Lost in thought while taking a vow of nudity

Collected works of C.G. Jung, Volume 9 (Part II)

Gnostic Symbols of the Self--1

Jung brings forth several things to think about--gnostic christianity, magnetism, and symbols for this archetype that is personified in Jesus and symbolized in water, snakes, and the 'logos'.

We contemplate gnosticism as this movement desiring to take separated things and mix them together, and it is put in light of alchemists who would come later. Both seem to be transfixed on transformation and the philosophic attention given to an idea that generates out of a substance that is primary and morphs into something later. This substance is often a visceral sense of awareness of its presence and instils a sense of fear or at least something that is sharp and important.

This might be a precursor to what science is today but different in how it is connected with the unconscious and how the conscious mind is connected to it when it assigns meaning. While today science if filled with symbols but they are like those of a math equation. It feels like they are abstract symbols of something abstract. Even particles that are too small to be seen even by the senses no mater how much the are magnified--they are conceptualized mainly so they can be talked about but are not drenched in the human psyche and certainly do not lend themselves to myths although it surprisingly seems like the big bang comes eerily close as a creation story.

Jung also is tracking how the gnostics viewed Jesus. They seem to decentralize the human part of God and treat it as the human manifestation but also see God manifested in serpents and water and thought. While God is expressed in ways that are related to the human form, the psyche also recognizes thought that seems outside of this human form. The snake seems to cultivate this in animal form. An there is also this attraction that is seen in magnets that represent this erotic cling in which a new idea generates and sparks an emotion or something that causes us to act. But all these view points are symbolized by something real that is brought into relation with abstract thought which then exist without tension.

At the end of this passage Jung theorizes all these concepts are for the purpose of decentralizing the ego and our conscious minds. This way of thinking gives credit to the unconscious as a generative thing that is part of us but may also seem surprising and of a nature we don't understand. Not only does it decentralize our consciousness but it directs our attention towards what it is not.

February 15 Lupercalia Nefastus Publicus Fasti Ovid

The festival of the Luperci happens during month of February which is not named after a god but a month that celebrates purification. 

Clothes are seen as deceptive so these festival goers are nude. This pure form that stands for the human being grown by nature and processes not fully understood by us but create who we are.

The god celebrated by the Luperci is deceived by a man who is dressed as a woman. The god's intention was to have his way with a woman who did not love him. The man in drag also is dressed that way because of his murderous passion. His dress came as a punishment that caused his enslavement to a woman who dressed him as such. In this carnival of libido we have a dubious glimpse of sobriety that suggests celebrating nakedness so we can satiate our desires without any nastiness impated unto ourselves. Since this is being deified we should also assume this decption is familiar and its followers have no intention for moderation--and are in fact taking vows of nudity.