God and the Devil, The Book of Job

Answer to Job
by Carl G. Jung
(Pages bookstore in Toronto)


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Paradigms shifts + Power


Mythology can be interpreted as the structural condensation
of miriads of similar events into a pragmatic story.
Traditionally myth served as guide in human situations,
a map to possible outcomes of archetypal events.

Jung describes how in the Book of Job,
Yaweh makes a bet with the Devil(1) over Job's loyalty
then God proceeds to break his own laws;
kills Job's wives and children, reduces him to poverty
sends plagues, famine and pestilence,
all to see if Job will remain true.

Problem here is God had at an earlier time
made a pact with David in which the Jews
were to be God's chosen, and God would protect them.
Seems God was breaking his words and solem trust with his chosen people.
This behavior, like a kid pulling wings off flies, may be signs of a
traumatic childhood.
Could "God" have a traumatic childhood? The semantic of the "big
bang" origin theory(2)
may hint along those lines.

Ok, now here's the kicker.
God meets Job who's sitting there destroyed,
scratching his sores in illness, dirt and poverty
yet still expects to plead his case before this God,
in spite of all the evil Yaweh visited on him
knowing another of God's attribute, Justice,
a hidden and unseen part of Yaweh
which will come as his defender
but when God appears,
Job having proven faithful and the devil lost his bet,
Yaweh's furious at Job, not the devil,
who's wisely disappeared
nowhere to be seen for the rest of the story.

Job on the other hand never had a disloyal thought
and now, knocked flat on his ass by the Almighty,
certainly does not doubt God's power to destroy him.
God however thunders on at Job as though he was a major threat
seemingly projecting an own unconscious doubt of himself
as though lacking self-reflection, awareness
and an intellectual formulation
of recent events and his own behavior

Yaweh now strangely enough insists that "might is right".
"Can Job make a Laviathan, a monster of the sea,
can he create planets and galaxies,
whirlwinds and the fiery power of the sun?
If not let him beware of doubting God."
( Job did not doubt God but the reverse,
God doubted Job. Yaweh's projection.)

At this point, Job realises something about God's amorality
and achieves a higher moral level
in remaining faithful to a God who broke his own laws,
though at present he can't point this out to Yaweh,
who's already furious with anger.

The story ends here, but the point is taken up in later passages of the bible;
God's unconsciousness has become visible to both Satan and Job
although not yet to Yaweh himself.
This guilt is the source of Yaweh's irritation
and now requires him to reach a higher level of consciousness
for now others can see aspects of Yaweh to which he's blind.

Job's faith in the divine love and justice in Yaweh
and his insistence on bringing his case to be heard before these
awakens archetypes that transform God from within;

Yaweh now recalls Sophia (Greek, "Wisdom")
who was his helpmate and partner at the start
his companion of joy and pleasure in the creation of the world
she left him then but will now return;
God will descend from heaven and become human in the birth of Christ
since humans now knew more than God than he did himself.

The parallels between this antique document and human behavior
show that pseudologic thinking may be an ancient problem;
that self-serving interpretations are a primitive form of thinking
later superseded by an ethical consideration of justice,
yet still an ongoing conflict in the development of character.

We all tend to interpret in our favor
and so make errors which turn into experiences to teach us a lesson
but what of an all powerful God who can't be denied or contradicted?
Which is equally to say that the mind has the power and ability
to evade seeing its own mistakes and guilt
and can avoid learning from them.

The problem of course is that a destructive attitude will destroy,
and everyone around also gets damaged.
Were there no compensating mechanism in the evolution of the mind,
humanity would have been wiped out a long time ago.

The story of Job suggests
that a primitive or inexperienced use of power
leads to distressing situations to and around the user
then the dynamic polarity shifts outside
and the mind is thus forced to emerge from within
to break through a narrow outlook,
as if seeing the world through a crack in the wall,
and emerge to share in varied opinions and realities
to integrate these in order to balance the self with the other
and so come off one's high horse,
descend to the ground and become a human being.

In this scenario,
the first experience of power alienates one from humanity
the resulting trauma forces a confrontation with reality
in which the the mind develops and grows in character.

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footnotes

(1)

A- In this section of the Old Testament the devil is defined as God's
"doubting thought"
In Indian in this period the Parsees also defined "one of God's
doubting thoughts" as the devil.
Doubt being disturbing to the mind; when experienced unconsciously,
without self-reflection or the caution of past experience
may bring about events which destroy the situation in doubts.
A parallel is seen when anticipatory anxiety brings about the event one fears.
Making the devil a symbol for doubt suggests a psychic process
equivalent to a computer program,
which when activated, negatively changes thoughts, behavior, and events.

B-In Hebrew, Satan from "Shatain",
equivalent in english to "Prosecuting Attorney",
the one who speaks against you before the king.
A primitive definition of evil,
as negative events from the actions of others.
Primitive in lacking the concept justice, of one's own right or wrong;
any criticism, true or not, is seen as the work of the devil.



(2)

Did God have a traumatic childhood?
The semantics of "Big Bang" theory hint at something like that.

If we transcribe God as pure energy or power
the meaning is that the exercise of power
is at first primitive and violent
and through a series of experiences
one learns to adapt and behave
so as to attain one's desires and will
while maintaining a harmonious social balance.

These theories translate in reality as happiness or pain,
sorrow or joy, increase or decrease, gain or loss.
The ultimate motivation is creative;
the maintenance and furthering of life
and that which gives value to life,
qualities of balance, growth and happiness.

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December, 2002.

+
+
+Miklos Legrady
+
+
+Where you come from, is gone
+Where you thought you were going to, was never there
+Where you are, ain't no good unless you can get away from it
+
+__________________________

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