The Origins and History of Consciousness

546 Pages·1986·21.29 MB·English

by  Erich Neumann

THE
ORIGINS AND HISTORY
OF
CONSCIOUSNESS
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1. The Birth of Vishnu
India, illustration front ctn i8tlz-century nu nu script
ERICH NEUMANN
THE
ORIGINS AND HISTORY
OF
CONSCIOUSNESS
WITH A FOREWORD BY C. C. JUNC
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
BY R. F. C. HULL
MARESFIELD LIBRARY
LONDON
First published in England by
Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd
1954
Reprinted with their permission I 989
by H. Karnac (Books) L.td
58 Gloucester Road
London SW7 4QY
Originally published in German as
Ursprungsgeschichte des Bewusstseins
by Rascher Verlag, Zurich, 1949
ISBN 0 946439 72 9
Printed & bound in Great Britain by
BPCC Wheatons, Exeter
He whose vision cannot cover
History's three thousand years,
Must in outer darkness hover,
Live within the day's frontiers.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
THE PRESENT EDITION of this book contains the author's correc-
tions and revisions of his original text. Certain minor omissions,
mostly of repetitive material, have been made with his permis-
sion, and a few small passages added in connection with the il-
lustrations, which the author has assembled for this edition.
Quotations are in most cases taken from or based upon the
standard English or American translations indicated in the foot-
notes; but where it was necessary to translate directly from the
German texts cited by the author, reference is made to the Ger-
man sources only.
I would like to express my most cordial thanks to Dr. Gerhard
Adler for his help in elucidating many difEcult passages in the
text, and for his careful revision of the translation in typescript.
NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT
GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT for permission to quote is made to
the following: the Cambridge University Press for illustrations
and text passages from J. M. Woodward, PERSEUST;h e Dial
Press, New York, for the prefatory motto, from THE PERMANENT
GOETHEe,d ited by Thomas Mann, copyright 1948 by The Dial
Press; Harrap and Co., London, for a passage from J. C. Ander-
sen, MYTHS AND L E G ~ OSF THE POLYNESIANS; the Princeton
University Press for a part of E. A. Speiser's translation of the
Gilgamesh Epic, from ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TMTS, edited by
J. B. Pritchard; to Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, for a
passage from E. A. Wallis Budge's translation of the Egyptian
Book of the Dead; and to the Viking Press, New York, for D. H.
Lawrence$ poem "The Ship of Death," from his UST POEMS,
copyright 1933 by Frieda Lawrence.
vi
CONTENTS
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE vi
NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDCMENT vi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi
FOREWORD BY C. G. JUNG xiii
INTFtODUCITON XV
PART I: THE MYTHOLOGICAL STAGES IN
THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS
A: THE CREATION MYTH
I The Uroboros 5
I1 The Great Mother 39
I11 The Separation of the World Parents: The
Principle of Opposites 102
B: THE HERO MYTH
I The Birth of the Hero
I1 The Slaying of the Mother
I11 The Slaying of the Father
C: THE TRANSFORMATION MYTH
I The Captive and the Treasure
I1 Transformation, or Osiris
PART 11: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STAGES IN
THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY
A: THE ORIGINAL UNITY
Centroversion and Ego Formation 261
The Ego Germ in the Original Uroboric Situation 266
vii