A big slab of Jung!

...to get you (okay, probably only me) fired up for the week...

These quotes are from 'Psychology and alchemy', and resonate with my experience of 'spiritual anxiety'.

'The self is a union of opposites par excellence, and this is where it differs essentially from the Christ-symbol. The androgyny of Christ is the utmost concession the Church has made to the problem of opposites. The opposition between light and good on the one hand and darkness and evil on the other is left in a state of open conflict, since Christ simply represents good and his counterpart the devil, evil. This opposition is the real world problem, which at present is still unsolved. The self, however, is absolutely paradoxical in that it represents in every respect thesis and antithesis, and at the same time synthesis.' (Jung 1968, p.19).

'Without the experience of the opposites there is no wholeness and hence no inner approach to the sacred figures.' (Jung 1968, p.20).

'Although insight into the problem of opposites is absolutely imperative, there are very few people who can stand it in practice.' (Jung 1968, p.20).

'-for in the self good and evil are indeed closer than identical twins! The reality of evil and its incompatibility with good cleave the opposites asunder and lead inexorably to the crucifixion and suspension of everything that lives. Since 'the soul is by nature Christian' this result is bound to come as infallibly as it did in the life of Jesus: we all have to be 'crucified with Christ', ie., suspended in a moral suffering equivalent to a veritable crucifixion. In practice this is only possible up to a point, and apart from that is so unbearable that the ordinary human being can afford to get into such a state only occasionally, in fact as seldom as possible.' (Jung 1968, p.21).

'The point is that alchemy is rather like an undercurrent to the Christianity that ruled on the surface. It is to this surface as the dream is to consciousness, and just as the dream compensates the conflicts of the conscious mind, so alchemy endeavours to fill in the gaps left open by the Christian tension of opposites.' (Jung 1968, p.23).

Nothing to add...

Jung, C. G. (1968). Psychology and alchemy (2nd ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Yamantaka mandala (Overcoming Death mandala), downloaded 11th January, 2010, from:
http://www.artsmia.org/art-of-asia/buddhism/the-mandala.cfm.