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The Relation of Jung’s Psychology to Meister Eckhart and Jakob Boehme by Dr. J. Glenn Friesen © 2008 Revised notes from lectures given at the C.G. Jung Institute, Küsnacht (June 21-22, 2005) I.
Introduction
This is the third and final lecture in this series on Jung and Western Mysticism. In Lecture 1, we discussed how Jung’s idea of individuation needs to be interpreted in relation to his idea of totality, the center beyond time that is both the source and the goal of all our temporal functions. Individuation is not to be understood as individualism, but rather as a relation of our relating our temporal ego to our supratemporal, supra-individual and central selfhood. In Lecture 2, we saw how this idea of totality is related to the philosophy of the German Christian theosophist Franz von Baader. We briefly looked at many similarities between Franz von Baader and Jung. We also examined Jung’s relation to Gnosticism and to Kabbalah. Baader, a Catholic Christian theosophist, was important in reviving interest in Meister Eckhart and Jakob Boehme. He introduced the ideas of Boehme to the philosopher Schelling, and he introduced the ideas of Eckhart to the philosopher Hegel. But Baader disagreed with the use made by Schelling and Hegel of these ideas. In this Lecture 3, we will look at Boehme and Eckhart in more detail. This lecture therefore continues the themes of the two previous lectures. It explores the relation of Jung’s ideas to the mysticism of Boehme and Eckhart. This will give a historical context to Jung’s analytical psychology that has frequently not been sufficiently appreciated. It will also show how Jung has misinterpreted Boehme and Eckhart. II.
Jung and Meister Eckhart
A. Who was Meister Eckhart? (1260-1328) Meister Eckhart is one of the most important mystics in the West. He was born at Hochheim, near Gotha around 1260. He became a monk, a member of the Dominican order in Erfurt. Around 1300, Eckhart became a lecturer at Paris. In 1302, he obtained the title of Master of Sacred Theology; that is why he is called Meister Eckhart. He later taught at Cologne. He preached in vernacular low German. The archbishop Hermann von Virneburg accused Meister Eckhart of heresy. But Eckhart was exonerated by Nicholas of Strasburg, to whom the pope had given the temporary charge of the Dominican monasteries in Germany. But although Eckhart had been exonerated, the archbishop continued these charges of heresy against Eckhart in his own court. Meister Eckhart denied that the archbishop had proper jurisdiction, and he appealed to the pope. On Feb. 13, 1327, Eckhart © 2008 J. Glenn Friesen