Gnostic Inner Illumination and Carl Jung's Individuation

Author(s): John Pennachio

Source: Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Fall, 1992), pp. 237-245
Published by: Springer
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Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 31, No. 3, Fall 1992

Gnostic Inner
Illumination and
Carl Jung's
Individuation
JOHN PENNACHIO

ABSTRACT: The ancient religious system of Gnosticism argued for the transcendence of the
physical world and the divinity of self-knowledge. More recently, a similar argument was made
by Carl Jung through his concept of individuation. This paper examines some of the similarities
between Gnostic inner illumination and Jung's concept of individuation.

For the psychoanalyst Carl Jung, the goal of human striving is the quest for
wholeness through inner knowledge. This embodies a journey toward the cen
ter of the psyche, a journey toward the self. For Jung, one of the best repre
sentations of this process is to be found in the symbolism of Christ and the
cross. In Jungian terms, the crucified Christ is very meaningful for the un
conscious. The cross is a symbol of unity demonstrating the importance of the
center. It signifies the self and functions as an organizing theme. The symbol
ism of transformation associated with death, rebirth, and ascent to the spirit
ual realm is also an attribute of the cross. Some of this gains expression in
the following from the work of Jung:

The definition of the cross or center as the "boundary" of all things is exceed
ingly original, for it suggests that the limits of the universe are not to be found
in a nonexistent periphery but in its center. There alone lies the possibility of
transcending this world. ... In the self all disharmonies are resolved in the
harmony of wisdom. The center symbolizes the idea of totality and finality. . . .
This is a clear reminder that everything is contained in the center and that, as a
result, the Lord (the cross) unites and composes all things and is therefore free
from opposites.1

John Pennachio, Ph.D, is Professor of Psychology at Adirondack Community College in Queens

bury, New York.

237 > 1992 Institutes of Religion and Health

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238 Journal of Religion and Health

It is clear that Jung believes self-knowledge is synonymous with the center

and transcends the boundaries of the physical world. This is also the basis for
the ancient religious philosophy of Gnosticism. Each holds that ultimate
knowing or truth emerges only as a consequence of the inward path. They
maintain similar positions regarding selfhood, the attainment of which is di
vine. What Gnosticism regards as inner illumination, Jung termed "individu
aron."
Although Jung does not consider himself a Gnostic,2 his conceptions of the
individuation process place him quite close to much of Gnostic philosophy. It
is unlikely that Gnosticism specifically defined individuation for Jung, but,
rather, it is likely that what he discovered independently about the psyche
enabled him to appreciate and benefit from what Gnosticism had to offer. In
this paper I examine some of the similarities that exist between Gnostic con
ceptions of inner illumination and Jung's concept of individuation.
The goals of both Gnosticism and individuation are similar in that they
highlight the importance of the center, or self. This is the link with ultimate
reality. Through the concept of individuation Jung maintains that there is a
fundamental tendency to move toward integration and, as with Gnosticism,
the process necessitates grappling with painful and disturbing inner forces.
Selfhood involves toil and devastation as a prelude to death and rebirth. It is
knowledge of God and also perfect wholeness.
Gnosis is defined as an intuitive process of knowing oneself. It is a series of
secret mysteries and higher teachings maintaining that self-discovery at the
deepest level is identical to knowing human destiny and God. Gnosticism
took issue with institutionalized Christian dogma about the nature of the
divine. For these reasons it was regarded as a Christian heresy and was sys
tematically destroyed by the orthodox church in the early years of Chris
tianity.
Gnosis teaches that ordinary human existence is spiritual death. It is, in a
sense, a philosophy of pessimism about the world combined with an attempt at
self-transcendence. Through adequate exploration of the innermost reaches of
the psyche, an experience of the self, or center, will manifest itself. Such an
experience is synonymous with transcendence and inner illumination. This is
a religious quest, a search for the divine.3
Most Gnostics considered themselves Christian and regarded Christ as en
lightened. According to Gnosticism, Christ's mission was to help humans
overcome ignorance and to light the way toward this inner journey. He was a
true Gnostic who came into the world as a teacher. As the words of Jesus
from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas illustrate:

I took my place in the midst of the world, and I appeared to them in flesh. I
found all of them intoxicated; I found none of them thirsty. And my soul became
afflicted for the sons of men, because they are blind in their hearts and do not
have sight; for empty they came into the world, and empty too they seek to leave

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John Pennachio 239

the world. But for the moment they are intoxicated. When they shake off their
wine, then they will repent.4

Thus, ultimate knowledge and mystical transformation are fundamental

and essential in Gnostic religious philosophy. Ultimate knowledge trans
forms, as the following words of Jesus point out:

He who drinks from my mouth will become like me. As for me, I will become
what he is, and what is hidden will be revealed to him.5

What the Christians regard as literal the Gnostics regard as symbolic.6

Jesus' life is a parable that maps the interior world, indicative of an internal
journey that is both transformative and divine. As is true for Jung, crucifix
ion, suffering, and resurrection are interpreted as symbolic milestones on the
road to spiritual enlightenment. They represent movement to a higher level,
transcending one's present state of consciousness. Ascent to the heights, to
the place of revelation, is the domain of the spiritual. It is the triumph of
spirit over flesh.

In the Gnostic world view, there is only one light or God. Through some kind of
emanation of this light, the world came into existence. In the process the divine
man or emanated light became divided up, scattered and imprisoned in individ
ual human bodies. Most Gnostics felt that the human body serves as a kind of
trap or prison for inner divine sparks that are part of one true light. For the
Gnostic Christian, Jesus was a wisdom-type figure who came into this world to
help us realize who we really are, and thus liberate us from the bondage of
human flesh.7

The significance of the triumph of spirit over flesh is to be found in the

inherent darkness of the physical world, which includes the body. The divine
world of light is opposed by that of darkness and evil. It is this notion of
duality, also evident in the concept of individuation, that is of primary impor
tance in Gnostic religious philosophy. Since the physical world embodies
darkness, it is inferior to the spiritual world. The human body makes dark
ness inescapable, and it must be transcended to reveal the divine world of
light. Therefore, the anguish associated with the duality of existence is un
avoidable. However, Christ, in pointing the way toward the inward path,
demonstrated how to escape from evil and darkness. This is rebirth and sal
vation for the Gnostic.

Salvation consists of an inner illumination or experience of the divine spark

within. . . . Once we had learned to "escape," we could tap the immense powers
of our divinity, obtain freedom and immortality, and be able to be united once
more to the light from which we came.8

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240 Journal of Religion and Health

Salvation embodies being freed from ignorance. One can be "delivered"

from ignorance through knowledge of the truth, ultimate knowledge. Accord
ingly, truth is not found through intellect or belief, but is predicated upon
experience of the inner self, inner illumination, which is divine. Knowledge
of the spiritual center within is the highest form of knowledge. In this sense,
knowledge is salvation for the Gnostic. In fact, as is the case for individua
tion, salvation consists entirely of self-discovery.9
Ignorance is the real sin, and it is responsible for darkness: suffering and
evil acts. The unfortunate plight of humans is that they have been duped into
being content with ignorance.10 Transformation, through redemption and re
birth, involves awareness of the duality of light and dark. Although haunt
ing, the inner world of darkness and internal conflict must be confronted and
brought forth. Failure to know oneself and to confront inner impulses is re
sponsible for living in illusion and is the precursor for destruction.

That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves. That
which you do not have within you will kill you if you do not have it within you.11

That toil and devastation are indicative of the path toward the light is
fundamental to Gnostic philosophy. It is this path that leads to salvation, the
inner illumination resulting from an experience of the self, or center.

. . .nailed to a tree he became a fruit of the knowledge (Gnosis) of the Father.. . .12

Inherent in salvation is a new awareness beyond the limitations of the

physical world. Here lies the basis for redemption and rebirth.

Wretched is the body that is dependent upon a body, and wretched is the soul
that is dependent on these two.13

Redemption, literally meaning release, involves transcendence of the phys

ical world and the experience of inner enlightenment. Going beyond the phys
ical world and toward the spiritual center is the most essential aspect of
Gnostic teachings. Inner knowledge of the divine, ultimate truth, is what
leads to redemption. This is illustrated in the following from the Gospel of
Thomas:

Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death. . . .
If those who lead you say to you, "See the Kingdom is in the sky," then the birds
of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, "It is in the sea," then the fish
will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you.
When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will
realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not
know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.14

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John Pennachio 241

The message that Christ offered was "to search." Anguish, of both body and
mind, was to be anticipated and to be endured in order that one may be saved
and reborn. The "message" is not a set of answers, but rather a process to
ward inquiry. Similar to individuation, the path is not a quieting one:

Blessed are they who have been persecuted within themselves. It is they who
have truly come to know the Father. Blessed are the hungry, for the belly of him
who desires will be filled. Blessed is the man who has suffered and found life.15

However, Gnosticism maintains that most people understand little or noth

ing of this message and live in obscurity, terribly unaware of who they are.
Being unaware, they have "no root."16 In Jungian terms they are unconscious.
Such existence is quite unpleasant. Those who experience it live in illusion.
Consequently, terror, instability, doubt, and division may characterize their
lives. According to the Gospel of Truth they live:

. . .as if they were sunk in sleep and found themselves in disturbing dreams. . . .
Without strength chasing after others, or they are receiving blows ... or have
fallen off into the air though they do not have wings. . . as if people were mur
dering them, though there is no one pursuing them.17

Jung's work with his patients and his own unconscious in particular led
him to an exploration of Gnosticism. This quest, among others, allowed him
to make connections between religion and psychology. His development of the
archetypes and the collective unconscious enabled him to say the following
about Gnosticism:

Gnosis is undoubtedly a psychological knowledge whose contents derive from

the unconscious. It reached its insights by concentrating on the "subjective fac
tor" which consists empirically in the demonstrable influence that the collective
unconscious exerts on the conscious mind.18

Jung understood many Gnostic images as an aspect of inner experiences in

connection with individuation. Like Gnosticism, individuation is a primal
and original expression of inner life directed toward the task of wholeness
and integration. Growth and transformation are natural processes, the poten
tial for which resides in the unconscious. As such, inner exploration, or indi
viduation, may occur with or without the permission of the conscious mind,
motivated entirely by the unconscious.

The transcendent function does not proceed without aim and purpose, but leads
to the revelation of the essential man. It is in the first place a purely natural
process, which may in some cases pursue its course without the knowledge or
assistance of the individual, and can sometimes forcibly accomplish itself in the
face of opposition. The meaning and purpose of the process is the realization, in

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242 Journal of Religion and Health

all its aspects, of the personality originally hidden away in the embryonic germ
plasm; the production and unfolding of the original, potential wholeness. The
symbols used by the unconscious to this end are the same as those which man
kind has always used to express wholeness, completeness and perfection: sym
bols, as a rule, of the quaternity and the circle.19

Individuation is a divine process, and Christian symbolism very accurately

expresses this. As far as Jung is concerned, the symbolic meaning of Christ is
very clear: "Christ exemplifies the archetype of the self."20 This archetype is
at the center of the psyche and represents the goal of human striving. Jesus
is the prototype for the awakening of the spiritual inner man.

It is therefore well to examine carefully the psychological aspects of the individ

uation process in the light of Christian tradition, which can describe it for us
with an exactness and impressiveness far surpassing our feeble attempts. . . .21

The universal symbolism of religion points to essential psychological

truths. The symbols are expressions of growth and, ultimately, salvation. In
this way Jung recognizes and appreciates the importance of religion.

Religion is a "revealed" way of salvation. It ideas are products of a preconscious

knowledge which, always and everywhere, expresses itself in symbols. Even if
our intellect does not grasp them, they still work because our unconscious ac
knowledges them as exponents of universal psychic facts.22

Unlike Christianity, which blames knowledge for sin, Gnostics seek re

demption through knowledge. They maintain that institutionalized Chris
tianity intellectualized a truly subjective experience. For the Gnostics this is
obviously not an encounter with "the divine"; redemption and salvation are
impossible to achieve solely through objective means. Similarly, Jung tells
us, understanding and satisfying the psyche is more than an intellectual en
deavor.

A psychology that satisfies the intellect alone can never be practical, for the
totality of the psyche can never be grasped by intellect alone. Whether we will
or no, philosophy keeps breaking through, because the psyche seeks an expres
sion that will embrace its total nature.23

Individuation embraces the dualities inherent in the psyche. Polarities are

intimately connected to energy and, ultimately, to growth itself. Although
unpleasant, tension provides the necessary energy for transformation. Oppos
ing forces, their recognition, and, finally, their unification and transcendence,
are essential to individuation just as much as they are to Gnosticism. Jung
recognizes evil as an inherent aspect of good, of the world itself.

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John Pennachio 243

Life, being an energetic process, needs the opposites, for without opposition
there is, as we know, no energy. Good and evil are simply the moral aspects of
this natural polarity. The fact that we have to feel this polarity so excru
ciatingly makes human existence all the more complicated. Yet the suffering
that necessarily attaches to life itself cannot be evaded.24

The significance of tension gives prominence to the role of darkness in reli

gious symbolism and transcendence. Jung represents darkness through the
concept of the "shadow" and demonstrates its importance in the following:

Through the Christ crucified between the two thieves man gradually attained
knowledge of his shadow and its duality. This duality had already been antici
pated by the double meaning of the serpent. Just as the serpent stands for the
power that heals as well as corrupts, so one of the thieves is destined upwards,
the other downwards, and so likewise the shadow is on one side regrettable and
reprehensible weakness, on the other side healthy instinctivity and the prereq
uisite for higher consciousness.25

Similar to Gnosticism, Jung's psychology equates evil with unconscious

ness and unawareness. Therefore, overcoming evil begins with its recogni
tion. Neglecting this aspect of life is unknowing of the most serious nature.

Much, that is to say, that proves to be abysmally evil in its ultimate effects does
not come from man's wickedness but from his stupidity and unconsciousness.26

Tension and the shadow are necessary for individuation, as the integration
of opposing forces is a fundamental aspect of wholeness. Jung illustrates that
individuation is likely to be initiated by the shadow, thereby indicating, par
alleling Gnosticism, that confronting darkness can be transformative:

The individuation process is invariably started off by the patients becoming con
scious of the shadow, a personality component usually with a negative sign. This
"inferior" personality is made up of everything that will not fit in with, and
adapt to, the laws and regulations of conscious life. . . . Individuation is an
exceedingly difficult task. It always involves a conflict of duties, whose solution
requires us to understand that our "counter-will" is also an aspect of God's will.27

The shedding of illusion and the confrontation of the inner world of the
unconscious are certain to be painful, but the end result is potentially benefi
cial. Inherent in such endurance is the notion of transformation and whole
ness. In this way, the path toward individuation is often an experience of
death and rebirth.

This psychological process is admittedly painful and for many people a positive
torture. But, as always, every step forward along the path of individuation is
achieved only at the cost of suffering. . . . The experience of sickness, torture,

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244 Journal of Religion and Health

death, and regeneration implies, at a higher level, the idea of being made whole
through sacrifice, of being changed by transubstantiation and exalted to the
pneumatic man?in a word, of apotheosis.28

The fundamental need for wholeness and integration lies at the core of the
human psyche. This internal psychological fact finds external expression in
the symbols that humans create and find attractive. Again, the symbolism of
the cross demonstrates the underlying truth of transformation and the eter
nal and universal center.

Focusing attention upon the cross, consciousness is reunited with the uncon
scious, the unconscious is made one with his center, which is also the center of
the universe, and in this wise the goal of man's salvation and exaltation is
reached.29

The appeal of a deity is connected with the central archetype or self. This is
also the God archetype. God is the universal representation of wholeness.
Like Gnosticism, wholeness, through self-discovery, is the goal of human
striving.

Consequently, it does not seem improbable that the archetype of wholeness occu
pies as such a central position which approximates it to the God-image. The
similarity is further borne out by the peculiar fact that the archetype produces a
symbolism which has always characterized and expressed the Deity. . . . Strictly
speaking, the God-image does not coincide with the unconscious as such, but
with a special content of it, namely the archetype of the self. . . . The religious
need longs for wholeness, and therefore lays hold of the images of wholeness
offered by the unconscious, which independently of the conscious mind, rise up
from the depths of our psychic nature.30

Growth and integration through inner exploration necessitate that what

resides deep inside be brought forward to consciousness. That which is not
confronted blocks development and is responsible for distress. True for
Gnosticism, this is also the case for Jung.

The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious,
it happens outside as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains un
divided and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world must
perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves.31

According to the Gnostic Gospel of Truth, the process of self-discovery be

gins when a person experiences the anguish and terror of the human condi
tion. Salvation from suffering comes from a realization of the truth about
existence. Similarly, individuation involves recognition of the shadow and
the ability to use this aspect of the self for growth. Both the Gnostics and
Jung recognize the limitations of the physical world and argue for its tran

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John Pennachio 245

scendence. They each acknowledge concepts such as salvation, redemption,

crucifixion, and rebirth as psychological universals connected with inner en
lightenment and understand the individual self, or center, as synonymous
with universal truth. Universal truth is eternal and divine and is the ulti
mate growth experience. It is this emphasis, as demonstrated here, where the
similarities between the Gnostic concept of inner illumination and that of
Jung's individuation may be noted.
Hence, for Jung and the Gnostics spirituality is an intrinsic property of the
psyche. Both argue that inner enlightenment is necessary to escape misery
and maintain psychological health. Self-exploration at the deepest level leads
to spiritual awakening. As the Gnostics affirmed so long ago, and Jung more
recently, there can be no substitute for self-knowledge and an encounter with
the divine. Further, a true spiritual experience may be one of the most basic
drives in the psyche, and may even be an essential psychological need.

References

1. Jung, CG., The Collected Works, vol. 11. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1970, p. 285.4
2. Ibid., pp. 306-307.
3. Grassi, J., "The Gnostic View of Jesus and the Teacher Today,*' J. Religious Education, 1982,
77, 336-349.
4. Robinson, J., "The Gospel of Thomas." The Nag Hammadi Library. San Francisco, Harper,
1977, p. 121.
5. Doresee, J., The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics. New York, Viking, 1960, p. 370.
6. Pagels, E., The Gnostic Gospels. New York, Vintage, 1979.
7. Grassi, op. cit., 337.
8. Ibid.
9. Pagels, op. cit.
10. Grassi, op. cit.
11. Robinson, op. cit., p. 126.
12. Pagels, op. cit.
13. Robinson, op. cit., p. 127.
14. Ibid., p. 118.
15. Ibid., pp. 126, 124.
16. Pagels, op. cit.
17. Ibid., pp. 150-151.
18. Jung, op. cit., vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 223, 350.
19. Ibid., vol. 7, p. 110.
20. Ibid., vol. 11.
21. Ibid., vol. 9, no. 2, p. 45.
22. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 293.
23. Ibid., vol. 7, p. 119.
24. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 197.
25. Ibid., vol. 9, no. 2, p. 255.
26. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 197.
27. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 198.
28. Ibid., vol. 11, pp. 272, 294-295.
29. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 292.
30. Ibid., vol. 11, p. 757.
31. Ibid., vol. 9, no. 2, p. 71.

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