Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 31, No.

3, Fall 1992

Gnostic Inner Illumination and Carl Jung's Individuation

JOHN PENNACHIO
ABSTRACT: The ancient religious system of Gnosticism argued for the transcendence of the physical world and the divinity of self-knowledge. More recently, a similar argument was made by Carl Jung through his concept of individuation. This paper examines some of the similarities between Gnostic inner illumination and Jung's concept of individuation.

For the psychoanalyst Carl Jung, the goal of h u m a n striving is the quest for wholeness th r ough inner knowledge. This embodies a j o u r n e y toward the center of the psyche, a j o u r n e y toward the self. For Jung, one of the best representations of this process is to be found in the symbolism of Christ and the cross. In J u n g i a n terms, the crucified Christ is very meaningful for the unconscious. The cross is a symbol of uni t y demonstrating the importance of the center. It signifies the self and functions as an organizing theme. The symbolism of transformation associated with death, rebirth, and ascent to the spiritual realm is also an at t r i but e of the cross. Some of this gains expression in the following from the work of Jung: The definition of the cross or center as the "boundary" of all things is exceedingly original, for it suggests that the limits of the universe are not to be found in a nonexistent periphery but in its center. There alone lies the possibility of transcending this world . . . . In the self all disharmonies are resolved in the harmony of wisdom. The center symbolizes the idea of totality and finality . . . . This is a clear reminder that everything is contained in the center and that, as a result, the Lord (the cross) unites and composes all things and is therefore free from opposites. 1

John Pennachio, Ph.D, is Professor of Psychology at Adirondack Community College in Queensbury, New York. 237 9 1992Institutes of Religionand Health

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It is clear that J u n g believes self-knowledge is synonymous with the center and transcends the boundaries of the physical world. This is also the basis for the ancient religious philosophy of Gnosticism. Each holds that ultimate knowing or truth emerges only as a consequence of the inward path. They maintain similar positions regarding selfhood, the attainment of which is divine. What Gnosticism regards as inner illumination, J u n g termed "individuation." Although J u n g does not consider himself a Gnostic} his conceptions of the individuation process place him quite close to much of Gnostic philosophy. It is unlikely that Gnosticism specifically defined individuation for Jung, but, rather, it is likely that what he discovered independently about the psyche enabled him to appreciate and benefit from what Gnosticism had to offer. In this paper I examine some of the similarities that exist between Gnostic conceptions of inner illumination and Jung's concept of individuation. The goals of both Gnosticism and individuation are similar in that they highlight the importance of the center, or self. This is the link with ultimate reality. Through the concept of individuation J u n g maintains that there is a fundamental tendency to move toward integration and, as with Gnosticism, the process necessitates grappling with painful and disturbing inner forces. Selfhood involves toil and devastation as a prelude to death and rebirth. It is knowledge of God and also perfect wholeness. Gnosis is defined as an intuitive process of knowing oneself. It is a series of secret mysteries and higher teachings maintaining that self-discovery at the deepest level is identical to knowing h u m a n destiny and God. Gnosticism took issue with institutionalized Christian dogma about the nature of the divine. For these reasons it was regarded as a Christian heresy and was systematically destroyed by the orthodox church in the early years of Christianity. Gnosis teaches that ordinary h u m a n existence is spiritual death. It is, in a sense, a philosophy of pessimism about the world combined with an attempt at self-transcendence. Through adequate exploration of the innermost reaches of the psyche, an experience of the self, or center, will manifest itself. Such an experience is synonymous with transcendence and inner illumination. This is a religious quest, a search for the divine2 Most Gnostics considered themselves Christian and regarded Christ as enlightened. According to Gnosticism, Christ's mission was to help humans overcome ignorance and to light the way toward this inner journey. He was a true Gnostic who came into the world as a teacher. As the words of Jesus from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas illustrate: I took my place in the midst of the world, and I appeared to them in flesh. I found all of them intoxicated; I found none of them thirsty. And my soul became afflicted for the sons of men, because they are blind in their hearts and do not have sight; for empty they came into the world, and empty too they seek to leave

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the world. But for the moment they are intoxicated. When they shake off their wine, then they will repent. 4 Thus, u ltim at e knowledge and mystical transformation are fundam ent al and essential in Gnostic religious philosophy. Ultimate knowledge transforms, as the following words of Jesus point out: He who drinks from my mouth will become like me. As for me, I will become what he is, and what is hidden will be revealed to him? What the Christians regard as literal the Gnostics regard as symbolic. 6 Jesus' life is a parable t h a t maps the interior world, indicative of an internal jo u r n ey t h a t is both transformative and divine. As is t rue for Jung, crucifixion, suffering, and resurrection are interpreted as symbolic milestones on the road to spiritual enlightenment. They represent movement to a higher level, transcending one's present state of consciousness. Ascent to the heights, to the place of revelation, is the domain of the spiritual. It is the t r i u m p h of spirit over flesh. In the Gnostic world view, there is only one light or God. Through some kind of emanation of this light, the world came into existence. In the process the divine man or emanated light became divided up, scattered and imprisoned in individual human bodies. Most Gnostics felt that the human body serves as a kind of trap or prison for inner divine sparks that are part of one true light. For the Gnostic Christian, Jesus was a wisdom-type figure who came into this world to help us realize who we really are, and thus liberate us from the bondage of human flesh. 7 The significance of the t r i u m p h of spirit over flesh is to be found in the i n h e r e n t darkness of the physical world, which includes the body. The divine world of light is opposed by t h a t of darkness and evil. It is this notion of duality, also evident in the concept of individuation, t h a t is of p r i m a r y importance in Gnostic religious philosophy. Since the physical world embodies darkness, it is inferior to the spiritual world. The h u m a n body makes darkness inescapable, and it must be transcended to reveal the divine world of light. Therefore, the anguish associated with the duality of existence is unavoidable. However, Christ, in pointing the way toward the inward path, demonstrated how to escape from evil and darkness. This is rebirth and salvation for the Gnostic. Salvation consists of an inner illumination or experience of the divine spark within . . . . Once we had learned to "escape," we could tap the immense powers of our divinity, obtain freedom and immortality, and be able to be united once more to the light from which we came. 8

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Salvation embodies being freed from ignorance. One can be "delivered" from ignorance through knowledge of the truth, ultimate knowledge. Accordingly, t r u t h is not found through intellect or belief, but is predicated upon experience of the inner self, inner illumination, which is divine. Knowledge of the spiritual center within is the highest form of knowledge. In this sense, knowledge is salvation for the Gnostic. In fact, as is the case for individuation, salvation consists entirely of self-discovery? Ignorance is the real sin, and it is responsible for darkness: suffering and evil acts. The unfortunate plight of h u m a n s is t h a t they have been duped into being content with ignorance. 1~Transformation, through redemption and rebirth, involves awareness of the duality of light and dark. Although haunting, the inner world of darkness and internal conflict must be confronted and brought forth. Failure to know oneself and to confront inner impulses is responsible for living in illusion and is the precursor for destruction. That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves. That which you do not have within you will kill you if you do not have it within you." That toil and devastation are indicative of the path toward the light is fundamental to Gnostic philosophy. It is this path t h a t leads to salvation, the inner illumination resulting from an experience of the self, or center. 9 . .nailed to a tree he became a fruit of the knowledge (Gnosis) of the Father . . . . ,2 Inherent in salvation is a new awareness beyond the limitations of the physical world. Here lies the basis for redemption and rebirth. Wretched is the body that is dependent upon a body, and wretched is the soul that is dependent on these two. 13 Redemption, literally meaning release, involves transcendence of the physical world and the experience of inner enlightenment. Going beyond the physical world and toward the spiritual center is the most essential aspect of Gnostic teachings. Inner knowledge of the divine, ultimate truth, is what leads to redemption. This is illustrated in the following from the Gospel of Thomas: Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death . . . . If those who lead you say to you, "See the Kingdom is in the sky," then the birds of the sky will precede you9 If they say to you, "It is in the sea," then the fish will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father9 But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty. 14

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The message t h a t Christ offered was "to search." Anguish, of both body and mind, was to be anticipated and to be endured in order t h a t one m ay be saved and reborn. The "message" is not a set of answers, but r a t h e r a process toward inquiry. Similar to individuation, the path is not a quieting one: Blessed are they who have been persecuted within themselves. It is they who have truly come to know the Father. Blessed are the hungry, for the belly of him who desires will be filled. Blessed is the man who has suffered and found life. ~5 However, Gnosticism maintains t ha t most people understand little or nothing of this message and live in obscurity, terribly unaw are of who they are. Being unaware, t he y have "no root. '''6 In J u n g i a n terms t hey are unconscious. Such existence is quite unpleasant. Those who experience it live in illusion. Consequently, terror, instability, doubt, and division m ay characterize t hei r lives. According to the Gospel of Truth they live: .as if they were sunk in sleep and found themselves in disturbing dreams . . . . Without strength chasing after others, or they are receiving blows . . . or have fallen off into the air though they do not have wings.., as if people were murdering them, though there is no one pursuing them."
9 .

Jung's work with his patients and his own unconscious in particular led him to an exploration of Gnosticism. This quest, among others, allowed him to make connections between religion and psychology. His development of the archetypes and the collective unconscious enabled him to say the following about Gnosticism: Gnosis is undoubtedly a psychological knowledge whose contents derive from the unconscious. It reached its insights by concentrating on the "subjective factor" which consists empirically in the demonstrable influence that the collective unconscious exerts on the conscious mind. TM J u n g understood m a n y Gnostic images as an aspect of inner experiences in connection with individuation. Like Gnosticism, individuation is a primal and original expression of inner life directed toward the task of wholeness and integration. Growth and transformation are n a t u r a l processes, the potential for which resides in the unconscious. As such, inner exploration, or individuation, m a y occur with or without the permission of the conscious mind, motivated entirely by the uncor/scious. The transcendent function does not proceed without aim and purpose, but leads to the revelation of the essential man. It is in the first place a purely natural process, which may in some cases pursue its course without the knowledge or assistance of the individual, and can sometimes forcibly accomplish itself in the face of opposition. The meaning and purpose of the process is the realization, in

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all its aspects, of the personality originally hidden away in the embryonic germ plasm; the production and unfolding of the original, potential wholeness. The symbols used by the unconscious to this end are the same as those which mankind has always used to express wholeness, completeness and perfection: symbols, as a rule, of the quaternity and the circle. 19 Individuation is a divine process, and Christian symbolism very accurately expresses this. As far as J u n g is concerned, the symbolic meaning of Christ is very clear: "Christ exemplifies the archetype of the self. ''2~ This archetype is at the center of the psyche and represents the goal of h u m a n striving. Jesus is the prototype for the awakening of the spiritual inner man. It is therefore well to examine carefully the psychological aspects of the individuation process in the light of Christian tradition, which can describe it for us with an exactness and impressiveness far surpassing our feeble attempts . . . . 21 The universal symbolism of religion points to essential psychological truths. The symbols are expressions of growth and, ultimately, salvation. In this way J u n g recognizes and appreciates the importance of religion. Religion is a "revealed" way of salvation. It ideas are products of a preconscious knowledge which, always and everywhere, expresses itself in symbols. Even if our intellect does not grasp them, they still work because our unconscious acknowledges them as exponents of universal psychic factsP Unlike Christianity, which blames knowledge for sin, Gnostics seek redemption through knowledge. They m a i n t a i n t h a t institutionalized Christianity intellectualized a truly subjective experience. For the Gnostics this is obviously not an encounter with "the divine"; redemption and salvation are impossible to achieve solely through objective means. Similarly, J u n g tells us, understanding and satisfying the psyche is more t h a n an intellectual endeavor. A psychology that satisfies the intellect alone can never be practical, for the totality of the psyche can never be grasped by intellect alone. Whether we will or no, philosophy keeps breaking through, because the psyche seeks an expression that will embrace its total nature. 23 Individuation embraces the dualities inherent in the psyche. Polarities are intimately connected to energy and, ultimately, to growth itself. Although unpleasant, tension provides the necessary energy for transformation. Opposing forces, their recognition, and, finally, their unification and transcendence, are essential to individuation just as much as they are to Gnosticism. J u n g recognizes evil as an inherent aspect of good, of the world itself.

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Life, being an energetic process, needs the opposites, for without opposition there is, as we know, no energy. Good and evil are simply the moral aspects of this natural polarity. The fact that we have to feel this polarity so excruciatingly makes human existence all the more complicated. Yet the suffering that necessarily attaches to life itself cannot be evaded. ~4 The significance of tension gives p r o m i n e n c e to the role of d a r k n e s s in religious s y m b o l i s m a n d t r a n s c e n d e n c e . J u n g r e p r e s e n t s d a r k n e s s t h r o u g h the concept of t h e "shadow" and d e m o n s t r a t e s its i m p o r t a n c e in the following: Through the Christ crucified between the two thieves man gradually attained knowledge of his shadow and its duality. This duality had already been anticipated by the double meaning of the serpent. Just as the serpent stands for the power that heals as well as corrupts, so one of the thieves is destined upwards, the other downwards, and so likewise the shadow is on one side regrettable and reprehensible weakness, on the other side healthy instinctivity and the prerequisite for higher consciousness. ~5 S i m i l a r to Gnosticism, J u n g ' s psychology e q u a t e s evil w i t h unconsciousness and u n a w a r e n e s s . Therefore, o v e r c o m i n g evil begins w i t h its recognition. N e g l e c t i n g this aspect of life is u n k n o w i n g of the most serious n a t u r e . Much, that is to say, that proves to be abysmally evil in its ultimate effects does not come from man's wickedness but from his stupidity and unconsciousness. 26 Tension and the shadow are n e c e s s a r y for individuation, as the i n t e g r a t i o n of opposing forces is a f u n d a m e n t a l aspect of wholeness. J u n g i l l u s t r a t e s t h a t i n d i v i d u a t i o n is likely to be i n i t i a t e d by the shadow, t h e r e b y indicating, paralleling Gnosticism, t h a t confronting d a r k n e s s can be t r a n s f o r m a t i v e : The individuation process is invariably started off by the patients becoming conscious of the shadow, a personality component usually with a negative sign. This "inferior" personality is made up of everything that will not fit in with, and adapt to, the laws and regulations of conscious life . . . . Individuation is an exceedingly difficult task. It always involves a conflict of duties, whose solution requires us to understand that our "counter-will" is also an aspect of God's will. ~7 The shedding of illusion and the c o n f r o n t a t i o n of the i n n e r world of the unconscious are c e r t a i n to be painful, but the end r e s u l t is p o t e n t i a l l y beneficial. I n h e r e n t in such e n d u r a n c e is the notion of t r a n s f o r m a t i o n and wholeness. In this way, t h e p a t h t o w a r d i n d i v i d u a t i o n is often an e x p e r i e n c e of d e a t h and rebirth. This psychological process is admittedly painful and for many people a positive torture. But, as always, every step forward along the path of individuation is achieved only at the cost of suffering . . . . The experience of sickness, torture,

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death, and regeneration implies, at a higher level, the idea of being made whole through sacrifice, of being changed by transubstantiation and exalted to the pneumatic man--in a word, of apotheosis. 28 The fundamental need for wholeness and integration lies at the core of the h u m a n psyche. This internal psychological fact finds external expression in the symbols t h a t h u m a n s create and find attractive. Again, the symbolism of the cross demonstrates the underlying t r u t h of transformation and the eternal and universal center. Focusing attention upon the cross, consciousness is reunited with the unconscious, the unconscious is made one with his center, which is also the center of the universe, and in this wise the goal of man's salvation and exaltation is reached?9 The appeal of a deity is connected with the central archetype or self. This is also the God archetype. God is the universal representation of wholeness. Like Gnosticism, wholeness, through self-discovery, is the goal of h u m a n striving. Consequently, it does not seem improbable that the archetype of wholeness occupies as such a central position which approximates it to the God-image. The similarity is further borne out by the peculiar fact that the archetype produces a symbolism which has always characterized and expressed the Deity . . . . Strictly speaking, the God-image does not coincide with the unconscious as such, but with a special content of it, namely the archetype of the s e l f . . . . The religious need longs for wholeness, and therefore lays hold of the images of wholeness offered by the unconscious, which independently of the conscious mind, rise up from the depths of our psychic nature? ~ Growth and integration through inner exploration necessitate t h a t what resides deep inside be brought forward to consciousness. That which is not confronted blocks development and is responsible for distress. True for Gnosticism, this is also the case for Jung. The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves?' According to the Gnostic Gospel of Truth, the process of self-discovery begins when a person experiences the anguish and terror of the h u m a n condition. Salvation from suffering comes from a realization of the t r u t h about existence. Similarly, individuation involves recognition of the shadow and the ability to use this aspect of the self for growth. Both the Gnostics and J u n g recognize the limitations of the physical world and argue for its tran-

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scendence. They each acknowledge concepts such as salvation, redemption, crucifixion, and rebirth as psychological universals connected with inner enlightenment and understand the individual self, or center, as synonymous with universal truth. Universal truth is eternal and divine and is the ultimate growth experience. It is this emphasis, as demonstrated here, where the similarities between the Gnostic concept of inner illumination and that of Jung's individuation may be noted. Hence, for Jung and the Gnostics spirituality is an intrinsic property of the psyche. Both argue that inner enlightenment is necessary to escape misery and maintain psychological health. Self-exploration at the deepest level leads to spiritual awakening. As the Gnostics affirmed so long ago, and Jung more recently, there can be no substitute for self-knowledge and an encounter with the divine. Further, a true spiritual experience may be one of the most basic drives in the psyche, and may even be an essential psychological need.

References
1. Jung, C.G., The Collected Works, vol. 11. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1970, p. 285. 2. Ibid., pp. 306-307. 3. Grassi, J., "The Gnostic View of Jesus and the Teacher Today," J. Religious Education, 1982, 77, 336-349. 4. Robinson, J., "The Gospel of Thomas." The Nag Hammadi Libral:y. San Francisco, Harper, 1977, p. 121. 5. Doresee, J., The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics. New York, Viking, 1960, p. 370. 6. Pagels, E., The Gnostic Gospels. New York, Vintage, 1979. 7. Grassi, op. cit., 337.

8. Ibid.
9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. Pagels, op. cit. Grassi, o19. cir. Robinson, o19. cit., p. 126. Pagels, op. cir. Robinson, op. cit., p. 127. Ibid., p. 118. Ibid., pp. 126, 124. Pagels, o19. cir. Ibid., pp. 150-151. Jung, op. cit., vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 223, 350. Ibid., vol. 7, p. 110. Ibid., vol. 11. Ibid., vol. 9, no. 2, p. 45. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 293. Ibid., vol. 7, p. 119. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 197. Ibid., vol. 9, no. 2, p. 255. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 197. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 198. Ibid., vol. 11, pp. 272, 294-295. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 292. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 757. Ibid., vol. 9, no. 2, p. 71.