The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead by Stephan A. Hoeller

The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead Reviews

• 
  Dave

  I took away two things from this book.
  
  1) Carl Jung is a total loon.
  2) His ideas make a lot of sense.
  
  Granted, I was a bit tipsy for about 1/3 of the book, but the ethics it illustrates were pretty compelling.
  
  This book contains both the Seven Sermons to the Dead in their entirety and Hoeller's commentary on them.
  
  The Sermons were a blast to read, but it really took Hoeller's exegesis to get at their core meaning, couched in mysticism as they are.
  
  To boil things down, Jung says that typical western morality (derived from Judeo-Christian traditions) is wrongheaded. Repressing certain parts of the psyche and creating a guilt-based system is unhealthy. The gnostic system instead recognizes the "darker" parts of humanity and is focused on finding balance rather than flagellating ourselves for certain built-in behaviors.
  
  Obviously it's more complicated that just that. That's why there's a book about it. It's a book you should read.
• 
  Jason Thompkins

  To make a long story short: It was the Gnostic God ABRAXAS that set my 'Path' into motion although I have been into the Occult/Esoterra/Magick since I was a young boy. This lead me to Herman Hesse's "Demian" and ultimately to Carl Jung's "Seven Sermons to the Dead" which is a magickal incantation to ABRAXAS (which I used as an Invocationn at every Solstice ceremony). I ultimately found, by chance, a first edition of this book and learned of a man who went across the sea to meet with Jung and Hesse. From that point on I was a seeker of "anything Serrano" and I searched non-stop, every hour of the day, for his books and anything associated with him (THIS WAS BEFORE THE INTERNET SO IT WAS NOT EASY). It proved to be a VERY challenging time to even get a copy of any book of his. Before even reading anything by Serrano I was also obsessed with JUNG and HESSE, with ABRAXAS (the God and Devil as ONE), with THULE, with HYPERBOREA, ALCHEMY and most of all with ancient Gods like LUCIFER, WUOTAN, and I had already formed my own "Esoteric Christianity", my own Gnostic religion of my own self, the 'Mystical Christ of the Ice and Aurora", a sort of Christianity which Serrano calls "Esoteric Kristianism". So when I first read NOS, you can pretty much assume I was absolutely stunned that someone had written everything I believed in.
  
  "The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead is THE BOOK THAT LEAD ME TO MY DESTINY WITH MIGUEL SERRANO. IT SHOULD BE IN EVERY "THULEAN" LIBRARY.
• 
  Gaze Santos

  For those who have studied C.G. Jung and his works, it is common knowledge that he went through a "creative disorder" between 1913 and 1916. It is thought by many Jung scholars that the majority of his most well-known concepts regarding Depth Psychology came from his experiences during this time. These experiences were written down by Jung in what he would later call the Liber Novus, but is more popularly known as The Red Book. His close friends and relatives knew of this tome, but it would not be published in Jung's own lifetime. But Jung did manage to privately publish a portion of work from that period known as "The Seven Sermons To the Dead." This slim book was originally written in German, and only circulated among friends. And until the recent formal publication of the Red Book in 2009 these "Sermons" were the only glimpse afforded to us of Jung's psychological preoccupations of that time. And what they revealed surprised many...
  
  This book consists of an English translation of the "Seven Sermons to The Dead" in its entirety along with an exegesis of each sermon by Stephan A. Hoeller. Hoeller makes a strong case that Jung was not only heavily influenced by Gnostic Christian concepts, but that he tried to continue Gnosticism into the present through his Psychological concepts and practices.
  Part one is a lengthy introduction explaining the context in which the "Sermons" were written, as well as giving us a crash history course in Gnosticism. He then proceeds to explain where Jung fits on this continuum.
  Part two is reprint of "The Seven Sermons" translated into English. An eerie text written very much like a mystical treatise from the ancient world. Abraxas is identified as the main deity, and much is said about ideas and concepts central to religious belief in general. Although written before a lot of his groundbreaking and famous concepts, the seeds for these can be seen in these early "Sermons."
  He would later go on to say that his ideas are "grounded upon personal experience." Many people took this to mean his time as a doctor and his observation of his own patients. But Hoeller suggest that the experience may have been even more personal and points to these "Sermons" as proof.
  The final part is a detailed exegesis on the "Sermons" by Hoeller. He approaches this very much like a literature scholar annotating an ancient text. And that is exactly how it should be. This is not a scientific work like some of Jung's other books. This could almost be a channeled text, especially as Jung ascribes the "Sermons" to Basilides, the famous Alexandrian Gnostic from about 120 BCE. Hoeller draws on Jung's biography as well as his written works to explain his interpretations of the "sermons." Hoeller clearly did his readings of both Jungian Depth Psychology and Ancient Gnostic Texts and makes a compelling case for himself. The main takeaways being that Jung was a modern Gnostic, and his Depth Psychology was actually modern Gnosticism mixed with scientific observation. Although Jung was interested in Eastern religion and philosophy, Jung believed that it was more beneficial for Western man to stick with their own Western traditions as the concepts would be more readily familiar. Where Jung felt that modern Western religions had dropped the ball, he felt that Gnosticism could potentially provide a healthier spiritual model to live by. Mainly because it had a more holistic view of morality. One that did not deny the darkness but sought to integrate it into itself.
  The majority of the book is Stephan Hoeller's literary critique and interpretation of Jung's body of work via "The Seven Sermons of the Dead." But Hoeller clearly has a solid foundation for this, which is what makes this book interesting. His view of Jung as a Modern Gnostic would gain further traction with the official publication of The Red Book in 2009. But a look at his various lectures and commentary will reveal that Jung didn't really make a secret of his Gnostic influences... To quote something a very smart man said once : "No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down into hell."
• 
  Sharon

  One day in the summer of 1916, described in his autobiography, Car Jung began to have paranormal experiences, among them dreams and disturbances and the repeated ringing of the doorbell when no-one was there: "The house was filled as if it was crammed full of spirits" he writes, "and the air was so thick it was scarcely possible to breathe." "For God's sake," he said to them, "What in the world is this?" And the spirits cried out in chorus: "We have come back from Jerusalem where we found not what we sought." That is how the Sermons begin. Jung wrote down what he heard that evening and on the two subsequent ones. 
----- The material which came to him during seven years and, in particular, during those three distinct evenings, were to become the "fount and origin" of all his future work. "It has taken me," he wrote near the end of his life, "virtually forty-five years to distil within the vessel of my scientific work the things I experienced and wrote down at that time...The years when I was pursuing my inner images were the most important in my life - in them everything essential was decided. It all began then; the later details are only supplements and clarifications of the material that burst forth from the unconscious, and at first swamped me. It was the prima materia for a lifetime's work". Steven Hoeller’s ability’s to interpret the meaning hidden within the symbolism of “the dead” makes Jung’s book understandable and accessible - one of the best I’ve read on the subject!
• 
  Galibkaan

  jung benim gibi alanın dışındakiler için daha çok şunu ifade eder: o, hocası freud gibi akılcılığın kölesi olmamış sezgiye, öteye, aşkın'a da düşüncelerinde yer verebilmiş bir ustadır. bu kitap da onun bu vechesi üzerinde duruyor ve aslında hayatı anlama yöntemlerinden biri saydığım gnostisizim'den jung'un nasıl beslendiği üzerinde duruyor. gayet doyurucu, gayet önemli noktalara değinen ve mistik jung'u tanımaya çalışan herkesin okuması gereken bir kitap ama en büyük eksiği çevirisinin acemice olması. cümleler uzun, öğeler eksik, çoğu şey anlaşılmaz hâle gelmiş. benim gibi ingilizcesi olmayan biri bile "answer to job" ifadesinin "göreve cevap" -yok artık paracelsus!- değil "(hz.) eyüp'e cevap" olduğunu bilir. umalım ki bu kitap yeniden dilimize bu sefer ehil ellerce çevrilsin. zaten baskısı da yok, ben çok merak ettiğim kitabı elde etmek için ne yollara başvurdum.
  kitabın en önemli noktalarından biri "ölülere yedi vaaz" diye bilinen ve gnostik etkiler taşıyan önemli bir metni ihtiva etmesi. gerçi aynı metne kırmızı kitap'ın 442.sahifesinden itibaren ulaşabilirsiniz.
  
  gnostisizm'e, mistik jung'a ilgi duyan herkese tavsiye ediyorum zira türkçede gnostik metne zaten az rastlanıyor ve bu arada ekleyeyim meraklısı için: gnostisizmi türkçede en iyi anlatan kitap da sean martin'in gnostikler adlı kitabı bence.
• 
  Conor Sullivan

  This is quite a good book if you are looking for an introduction into traditional Gnostic belief as well as a well thought out, in-depth analysis of Carl Jung’s more modern form of Gnosticism. It starts by asking the question if Jung can even be said to be a ‘real’ Gnostic and this is explored throughout the rest of the book. The author also gives a valiant attempt at describing what (Jungian) Gnosticism is, although, in my opinion, like most other attempts made at adumbrating the tenets of (Jungian) Gnosticism and the collective unconscious, it ultimately comes across overly nebulous, perhaps even lackadaisical. Nonetheless, for people new to Gnostic spirituality, the attempt made to disinter spiritual truths - by way of a psychological, mythological and transformative alchemical exegesis of the ‘Seven Sermons to the Dead’, written by Jung to give us insight into the human psyche - and illuminate the perennial philosophy is laudable, and correctly identifies that for the Gnostics “it is the fullness of being that matters”.
  
  Jung’s psychic exploration concentrated on an early form of heuristic phenomenology - what Jung called ‘analytic psychology’ - rather than rationalism and reductionism. However, with respect to this, I believe the book lets itself down in a couple of ways - firstly, by consistently reaffirming that Jung’s use of an empirical methodology is a valid scientific approach and, secondly, by not challenging the reductionism of Jung enough. For someone supposedly suspicious of the reductionist nature of the scientific method it is quite evident that he was reductionist in his own theories concerning the unconscious, even if he did try and obscure this under the guise of ‘psychological application’. On this point, I don’t believe the author convincingly argues against the criticism levelled at Jung that he falls foul of psychologism.
  
  Whilst on the topic of disagreements I have with the author, he states that the Semitic origins of Christianity have resulted in a legacy of European Christendom being organised around more collectively focused societies - as opposed to the emphasis being on the individual, as in Hinduism and the Oriental belief systems - but that this changed after the Enlightenment and French Revolution, with the growth of secularism, humanism and individuality - all at the expense of Christianity. However, in my opinion, it is a mistake to think the Enlightenment was necessarily anti-Christian; it was preceded by the Glorious Revolution which, in turn, had its roots in the Reformation. England was in the process of freeing itself from the officious rule of the Papacy and imperious Catholic diktats, through the Reformation, when Elizabeth became Queen and under her reign England became the richest European country, as well as a global power. I believe it was this Protestant backlash - which resulted in the adoption of new civil and constitutional rights - alongside one of the most remarkable increases in prosperity that led to a focus on individualism and humanism - at least where England is concerned.
  
  In fact, despite a fairly consistent vituperative rebuttal of the dominant societal Christian dogma, on the penultimate page, the author - ironically - unconsciously alludes to the fact that Jung’s Gnosticism - that of ‘the relationship of the human psyche and the starlike God-image that overshadows it’ - could be said to have echoes of the Catholic idea of grace and salvation (a return to wholeness or the, Gnostic, Self) happening through charity and good works (fides caritate formata).
  
  Sadly, there are lots of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes which often made long, already complex, sentences even more difficult to understand. However, the notes, although brief, are excellent companions to the source text as well as proficient illustrations of Jung’s fierce intellect and perspicaciousness. This is no better shown than when commenting on the need for man to seek individuation (or self-actualisation) so that he might better understand his own moral code, it references his book ‘Psychological Types’, in which Jung opined that ‘(beneath the) thin veneer of culture the wild beast lurks’.
  
  To borrow a quotation from Plato, whilst Jung’s penetrating insight into the human condition and ability “to see beyond the shadows and lies of [his] culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses”, I believe there are a great many things we can learn from Jung’s contemporary Gnosticism, in particular around complementary dualism and the equipoise between psychic polarities, what in Gnosticism are called ‘syzygies’. In his work, Jung hinted at the fact the Aristotelian logic and Semitic morality that underpins Western culture has resulted in a fundamentally flawed one-sidedness; good and evil, right and wrong, are not opposites on a line but points on a (culturally defined) circle. During his exposition of the First Sermon, the author beautifully elucidates this point by saying that the ‘excessive conscious pursuits of rational values bring unprecedented outbursts of irrationality; rigid insistence on consciously accepted ethical maxim occasions the rise of crime and violence’.
  
  It was these types of exegeses that I found most interesting, i.e. when he abandoned the macrocosm (the transcendent, cosmic application) and concentrated on psychoanalysis of the microcosm (the appellation of the dualistic metaphysical processes occurring within the human psyche). Nevertheless, the Seventh Sermon, which is dedicated entirely to the human psyche, tends away from interesting theoretical psychoanalytical ideas towards either disgorged unsubstantiated babble or a more banal spirituality.
  
  At the beginning I said this was a good book for relative newcomers to Gnostic belief, but I am not certain there is much value in reading it if you are already familiar with either Gnosticism or Taoism. Though the author acknowledges Jung’s fondness for Taoism, the correlation and similarities between the two point towards a much greater influence. As such, while it may still be an interesting and enjoyable read, I think if you have a good understanding of either you might not learn very much more.
• 
  Jakub Fiala

  A fantastic, albeit at times very heady and dense, treatise built around Jung's mysterious text. For me this was an indispensable deep dive into both the Jungian worldview and the finer details of Gnosticism. The only slightly annoying aspect were the author's simplistic (and completely unnecessary) analogies between Jungian principles and a very US-centric model of politics. But that does not at all take away from the value of this book.
• 
  Egidija Šeputytė

  Šią knygą skaičiau prieš kokią penkioliką metų. Tuo metu buvo įvykis. Dabar vėl pasiėmiau paskaityti bent dalimis. Kadangi autorių teko pažinti asmeniškai, jau nebegaliu knygos atskirti nuo charizmatiškos Hoellerio asmenybės. Ir dabar ji man yra įvykis.
• 
  Calvin

  Utterly brilliant. Jung's text alone is profound. The commentary and interpretation are great stepping stones to other mystic literature, figures and movements. A great bridge from religion or psychology to spirituality and the exploration of consciousness.
• 
  Mary Overton

  “… it may be at least possible for us to state certain basic axioms which could serve as the principal indicators of the message of this Gnosis….
  “1. …a pneumatic (spiritual, or more than personal) element is an organic part of the human psyche….
  “2. …this spiritual element carries on an active dialogue with the personal element of our selfhood through the use of symbols….
  “3. …the symbols proceeding from the pneumatic component of the soul reveal a path of spiritual or psychological development which can be traced, not only backward toward a cause in the past, but forward to a goal in the future….
  “4. …prior to an arising of Gnosis (or individuation as Jung might call it) the human soul is dominated by many blind and foolish powers (projections and unconscious compulsions)….
  “5. …the alienation of consciousness, along with its attendant feelings of forlornness, dread and homesickness, must be fully experienced before it can be overcome…
  “6. …the goal of spiritual growth is expressed by images of completion in a whole, which the Gnostics often called the Pleroma (fullness) and/or the Anthropos, or Primal Man and which Jung called the Self. This Self, the representative of the fullness of being within an individual context, is unique for each individual and is formed by the integration of the little self, or ego, and the unconscious….
  “7. …the wholeness, or Self, which is the end result of the process of spiritual growth, is characterized by all the qualities such as power, value, holiness which religious systems have always attributed to God….
  “8. …the growth of the soul has as its goal a state of integrated wholeness rather than a condition of moral perfection….”
  Kindle location 962-1057
  
  “... there is an adversary or oppositional power, active in life, which seems bent on preventing or at least retarding the enlightenment of the soul, in order to hold it in some sort of captivity within a universe of darkness and illusion.” location 1009
• 
  Ryan

  The Gnostic Jung analyzes one of the more cryptic texts of Jungs career, the Seven Sermons to the Dead. Fantastic overview of the way that Gnosticism influenced Jung’s psychoanalytical views, particularly on individuation. Fairly technical, Hoeller still maintains a beautifully poetic approach to a particularly dense subject
• 
  James

  A curious Jung book.
  
  It reminded me of The Manuscript Found In Saragossa.
  
  Because it's all over the place, and because I wasn't exactly picking up what it was laying down on every page. I'm keeping this simple. More of a note to myself.
  
  Pick it up again, when you're driving somewhere alone for the weekend. Listen to Bon Iver and Lou Reed a lot. Bring a good bottle of scotch.
  
  
• 
  Victor Smith

  Stephen Hoeller’s Gnostic Jung is an invaluable resource, a veritable meditation text as another reviewer noted, for those ready and willing to take a dive into a mode of spiritual/psychological development that is not for those only looking only to feel “better.”
  
  Early in Carl Jung’s career and shortly after his traumatic falling out with his mentor Sigmund Freud, he wrote a cryptic text, a short series of reflections he called “The Seven Sermons of the Dead." Through it, maintains Hoeller, professor of comparative religions, Jung outlined the spiritual and psychological direction his life work in human development would follow.
  Those familiar with Gnosticism, not a prerequisite as Hoeller explains it well enough in the book, as a Christian heresy of the second and third centuries, will require some viewpoint adjustment to see this belief system as the Gnostics themselves and Jung viewed it. “Earlier than any authority in the field of Gnostic studies,” Hoeller writes, “Jung recognized the Gnostics for what they were: seers who brought forth original, primal creations from the mystery which he called the unconscious.” This fascinating conjunction of an ancient religious system, Gnosticism, with a modern scientific one, Jungian psychology, is only one of the fascinating aspects of The Gnostic Jung.
  
  It contains many stunning observations on modern social and spiritual conundrums that the Gnostic/ Jungian combination seems to resolve. I underlined dozens of lines in the text, so many beautifully written too, for future reflection. As an example, here is a paragraph, even though it might offend some, that I found worth savoring:
  “To Jung, life has always two movements: one upward, the other downward. To the Pollyanna optimism of the spiritual adolescents, there is only one direction or motion, and this is up. Whether we look to the so-called “born again” Christianity with its once-popular slogan “one way,” or to the nineteenth-and early twentieth-century New Thought schools with their near-obsession with the concept of evolution and the power of positive thinking, this false optimism seems to be prominently represented. It is to be doubted whether genuine spiritual growth is possible under such circumstances. Suffering accepted, darkness recognized, and sorrow understood are great assets to the authentic life of the spirit. Composure, serenity, and authentic psychic strength all arise from the recognition and acceptance of the reality of evil and darkness and not from their denial due to false optimism. Heedless cheerfulness, on the other hand, almost inevitably changes eventually into sorrow and discontent, for it denies the reality of one important aspect of life.”
  
  If the opposition between good and evil in the world yesterday, today, and likely tomorrow still makes you highly uncomfortable, treat yourself to this book.
  
• 
  Trevan Bickel

  Very Enlightening
  
  This book has opened many doorways for me. Truly a revelation. As someone totally ignorant of Gnosticism and of Jung for that matter, this book has been very enlightening. The author has a way with words, and the book is obviously well researched. I recommend to anyone looking for deeper spiritual meaning.
• 
  Nicholas

  It was fun to learn some about Gnosticism, but I think I probably needed to know more about Carl Jung's contributions to psychology to get more out of the book.
• 
  Clem Paulsen

  More of interest to the Jungian,
  
  Hadn't seen the Sermon text before. Interesting from the Gnostic side.
• 
  Dave Summers

  Illuminating. The author is obviously in the tank for Jung, but that’s just fine. Wonderful on-ramp to more Jung stuff. Recommended.
• 
  Katryn Lume

  The Bardo Thodol makes for a good corollary for this
• 
  Georgiana Betty

  This needs to be read and absorbed by everyone.
• 
  Paul Johnston

  It is hard to know what to say about this book - on the one hand, it is a fantastic introduction to the mystical/religious side of Jung; on the other, it is written from the perspective of a true believer and the beliefs being put forward are hard to take fully seriously. It's a world full of gods and demons and paradoxes, and while the claims being made generally seem to intended to be interpreted psychologically, it is also clear that they are not supposed to be just metaphorical. So the paradoxical god ruler Abraxas is presented as a genuine cosmic power rather than just a way of expressing deep truths about human beings. Probably, however, the author would disagree with that contrast or perhaps provocatively assert that he is a genuine cosmic power but then suggest that if talk of Abraxas can be seen as expressing a deep truth about human beings, then this must reflect something more general and in that sense link to a powerful and deep aspect of reality. So he would reject the dichtomy: either it is weird hellenistic mumbo jumbo about gods and demons or it is interesting stuff about (human) pyschology. In any event, I found the book very interesting and I think it does make very clear what Jung was so interested in in this area. I think the Seven Sermons themselves have a certain beauty (and some great ironic humour) and it is interesting to read a book by someone who sees them as expressing some of the most important truths ever written about.
• 
  Mary

  Very deep & will probably require more than 1 reading, but the main idea I take away after this initial reading is that call it what you will - yin/yang, male/female, dark/light, rational/intuition - the world is made of opposites and to ignore or suppress one in favor of the other leads to imbalance.
• 
  Mark Parsons

  If you are interested in Jung and/or Gnosticism, this is an absolute, MUST READ spiritual philosophical spiritual mind bomb. It is absolutely BRILLIANT, and poetic to boot. I am lucky to live in LA, where Hoeller lectures at the Gnostic Society almost every Friday.
• 
  Illuminatidred

  Enjoyable intro to Jung's gnosticism. (It was written before the publication of the Red Book and thus, unwittingly, serves as a partial introduction/guide IMHO:)
  
  
• 
  Rimas

  goes together with Liber Novus, the one you come back to read again and again...
• 
  Alex Wagner

  enhanced my perspective of Jung and of Gnosis