Carl Gustav Jung
A serious illness brought Carl Jung to the brink of death but in the end, it led to a final breakthrough of understanding. Such experiences and coincidences will lead to a more complete theory of mind as well as the development of what Jung will call, Synchronicity.
For the initial posting that began this series, click here.
Jung almost died
In 1944, Carl Jung broke his foot. Not only that, he also had a devastating heart attack. Near death in a hospital, he proceeded to have a final breakthrough dreams and visions that changed his life.
The dreams and visions that came and went were so strong Jung knew he must be close to dying even though no one said this to him . His outlook got reinforced when a nurse told him she saw a bright glow all around his body.
Earth photo courtesy of NASA
At one point in his visions, he found himself high in space, looking down at the earth. Put simply, this is what he saw:
- The blue light of earth and the deep, rich colors of the land areas
- The continent of Asia below him
- Snow on top of the Himalaya Mountains
- The Arabian Peninsula
- Part of the Mediterranean
Remember, this was 1944, way before the age of orbiting space craft and artificial satellites. When Jung later asked a friend in the scientific community about what he saw, the friend told him that the only way anyone could actual see such things would be from 1000 miles in space.
Space art courtesy of NASA
The rock’s internal lighting
Into his vision a gigantic, dark chunk of stone appeared. As he stared at it, Jung noticed an entrance. Attracted to the entrance, he went through it and found a room where an Asian man dressed in white was meditating. There were little niches in the walls all around the room containing oil lamps.
As Jung approached the man, all sorts of strange things occurred:
- His entire earthly existence seemed to wash away as if the essence of who he was had been annihilated.
- Everything he had ever done, seen or planned left him completely. An extremely painful experience at first.
- Finally, as he realized he had been stripped of his identity, he also understood that he no long needed or wanted anything at all.
- At that point, he accepted what was happening and realized the loss of his identity didn’t matter.
A Temple of Answers?
Suddenly, Jung’s awareness shifted and he found himself about to enter a huge temple. He knew without a doubt he would soon be meeting people inside the temple who had the answers to all of his questions. Finally, he would truly understand his existence.
Peering at our planet
Again, Jung had his awareness yanked in another direction before he could actually get inside the temple. This time he saw the earth far below him. But as he stared at it, he noticed something odd in the region of Europe.
Something seemed to be between him and that portion of the earth. Whatever the “something” was, it appeared to be getting bigger and coming towards him.
Jung’s doctor visits
When :it” finally arrived, the object turned out to be the doctor who was treating Jung in the hospital. Immediately, Jung recognized the strength of his doctor’s spirit that allowed him to make the journey all the way from earth.
Instantly, the doctor and Jung began to communicate-telepathically. The doctor told Jung that the earth had asked him to be its representative. This, the doctor said, was a protest against Jung’s impending death, part of what would bexome his final breakthrough.
As soon as the doctor delivered his message, the vision collapses and Jung was back in his hospital bed and back to his very painful illness.
A difficult recuperation
It took three weeks for Carl Jung to really make up his mind that he truly wanted to live. In fact, he initially developed an almost violent resistance to his doctor because Jung blamed the man for spiritually pulling him away from death’s door. When he was finally able to let that blame go, Jung started worrying about his doctor. He came to believe that the man’s life was in danger because his spiritual trip up into space from Europe had drained so much of his life force.
After listening to Jung’s description of the vision and the possible danger, the doctor dismissed it all as hallucinations. Angrily, Jung argued with the man, trying desperately to save his life. Those discussions went nowhere.
Jung’s doctor died despite the warnings
Turned out that Carl Jung was his doctor’s last patient. Once Jung had fully decided to live and was able to sit on the edge of his hospital bed, his doctor died.
According to Jung, the time after his illness was the most insightful and productive of his career, his final breakthrough of self understanding. That illness occured in 1944 and he died in 1961.
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The blog post above, and the others like it, became so popular that I created a book using them as the basis for particular explorations of the paranormal. Titled, Carl Jung, Hauntings, and Paranormal Coincidences, it combines the Jung material with supporting information from my own experiences and those of others.
If you are interested in reading that book, you can find it in most online bookstores. Listed below, however, are direct book links to some of the larger retail outlets in the English speaking world:
Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon India, Amazon Australia, Barnes and Noble, Kobo (Canada)
But if you would like to just browse through some of those postings on Carl Jung’s paranormal experiences, you can find those links below.
Happy reading.
Part 1: Carl Jung: Paranormal, Coincidences and Synchronicity
Part 12: The Final Breakthrough (This post)
Other articles on Jung, Synchronicity and the Paranormal
Carl Jung’s Contribution to Paranormal Study
Energizing Jung’s Ideas About Synchronicity
Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal
Why two geniuses delved into the occult
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