The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga (C.G. Jung)
Kundalini Psycho-Babble
[My 1-star Amazon review (NDA) of “The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga: Notes of the Seminar Given in 1952 by C.G. Jung” by C.G. Jung.]
The iconic C.G Jung was no doubt a psychotherapist for the ages, and when I practiced astrology professionally, I made use of his seminal insights on the shadow, the anima/animus, the collective unconscious, and psychological types. But as evidenced by this text, Dr. Jung was clueless with regard to Kundalini – and he makes a complete fool of himself in the seminar from whence this book derives.
First off, the title of this book is misleading, because the book focuses more on the chakras than on Kundalini, but Dr. Jung is equally ignorant regarding both subjects. Because this is just a book review and not a book, I cannot expose all of the Kundalini psycho-babble that Jung is guilty of, so I’ll merely point out some of his balderdash.
Dr. Jung opines: “The anima is the Kundalini.” This statement is beyond ridiculous. The Kundalini is accompanying force-flow of of awakened consciousness. The “lower” Kundalini is cosmic and pranic in nature, while the “higher Kundalini is uncreated, Divine Light-Energy, experienced as Shaktipat, and upon En-Light-enment, as Hridaya Shakti.
Dr. Jung states: “The ego is always far down in muladhara and suddenly becomes aware of somebody up above in the fourth story, in anahata, and that is the self.” Again, complete nonsense. The real, or root, ego, or separate-self sensation, is simply the the contraction of one’s consciousness generated by one’s retraction from the “asana” of Divine Communion. The locus of this contraction is in the Hridayam, located two digits to the right of the center of one’s chest.
Dr. Jung states: “And psychical facts are the reality in Visuddha [the throat chakra]. No they aren’t. Further, Dr. Jung informs us that “bugs are already living in Svadhisthana [the sexual chakra].” Laughable, to say the least. Dr. Jung has the human ego in a lower chakra (muladhara) than that of bugs!
Dr. Jung states: “To activate the unconscious means to awaken the devi, Kundalini.” This is gross and inaccurate psychologization of a spiritual-energetic process by Dr. Jung, and exemplifies his reductive modus operandi, which is to translate the spiritual into his Jungian psychological framework. I’ve talked with Jungian psychotherapists about Kundalini, and none of them had a clue about it.They could only interpret the “Coiled Serpent” through circumscribed Jungian analyis.
Tiger Woods does not write books on tennis, and Roger Federer does not attempt to educate the world on the intricacies of golf. Dr. Jung should likewise have refrained from pontificating on a subject he knew next to nothing about – the Kundalini.
