Jung’s Kabbalistic Visions

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JOURNAL OF JUNGIAN THEORY AND PRACTICE                    VOL. 7 NO. 1 2005

Jung’s Kabbalistic Visions

Sanford Drob

Abstract

Jung’s 1944 kabbalistic visions are examined from the standpoint of Jung’s earlier provocative remarks about Jewish psychology and National Socialism, his attitude towards the Jewish sources of his own theories, and from the perspective of both Jungian and kabbalistic dream theory. The author suggests that (1) Jung’s visions signaled a change in his attitudes and personality that is critical to a full understanding of his complex relationship to Judaism, (2) the kabbalistic understanding of dreams highlights significant points of contact between Jewish mysticism and analytic psychology, and (3) Jung’s own mystical interpretation of his kabbalistic visions raises important questions regarding his understanding of religious symbolism and the boundaries between psychological science and religious experience.

Keywords

Jung, Kabbalah, mysticism, dreams, visions, Zohar, anti-Semitism, National Socialism.

I myself was, so it seemed, in the Pardes Rimmonim, the garden of pomegranates, and the wedding of Tifereth with Malchuth was taking place. Or else I was Rabbi Simon ben Jochai, whose wedding in the afterlife was being celebrated. It was the mystic marriage as it appears in the Cabbalistic tradition. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was. I could only think continually, “Now this is the garden of pomegranates! Now this is the marriage of Malchuth with Tifereth!” I do not know exactly what part I played in it. At bottom it was I myself: I was the marriage. And my beatitude was that of a blissful wedding.

(Jung, 1961, p. 293)

In this paper I explore Jung’s 1944 kabbalistic visions, examining them from the standpoint of Jung’s earlier provocative remarks about Jewish psychology and National Socialism, Jung’s attitude towards the Jewish sources of his own theories, and from the perspective of both Jungian and kabbalistic dream theory. An important goal of this study is to show that Jung’s visions signaled a change in his attitudes and personality that is critical to a full understanding of his complex relationship to Judaism. We will see that Jung’s visions not only had deep personal, psychological, and even mystical significance, but also portended an enormously creative period in Jung’s career, during which his psychological theories became closely aligned with the Jewish mystical tradition. A second goal of this study is to explore significant points of contact between Jewish mysticism and analytic psychology. Finally, I will briefly indicate how Jung’s own mystical interpretation of his kabbalistic visions raises important questions regarding his use of religious symbols and vocabulary, and the boundaries between psychological science and religious experience.

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