A review by savaging
The Red Book by Carl G. Jung

5.0

I read this massive book from eclipse to equinox, and in that time dove into the dead and the animal; devils and gods; the lowest muck and something sort of like salvation.

Jung's handy misogyny and Hegelian ethnocentrism distract me, but at the base of it I love this book. I love the adventures into inner worlds, I love his calligraphy and bizarre and beautiful paintings. It has altered my relationship to my dreams and my meditations, and leaves me feeling abuzz with creativity. Also: it gives me loose ends to peel at to decipher my own soul and shadow-side.

Random smatterings from the 17 pages of quotes I wrote down from this tome:

"Did you ever think of the evil in you? Oh, you spoke of it, you mentioned it, and you confessed it smilingly, as a generally human vice, or a recurring misunderstanding. But did you know what evil is, and that it stands precisely right behind your virtues, that it is also your virtues themselves, as their inevitable substance? You locked Satan in the abyss for a millennium, and when the millennium had passed, you laughed at him, since he had become a children’s fairy tale. But if the dreadful great one raises his head, the world winces."

"If ever you have the rare opportunity to speak with the devil, then do not forget to confront him in all seriousness. He is your devil after all. The devil as the adversary is your own other standpoint; he tempts you and sets a stone in your path where you least want it."

"Thoughts grow in me like a forest, populated by many different animals. But man is domineering in his thinking, and therefore he kills the pleasure of the forest and that of the wild animals."