Carl Jung on religion and the unconscious

From an interview of CG Jung by Georg Gerster conducted on June 7, 1960, for broadcast on the Swiss radio network, as found in the book CG Jung speaking.

GG: “When I asked you earlier about a critique of our civilization I… was thinking of the problem of our time, as they say. There must have been periods when man’s relations with the unconscious through various other channels of communication were infinitely more alive than they are today.”

CGJ: “Yes, there is no doubt that it was only the 19th century that broke with this tradition and became increasingly intellectual, with the result that a lot of vitally necessary things have become obsolete. Just think of the crisis of Christianity we are passing through today — it simply means that we have lost all sense of its necessity. We no longer know what it is good for. In earlier times people knew, in a way. Naturally they had faith, but this faith was rooted in the feeling that the Christian tradition was `satisfactory,’ it was something self-evident, part of the picture. Even with scientific books, you need only think of old Scheuchzer, of Zürich who began his scientific works with the story of Creation!

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Alber Jay Nock on the disadvantages of education

This is only an excerpt. I cannot find the full essay via search engines today, though some years ago I did, for I have it printed out. This was written in 1932. Tell me it is irrelevant today.

The Disadvantages of Being Educated  (Albert Jay Nock)

My interest in education had been comfortably asleep since my late youth, when circumstances waked it up again about six years ago.  I then discovered that in the meantime our educational system had changed its aim.  It was no longer driving at the same thing as formerly, and no longer contemplated the same kind of product.  When I examined it, I was as far “out” on what I expected to find as if I had gone back to one of the sawmills familiar to my boyhood in Michigan, and found it turning out boots and shoes.

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John Nelson: The Singularity of Consciousness

The Singularity of Consciousness

By

John Nelson

 

December 1, 2016
The singularity is coming, but whether it is the point where computers become super intelligent, as predicted by Ray Kurzweil (and we merge with them in his cyborgization of humanity scenario), or where humans become super conscious, as envisioned by Pierre de Chardin, is the pressing question or at least in some circles.

This debate has explicitly framed my writing, mostly metaphysical novels, over the last 30 years. My recent effort, I, Human (Cosmic Egg), is set in the latter part of the 21st century where most humans have neural implants that bestow 200-plus IQs but have atrophied our feeling and intuitive functions and lead to massive emotional breakdowns that threaten the very fabric of their world.

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A way forward for our times?

From Chasing Smallwood, brought forth 11 years ago and more timely than ever.

.41. Worldwide Anti-slavery Society

[Sunday, February 26, 2006]

(7 a.m.) I begin to see it, my friend. I got the outline of it, but of course can’t tell the detail or how to make it practical – and I well understand that making it practical is not my job, as it calls for talents I do not have, and would lead me away from the talent I do have. But I will help you get out the word and we will see what happens.

Yes. If people in your time don’t respond, well – like I said – it won’t do itself, it needs people to fight. But this gives ’em a vision, for them that catch it.

All right, Joseph, proceed. And this time I’m going to raise objections and questions as I see them if only to help you to deal with your unseen audience.

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The challenge of our times

From Chasing Smallwood.

.33. The challenge of our times

[Friday, February 17, 2006]

All right. It is 8 a.m., nearly, the start of a cloud-heavy morning. If you’re ready to answer [my brother] Paul’s question – what is the real challenge of our time, what is the equivalent of the Civil War to us – I’m ready to hear it.

You have heard it many times, each time in a slightly different context. You have expressed it many times, enough that it is just another of your beliefs. What is your Iona book about, after all?

Pardon us while we circle around the subject. You know how a dog has to circle before it can lie down and sleep, it is a reassuring habit.

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