The Numinous Lure to Extremes

An excerpt from my larger commentary

“The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and non-sense, not between right and wrong. The numinosum is dangerous because it lures men to extremes, so that a modest truth is regarded as the truth and a minor mistake is equated with fatal error.”

C. G. Jung - Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Pg. 154)

In an unexpected cross-over from psychology to moral philosophy, Jung states something that anyone who looks within can easily see and follows it with an admonishment for anyone who seeks direct experience with the numinous. To properly reflect on these two sentences is to arm oneself against extremist propaganda, charismatic leaders wielding the numinous, and black-and-white thinking.

By setting up the sense/good, nonsense/bad dichotomy, Jung implies that people commonly make a mistake by conflating the conscious states of sense with good and anything not sensical with bad. I see people operating with this mental model frequently and so do you.

For example, there are a lot of people who are concerned with optimizing their life and productivity. This is a worthwhile endeavor in multiple senses, but people easily fall into this sense = good, nonsense = bad conflation. Sense, in this case, is being productive and limiting waste. Nonsense is unproductivity and waste. The problem is, if one optimizes for productivity and limits waste, one will inevitably disregard some unproductive and wasteful things, which are only unproductive and wasteful upon an incomplete assessment. Something that comes to mind is, "Some people spend so much time working, they forget to make money," or, similarly, Dolly Parton said, "Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life." Many unproductive, wasteful, and nonsensical things benefit those who engage with them.

Another example is science versus religion. Not long ago, there was once a time when religion was rationally practiced and respected. Essentially, this is no longer the case. In the post-modern mind, science = sense, and religion = nonsense. For others, notably zealous and fundamental minds, the roles are reversed. Whether reversed or not, one becomes mostly good and the other mostly bad. If one disregards the nonsensical, a baby is lost with the bathwater. I take Eliphas Levi's side: "to know is to believe, no longer. To believe is not to know as yet." In this sense, science (to know) and religion (to believe) become linked in a mutually beneficial relationship, like yin and yang, that complement each other. Therefore, faith becomes the science of the unknown (nonsense), and science becomes faith in the known (sense). To label one good and the other bad is a grave mistake.

One will also experience this pendulum of sense and nonsense throughout the day. One may think, "I have to take the trash out. It's beginning to stink, and Bob will be here soon." Then five minutes later, say, "Ooga booga looga, who's the cutest little boy in town? You are, you are, oh, you're so precious," to their puppy dog. One thought is sensical, and the other a bit more nonsensical. But the value of entertaining each is obvious. If one refuses to play and talk with their pets because it's nonsensical, they're missing out on something meaningful and probably the most insufferable person at the party.

Let's consider the second sentence of this quote: "The numinosum is dangerous because it lures men to extremes, so that a modest truth is regarded as the truth and a minor mistake is equated with fatal error."

The numinosum is the thing that generates numinous experiences. According to Jung, numinous experiences would be profound, often deeply emotional encounters with what can be considered the divine or mysterious aspects of existence. Numen has its roots in Latin and comes from the Latin word "nuere," which means "to nod." In the ancient Roman context, nuere was used to refer to a nodding gesture that the gods would use to command or will something. The numen in ancient Rome was associated with the feeling of a divine force. Jung's use of the term is similar and clings to the aspect of divine force, as he doesn't use the term to denote some specific entity's energy like the Romans may have.

The quote also pertains to Freud, where Jung believes he made a mistake, namely, in Freud's focusing so much of his psychology around the sexual drive or, more accurately, Eros. 

Through his experiences with Freud, Jung became convinced that Freud hoped to elevate his psychology to a kind of dogma centered on the power of Eros. Freud was concerned about "a black tide of mud" washing away his theories. Jung saw that in Freud's mind, a battle between the "light and darkness" was ongoing. This is where the numinosum becomes a danger. Since Freud had such a numinous connection to Eros, discovered truth within it (in time, that truth becoming "the truth"), and a balancing erotic principle impossible to comprehend, he was dramatically drawn to the far end of the Eros spectrum. Jung thinks something similar happened to Nietzsche because he deified the power principle.

My experience with religion is one where the numenosum compelled an entire community to extremism, and it is not an uncommon experience. 

It's increasingly common because people conflate science/sense = good, religion/nonsense = bad, or vice versa. When someone or a group adds a value judgment to sense or nonsense, and numinous experience supports that judgment or sets the mind oscillating with even more frequency and intensity, the equation is set for a potentially explosive and damaging situation. The emergence of cults, particularly religious and political, is a crucial indicator of how widely these mental models or memes spread. From a mimetic standpoint, these black-and-white and numinous memes are the most likely to become virulent. As a society, we are responsible for raising consciousness about this to protect ourselves against it.

There is an antidote to this luring of the numenosum to extremes. It's found within the essence of the numinous and spattered around psychological experience as a whole. It's the tension of the opposites, psychological plurality, yin and yang, the balancing principle, etc. My favorite topics are dichotomous relationships, love and hate, sense and nonsense, consciousness and unconsciousness, dark and light, and knowledge and the unknown. These things are inextricably linked and sit on the ends of a dipolar spectrum. It's only possible to have both together, and neither one nor the other is entirely attainable. One has arrived at an extreme when one begins believing that the light will beat out the dark, sense will finally destroy nonsense, or that the "black tide of mud" will overwhelm truth. The Extremist believes the dichotomous relationship can be overcome. The antidote to this form of extremism is the permanent establishment of the dipolar-spectrum relationship as natural law.

The solution to my own religious extremism was not to flip the equation around—glorify nonsense instead of sense, turn fully to Atheistic Satanism, and deny an afterlife. Instead, the solution has proven to be a reintegration of the balancing principle, the dipolar-spectrum. I honor both sense and nonsense. I take the trash out, and I baby-talk to dogs.