Unio Mentalis
Expressed
in the language of Hermetic philosophy, the ego-personality’s coming to terms
with its own background, the
shadow, corresponds to the union of spirit and soul in the unio
mentalis, which is the first stage of the
coniunctio.
What I call coming to terms with the
unconscious the alchemists call
‘meditation’. MC 707
In
order to understand the second stage, the union of the unio mentalis with
the body, psychologically, we must bear in mind what the psychic state resulting
from a fairly complete recognition of the
shadow looks like.
The shadow, as we
know, usually presents a fundamental contrast to the conscious
personality.
This contrast is the prerequisite for the difference of potential from
which psychic energy arises. Without it, the necessary
tension would be lacking. Where considerable psychic
energy is at work, we must expect a corresponding tension and inner
opposition. The
opposites are necessarily of a
characterological nature: the existence of a positive virtue implies victory
over its opposite, the corresponding vice. Without its
counterpart virtue would be pale, ineffective, and unreal.
The extreme opposition of the shadow to consciousness is mitigated by
complementary and
compensatory processes in the unconscious. Their impact on
consciousness finally produces the uniting
symbols. MC 707
The
unio mentalis, then, is psychological as well as in alchemical language,
means knowledge of
oneself. In contradistinction to the modern prejudice
that self-knowledge is nothing but a knowledge of the
ego,
the alchemists regarded
the self as a substance incommensurable with the ego, hidden in the body, and
identical with the
image
of God. This view full accords with the Indian idea of
purusha-atman. The psychic preparation of the magisterium
as described by Dorn is therefore an attempt, uninfluenced by the East, to bring
about a union of
opposites in accordance with the great Eastern philosophies, and to
establish for this purpose a principle freed from the opposites and similar to
the atman or
tao.
Dorn called this the substantia coelestis¸ which today we would
describe as a
transcendental principle. This ‘unum’ is
nirdvandva (free from
the opposites), like the atman (self).
MC 748
Thus
the modern man cannot even bring about the unio mentalis which would
enable him to accomplish the second degree of
conjunction.
The analyst’s guidance in helping him to understand the statements of his
unconscious in
dreams, etc. may provide
the necessary insight, but when it comes to the question of real experience the
analyst can no longer help him: he himself must put his hand to the work.
He is then in the position of the
alchemist’s apprentice
who is inducted into the teachings by the Master and learns all the tricks of
the laboratory. But sometime he must set about the opus
himself, for, as the alchemists emphasize, nobody
else can do it for him. MC 752
Like this apprentice, the modern man begins with an unseemly prima materia which presents itself in unexpected form – a contemptible fantasy which, like the stone that the builders rejected, is ‘flung into the street’ and is so ‘cheap’ that people do not even look at it. He will observe it from day to day and note its alterations until his eyes are opened or, as the alchemists say, until the fish’s eyes, or the sparks, shine in the dark solution. For the eyes of the fish are always open and therefore must always see, which is why the alchemists used them as a symbol of perpetual attention. MC 752