Introduction

Psychology and Kundalini: Introduction
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This series will outline 4 lectures provided by Carl Jung on Kundalini Yoga. This is a look at Eastern philosophy and spirituality, as well as an approach to the mind-body connection (specifically related to energy).
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While most of the material may be difficult to grasp, especially in the Western world, an open mind may lead to new revelations.

Thus, we begin a look into the psychology of Kundalini.
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“I will be silent on the meaning of yoga for India, however, I can say something about what it means for the West. Our lack of direction borders on psychic anarchy. Therefore any religious or philosophical practice amounts to a psychological discipline, and therefore a method of psychic hygiene.”

Psychic hygiene is a perfect word to explain what is LACKING for many in society. While many have hygiene routines in place, such a brushing teeth and taking a shower, psychic discipline is many times forgotten.

This series will outline an ancient psychological discipline that is still around in present times. Through this, you will gain insights into the mind, body, and energy’s influence on them both.
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Tantrism and Kundalini Yoga

Kundalini Yoga is an ancient indian practice of spiritualizing matter. Or, spiritualizing YOU. Tantrism refers to the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed in India from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. Yoga partakes of two notions generally held in common in Indian philosophy and religion - reincarnation, and the quest for emancipation from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

Count Hermann Keyserling writes, “Indian wisdom is the profoundest which exists within the science of the soul".”

He continues, “The Indians have done more than anyone else to perfect the method of training which leads to an enlargement and deepening of consciousness.”

This is truly about inner discipline, which is why Keyserling ties psychology and these ancient practices. Although these teachings are prevalent in the East, the Western mind struggles to comprehend its purpose. Jung writes, “For what has emerged from the Eastern spirit is based upon the particular history of that mentality, which is most fundamentally different from ours (Western mentality).”

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The West Encounters The East

John Woodroffe was primarily responsible for translating tantric texts known to the West. He states, “ We, who are foreigners, must place ourselves in the skin of the Hindu, and must look at their doctrine and ritual through their eyes and not our own.” Carl Jung viewed yoga through a psychological lens. “Yoga was originally a natural process of introversion….such introversions lead to characteristic inner processes of personality changes.”

Jung saw the inner processes to which yoga gave rise as universal, and the particular methods employed to achieve them as culturally specific. It represented a rich storehouse of symbolic depictions of inner experiences and of the individuation process in particular. While these findings within ancient yoga practices are useful, he did see “dangers” that may arise (specifically to those in the West).

“ Tantric yoga is criticized because it is connected to the body, particularly sex,” he continues, “Woe to us when it reaches Europe.”

While yoga has been accepted in the West, one can see the danger in misuse of this practice.

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The Genesis Of The Lectures

The following four lectures were a continuation of Jung’s work on Kundalini yoga and chakra symbolism. They were conducted in 1932 in the Autumn in Zurich. While the lectures were popular, many criticized Jung interpretations of Kundalini.

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Problems Of Comparison

Jacob Wilhelm Hauer wrote, “In my view in the Jungian circle the mythic images of tantric yoga are all too rapidly put together with ‘Archetypes,’ which doesn’t help the clear understanding of either.’

Harold Coward stated, “With today’s much better knowledge of Eastern thought, it is doubtful that Jung’s ‘rope trick’ of standing Kundalini yoga on its head and then lopping off the last two chakras as ‘superficial speculations with no practical value’ would be accepted.”

Gopi Krishna proclaimed, “C. G. Jung, entirely preoccupied with his own theory of the unconscious, finds in it only material for the corroboration of his own ideas and nothing beyond that.”

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In conclusion, I will leave you with Jung’s goals for the lectures provided….

“Western consciousness is by no means consciousness in general. It is rather a historically conditioned and geographically confined dimension, which represents only a part of mankind.”

“The knowledge of Eastern philosophy namely forms the indispensable basis for a critique and an objective consideration of Western psychology.”

Thus in Jung’s view, “the outcome of Western psychology’s encounter with Eastern thought was by no means a small matter, for on this the very possibility of a psychology worthy of the name rested.”

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Next, Lecture 1