Abstract
The alchemists' Philosophers' Stone and Jung's notion of the Self are both complex ordered unities that undergo continuing deconstruction leading to a dynamic cycle of chaos and cosmos. This archetypal process keeps our vision of the goals of psychic life from becoming static or simply chaotic. This reflection examines Jung's struggle with these polar forces in his reading of James Joyce's Ulysses. In this piece, the author borrows Joyce's term chaosmos to reflect the dynamic hybridity that is truly a complexio oppositorum and an appropriate additional name for the Philosophers' Stone.
Notes
1. The first part of this paper was presented at the 2010 IAAP Congress in Montreal.
2. Personal communication from Fred Evans, 2010.
3. Jung's quote begins with “O and the sea ….” and ends “yes I said yes I will Yes.”
References to The Collected Works of C. G. Jung are cited in the text as CW, volume number, and paragraph number. The Collected Works are published in English by Routledge (UK) and Princeton University Press (USA).