreign languages. His books have won awards from the British Medical Association, the Association of American Publishers, and Cheiron, the International Society for the History of the Behavioral and Social Sciences. Previously Lecturer in the History of Science at Harvard University and a Resident Fellow at the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology at MIT. He was awarded a 2018 JSPS Fellowship from the Japan Society for the Preservation of Science and was awarded an appointment as Honorary Visiting Professor by the faculty of the University of Shiga Prefecture in Hikone, Japan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Noll
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“He” has entered a “Swann’s Moment” as a disoriented child awakening to experience the gradual synthesis of the “Self “ in its immediate context. Or, he may have entered the eccentric world of Fyodor Dostoyevsky where the people met on the street are more likely to be, “philosophers or psychologists or prophets rather than ‘normal people’ ” who ask, “Do you believe in God?” rather than the more meaningless, “How are you?” as an introduction according to Clifton Fadiman.
In his 1997 volume, “Aryan Christ,” Richard Noll, clinical psychologist and lecturer in the history of science at Harvard University effectively summarizes the life work in science and psychology, the scholarship and contributions to world thought accomplished by the considerable intellect of Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). This summary achieved through a review of his earliest experiences as a youth, including references to the Germanic Mythology, Sun Worship, Human Deification, and familiarity with what are referred to by Noll as the Pagan Gods. This review illuminated with Jung’s experiences later as the Zurich Institute with associates, patients, colleagues, expressed in personal communications, letters, publications, diary entries, records of dream analyses of himself and others, exploration of World Mythologies not to exclude Visionary Experiences. Individuals of special significance in the discourse include, Sigmund Freud, Fanny Bowditch, Richard Wagner, Emma Jung, Toni Wolff, Otto Gross, Sabina Spielrein, Edith Rockefeller McCormick, Maude Moltzer, Constance Long and Friedrich Nietzsche to mention only a few - succinctly put, some of the most influential people of his time. Noll makes special reference to Jung’s interest in Polygamy, the Libido as a god-like, creative force, Jung’s attempts to retain his central position in the face of competitors, multiple infatuations with associates and patients, his belief that he attained god-like status through his revelations, Jung’s stone Tower furnished and decorated with an erotic ambiance for special visits. Also included in Noll’s volume are photographs of the principals, evocative, iconographic art of “Fidus” (Hugo Hoppener), and visionary art recorded by Jung’s patients and associates. Seemingly, all of this information allows the reader to develop a personal assessment of Jung’s character and therefore who he was. One analysis (Gregorc, Learning Styles) of Jung suggests he was Abstract Sequential – he thought abstractly and then processed the results in systems. Also, such thinkers enjoy having their thoughts heard, and their charisma to fixate the audience beyond all others present. .
Among Jung’s principal contributions to psychology as identified in Noll’s, “Aryan Christ” is that of the “Archetype”. Noll’s references to "archetypes" as conceived by Jung are somewhat critical. Archetypes, encoded in the brain are (supposed to be) images of the ideal male, "animus" and the ideal female, the "anima," among many others, especially relevant here – the Innocent, Sage, Creator, Hero, twelve in total with many variations. These archetypes derived from their presence in world mythologies. Jung became world famous in training specialists who would interpret visions and dreams of men and women as they related to certain of these archetypes – failure in this relationship presumed to cause psychological maladjustment. Of late, critics suggest the archetype idea is largely mythical and the images are actually no more than memories derived from forgotten experiences identified as examples of, "cryptomnesia". Such contentions have suggested that Jung’s ideas “prove nothing.”
Despite these criticisms evidences of Jung’s archetypes have found their way as splendid examples in history and art. Exceptional examples of the archetypes or those who envisioned them in their creations include, Alexander, Cleopatra, T.E. Lawrence, Charles Dodgson, Joan of Arc, Vincent van Gogh, Beatrix Potter, Gustav Flaubert, R. Rider Haggard, Virginia Woolf, Ludwig van Beethoven, W.B. Yeats, to name a few.
Preeminently in popular fiction, Edgar Rice Burroughs considered by some as the most influential writer of the 20th Century, had an intuitive "feel" for Jungian Archetypes, and developed them so vividly as to be instantly recognizable when awakened from the subconscious of the mesmerized reader. The superbly envisioned, mythical world of Pellucidar (based on Symzonia, the creation of John Symmes) is a glorious, "Glimpse of Elysium." Here, Abner Perry, the civilized Adventurer accompanied by the Explorer, David Innes comes to Pellucidar and attempts to meld the extant native society with the benefits of industrialism. They encounter Heroes, Sages, Innocents, Tricksters and, Dian the Jewel - the exquisite, expression of the Anima Archetype, so perfectly drawn as to be instantly recognizable as the "heart's desire" of a young male, experiencing the wanderlust to escape the restrictions of formalized, repetitive society.
An illustrative quote assembled from passages in “At the Earth’s Core” imagines “Dian the Jewel of Pellucidar – “Light reflected from the curve of each brown limb sang of symmetry as she walked.” Dian and David are the perfect Jungian contra-biological union, who when so joined form the ideal hermaphroditic whole. Tarzan and Jane are identified in an even more perfect union. The mystic, Alfred Lord Tennyson declaims Aphrodite in his poem, “Oenone” - “Golden Aphrodite fresh as foam new-bathed in Paphian Wells. With rosy slender fingers backward drew from her warm brows and bosom her deep hair ambrosial, golden round her lucid throat and shoulder: from the violets her light foot shone rosy-white, and o'er her rounded form between the shadows of the vine-bunches floated the glowing sunlights, as she moved.” Abundant, ecstatic praise before Aphrodite receives the Golden Apple of the Sun, inscribed with “To the Most Fair.” Both Yeats and Burroughs plumbed their minds to the depths, and using higher order thinking of meta-representation availed the reader of Jung’s archetypes. Needless to say they were probably ignorant of Jung’s work.
A second possible evidence of the archetype hypothesis to be advanced in this review is based on evolutionary theory establishing not only physical but also psychological phenomena follow a developmental sequence from learning to inheritance. In brief summary, this hypothesis in presented here – the reader must be reminded that the defense calls into question some of the most unquestioned of human experiences.
Beautiful colors, “seen” so undeniably by humans are "illusions," in that the actual experiences are streams of "photons" of specific wavelengths. The observer cannot "see photons" in their actual quantum states – “colors” are illusions manufactured by the sense organs and brain. Colors contribute to human survival on the identification of foods, mates and seeing in the light passing through a forest canopy.
"Hot" and "cold" are similar illusions - whereas, the reality is “unseen” kinetic energy and the direction of its transduction interpreted by the sense organs and brain.
What developmental sequence resulted in these illusions? The developmental hypothesis “Psychological Epigenesis” includes three steps: ” First, the illusion is consciously learned from an initial experience. Second, on repeated experience the illusion is produced directly from the subconscious. Third, particularly adaptive experiences become incorporated into the genetics of a species by mutation and natural selection among other contributing factors – in short, the illusion develops from the morphogenesis of a brain capable of generating the illusions as passed from one generation to the next. This explanation is based on recent thought on Darwinian Evolution with allusions to a kind of reverse Lamarckism.
From this defense follows that “beauty” is another illusion manufactured by the brain based on the match with the unseen mathematical facial symmetry of Fibonacci triangles and other mathematical regularities (guiding positions of the lips and correspondence with the shape of the eyes, nose and other parts of the physiognomy). Movie stars are very close approximations of the ideal, mathematical face, and therefore, the match explains their "beauty." Beauty is an illusion in the same sense as other sensations. The "interpretation" of the mathematical regularities is “beauty:” the same the world over. Human genetics guides the morphogenesis and metabolism of a brain capable of creating this illusion. Genetic variations might contribute to varying capacities in individuals to experience beauty. Archetypes, including the "beautiful face" in the form of the animus and anima are present from conception - rather than remembered from forgotten experiences as suggested in cryptomnesia. (If anything, certain photographs are chosen since they represent the human biases toward mathematical regularity.)
Research has demonstrated “cuteness” is related to beauty in the proportions of the face of that infant whose characteristics release nurturing behaviors in parents. Beauty seems related to signs of health and efficacy in reproductive success. As in most evolutionary strategies archetypes do not work perfectly but “well enough.” Beauty and cuteness need not be limited to the face but extended to other bodily proportions. Other archetypes are thought to follow the same sequence since “communication” is most essential to human survival in groups.
What Jung identified as “archetypes” are indeed these genetically inherited guiding propensities of the human mind gleaned from their repeated appearance in world mythologies clarified by analytic thought, facts accessed from visual records of dreams, visions and their contents. Jung considered himself at least initially as a “scientist.” He communicated with Wolfgang Pauli for many years on the subject of “synchronicity.” Scientists as a group, rarely expose the origins of their insights in other than cold logic as Jung did. Friedrich Kekule resolved the ring structure of benzene based on a dream of a serpent holding its tail in its jaws. This admission was reserved for informal conversation. Jung applied all higher level thinking in the meta-representation of archetypes. Consider the following quote derived from the thought of a mystical poet, Edgar Allan Poe:
“All we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
The most surprising of all the human illusions is the “Self” - no uninitiated person would call into question its existence. What are the illusions behind the, “Self”? Among others, “The Self is unchanging and continuous.” “The Self integrates all experiences.” “The Self is the agent of thought.” “The “Self” is a unifier of all else.” In short, the Self is, “Me”. All of these experiences are illusions as demonstrated by simple experimentation. However, they are cherished illusions, disturbances of such are by no means to be desired since normal functioning is disturbed in their absence.
In short, “archetypes” are similar illusions, yet their presence is difficult to deny, and when incorporated successfully into everyday experience contribute to a pleasurable human existence including what Jung suggested as a “human deification”. The stored electrochemical propensities in the brain are transduced into images in the visual centers and serve as the basis of behavioral selections of extant objective correlatives. Archetypes, regardless of their limitations - humans are “fond” of them and unknowingly use them spontaneously to explain events and personalities in daily life. Conversely, these subliminal urgings can cause behaviors contrary to logic and rational self-interest. They are part of being human.
In summary, read Richard Noll’s fascinating, well research and thought-out volume, “Aryan Christ” not to be influenced by tone or bias, but as a fine stimulus to individual thought and to what degree Jung has discovered principles leading to human success in in Nature. Jung’s depth of research and imaginative thought are undeniable. If it existed, his smugness of superiority alluded to by Noll is understandable and more acceptable over the sense of “humility” advocated by other thinkers lacking Jung’s accomplishments. Many thinkers report their “philosophy” as an inventory of personal thought, and probably begin to believe their thoughts are true and come directly from the Universe for the benefit of humanity – a kind of Messianic Impulse.
One of Jung’s students, Constance Long developed an infatuation with Jung, and later her unrequited affections caused her to become involved with the mystic, P.D. Ouspensky. Her feelings for Jung are expressed in a personal poem, quoted in part here to illustrate another Jung’s Abstract Sequential qualities – he was an “Outsider” (in the Colin Wilson or Dostoyevsky sense) and more concerned with the “what” rather than the “who” in human relationships. However, this property apparently did not interfere with his performance of sexual mechanics:
“He does not really seem to care
Although he creaks and groans like doors
He feeds on a different kind of dole
Which comes from his superior soul.
For mine “a little thing” it is
And little things have little pain -”
Do Jung’s treatments of dreams, mythology, imagination, and creativity describe some of the grander accomplishments of human evolution? Careful study of “Aryan Christ” will contribute significantly to answering any remaining questions. One must not fail to admire the scholarship of Richard Noll in creating the work under consideration, including the character sketches of famed people of the time, even though certain biases might have crept in to show Carl Jung in a somewhat unfavorable light. Followers who abandoned Jung and causing his reputation to suffer, later to recover, are discussed prominently. Not discussed is the success of pharmacology in the treatment of mental illness, or that Freud has lost much of his following. Of course, pharmacology alters the mechanisms of the brain, but other environmental factors cannot be denied. Jung displayed an almost limitless imagination surviving in acolytes to this day. For what it is worth the book is fascinating in spite of being too short.
“We are all melodies played by the atoms and molecules composing the material body.”
Even if some of the facts and thoughts in this review are wide of the mark, they might at least have value since they have stimulated wonder in humans over thousands of years. As an apotheosis, to identify the fellow mentioned at the outset of the review he could be Jung’s, “Puer aeternus,” suffering from remaining too long in the “Paradise of Childhood”- an archetypal realm of modern educational jargon.
Your Old Buddy,
Whizbang!!
By Whizbang!! on August 24, 2020
“He” has entered a “Swann’s Moment” as a disoriented child awakening to experience the gradual synthesis of the “Self “ in its immediate context. Or, he may have entered the eccentric world of Fyodor Dostoyevsky where the people met on the street are more likely to be, “philosophers or psychologists or prophets rather than ‘normal people’ ” who ask, “Do you believe in God?” rather than the more meaningless, “How are you?” as an introduction according to Clifton Fadiman.
In his 1997 volume, “Aryan Christ,” Richard Noll, clinical psychologist and lecturer in the history of science at Harvard University effectively summarizes the life work in science and psychology, the scholarship and contributions to world thought accomplished by the considerable intellect of Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). This summary achieved through a review of his earliest experiences as a youth, including references to the Germanic Mythology, Sun Worship, Human Deification, and familiarity with what are referred to by Noll as the Pagan Gods. This review illuminated with Jung’s experiences later as the Zurich Institute with associates, patients, colleagues, expressed in personal communications, letters, publications, diary entries, records of dream analyses of himself and others, exploration of World Mythologies not to exclude Visionary Experiences. Individuals of special significance in the discourse include, Sigmund Freud, Fanny Bowditch, Richard Wagner, Emma Jung, Toni Wolff, Otto Gross, Sabina Spielrein, Edith Rockefeller McCormick, Maude Moltzer, Constance Long and Friedrich Nietzsche to mention only a few - succinctly put, some of the most influential people of his time. Noll makes special reference to Jung’s interest in Polygamy, the Libido as a god-like, creative force, Jung’s attempts to retain his central position in the face of competitors, multiple infatuations with associates and patients, his belief that he attained god-like status through his revelations, Jung’s stone Tower furnished and decorated with an erotic ambiance for special visits. Also included in Noll’s volume are photographs of the principals, evocative, iconographic art of “Fidus” (Hugo Hoppener), and visionary art recorded by Jung’s patients and associates. Seemingly, all of this information allows the reader to develop a personal assessment of Jung’s character and therefore who he was. One analysis (Gregorc, Learning Styles) of Jung suggests he was Abstract Sequential – he thought abstractly and then processed the results in systems. Also, such thinkers enjoy having their thoughts heard, and their charisma to fixate the audience beyond all others present. .
Among Jung’s principal contributions to psychology as identified in Noll’s, “Aryan Christ” is that of the “Archetype”. Noll’s references to "archetypes" as conceived by Jung are somewhat critical. Archetypes, encoded in the brain are (supposed to be) images of the ideal male, "animus" and the ideal female, the "anima," among many others, especially relevant here – the Innocent, Sage, Creator, Hero, twelve in total with many variations. These archetypes derived from their presence in world mythologies. Jung became world famous in training specialists who would interpret visions and dreams of men and women as they related to certain of these archetypes – failure in this relationship presumed to cause psychological maladjustment. Of late, critics suggest the archetype idea is largely mythical and the images are actually no more than memories derived from forgotten experiences identified as examples of, "cryptomnesia". Such contentions have suggested that Jung’s ideas “prove nothing.”
Despite these criticisms evidences of Jung’s archetypes have found their way as splendid examples in history and art. Exceptional examples of the archetypes or those who envisioned them in their creations include, Alexander, Cleopatra, T.E. Lawrence, Charles Dodgson, Joan of Arc, Vincent van Gogh, Beatrix Potter, Gustav Flaubert, R. Rider Haggard, Virginia Woolf, Ludwig van Beethoven, W.B. Yeats, to name a few.
Preeminently in popular fiction, Edgar Rice Burroughs considered by some as the most influential writer of the 20th Century, had an intuitive "feel" for Jungian Archetypes, and developed them so vividly as to be instantly recognizable when awakened from the subconscious of the mesmerized reader. The superbly envisioned, mythical world of Pellucidar (based on Symzonia, the creation of John Symmes) is a glorious, "Glimpse of Elysium." Here, Abner Perry, the civilized Adventurer accompanied by the Explorer, David Innes comes to Pellucidar and attempts to meld the extant native society with the benefits of industrialism. They encounter Heroes, Sages, Innocents, Tricksters and, Dian the Jewel - the exquisite, expression of the Anima Archetype, so perfectly drawn as to be instantly recognizable as the "heart's desire" of a young male, experiencing the wanderlust to escape the restrictions of formalized, repetitive society.
An illustrative quote assembled from passages in “At the Earth’s Core” imagines “Dian the Jewel of Pellucidar – “Light reflected from the curve of each brown limb sang of symmetry as she walked.” Dian and David are the perfect Jungian contra-biological union, who when so joined form the ideal hermaphroditic whole. Tarzan and Jane are identified in an even more perfect union. The mystic, Alfred Lord Tennyson declaims Aphrodite in his poem, “Oenone” - “Golden Aphrodite fresh as foam new-bathed in Paphian Wells. With rosy slender fingers backward drew from her warm brows and bosom her deep hair ambrosial, golden round her lucid throat and shoulder: from the violets her light foot shone rosy-white, and o'er her rounded form between the shadows of the vine-bunches floated the glowing sunlights, as she moved.” Abundant, ecstatic praise before Aphrodite receives the Golden Apple of the Sun, inscribed with “To the Most Fair.” Both Yeats and Burroughs plumbed their minds to the depths, and using higher order thinking of meta-representation availed the reader of Jung’s archetypes. Needless to say they were probably ignorant of Jung’s work.
A second possible evidence of the archetype hypothesis to be advanced in this review is based on evolutionary theory establishing not only physical but also psychological phenomena follow a developmental sequence from learning to inheritance. In brief summary, this hypothesis in presented here – the reader must be reminded that the defense calls into question some of the most unquestioned of human experiences.
Beautiful colors, “seen” so undeniably by humans are "illusions," in that the actual experiences are streams of "photons" of specific wavelengths. The observer cannot "see photons" in their actual quantum states – “colors” are illusions manufactured by the sense organs and brain. Colors contribute to human survival on the identification of foods, mates and seeing in the light passing through a forest canopy.
"Hot" and "cold" are similar illusions - whereas, the reality is “unseen” kinetic energy and the direction of its transduction interpreted by the sense organs and brain.
What developmental sequence resulted in these illusions? The developmental hypothesis “Psychological Epigenesis” includes three steps: ” First, the illusion is consciously learned from an initial experience. Second, on repeated experience the illusion is produced directly from the subconscious. Third, particularly adaptive experiences become incorporated into the genetics of a species by mutation and natural selection among other contributing factors – in short, the illusion develops from the morphogenesis of a brain capable of generating the illusions as passed from one generation to the next. This explanation is based on recent thought on Darwinian Evolution with allusions to a kind of reverse Lamarckism.
From this defense follows that “beauty” is another illusion manufactured by the brain based on the match with the unseen mathematical facial symmetry of Fibonacci triangles and other mathematical regularities (guiding positions of the lips and correspondence with the shape of the eyes, nose and other parts of the physiognomy). Movie stars are very close approximations of the ideal, mathematical face, and therefore, the match explains their "beauty." Beauty is an illusion in the same sense as other sensations. The "interpretation" of the mathematical regularities is “beauty:” the same the world over. Human genetics guides the morphogenesis and metabolism of a brain capable of creating this illusion. Genetic variations might contribute to varying capacities in individuals to experience beauty. Archetypes, including the "beautiful face" in the form of the animus and anima are present from conception - rather than remembered from forgotten experiences as suggested in cryptomnesia. (If anything, certain photographs are chosen since they represent the human biases toward mathematical regularity.)
Research has demonstrated “cuteness” is related to beauty in the proportions of the face of that infant whose characteristics release nurturing behaviors in parents. Beauty seems related to signs of health and efficacy in reproductive success. As in most evolutionary strategies archetypes do not work perfectly but “well enough.” Beauty and cuteness need not be limited to the face but extended to other bodily proportions. Other archetypes are thought to follow the same sequence since “communication” is most essential to human survival in groups.
What Jung identified as “archetypes” are indeed these genetically inherited guiding propensities of the human mind gleaned from their repeated appearance in world mythologies clarified by analytic thought, facts accessed from visual records of dreams, visions and their contents. Jung considered himself at least initially as a “scientist.” He communicated with Wolfgang Pauli for many years on the subject of “synchronicity.” Scientists as a group, rarely expose the origins of their insights in other than cold logic as Jung did. Friedrich Kekule resolved the ring structure of benzene based on a dream of a serpent holding its tail in its jaws. This admission was reserved for informal conversation. Jung applied all higher level thinking in the meta-representation of archetypes. Consider the following quote derived from the thought of a mystical poet, Edgar Allan Poe:
“All we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
The most surprising of all the human illusions is the “Self” - no uninitiated person would call into question its existence. What are the illusions behind the, “Self”? Among others, “The Self is unchanging and continuous.” “The Self integrates all experiences.” “The Self is the agent of thought.” “The “Self” is a unifier of all else.” In short, the Self is, “Me”. All of these experiences are illusions as demonstrated by simple experimentation. However, they are cherished illusions, disturbances of such are by no means to be desired since normal functioning is disturbed in their absence.
In short, “archetypes” are similar illusions, yet their presence is difficult to deny, and when incorporated successfully into everyday experience contribute to a pleasurable human existence including what Jung suggested as a “human deification”. The stored electrochemical propensities in the brain are transduced into images in the visual centers and serve as the basis of behavioral selections of extant objective correlatives. Archetypes, regardless of their limitations - humans are “fond” of them and unknowingly use them spontaneously to explain events and personalities in daily life. Conversely, these subliminal urgings can cause behaviors contrary to logic and rational self-interest. They are part of being human.
In summary, read Richard Noll’s fascinating, well research and thought-out volume, “Aryan Christ” not to be influenced by tone or bias, but as a fine stimulus to individual thought and to what degree Jung has discovered principles leading to human success in in Nature. Jung’s depth of research and imaginative thought are undeniable. If it existed, his smugness of superiority alluded to by Noll is understandable and more acceptable over the sense of “humility” advocated by other thinkers lacking Jung’s accomplishments. Many thinkers report their “philosophy” as an inventory of personal thought, and probably begin to believe their thoughts are true and come directly from the Universe for the benefit of humanity – a kind of Messianic Impulse.
One of Jung’s students, Constance Long developed an infatuation with Jung, and later her unrequited affections caused her to become involved with the mystic, P.D. Ouspensky. Her feelings for Jung are expressed in a personal poem, quoted in part here to illustrate another Jung’s Abstract Sequential qualities – he was an “Outsider” (in the Colin Wilson or Dostoyevsky sense) and more concerned with the “what” rather than the “who” in human relationships. However, this property apparently did not interfere with his performance of sexual mechanics:
“He does not really seem to care
Although he creaks and groans like doors
He feeds on a different kind of dole
Which comes from his superior soul.
For mine “a little thing” it is
And little things have little pain -”
Do Jung’s treatments of dreams, mythology, imagination, and creativity describe some of the grander accomplishments of human evolution? Careful study of “Aryan Christ” will contribute significantly to answering any remaining questions. One must not fail to admire the scholarship of Richard Noll in creating the work under consideration, including the character sketches of famed people of the time, even though certain biases might have crept in to show Carl Jung in a somewhat unfavorable light. Followers who abandoned Jung and causing his reputation to suffer, later to recover, are discussed prominently. Not discussed is the success of pharmacology in the treatment of mental illness, or that Freud has lost much of his following. Of course, pharmacology alters the mechanisms of the brain, but other environmental factors cannot be denied. Jung displayed an almost limitless imagination surviving in acolytes to this day. For what it is worth the book is fascinating in spite of being too short.
“We are all melodies played by the atoms and molecules composing the material body.”
Even if some of the facts and thoughts in this review are wide of the mark, they might at least have value since they have stimulated wonder in humans over thousands of years. As an apotheosis, to identify the fellow mentioned at the outset of the review he could be Jung’s, “Puer aeternus,” suffering from remaining too long in the “Paradise of Childhood”- an archetypal realm of modern educational jargon.
Your Old Buddy,
Whizbang!!
The Jungians I knew had experienced the 'divine' or the 'gods'. (Makes me think of Augusten Burroughs's mother's Jungian analyst in "Running with Scissors" who felt he was an advanced soul). They had explored the unconscious. Which is to say they used LSD. So, a fantastic world of myths, archetypes and Jung's explanations give meaning to that hallucinatory, emotional rollercoaster that they can't make any sense out of. It's pretty romantic. But, it's also ridiculous, unverifiable and unscientific.
I think Jungians, like Jung, believe there's substance in what they're doing. They filter reality through Jungian ideas. Percival, the Hero, the dying king, anima, animus, etc. Kind of like they're playing one of those hidden picture games. "Find the puppy dog in this picture." And, surprise! Look at all this symbolism in your dreams. It's the inner mythology and the outer mythology. Archetypes, complexes, personality types at all this great scientific, discovered sounding stuff. Only it's not practical or skillful. Not helpful. I think it's because, these are ideas Jung had at one time or another and wrote down in his multi-volume commentary on everything. From my experience they're dumb ideas.
Moll found quite a bit of evidence that Jung felt safe in adding to his purported knowledge by just making something up that sounded good. Moll doesn't mention that Jung, gave lectures and wrote about the 'psychology' of kundalini yoga. Did Jung have experience with yoga? No. Its like Alan Watts or OSHO (Bhagwan Rajneesh) talking about Zen. They don't have much experience with it but, they read about it and talked to people about it and they're smart so, they can write books explaining it all. Useless books.
Moll makes it clear Jung was given to not being honest. This is not Moll being mean, this is documented evidence that Jung was lying to people. He, like Freud would change his story in substantial ways on any number of things
Mostly, this book helped me by telling me Carl Jung's material was nonsense. There is nothing to get from Jungian analytic psychology. Or, any of his work. Not even personality types.










