Alfred Ribi - The Search for Roots: C. G. Jung and the Tradition of Gnosis

The distinguished Gnostic scholar Gilles Quispel once prefaced a lecture by saying, It is difficult to speak about Gnosis. I would add to that statement, And it is even more difficult to understand Gnosis. So be warned, this book is heavy reading, and it is probably not the book to take to bed for casual company before sleep. It needs your full attention and all your wits. But if you give it that, it will open to you both a new spiritual world and a new dimension of your psyche.

The original German edition of this study was titled Die Suche nach den eigenen Wurzeln, and published in 1999 by Peter Lang . With the generous financial support of Judith Harris and Tony Woolfson, Don Reneau thereafter prepared an English translation. However, a publisher interested in that English edition was not then found; those who dealt in books related to Jungian studies judged this book too scientific (to quote one publishers words) for their audience. So it sat, waiting for this time.

Of course, this is a complex and scientific book . But then, the subject of Gnosis and C. G. Jung requires a careful treatment. This work was instigated at the insistence of my late friend Gilles Quispel, a renowned scholar whowith the personal support of Jung and financial assistance obtained through the C. G. Jung Instituteboth acquired and facilitated a first publication of the Gnostic texts discovered at Nag Hammadi. Quispel introduced me to the scholars working in Gnostic studies, particularly those working with the Gnostic texts recovered at Nag Hammadi. So, perhaps Quispel is responsible for the scientific tenor of my book. I am especially indebted to Quispel for introducing me to Jean-Pierre Mah of the Universit Laval in Qubec and the cole superieure des Hautes tudes in Paris; Prof. Mah was the co-editor of the French edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices. Addressing scholars such as Quispel, Mah and their circle, I was required to engage the Gnostic texts in a measure that met their standards; otherwise I would not have been taken seriously.

I honestly admit that I had some resistance when Dr. Lance Owens asked me to again review the English translation of my book in preparation for this edition. But as I started reading, I became more and more excited. Rereading this English edition, I engaged a deeper understanding of my original work. I am easily tired by thoughts I already know. When I can actually be excited reading a book of my own from past years, it confirms to me that the text is both well written and of ongoing value. As I read the book, often I caught myself wondering whether I had really written this. A new level of understanding of Gnosis developed, enhanced by my own personal development in the years since this work was completed.

Like my other books, this study was not written with my ego, but was dictated to me from a higher or deeper fact; it seems I was only the scribe. I am not proud of what I have written, because I have not wri tten it: It has written it. Thus I feel a certain distancea certain foreignnesswhen confronting the text anew. It is much more wise and clever than I ever could be; and it needs to be read and reread. So I am finally reconciled with Lance for forcing me to go over this work again. I have learned more about the Gnosis, and become more conscious of aspects and depths still awaiting understanding.

The ancient Gnostics were not heretics, though the Fathers of the Church called them that. The first two centuries of the Christian age where full of fights over the proper definition of Christianity and the epithet heresy was common. It appears now that the Gnostics were simply Christians who had an introverted attitude towards the good tidings, the new evangelium of Christ. They did not take this evangel ium concretelyas the developing orthodox church eventually demandedbut in a spiritual and symbolic sense. In this role, the Gnosis played an important function in the development and differentiation of orthodoxy.

A Gnostic attitude or interpretive approach remains relevant for us today, especially in understanding dreams and creative imagination. Dreams and images express their message in symbolic language . Every day we take in these images and events, and understand them concretely, at face value. But this is only the surface of reality, the outer glance. To find meaning, we have to see behind the faade; we have to dig deeper. Only through that effort will we find the pearl of great price, and only then does life discover its depth and meaning.

That is what the Gnostics were striving for, and this is what makes understanding them such a crucial task for our current age . Many people are no longer satisfied with the old stories in the gospels. They ask, What do we have to do with such fictions nowadays? But when we understand the myths on a spiritual and symbolic plane, they burst out of the historical dimension, and into a timeless fact. They speak to us in their archaic and eternal voice. People who have lost faith and yet are able to discover this experience are hit by a sound that sings through the centuries. It is the eternal truth that lies behind the outward concrete reality. This experience is what has to be excavated in our modern age; this fact is what must hit home with those critical of religious heritage. The loss of Christianity is a disaster for our Western civilization. We cannot replace it by any substitute, be it a political system, a system of social welfare, or a philosophy. None of these reach the depths of human soul.

By returning us to the depths of the soul, the Gnosis can bring new meaning to our time . Gnosis is not a ready-made system, but an approach to the age-old myth of Christianity. It is the undeveloped potential of Christian myth, the myth that for centuries has awaited further development. Developing this myth is a task for people of our own time. It is an introverted task, a personal task.