Saturday, January 16th, 1982

WISDOM'S GOLDENROD, ALAN BERKOWITZ CLASS NOTES

(TYPED)

JANUARY 16, 1982

EPISTEMOLOGY; SYMBOLISM; PRODUCTIVE IMAGINATION

TOPIC: Epistemology

SUBJECT: Symbolism

SUBSUBJECTS: Productive Imagination, Kant, Jung, Five Skandhas, Alchemy, Planets and Parts, Corbin, Paracelsus

BOOKS READ FROM OR REFERENCED:

• Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason

• C.G. Jung, CW 5, Symbols of Transformation

• C.G. Jung, CW 6, Psychological Types

• C.G. Jung, CW 12, Psychology and Alchemy

• C.G. Jung, CW 13, Alchemical Studies

• Henry Corbin, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi

• R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz, Symbol and the Symbolic: Ancient Egypt, Science, and the Evolution of Consciousness

• Franz Hartmann, The Life of Philippus Theophrastus Bombast of Hohenheim, known by the name Paracelsus

• Arthur Edward Waite (Ed.), The Hermetic Museum: Containing Twenty-Two Most Celebrated Chemical Tracts

• C.G. Jung, CW 14, Mysterium Coniunctionis, "The Journey Through the Planetary Houses" (in Chapter III)

TYPED AND REFORMATTED by IT 2022

NOTES:

• RETYPED HANDWRITTEN NOTES (hence V08). From Classnotes AB 1982 0101 to 1982 0207.PDF.

• See also WG Classes 1982 0109, 0115.

• All spelling, capitalization, and punctuation corrected, all abbreviations, astrological glyphs and one number spelled out.

1982 01/16 at Wisdom's Goldenrod

Epistemology; Symbolism; Productive Imagination

[Classnotes AB 1982 0116 Begin]

1/16/82

5 skandhas = the instantiation of the ideas in the form body

4 of the 5 = gnostic function

Kant

intellectual = 4 gnostic function(s)

sensual = productive imagination provides the stuff molded by the ideas

Last week review:

Jung quotes on symbolism V5, 6, 12

Symbols: V6 definition, V5 -- act as transformers of libido, the way you are grounded in the innate knowledge. Combines conscious and unconscious → apperception. V12 -- imaginatio of alchemists.

Through experience and symbolism reproductive imagination gets aligned with the productive imagination.

Lubicz -- The Symbol and Symbolic [Note: R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz, Symbol and the Symbolic: Ancient Egypt, Science, and the Evolution of Consciousness.]

Corbin -- imagination as intermediary between thought and being (Introduction to Part II) [Note: Henry Corbin, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi.]

Relation of four skandhas to fifth is necessary to understand the parts.

Planets = powers of the soul, ideas (degrees). How are these ideas embodied in a symbol?

Parts = the meaning which will be manifested.

PB quote; V13, page/paragraph 11 [C.G. Jung, CW 13, Alchemical Studies. Paragraph 11 is on pp. 11-12, however not enough context to know which one is being referred to. Most likely, paragraph 11 on collective unconscious.]

objective psyche -- productive imagination or universal reason-principles

subjective psyche -- [one word illegible] body scheme or vasanas through which objective psyche is projected.

Therefore it is both, unified, which is producing your experience. The distinction within experience between them is arbitrary.

The mind is what makes our karma for us.

Corbin -- p. 188, p. 219

The faculty of productive imagination (Sun in Aquarius) is a power of the soul, but what it sends forth (sensible Sun) is the embodiment.

The fragment of the divine soul = the bodhicitta, and is projected into the world where it evolves until it can reflect, like a mirror, the divine essence which is its paradigm.

Paracelsus -- Chapter 8 -- "Alchemy and Astrology" (Hartmann) [Note: Franz Hartmann, The Life of Philippus Theophrastus Bombast of Hohenheim, known by the name Paracelsus.]

(Waite -- 2 volumes) [Note: A.E. Waite, The Hermetic Museum, in two volumes.]

(Letter to the Athenians) [Note: Not enough context to know whose "Letter to the Athenians" is being referred to.]

Spirit = Sun =

Body = product of planetary spheres

Soul -- holds them [spirit and body] together; astral realm, aspects

Journey Through the Planetary Houses -- V14, Jung [Note: C.G. Jung, CW 14, Mysterium Coniunctionis, "The Journey Through the Planetary Houses" (in Chapter III).]

[Classnotes AB 1982 0116 End]