Is All Lost If We Are Going Backwards? Jung on Regression

“Regression… means a linking back with the world of natural instincts.”

Jung (1950)[1]

“… regression is not necessarily a retrograde step in the sense of a backwards development or degeneration, but rather represents a necessary phase of development.”

Jung (1928)[2]

“Regression is … in very truth the basic condition for the act of creation.”

Jung (1912/1955)[3]

“Germany got it right in the neck and there was no joke about it. The whole educated middle-class was utterly ruined, but the State was on top, putting on more and more of the “-istic” rouge as war-paint. The country was in a condition of extreme misery and insecurity, and waves of panic swept over the population. In an individual case these are the symptoms of an oncoming outburst. Any such outburst would bring up archaic material, archetypes that join forces with the individual as well as with the people. There is some teleology about this: it creates strains where there was weakness, conviction instead of doubt, courage instead of fear. But the energy needed to bring about such a transformation is taken away from many old values and the success gained is paid for dearly. Such an outburst is always a regression into history and it always means a lowering of the level of civilization.”

Jung (1936)[4]

It is often the case that topics for blog essays arise from students’ remarks at Jungian Center events. Such is the case with this essay: In recent months students have been bewailing features of our current reality, with lamentations like “Oh! We’re going backwards!” “All the progress we’ve made over the years–with environmental clean-up, civil rights, women’s rights, gender rights–it all seems lost!” “I feel so despondent now. Would Jung have anything helpful to say about how we’re going backwards?” My reply: “Yes, we are in a regressive interval now, but no, all is not lost, and to be sure, Jung offers us multiple insights and helpful guidance as we confront the global situation which he predicted decades ago.”[5] This essay considers Jung’s ideas, focusing on the concept of regression and how it relates to our current reality. I will begin by defining “regression,” then examine its causes, its features, and then discuss its negative and positive aspects. Finally, using Jung’s own words, we’ll consider the collective relevance of regression in this time of discontent.

Definitions of Regression

The dictionary defines “regression” as “the act of going back; backward movement,” and in its psychological application as “a way of trying to escape difficult problems by casting off responsibility and assuming other characteristics of childhood,” quoting Sigmund Freud.[6]

Jung also cites Freud when defining “regression:”

“Now when, as a result of unfavorable experiences, the individual does not obtain sufficient sexual gratification in later life, a process occurs which Freud calls regression: as a substitute for the failure of gratification, the patient reverts to an earlier, infantile one.”[7]

but he takes a much broader view of the phenomenon, in both its etiology and its impact on the individual. Jung sees “regression as “a linking back with the world of natural instincts,”[8] a “morbid condition,”[9] but one that is “… not necessarily a retrograde step in the sense of a … degeneration, but rather represents a necessary phase of development.”[10] Regression, to Jung, is “a natural, unconscious process,”[11] a “life movement”[12] that results

“Whenever a man is confronted by an apparently insurmountable obstacle,…he makes what is technically called a regression. He goes back to the times when he found himself in similar situations, and he tries to apply again the means that helped him then. But what helped in youth is of no use in age….”[13]

The result? We wind up solving “the problem in an infantile way.”[14]–a way that often has “consequences” we did not foresee, because we substitute “a childish illusion for real action.”[15] Unlike Freud, Jung did not see such “childish illusions” in terms of sexuality:

“… in Freud’s view it appears as if the incestuous desires of the Oedipus complex were the real cause of the regression to infantile fantasies…. I do not even seek the reason for regression in primary incestuous or any other sexual desires. I must admit that a purely sexual etiology of neurosis seems to me much too narrow.”[16]

This was just one instance where Jung rejected Freud’s idée fixe, i.e. sexuality “as the only psychic driving force.”[17]

In another departure from Freud’s orthodoxy, Jung felt regression was not to be “devalued,”[18] nor was it “necessarily a retrograde step in the sense of a backwards development or degeneration,…”.[19] As we will discuss below, Jung recognized that regression can be not only natural, but positive: “Regression is thus in very truth the basic condition for the act of creation.”[20]

Causes of Regression

Regression is “natural” because there are times in life where we “hesitate to adapt,”[21] or when we cannot meet “the demands of life… at all,”[22] where “an instinct is checked or inhibited,”[23] so that libido (i.e. psychic energy) is not able to “flow into life at the right time.”[24]

This causes “the libido [to] become regressive,” and Jung used an illustration likely to be familiar to his Swiss patients to explain why this happens:

“A mountain-climber, attempting the ascent of a certain peak, happens to meet with an insurmountable obstacle, for instance a precipitous rock-face whose ascent is a sheer impossibility. After vainly seeking another route, he will turn back and regretfully abandon the idea of climbing that peak. He will say to himself: “it is not in my power to get over this difficulty, so I will climb an easier mountain.”[25]

In discussing this illustration, Jung recognized that the climber could have been accurate in his assessment of the obstacle being “insurmountable,” but he could also have been cowardly, shrinking back from a challenge that felt overwhelming but really was not. Jung labels this latter choice “infantile,” in that the climber “substitutes a childish illusion [i.e. that he was not up to the task] for real action.”[26]

Fear can cause us to pull back, to regress,[27] as can strong emotional reactions,[28] and tensions that lead to conflict.[29] Regression can also be the result of inflation, that is, “when consciousness takes too many unconscious contents upon itself and loses the faculty of discrimination, the sine qua non of all consciousness.”[30] This cause really resonates with me, as I think back to the early months of my analysis. Typical of the introvert, I took in all I was reading, dreaming and experiencing in my analytic hour, and the result was a feeling of acute overwhelment that did, indeed, lead to a childish reaction: I confronted my analyst, complaining that she was not making me feel better, i.e. that she was not being the “good parent”! Quite properly, she assured me that her job was not to make me feel better, or to solve my problems, but to witness. Duh. Fortunately, she recognized my emotional reaction for the regression it was, and understood that it would work itself out during the course of the analysis.

Features of Regression

Infantilism is just one feature of regression. Because the phenomenon takes us into the unconscious, it calls up the “primordial images, the archetypes,”[31] and the “dark, chthonic forces, i.e. concrete and earthy.”[32]–forces that often are “repugnant to intellectual consciousness.”[33]

Regression “reactivates the ways and habits of childhood,…”[34] and often constellates “contents… which till now were latent.”[35] When experiencing a regression, we often will find ourselves wondering “Where did that come from??” as we witness ourselves thinking or acting in ways that don’t conform to our persona image. Jung felt that, in such times, we might confront “images sprung from the life, the joys and sorrows, of our ancestors…”[36] and during such intervals, we can manifest “inferior adaptation and a corresponding lack of efficiency.”[37] That is, life doesn’t work very well.

Another feature of regression is fantasy–“fantasy based only in part on former realities…”,[38] which have “a double character: on the one hand a pathological tendency to resist, on the other a helpful and preparatory tendency … [which] forces him into a state of introversion and makes him reflect.”[39] After a time, when the psychic energy has ebbed, these fantasies cease, but the insights and discoveries that result from reflection can remain and fuel major life transformations.

Symbols are a very important feature of times of regression. Jung put great stock in the transformative potential of symbols,[40] as long as the symbols were accepted as such, i.e. they were not “reduced” to signs, as Freud and his school did.[41] Because symbols are ultimately mysterious, i.e. their meaning can never be fully unpacked, they have the power to transform a regression into progression.[42]

Negative Aspects of Regression

Infantile behaviors, lack of realism, poor adaptation and inefficiency are just some of the negative aspects of regression. Others include the possibility of neurosis,[43] which can become pathological “if the conscious mind proves incapable of assimilating the new contents pouring in from the unconscious,”[44] and the development of an inflation, with its egocentricity and inability “of learning from the past,… of understanding contemporary events, and … of drawing right conclusions about the future.”[45] Jung felt “an inflated consciousness… is hypnotized by itself and therefore cannot be argued with. It inevitably dooms itself to calamities that must strike it dead.”[46]

Regression can thrust a person into “a compulsive situation,”[47] keep him/her stuck in “stagnation,”[48] and cause “loss of soul,”[49] when “an important personal achievement has been either neglected or allowed to slip into regression.”[50] “A morbid condition,” indeed!

More serious are the potential dangers in regression. These include situations like:

projection of unconscious contents on to others[51] (often the parents or others who get blamed for the problem), dissociation of the personality (what Jung calls “disunion with oneself”),[52] and mental disturbances like schizophrenia (if the “unity of consciousness” is disrupted to such an extent that the mind gets split),[53] and even panic attacks (if “primitive instinctive forces”[54] intrude and swamp rationality).

Other negative aspects of regression are less likely to send a person to the psych ward. For example, the appearance of the “spirit of … evil,… the adversary who opposes life…”,[55] can cause degeneration “into spiritual inertia … which threatens stagnation and cultural regression.”[56] Or regression can put us in “contact with otherworldly things,”[57]–things “which are terrifying to the earthbound rationality of the natural man…”.[58] Jung felt such terror was “justifiable.”[59]

At this point, with such a list of negativities, the reader might conclude that Freud was right: regression is an unmitigated disaster, with nothing good to say about it. But Jung, who always tried to take a “both/and” attitude about life,[60] begged to differ:

We can easily translate these ideas into the concretism of Freudian theory: the temenos would then be the womb of the mother and the rite a regression to incest. But these are the neurotic misunderstandings of people who have remained partly infantile and who do not realize that such things have been practiced since time immemorial by adults whose activities cannot possibly be explained as a mere regression to infantilism. Otherwise the highest and most important achievements of mankind would ultimately be nothing but the perverted wishes of children, and the word “childish” would have lost its raison d’etre.[61]

Not one to be reductive, Jung took exception to Freud’s view, and saw the positive in regression.

Positive Aspects of Regression

Perhaps due to his early experiences of God,[62] perhaps from his empirical observations of his patients, or for other reasons we cannot explain, Jung developed great trust in the wisdom of the psyche.[63] As a result, he saw phenomena like mental illnesses and regression as purposive, i.e. occurring for some reason that, if understood, could be turned to benefit the patient and promote his/her healing.[64] So when one of his patients regressed Jung felt “that regression is not necessarily a retrograde step in the sense of a backwards development or degeneration, but rather represents a necessary phase of development.”[65] Jung drew on the sport of fencing for an analogy:

“the process that at first sight looks like an alarming regression is rather a reculer pour mieux sauter, an amassing and integration of powers that will develop into a new order.”[66] One falls back so as to achieve better footing so as to be able to advance more surely; in psychological contexts, one regresses so as to gather the inner resources that will permit growth in the future.

Jung’s Collected Works are full of references to regression as a phenomenon that opens up new “possibilities,[67] presents “germs of new life and vital possibilities for the future,”[68] or that offers “valuable seeds”[69] for future development. Jung approached regression “from the teleological point of view,”[70] i.e. regarding the psyche as having some sort of goal or direction. What was it aiming it? A “reactivation and reorganization of [the] contents” of the conscious mind.”[71] Such a reorganization could include “a complete orientation towards the inner world,”[72] to provide a counter-balance of our usual focus on external things, and this inner focus could foster “inner adaptation.”[73] Jung felt that “once the adaptation is achieved, progression can begin again.”[74]

Jung also saw, in his work with patients, that regression can “carry him [a person] into a new time and a new dimension”[75] which would require the patient to make “considerable efforts at re-adaptation,”[76] a challenge that could foster a “change of attitude”[77] that could “bridge the dissociation between man as he is and man as he ought to be.”[78] That is, the process of grappling with the regression could foster growth, authenticity and individuation.

Another possible benefit of regression Jung spotted in his work was how it “makes the creative fantasy inventive…”[79] Regression can “stimulate the creative imagination, which gradually opens up possible avenues for … self-realization.”[80] This can result in the patient attaining “a level of consciousness higher than before,”[81] so that “the whole personality undergoes a change for the better.”[82] So Jung is asking us to suspend judgment: Seeming to “go backwards” is not a death sentence, a permanent loss of hopes and dreams, but rather it can be a very positive, valuable interval IF we recognize its potentials. This is true on both the personal and the collective levels.

How Regression Can Show up on the Collective Level

Jung was explicit that regression is and has been a feature of our collective reality. He mentions this in several contexts. In considering the religious situation of the 20th century Western world, Jung observed how faith now “rests exclusively on the authority of tradition…,”[83] a situation that Jung found perilous:

… with this kind of faith there is always the danger of mere habit supervening – it may so easily degenerate into spiritual inertia and a thoughtless compliance which, if persisted in, threatens stagnation and cultural regression. This mechanical dependence goes hand in hand with a psychic regression to infantilism. The traditional contents gradually lose their real meaning and are only believed in as formalities, without this belief having any influence on the conduct of life. There is no longer a living power behind it. The much-vaunted “childlikeness” of faith only makes sense when the feeling behind the experience is still alive. If it gets lost, faith is only another word for habitual, infantile dependence, which takes the place of, and actually prevents, the struggle for deeper understanding. This seems to be the position we have reached today.”[84]

Jung had little use for the organized religions, which he called “creeds,”[85] and he blamed these creeds for the stagnation of our collective spiritual life. In the 50+ years since his death, we have seen this regression in the form of empty pews, as more and more people (especially in Europe and Vermont, the most “European” of the fifty states) abandon mainstream religion for personal expressions of spirituality[86]–just what Jung anticipated: individuals (rather than organizations) being the “carriers” of Spirit, the “water-bearers”[87] well suited to the Age of Aquarius.

In the context of politics, Jung lived through both world wars, and he repeatedly tried to warn the public of the dangers he saw in ego inflation, “god-almightiness”[88] and mass movements. Knowing how inflation can lead to regression, Jung urged his fellow Europeans to give up their attitude of egotistical superiority:

“Such a change can begin only with individuals, for the masses are blind brutes, as we know to our cost. It seems to me of some importance, therefore, that a few individuals, or people individually, should begin to understand that there are contents which do not belong to the ego-personality, but must be ascribed to a psychic non—ego. This mental operation has to be undertaken if we want to avoid a threatening inflation. To help us, we have the useful and edifying models held up to us by poets and philosophers – models or archetypi that we may well call remedies for both men and the times. Of course, what we discover there is nothing that can be held up to the masses – only some hidden thing that we can hold up to ourselves in solitude and in silence. Very few people care to know anything about this; it is so much easier to preach the universal panacea to everybody else than to take it oneself, and, as we all know, things are never so bad when everybody is in the same boat. No doubts can exist in the herd; the bigger the crowd the better the truth – and the greater the catastrophe.”[89]

Typically, Jung does not appeal to groups or organizations–he had no faith in groups–but to the refined individuals who have “ears to hear and eyes to see,”[90] people able to appreciate the “poets and philosophers,” and willing to work on themselves in solitude and silence. Jung was a realist: “Very few” would be interested in this response to the civic crisis, or able to withstand the attraction of mass movements. But Jung predicted catastrophe, and he saw it occur, in both 1914 and 1939.

The prelude to World War II provoked even more explicit warnings from Jung, based on his analysis of dreams of his German patients:

“As far back as 1918 I published a paper in which I called the attention of my contemporaries to an astonishing development in the German edition of the collective unconscious. I had caught hold of certain collective dreams of Germans which convinced me that they portrayed the beginning of a national regression analogous to the regression of a frightened and helpless individual, becoming first infantile and then primitive or archaic. I saw Nietzsche’s “blonde beast” looming up, with all that it implies. I felt sure that Christianity would be challenged and that the Jews would be taken to account. I therefore tried to start the discussion in order to forestall the inevitable violence of the unconscious outburst of which I was afraid – though not enough, as subsequent events have unfortunately shown all too clearly. I don’t need to say that I was not heard at all. The fog of war-psychology was just too dense.”[91]

Just as Jung could envision a regression in the individual patient as an “outburst” grew imminent, so he recognize the political situation in Germany for what it was, and what it portended.

In a lecture he gave in London in 1936 (i.e. when the political situation in Germany was growing more and more disturbing, as Hitler became more dictatorial),[92] Jung warned his audience about the consequences of the Treaty of Versailles: how it led to the destruction of both German democracy and economy:

“Germany was the first country to experience the miracles worked by democracy’s ghost, the State. She saw her money becoming elastic and expanding to astronomical proportions and then evaporating altogether. She experienced all in one heap what the ghosts of other democracies are trying to do to us in a sort of slow-motion picture, probably hoping that nobody understands the eye-wash. Germany got it right in the neck and there was no joke about it. The whole educated middle-class was utterly ruined, but the State was on top, putting on more and more of the “-istic” rouge as war-paint. The country was in a condition of extreme misery and insecurity, and waves of panic swept over the population. In an individual case these are the symptoms of an oncoming outburst. Any such outburst would bring up archaic material, archetypes that join forces with the individual as well as with the people. There is some teleology about this: it creates strains where there was weakness, conviction instead of doubt, courage instead of fear. But the energy needed to bring about such a transformation is taken away from many old values and the success gained is paid for dearly. Such an outburst is always a regression into history and it always means a lowering of the level of civilization.”[93]

Just three years later the world witnessed just how “low” German civilization had fallen, with the start of World War II, the Holocaust, the loss of millions of lives, and the upending of the old world order.

Jung was speaking to his fellow Europeans, but his words were not, and are not today limited to just that continent. He offers warnings to us, now that we are so clearly in a regressive interval in the United States. Let’s review Jung’s words of advice.

First, and most dear to Jung’s heart, is his message for individuals: We must take up the task to “begin to understand that there are contents which do not belong to the ego-personality,…”[94] We have to wise up to our persona, our shadow side, to the “psychic non-ego,”[95] and the energies that live in our “inner city.”[96] To help with this task, we can read poetry, delve into the wisdom in philosophy, explore the archetypes for “remedies for both men and the times”[97]–all of these esoterica, i.e. “hidden things” not to be shared with those without “eyes to see and ears to hear,” who would not “get it.” Rather we must be willing to look within, endure the Auseinandersetzung–that “having it out with oneself”[98] that marks the Jungian individuation process–“in solitude and silence.” Jung was adamant that all lasting social/political/collective change begins with the individual.

Second, at the same time that we work individually to become more conscious, take back our projections–especially our shadow projections (lest we label groups as “deplorables”[99] or “racists” or “sexists” or “greedy” etc.)–we have to claim the promises that lie embedded in the regression. Jung was clear that “as soon as we feel ourselves slipping,”[100] into negativity, we should begin “to combat this tendency and erect barriers against the dark, rising flood … which all too easily takes on the deceptive guise of sacrosanct ideals, principles, beliefs, etc.”[101] Better than conventional ideals and beliefs as “barriers” are the power and insight that derive from consciousness and authenticity. When we “have our act together,” and we “walk our talk,” we manifest a level of power that transcends the low level of power as our culture defines it: power as status, with lots of money, the corner office, the private jet, the ability to fire people. That power is external, hence it can be lost. True power is internal, deriving from spiritual growth, moral integrity, and personal authenticity.[102] It can never be lost. Countless times over human history we have seen how true power overcomes force. As Theodore Parker reminded his fellow Quakers over a century ago “The arc of the moral universe may be long, but it bends toward justice.”[103] The manifold injustices, stupidities and moral depravities we see in our society now will be overcome.

Another promise that lies in regression is the opportunity it presents for us to regroup. Just as the fencer falls back so as to get better footing, so we can interpret this regressive time in our society as our chance to regroup, and we are: More people are stepping up with donations to Planned Parenthood, Public Television, environmental groups. More people are becoming activists for causes they believe in. More people are finding comfort in the “ties that bind,” family and friends. Such activities are making us stronger, providing a more solid base from which we will be able to move forward in the future.

There is also the promise of creative inventiveness. Now, as our reality is challenged as never before, so many people are stepping up to the plate with amazing solutions to pressing problems. Even a cursory glance at the New York Times best-seller Drawdown[104] indicates the many dozens of practical, actionable inventions that are appearing to address the challenge of global warming. Individuals, communities, and cities are doing this, proving that we don’t need to look for solutions from the federal government. This is as true for other problems as it is for the environment. Both as individuals and as groups, we can be creative. Give yourself permission to think “outside the box.” Dare to be “odd man out,” as Jung was throughout his life.[105] He was clear that wisdom does not lie in the masses, but in the individual who searches his/her own heart and marches to his/her own drummer.

Conclusion

Jung recognized the power of thought.[106] We can think “all is lost!” and by holding that assumption, we will make it so. We may seem to be going backwards, but Jung would urge us to regard our current situation of regression as an exciting opportunity to rally, to rouse ourselves to deeper work, stronger commitment to positive activities, greater investment of our time, energy and resources to what really matters. Only by this choice will we create a world that works for everyone.

Sue Mehrtens is the author of this and all the other blog essays on this site. The opinions expressed in these essays are her own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of other Jungian Center faculty or Board members. Honesty, as well as professional courtesy, require that you give proper attribution to the author if you post this essay elsewhere.

Bibliography

Brinton, Crane, John Christopher & Robert Lee Wolff (1960), A History of Civilization, 2nd ed., II. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Chozick, Amy (2016), “Hillary Clinton Calls Many Trump Backers ‘Deplorables,’ and the G.O.P. Pounces,” The New York Times (September 10, 2016).

Hageberg, Janet (1984), Real Power. San Francisco: Harper & Row.

Hawken, Paul (2017), Drawdown. New York: Penguin Books.

Hawkins, David (2002), Power vs. Force. Carlsbad CA: Hay House.

Hollis, James (1993), The Middle Passage. Toronto: Inner City Press.

Jung, C.G. (1961), “Freud and Psychoanalysis,” Collected Works, 4. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1956) “Symbols of Transformation,” Collected Works, 5, 2nd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1971), “Psychological Types,” Collected Works, 6. Princeton: Princeton University Press

________ (1966), “Two Essays on Analytical Psychology,” CW 7. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1960), ”The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche,” CW 8. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1969), “Psychology and Religion: West and East,” CW 11. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1953), “Psychology and Alchemy,” CW 12. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1967), “Alchemical Studies,” CW 13. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1954), “The Practice of Psychotherapy,” CW 16, 2nd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1954), “The Development of Personality,” CW 17. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1976), ”The Symbolic Life,” CW 18. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

________ (1965), Memories, Dreams, Reflections. New York: Vintage Books.

________ (1975), Letters, ed. Gerhard Adler & Aniela Jaffé. 2 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

[1] Collected Works 5 ¶631. Hereafter Collected Works will be abbreviated CW.

[2] CW 8 ¶69.

[3] CW 4 ¶406.

[4] CW 18 ¶1323.

[5] “Letter to Adolf Keller,” 25 February 1955; Letters, II, 229-230.

[6] World Book Encyclopedia Dictionary, II, 1641.

[7] CW 18 ¶1046.

[8] CW 5 ¶631.

[9] CW 11 ¶159.

[10] CW 8 ¶69.

[11] CW 5 ¶660.

[12] CW 8 ¶70.

[13] CW 7 ¶117.

[14] Cw 4 ¶383

[15] Ibid.

[16] Ibid., ¶565.

[17] CW 4 ¶779.

[18] CW 5 ¶507.

[19] CW 8 ¶69.

[20] CW 4 ¶406.

[21] CW 5 ¶506.

[22] Ibid.

[23] Ibid., ¶226.

[24] Ibid. ¶466.

[25] CW 4 ¶378.

[26] Ibid. ¶383.

[27] CW 12 ¶240.

[28] CW 18 ¶1312.

[29] CW 8 ¶61.

[30] CW 12 ¶563.

[31] CW 5 ¶450.

[32] CW 12 ¶240.

[33] Ibid. ¶246.

[34] CW 5 ¶313.

[35] Ibid. ¶450.

[36] CW 7 ¶120.

[37] CW 11 ¶159.

[38] CW 4 ¶394.

[39] Ibid. ¶405.

[40] CW 6 ¶201.

[41] Ibid.

[42] Ibid.

[43] CW 8 ¶61.

[44] CW 5 ¶631.

[45] CW 12 ¶563.

[46] Ibid.

[47] CW 8 ¶69.

[48] CW 4 ¶406.

[49] CW 7 ¶239.

[50] Ibid.

[51] CW 6 ¶783.

[52] CW 8 ¶61.

[53] CW 5 ¶631.

[54] CW 18 ¶1312.

[55] CW 5 ¶551.

[56] Ibid. ¶345.

[57] CW 13 ¶323.

[58] Ibid.

[59] Ibid.

[60] CW 11 ¶786.

[61] CW 12 ¶171.

[62] Jung recounts these in his memoir;see Jung (1965) 24-83.

[63] Cf. CW 12 ¶249; CW 9i ¶206; CW 11 ¶841 and CW 5 ¶90.

[64] CW 7 ¶239.

[65] CW 8 ¶69.

[66] CW 16 ¶19.

[67] CW 5 ¶264; italics in the original. Cf. ibid. ¶654; CW 8 ¶63.

[68] CW 8 ¶63.

[69] Ibid. ¶65.

[70] CW 7 ¶239.

[71] CW 5 ¶631.

[72] CW 8 ¶67.

[73] Ibid. ¶s 66-67.

[74] Ibid. ¶67.

[75] CW 13 ¶332.

[76] Ibid.

[77] Ibid. ¶473.

[78] ibid.

[79] CW 5 ¶332.

[80] Ibid.

[81] Ibid. ¶313.

[82] CW 11 ¶159.

[83] CW 5 ¶553.

[84] Ibid. ¶345.

[85] CW 18 ¶1643.

[86] Only 24% of Vermonters say they attend church, the lowest figure of the 50 states; www.gallup.com/poll/181601/frequent-church-attendance-highest-utah-lowest-vermont.aspx

[87] “Aquarius” means “water bearer” in Latin.

[88] CW 12 ¶563.

[89] Ibid.

[90] Mat. 13:43.

[91] CW 18 ¶1322.

[92] Brinton et al. (1960), 480-489.

[93] CW 18 ¶1323.

[94] CW 12 ¶563.

[95] Ibid.

[96] “Inner city” is the term used by Jungian analyst and publisher Daryl Sharp to refer to the inner energies that inhabit the unconscious; he named his publishing house for it.

[97] CW 12 ¶563.

[98] James Hollis describes this process; Hollis (1993), 108-109.

[99] Hillary Clinton used this term during the 2016 Presidential campaign to refer to Trump supporters; Chozick (2016).

[100] CW 5 ¶553.

[101] Ibid.

[102] Cf. Hageberg (1984) and Hawkins (2002).

[103] Parker spoke this phrase (later popularized by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 100+ years later) in a speech before the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Convetion, January 29, 1858; www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/398003.Theodore-Parker

[104] Hawken (2017).

[105] Jung (1965), 41-42.

[106] “Letter to S. Malkinson,” 12 June 1933; Letters, I, 126.

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