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In a dark dormitory room, its
cinder block walls illuminated only by a desk lamp purchased a week before the
semester began, a naïve mind opens to page 135 of a text for an introductory
class in Abnormal Psychology. A face, suppressing a cavernous yawn expressed on
not unhandsome features chilled by the night air turns to the page. What has
this to do with \u2018Me\u2019? What can I gain for my future? Will it help me find a
beautiful wife? Raise a family of loving children? Will I ever be a success? Or
will I waste the next four years (never to return again) locked in featureless
classrooms? What has the question asked
by a professor to do with me: \u201cWho am I and what is my place in the Universe?\u201d
The page describes a fellow standing on a box in the yard of mental hospital
shouting obscenities at a largely distracted almost \u201ccatatonic\u201d audience (professor\u2019s
word in class today, he witlessly adopted). Now at the beginning of a paragraph
there appears the name Carl Jung followed by his birth and death dates. Years
later the name and dates will appear as an epiphany before the student again.

\u201cHe\u201d has entered a \u201cSwann\u2019s
Moment\u201d as a disoriented child awakening to experience the gradual synthesis of
the \u201cSelf \u201c in its immediate context. Or, he may have entered the eccentric
world of Fyodor Dostoyevsky where the people met on the street are more likely
to be, \u201cphilosophers or psychologists or prophets rather than \u2018normal people\u2019 \u201d
who ask, \u201cDo you believe in God?\u201d rather than the more meaningless, \u201cHow are
you?\u201d as an introduction according to Clifton Fadiman.

In
his 1997 volume, \u201cAryan Christ,\u201d Richard Noll, clinical psychologist and
lecturer in the history of science at Harvard University effectively summarizes
the life work in science and psychology, the scholarship and contributions to
world thought accomplished by the considerable intellect of Carl Gustav Jung
(1875-1961). This summary achieved
through a review of his earliest experiences as a youth, including references
to the Germanic Mythology, Sun Worship, Human Deification, and familiarity with
what are referred to by Noll as the Pagan Gods. This review illuminated with
Jung\u2019s experiences later as the Zurich Institute with associates, patients,
colleagues, expressed in personal communications, letters, publications, diary
entries, records of dream analyses of himself and others, exploration of World
Mythologies not to exclude Visionary Experiences. Individuals of special significance in the discourse
include, Sigmund Freud, Fanny Bowditch, Richard Wagner, Emma Jung, Toni Wolff,
Otto Gross, Sabina Spielrein, Edith Rockefeller McCormick, Maude Moltzer,
Constance Long and Friedrich Nietzsche to mention only a few - succinctly put,
some of the most influential people of his time. Noll makes special reference
to Jung\u2019s interest in Polygamy, the Libido as a god-like, creative force,
Jung\u2019s attempts to retain his central position in the face of competitors,
multiple infatuations with associates and patients, his belief that he attained
god-like status through his revelations, Jung\u2019s stone Tower furnished and
decorated with an erotic ambiance for special visits. Also included in Noll\u2019s
volume are photographs of the principals, evocative, iconographic art of \u201cFidus\u201d
(Hugo Hoppener), and visionary art recorded by Jung\u2019s patients and associates. Seemingly, all of this information allows the
reader to develop a personal assessment of Jung\u2019s character and therefore who
he was. One analysis (Gregorc, Learning
Styles) of Jung suggests he was Abstract Sequential \u2013 he thought abstractly and
then processed the results in systems. Also, such thinkers enjoy having their
thoughts heard, and their charisma to fixate the audience beyond all others
present. .

Among
Jung\u2019s principal contributions to psychology as identified in Noll\u2019s, \u201cAryan
Christ\u201d is that of the \u201cArchetype\u201d. Noll\u2019s references to "archetypes"
as conceived by Jung are somewhat critical. Archetypes, encoded in the brain
are (supposed to be) "impressions" of the ideal male, "animus" and the
ideal female, the "anima," among many others, especially relevant
here \u2013 the Innocent, Sage, Creator, Hero, twelve in total. These archetypes derived from their presence
in world mythologies. Jung became world famous in training specialists who
would interpret visions and dreams of men and women as they related to certain
of these archetypes \u2013 failure in this relationship presumed to cause
psychological maladjustment. Of late, critics suggest the archetype idea is
largely mythical and the images are actually no more than memories derived from
forgotten experiences identified as examples of, "cryptomnesia". Such
contentions have suggested that Jung\u2019s ideas \u201cprove nothing.\u201d

Despite
these criticisms evidences of Jung\u2019s archetypes have found their way as splendid
examples in history and art. Exceptional examples of the archetypes or those
who envisioned them in their creations include, Alexander, Cleopatra, T.E.
Lawrence, Charles Dodgson, Joan of Arc, Vincent van Gogh, Beatrix Potter,
Gustav Flaubert, H. Rider Haggard, Virginia Woolf, Ludwig van Beethoven, W.B.
Yeats, to name a few.

Preeminently in popular fiction, Edgar
Rice Burroughs considered by some as the most influential writer of the 20^th
Century, had an intuitive "feel" for Jungian Archetypes, and
developed them so vividly as to be instantly recognizable when awakened from
the subconscious of the mesmerized reader. The superbly envisioned, mythical
world of Pellucidar (based on Symzonia, the creation of John Symmes) is a
glorious, "Glimpse of Elysium." Here, Abner Perry, the civilized Adventurer
accompanied by the Explorer, David Innes comes to Pellucidar and attempts to
meld the extant native society with the benefits of industrialism. They encounter Heroes, Sages, Innocents,
Tricksters and, Dian the Jewel - the exquisite, expression of the Anima
Archetype, so perfectly drawn as to be instantly recognizable as the "heart's
desire" of a young male, experiencing the wanderlust to escape the restrictions
of formalized, repetitive society.

An illustrative quote assembled from
passages in \u201cAt the Earth\u2019s Core\u201d imagines \u201cDian the Jewel of Pellucidar \u2013 Light
reflected from the curve of each brown limb sang of symmetry as she walked.\u201d Dian and David are the perfect Jungian contra-biological
union, who when so joined form the ideal hermaphroditic whole. Tarzan and Jane
are identified in an even more perfect union. The mystic, Alfred Lord Tennyson
declaims Aphrodite in his poem, \u201cOenone\u201d - \u201cGolden Aphrodite fresh as foam new-bathed
in Paphian Wells. With rosy slender fingers backward drew from her warm brows
and bosom her deep hair ambrosial, golden round her lucid throat and shoulder:
from the violets her light foot shone rosy-white, and o'er her rounded form
between the shadows of the vine-bunches floated the glowing sunlights, as she
moved.\u201d Abundant,
ecstatic praise before Aphrodite receives the Golden Apple of the Sun,
inscribed with \u201cTo the Most Fair.\u201d Both Tennyson and Burroughs plumbed their minds
to the depths, and using higher order thinking of meta-representation availed the
reader of Jung\u2019s archetypes. Jung specifically identifies H. Rider Haggard's, "She" of the eponymous novel with reference to the Anima archetype. Further, Juanna from the "The People of the Mist" is exemplary as the embodiment of same archetype - "...thus in that pure and pearly light against the green background of the feathered reeds, nothing could have seemed more sweet and lovely than did this girl, this child of the forest and the river, who mingled in herself the different beauty of the Saxon and the Spaniard, ripened by the African sun and dignified by the long companionship with nature. There was a grace about her movements, a purity in her face, a mystery in the wide eyes and curved smiling lips which Leonard had never seen before, and which overcame him completely; ....her changing eyes shone beneath their dark lashes, and she moved with the grace of a fawn." Needless to
say these writers were only superficially aware of Jung's work, if at all.

A
second possible evidence of the archetype hypothesis to be advanced in this
review is based on evolutionary theory establishing not only physical but also
psychological phenomena follow a developmental sequence from learning to inheritance.
In brief summary, this hypothesis in
presented here \u2013 the reader must be reminded that the defense calls into
question some of the most unquestioned of human experiences.

Beautiful
colors, \u201cseen\u201d so undeniably by humans are "illusions," in that the
actual experiences are streams of "photons" of specific
wavelengths. The observer cannot "see photons" in their actual
quantum states \u2013 \u201ccolors\u201d are illusions manufactured by the sense organs and
brain. Colors contribute to human survival on the identification of foods,
mates and seeing in the light passing through a forest canopy.

"Hot"
and "cold" are similar illusions - whereas, the reality is \u201cunseen\u201d
kinetic energy and the direction of its transduction interpreted by the sense
organs and brain.

What
developmental sequence resulted in these illusions? The developmental hypothesis \u201cPsychological Epigenesis\u201d includes three
steps: \u201d First, the illusion is consciously learned from an initial experience.
Second, on repeated experience the illusion is produced directly from the
subconscious. Third, particularly adaptive experiences become incorporated into
the genetics of a species by mutation and natural selection among other
contributing factors \u2013 in short, the illusion develops from the morphogenesis
of a brain capable of generating the illusions as passed from one generation to
the next. This explanation is based on recent thought on Darwinian Evolution
with allusions to a kind of reverse Lamarckism.

From
this defense follows that \u201cbeauty\u201d is another illusion manufactured by the
brain based on the match with the unseen mathematical facial symmetry of
Fibonacci triangles and other mathematical regularities (guiding positions of
the lips and correspondence with the shape of the eyes, nose and other parts of
the physiognomy). Movie stars are very close approximations of the ideal,
mathematical face, and therefore, the match explains their "beauty." Beauty is an illusion in the same sense as
other sensations. The "interpretation" of the mathematical
regularities is \u201cbeauty:\u201d the same the world over. Human genetics guides the morphogenesis and
metabolism of a brain capable of creating this illusion. Genetic
variations might contribute to varying capacities in individuals to experience
beauty. Archetypes, including the "beautiful face" in the form of the
animus and anima are present from conception - rather than remembered from
forgotten experiences as suggested in cryptomnesia. (If anything, certain photographs are chosen
since they represent the human biases toward mathematical regularity.)

Research
has demonstrated \u201ccuteness\u201d is related to beauty in the proportions of the face
of that infant whose characteristics release nurturing behaviors in parents.
Beauty seems related to signs of health and efficacy in reproductive success.
As in most evolutionary strategies archetypes do not work perfectly but \u201cwell
enough.\u201d Beauty and cuteness need not be limited to the face but extended to other
bodily proportions. Other archetypes are thought to follow the same sequence
since \u201ccommunication\u201d is most essential to human survival in groups.

What
Jung identified as \u201carchetypes\u201d are indeed these genetically inherited guiding
propensities of the human mind gleaned from their repeated appearance in world
mythologies clarified by analytic thought, facts accessed from visual records
of dreams, visions and their contents. Jung considered himself at least
initially as a \u201cscientist.\u201d He communicated
with Wolfgang Pauli for many years on the subject of \u201csynchronicity.\u201d Scientists
as a group, rarely expose the origins of their insights in other than cold
logic as Jung did. Friedrich Kekule resolved the ring structure of benzene
based on a dream of a serpent holding its tail in its jaws. This admission was
reserved for informal conversation. Jung applied all higher level thinking in
the meta-representation of archetypes. Consider the following quote derived from the
thought of a mystical poet, Edgar Allan Poe:

\u201cAll we see or seem is but a dream within a
dream.\u201d

The
most surprising of all the human illusions is the \u201cSelf\u201d - no uninitiated
person would call into question its existence. What are the illusions behind
the, \u201cSelf\u201d? Among others, \u201cThe Self is
unchanging and continuous.\u201d \u201cThe Self integrates all experiences.\u201d \u201cThe Self is
the agent of thought.\u201d \u201cThe \u201cSelf\u201d is a unifier of all else.\u201d In short, the
Self is, \u201cMe\u201d. All of these experiences are illusions as demonstrated by simple
experimentation. However, they are cherished illusions, disturbances of such
are by no means to be desired since normal functioning is disturbed in their
absence.

In
short, \u201carchetypes\u201d are similar illusions, yet their presence is difficult to
deny, and when incorporated successfully into everyday experience contribute to
a pleasurable human existence including what Jung suggested as a \u201chuman
deification\u201d. The stored electrochemical propensities in the brain are transduced
into images in the visual centers and serve as the basis of behavioral selections
of extant objective correlatives. The concepts of neuronal multidimensional geometry of "cliques" seem quite relevant to this this discussion. Archetypes, regardless of their limitations -
humans are \u201cfond\u201d of them and unknowingly use them spontaneously to explain
events and personalities in daily life. Conversely, these subliminal urgings
can cause behaviors contrary to logic and rational self-interest. They are part
of being human.

In
summary, read Richard Noll\u2019s fascinating, well research and thought-out volume,
\u201cAryan Christ\u201d not to be influenced by tone or bias, but as a fine stimulus to
individual thought and to what degree Jung has discovered principles leading to
human success in in Nature. Jung\u2019s depth of research and imaginative thought
are undeniable. If it existed, his smugness of superiority alluded to by Noll
is understandable and more acceptable over the sense of \u201chumility\u201d advocated by
other thinkers lacking Jung\u2019s accomplishments. Many thinkers report their
\u201cphilosophy\u201d as an inventory of personal thought, and probably begin to believe
their thoughts are true and come directly from the Universe for the benefit of
humanity \u2013 a kind of Messianic Impulse.

One
of Jung\u2019s students, Constance Long developed an infatuation with Jung, and
later her unrequited affections caused her to become involved with the mystic,
P.D. Ouspensky. Her feelings for Jung are expressed in a personal poem, quoted
in part here to illustrate another Jung\u2019s Abstract Sequential qualities \u2013 he was
an \u201cOutsider\u201d (in the Colin Wilson or
Dostoyevsky sense) and more concerned with the \u201cwhat\u201d rather than the \u201cwho\u201d in
human relationships. However, this property apparently does not interfere with
his performance of sexual mechanics:

\u201cHe does not really seem
to care

Although he creaks and
groans like doors

He feeds on a different
kind of dole

Which comes from his
superior soul.

For mine \u201ca little
thing\u201d it is

And little things have little pain -\u201d

Do
Jung\u2019s treatments of dreams, mythology, imagination, and creativity describe
some of the grander accomplishments of human evolution? Careful study of \u201cAryan Christ\u201d will
contribute significantly to answering any remaining questions. One must not
fail to admire the scholarship of Richard Noll in creating the work under
consideration, including the character sketches of famed people of the time,
even though certain biases might have crept in to show Carl Jung in a somewhat
unfavorable light. Followers who abandoned Jung and causing his reputation to
suffer, later to recover, are discussed prominently. Not discussed is the
success of pharmacology in the treatment of mental illness, or that Freud has
lost much of his following. Of course,
pharmacology alters the mechanisms of the brain, but other environmental
factors cannot be denied. Jung displayed
an almost limitless imagination surviving in acolytes to this day. For what it
is worth the book is fascinating in spite of being too short.

\u201cWe are all melodies played by the atoms and
molecules composing the material body.\u201d

Even
if some of the facts and thoughts in this review are wide of the mark, they
might at least have value since they have stimulated wonder in humans over
thousands of years. As an apotheosis, to identify the fellow mentioned at the
outset of the review he could be Jung\u2019s, \u201cPuer aeternus,\u201d suffering from
remaining too long in the \u201cParadise of Childhood\u201d- an archetypal realm of modern
educational jargon.

Your
Old Buddy,

Whizbang!!

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