Sunday, June 18, 2023

THE TENSIONS OF THE OPPOSITES

 

The conflict between the opposites can strain the psyche to the breaking point, if we take them seriously or if they take us seriously…if all goes well the solution, seemingly of its own accord, appears out of nature.  Then and then only it is convincing.  It is felt as “grace.”

…it represents the result of the joint labors of consciousness and the unconscious and attains the likeness of the God image in the form of the mandala, which is probably the simplest model of a concept of wholeness.

…The clash, which is at first of a purely personal nature, is soon followed by the insight that the subjective conflict is only a single instance of the universal conflict of opposites.  Our psyche is set up in accord with the structure of the universe, and what happens in the macrocosm likewise happens in the infinitesimal and most subjective reaches of the psyche…

 

...I am thinking here of the simplest basic form of the mandala, the circle, and the simplest (mental) division of the circle, the quadrant or, as the as may be, the cross.

C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Late Thoughts), pages 335-336.


12 inches diameter
Cotton and metallic threads on linen


DETAILS

Upper right quadrant


Upper left quadrant, Albedo; Alchemical symbol silver


Lower left quadrant; alchemical symbol lead



Lower right quadrant


Moons


SIDES OF THE CROSS

Lower cross
serpent upward to cylinder spiral



Upper cross
Dove downward to cylinder spiral


Right cross
Dung beetle pushing left to cylinder spiral



Left cross
Dung beetle pushing right to cylinder spiral



CENTER
Alchemical symbol Philosopher's Stone