Erich Neumann -The Origins and History of Consciousness: The Book Jung Wished he Wrote

Introduction to The Origins and History of Consciousness

Erich Neumann’s book the Origins and History of Consciousness is an impressive thought-provoking book. Carl Jung, whose ideas inspired Erich Neumann, was impressed to such a degree that Jung himself indicated that he wished he would have written such a book. After reading this summary and analysis of The Origins and History of Consciousness you may understand why this was the case.

As Erich Neumann explained, The Origins and History of Consciousness is an attempt to create an outline of the archetypal stages present in the development of consciousness. In this sense, the book is an attempt to explore the psychic, internal factors which direct this development, as opposed to the external, environmental factors.

For this exploration, Neumann observed that the archetypes, developed by Carl Jung, are crucial. You can read more about the archetypes here: Carl Jung – The Archetypes of the Collective Unoncscious. Neumann’s definition may, however, already provide a sufficient understanding of the ideas of the archetypes; the archetypes essentially being images which reveal the contents of the unconscious: “The structural elements of the collective unconscious are named by Jung “archetypes” or “Primordial images.” They are the pictorial forms of the instincts, for the unconscious reveals itself to the conscious mind in images which, as in dreams and fantasies, initiate the process of conscious reaction and assimilation.” (p.XV)

Neumann argued that human consciousness developed through various successive archetypal stages. Interestingly, these stages through which consciousness developed throughout human history, are the same stages through which each individual’s consciousness must still develop currently: “The individual has in his own life to follow the road that humanity has trod before him, leaving traces of its journey in the archetypal sequence of the mythological images we are now about to examine.” (p.XVI) In this sense, an understanding of the development of consciousness throughout history, will also provide one with an understanding of one’s own development of consciousness.

This development begins with a stage when the ego is still a part of the unconscious, and is, in this sense, ‘trapped’, until, in the final stage, the ego has become conscious of its own positions and can defend its positions in the face of all kinds of unconscious forces. As you will see, the development of consciousness can be characterized by a continuous battle between the conscious ego and the unconscious forces of nature. As you will see as well, this battle is far from over.

The Stages of the Development of Consciousness

Stage 1: The Uroboros

In the first stage, the uroboric stage, the psyche and the outside world are one. As Neumann argued, in this stage, there is nothing with the capability to reflect; to differentiate itself from the outside world. In this sense, Neumann indicated that history is in itself only a recent concept, since, without the reflective capabilities of an ego consciousness, history cannot be.

This does, however, not mean that early man did not produce anything from the psyche or was not, in a sense, questioning his existence. As Neumann illustrated, early man developed many myths and rituals, however, these were not consciously developed, instead, they were a product of the collective unconscious.

Myths and rituals provided answers to questions which were never consciously asked: “These are the answers of what he calls the human soul and the human mind to questions which were very much alive for him, even though no ego consciousness had consciously asked them.” (p.13)

This stage is symbolized by the uroboros; the snake eating its own tale. Although the ego already exists in this stage, according to Neumann, it is still swimming around in circles; it is still a part of ‘the round’ and has not been able to detach itself from the circle in which all direction towards consciousness is swallowed up again by the whole:

“The world is experienced as all-embracing, and in it man experiences himself, as a self, sporadically and momentarily only. Just as the infantile ego, living this phase over again, feebly developed, easily tired, emerges like and island out of the ocean of the unconscious for occasional moments only, and then sinks back again, so early man experiences the world.” (p.15)

Man, in this stage, remains, therefore, unconscious for most of the time, guided by his instincts and under the guidance of great Mother Nature. Similar to Rousseau, Neumann speaks rather positive of this stage, indicating that Mother Nature here is a great nourisher and comforter, providing safety, pleasure, warmth, and forgiveness: “All needs effortlessly supplied by the great nourisher – such is that early, beatific state.” (p.15)

Once removed from this uroboric state, Neumann observed that the positive side of great Mother Nature will not return until much later in the development of consciousness; until she reveals herself as Sophia: “The “gracious” Mother, or, pouring forth her riches in the creative fullness of true productivity, as the “Mother of All Living.” (p.15)

One may therefore wonder why early man would even want to move onto the next stage of the development of consciousness. Particularly since Neumann observed that, within man, there is a strong desire to remain in this unconscious uroboric state.

However, Neumann observed as well that there is a ‘counterforce’ within man, found in a strong desire to become conscious; a sort of instinct moving man in this direction. Within nature, Neumann argued that this tendency is unnatural, however, specific to man, it is a normal tendency, a tendency which differentiates man from nature around him: “The struggle between the specifically human and universally natural constitutes the history of man’s conscious development.” (p.16)

It may take long before this tendency to develop towards consciousness becomes more powerful than the natural tendency to slip back into unconsciousness:

“So long as the infantile ego consciousness is weak and feels the strain of its own existence as heavy and oppressive, while drowsiness and sleep are felt as delicious pleasure, it has not yet discovered its own reality and differentness. So long as this continues, the uroboros reigns on as the great whirling wheel of life, where everything not yet individual is submerged in the union of opposites, passing away and willing to pass away.” (p.16)

Neumann symbolically called this phase “uroboric incest”. This incest with great Mother Nature is characterized by a desire to be “dissolved and absorbed; passively one lets oneself be taken, sinks into the pleroma, melts away in the ocean of pleasure.” (p.17) Eventually this will lead to a final absorption by Mother Nature, still, however, the infantile ego does not see this dissolution as a threat.

Stage 2: The Great Mother

This all changes in the next stage of the development of consciousness, the stage of the Great Mother. Neumann indicated that this next stage is reached when the uroboric embrace has reached a point where it hinders the natural tendency of an individual to develop its consciousness.

Here the uroboric embrace comes to be seen as a negative, threatening aspect:

 “It is, however, the same figure [uroboros] whose clinging embrace prevents the neurotic from being born into life. Then it is no longer the primordial figure of the uroboros, but, in the case of a more develop ego, the indication that a further stage has been reached, namely, the dominance of the uroboros over the ego, the stage of the Great Mother.” (p.38)

In this new stage, Neumann observed that the ego must develop a new connection with the world. Within each new phase, the archetypes, myths, and symbols change as well: “The individual’s view of the world changes with every stage of his development, and the variation of archetypes and symbols, gods and myths, is the expression, but also the instrument of this change.” (p.39)

In the stage of the Great Mother, the ego becomes detached from the uroboros, and instead of being contend with being a part of the self-rolling wheel of uroboric nature, the ego becomes aware of its vulnerability, wanting to cling onto the embryotic stage of consciousness it has now reached: “The unconscious life of nature, which is also the life of the uroboros, combines the most meaningless destruction with the supreme meaningfulness of instinctive creation; for the meaningful unity of the organism is as “natural” as the cancer which devours it.” (p.39)

The ego is a defenceless entity in the face of this vast, all absorbing power; it has always been like this, but now the ego has become aware of its position, something which it can never unlearn and must learn to accept, something with which new gods, rituals, myths and archetypes may help.

As a result, the embryotic, infantile form of consciousness, although continually aware of its ties with the uroboric ‘matrix’, slowly begins to form a system of its own. Out of consciousness, self-consciousness with an ego capable to reflect on itself comes forth. Once the ego truly experiences itself as an entity distinct from the uroboros, a truly independent conscious system can be formed.

According to Neumann, self-reflection is an essential aspect of this stage. As with Narcisus, however, self-reflection may have devastating effects if this phase persists.

Resulting from this increased self-reflection, self-consciousness, and the strengthening of masculinity, the attitude towards the feminine, characterized by the Great Mother shifts as well. As Neumann indicated, these developments relegate the image of the Great Mother into the background; it is split up by the patriarchal societies and religions of the West, the good aspects are made consciousness, whereas the negative aspects have been emerged into the unconscious. These unconscious evil aspects may then be projected upon the world.

However, as a result, the masculine ego consciousness has now become strong enough to detach itself from the feminine uroboros: “The masculine principle is now strong enough to have reached consciousness of itself. Ego consciousness is no longer the satellite son of the maternal uroboros, chained to the almighty unconscious, but has become truly independent and capable of standing alone.” (p.101) Hereafter, Neumann observed that the next stage in the evolution of consciousness has been reached, the principle of opposites and the separation of the World Parents.

Stage 3: The Separation of the World Parents – The Principle of Opposites

Neumann indicated that in many myths the sky and earth are believed to, initially, be one. Eventually, due to the actions of a god, sky and earth are split from eachother. This, according to Neumann, represents the separation of the World Parents, the creation of opposites.

As Neumann further elaborated, only after man has becomes conscious, can he begin to discriminate: “This act of cognition, of conscious discrimination, sunders the world into opposites, for experience of the world is only possible through opposites.” (p.104) As such, Neumann believed this to be the following stage in the evolution of consciousness.

In this phase the identification of the individual with the ego grows substantially:

““I am I” The fundamental statement of consciousness, is in reality a tremendous achievement. This act, whereby an ego is posited and the personality identified with that ego – however fallacious that identification may later prove to be – alone creates the possibility of a self-orienting consciousness.” (p.105)

The separation of the world parents is a crucial aspect for this further self-identification with the ego according to Neumann, since it is only at this stage that a serious differentiation between the ego and the world around him is established. Everything; man, animals, things, existed in the fluid, undivided state of uroboric unconsciousness. Dreams, according to Neumann, still remind us of this state.

Neumann here also noted that the initial acts upon which the creation of an ego and the emergence of consciousness are build, are mostly negative: “To discriminate, to distinguish, to mark off, to isolate oneself from the surrounding context – these are the basic acts of consciousness.” (p.121) This is in stark contrast to the unconscious, which is, essentially, a wave which wipes out all differentiation and isolation; instead of differentiating, it combines: “The tendency of the unconscious [is] to combine and melt down, to say to everything “tat tvam asi” – “that art thou””. (p.121) The reply of the conscious ego towards that statement is: “I am not that.” (p.121)

At this stage, however, Neumann observed that the ego is still insecure. This it will only become after the next stage, a successful fight with the dragon. Until that has been successfully accomplished, the uroboric unconscious, represented by the World Parents and the Terrible Mother are making significant efforts to prevent the emancipation of ego consciousnesses. In this sense, the negative attitude of the ego towards the unconscious is, in a way, necessary. This negative attitude, this struggle, can be seen mythologically as the fight with the dragon. In this stage, Neumann observed that the “higher ego” will emerge and the “buried treasure” will be raised, representing knowledge.

As already indicated, the uroboric unconscious is a feminine aspect, whereas the ego is a masculine aspect. As a result, Neumann observed that the stage of the separation of the World Parents, represented by creating the principles of opposites and thereby creating the independence of ego consciousness, can also be seen as the stage of increased masculinity. This results in the creation of taboos and morality; the creation of good and evil: “This strengthening of consciousness is borne out by laying down taboos and of moral attitudes which delimit the conscious from the unconscious by substituting knowing action for unwitting impulse.” (p.126)

This dominance of the masculine over the feminine and consciousness over the unconscious, would have serious ever-lasting cultural implications. Witch hunts are an example of the masculine conscious feeling threatened by the feminine unconscious. However, without the masculinization of the ego, consciousness would, according to Neumann, not have been able to free itself from the unconscious. Carl Jung made the same argument: “The resistance of the conscious mind to the unconscious and the depreciation of the latter were historical necessities in the development of the human psyche, for otherwise the conscious mind would never have been able to differentiate itself at all.” (Psychology and Alchemy, p.50)

As a side note, as Jung indicated as well, and as I wrote in my book Carl Jung and the Rebirth of the Soul, our modern consciousness has gone too far in the depreciation of the unavoidable facts of the unconscious. After the further differentiation of the conscious mind, the next stage, the hero’s journey, could commence. In this phase, the unconscious forces may, after overcoming them, once again be integrated:

“Through the masculinization and emancipation of ego consciousness the ego becomes the “hero.” The story of the hero, as set forth in the myths, is the history of this self-emancipation of the ego, struggling to free itself from the power of the unconscious and to hold its own against overwhelming odds.” (p.127)

Stage 4: The Hero’s Journey

As Neumann observed, upon reaching the stage of the birth of the hero, a radical shift has occurred. This can be seen clearly in mythology; where first the main feature of myths was its cosmic, universal quality, now the myth’s focal point has become the world at the center with man standing upon it: “This means, in terms of stadial development, not only that man’s ego consciousness has achieved independence, but that his total personality has detached itself from the natural context of the surrounding world and the unconscious.” (p.131)

Instead of being represented by symbols, with the hero myth, we enter a stage where mythology and symbolism become humanized. The hero here becomes the archetypal, human symbol of the fate all humanity must live: “However short of the ideal man they have fallen, the stages of the hero myth have become constituent elements in the personal development of every individual.” (p.131) Joseph Campbell dedicated a lot of his work to the various stages of the hero myth, you can read more about these stages here: Joseph Campbell – The Monomyth and the Hero’s Journey.

In this sense, the hero myth represents a collective transpersonal event which transcends the individual hero: “Although they appear as inner events, the victory and transformation of the hero are valid for all mankind; they are held up for our contemplation, to be lived out in our own lives, or at least re-experienced by us.” (p.197) The hero represents the archetype for the mature ego which is fighting to finally free itself from the continues flow of unconscious forces.

However, perhaps paradoxically, through the hero’s journey, represented by the fight with the dragon, the sleeping images of the unconscious may come to the surface from the center of the soul. This time, however, they do not force the ego back into the unconscious, instead, the ego learns to integrate these unconscious forces and benefit from them. Neumann believed that all culture, science, and religion, comes forth from this creative center of the soul:

“The self-generating power of the soul is man’s true and final secret, by virtue of which he is made in the likeness of God the creator and distinguished from all other living things. These images, ideas, values, and potentialities of the treasure hidden in the unconscious are brought to birth and realized by the hero in his various guises – savior and man of action, seer and sage, founder and artist, invent and discover, scientist and leader.” (p.211)

All of this culminates in a phase where the constant cosmic interplay between consciousness and unconsciousness shifts the attention from the ego to the self. Jung called this the individuation process, where consciousness and unconsciousness are once again united. However, this time, consciousness is powerful enough to stand its ground against the all-devouring unconscious. As a result, it does also not see the need to fight against it constantly, but is capable to open its doors to the wisdom and images of the unconscious:

 “But now there comes a new development. As though a Copernican revolution had taken place within the psyche, consciousness faces inward and becomes aware of the self, about which the ego revolves in a perpetual paradox of identity and non-identity. The psychological process of assimilating the unconscious into our present-day consciousness begins at this point, and the consequent shifting of the center of gravity from the ego to the self signalizes the latest stage in the evolution of human consciousness.” (p.256)

Conclusions

Neumann believed that the unconscious uroboric state is the natural state for mankind. However, only relatively recently in human history, another tendency which is so far only present in humans, developed in opposition to the unconscious state; man slowly started to become conscious.

This development was only possible through the development of a stable ego identity. Neumann argued that this development passed through several stages. These stages can still be observed in the development of every newborn individual. Consciousness developed in strong relation and opposition to the unconscious.

Neuman, however, also observed that the development of the ‘conscious organ’ is still in its early days and is therefore still unstable. In this sense, Neumann argued that consciousness is only a temporary release from the constant pull of the unconscious: “The pull exerted by the great “mass” of the unconscious, i.e., by the collective unconscious with its powerful energy-charge, can only be overcome temporarily by a special performance on the part of the conscious system.” (p.280)

Erich Neumann’s book The Origins and History of Consciousness is full of interesting ideas. This summary was an attempt to summarize the most important aspects of the development of consciousness. However, it is in no way a full account of all the interesting topics put forward by Neumann, I will elaborate on these ideas in future articles.

“The conquest of fear is therefore the essential characteristic of the ego-hero who dares the evolutionary leap to the next stage and does not, like the average man who clings to the conservatism of the existing system, remain the inveterate enemy of the new. Herein lies the real revolutionary quality of the hero. He alone, by overcoming the old phase, succeeds in casting out fear and changing it into joy.” (p.312)