Consciousness in Jung and Patañjali

Abstract

In our contemporary scientific exploration of reality there is heated debate on the nature of consciousness. Comparing the representations of consciousness in the depth psychology of Carl Jung and the Classical Yoga of Patañjali contributes to the argument on whether consciousness arises from psychic process or whether consciousness is the ground of Being.
In Patañjali’s world pure consciousness is the ontological reality, which is self-illuminating, singular, eternal, and absolute. There is no unconscious in his model. However, there are unknown and invisible contents of consciousness relative to our human awareness. In Patañjali’s world the ego is seen as an afflicted identity, a concept we form by appropriating consciousness, which distorts our view of reality and blocks our knowledge of pure consciousness. For Patañjali, pure consciousness and the contents of consciousness are distinguishable—separable but not separate.
In Jung’s world ego-consciousness has evolved out of the unconscious, which for Jung is ontically real. In his view, when ego-consciousness develops and maintains a relationship to the unconscious, human beings make the Creator conscious of His creation. In Jung’s model there is no distinction between consciousness and the contents of consciousness. In his view a self-illuminating pure consciousness is inconceivable. Although Jung seeks a unifying model throughout his career, for him ego-consciousness and the resultant subject/object distinction forever remain.
Using a nondual lens, this hermeneutic research takes a closer look at depth psychology’s unconscious and its assumed, or inferred, ontological reality. If the ego and the unconscious are psychological concepts that can be deconstructed, then the very foundation of the discipline is ultimately based on false assumptions. Consequently, the outcomes of depth psychological theory may be distorted, limited, and biased.
However, a bridge can be forged between depth psychology and yoga through Jung’s synchronicity hypothesis, which recognizes mind and matter to be two aspects of one underlying ontic whole. Although Jung never proved empiric consciousness to be a unity, his legacy aims in that direction. Jung’s synchronicity hypothesis allows a contemporary bridging argument for an understanding of the ontic reality of pure consciousness.