Consciousness itself may be the problem

Interesting point. I have just been on hols and read C.G Jung on alchemy while away. Part of the gist I got from it, was that consciousness is just that splitting apart of the opposites which exist together ‘quite happily’ in the unconscious.

To centre ourselves closer to the boundary where consciousness and the unconscious meet, is to approach the realm of paradox.

The alchemist’s endeavours to unite the opposites culminate in the ‘chymical marriage’. The supreme act of union in which the work reaches its consummation. After the hostility of the four elements has been overcome, there still remains the last and most formidable opposition, which the alchemist expressed very aptly as the relationship between male and female. We are inclined to think of this primarily as the power of love and attraction, which drives the two opposite poles together, forgetting that such a vehement attraction is needed only when an equally strong resistance keeps them apart.

There seems a lot of rich material in this book. I think i’ll have a go at creating a post to try to clarify some of it in my own mind. At the moment its just a swirl of chaotic fragments.