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Saint Jung?



I found the two glossy cards seen above at a downtown coffeehouse. As an ex-Catholic these remind me of prayer cards depicting various saints.

I’ve got nothing against Carl Jung; somewhere in this rambling mess that dominates my apartment is a copy of FLYING SAUCERS: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies. But the photos used on the promotional cards are so reverential that -- at least to my jaded mind’s eye -- they smack of religiosity.

I hope that after I shed my mortal coil that people won’t idealize me, promulgating all sorts of hagiographic works.

On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t worry about that at all, especially with the devout Carl Jung followers in Vermont.

Comments

X. Dell said…
Geez, you're really reaching into the dark corners of my memory today. I went to Catholic school, and thus remember the saint cards. There does seem to be a bit of a reverential tone with some followers of Jung, but only because he leaves open the idea of occult speculation, in many senses.

In The Undiscovered Self, for instance, he relates the content of a private conversation he had with Sigmund Freund in which Freud admitted to certain observations, but never published them because he didn't want to fuel the occult--which, of course, Jung had no problem doing.
12:07 PM
Ray Palm (Ray X) said…
X. Dell:

What's interesting is that each saint had a special power to help you with a particular problem. Saint Blaise would protect your throat so that you wouldn't choke to death. Faced with a lost cause? Then Saint Jude could save the day. It's been pointed out that some saints were re-imaginings of pagan idols. Me, I think the saints were the original superheroes, the Justice League of God.

And for modern times, forget Doc Savage. Call in Doc Jung!

Ray
4:49 AM
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