Christmas, 2024
By George Elder, 12/25/24
The following requires reading or re-reading of last year’s post, “Christmas, 2023.” In it, I quote Jung:
Thus some people believe it to be physically true that Christ was born as the son of a virgin, while others deny this as a physical impossibility. . . Both are right and both are wrong. Yet they could easily reach agreement if only they dropped the word “physical.” “Physical” is not the only criterion of truth; there are also psychic truths which can neither be explained nor proved nor contested in any physical way. (CW 11, par. 553)
For Jung, all religious statements of importance are statements about the psyche, even when they have a historical background.
The “Birth of Christ,” then, is a story about an extraordinary Jewish boy named Jesus—surrounded by the imagery of a new “light” of consciousness. As a grown man, Jesus was able to see that the proper response to Roman oppression was not power but love. This insight was entirely unexpected, and not many agreed. But those who did agree felt they were in the presence of a Messiah or “Savior” of the entire world.
That a new light of consciousness—a new saving set of values—can occur unexpectedly in our midst is one of the lessons of Christmas.
Another lesson is that this new understanding comes from somewhere. It is “born” and not contrived. Jung says it comes from the creative unconscious that, for him, is a modern name for “God.”
In the fourteenth century, Meister Eckhart went so far as to say that the “Birth of Christ” occurs within us daily, in our reflections. He called this event,
the eternal birth, which occurred at one point of time [historically], and which occurs every day in the innermost recess of the soul. . . . Relax and let God operate you and do what he will with you. The deed is his; the word is his; this birth is his . . . (“Sermon on the Eternal Birth”)
The Church judged this statement to be heretical, but the psychologically precocious monk did not make it up—it came to him, miraculously.
In celebration of these religious geniuses—Jesus, Eckhart, Jung—and the special “light” that came to them like a "birth," here is a one of my favorite Christmas stories. While the text did not make it into the Bible, it was revered by Christians perhaps as early as the second century CE. The following is from a medieval document, as a midwife reports on her experience at an extraordinary birth in a cave:
When I entered to the maiden, I found her face looking upward; she was inclined toward Heaven and speaking to herself. I truly believe that she prayed to and blessed the Most High. When I had come to her, I said to her, "Daughter, tell me, do you not feel some pain, or is not some part of your body gripped by pain?" She, however, as if she heard nothing, remained immobile like solid rock, intent on Heaven. In that hour, everything ceased. . . .
As the time drew near, the power of God showed itself openly. The maiden stood looking intently into Heaven; she became as a grapevine. For now the end of good things was at hand. When the light had come forth, Mary worshiped him to whom she saw she had given birth. The child himself, like the sun, shone bright, beautiful, and was most delightful to see, because he alone appeared as peace, soothing the whole world. . . .
I, however, stood stupefied and amazed. Awe grasped me. I was gazing intently at the fantastically bright light which had been born. The light, however, after a while, shrank, imitated the shape of an infant, then immediately became outwardly an infant in the usual manner of born infants. I became bold and leaned over and touched him. I lifted him in my hands with great awe, and I was terrified because he had no weight like other babies who are born. I looked at him closely; there was no blemish on him, but he was in his body totally shining, just as the dew of the most high God. He was light to carry, splendid to see. For a while I was amazed at him because he did not cry as newborn children are supposed to. While I held him, looking into his face, he laughed at me with a most joyful laugh, and, opening his eyes, he looked intently at me. Suddenly a great light came forth from his eyes like a great flash of lightning. (Cartlidge and Dungan, Documents for the Study of the Gospels, 1980, pp. 105-106)
Merry Christmas!
