Finding Hope when All is Lost (Jungian Circumambulation)

Life, tragedy, and how to get through it in 2 parts

“Only that which changes remains true”

— C.G. Jung, ‘Mysterium Coniunctionis,’ para. 503

Pandora’s Box (1893) Charles Edward Perugini

Mankind receiving the fire of Olympus is a Garden of Eden story.

Prometheus (“before-thought”) helped Zeus create humanity, and loved us like his children. When the father of the gods denied us fire (symbolising consciousness), Prometheus, the Titan (an older pantheon of Greek deities) climbed the great mountain in secret to where the new gods lived. In the dead of night he stole the light, and brought it down and shared it with us.

Zeus was furious.

2 punishments were arranged.

Prometheus was chained to a rock. Each day, an eagle came and ate his liver. Being immortal, he healed to only be subject to this torture again. For us, father Sky sent Pandora – a beautiful woman. But with her came a box (actually a jar, originally mistranslated).

Zeus told her to never open it.

So obviously she opened it.

Out poured all earthly sorrows: sickness, death, pain, hunger, war, greed, envy, deceit, old age and insanity. Realising what she’d done, she slammed the lid, allowing the last element to only partially escape: hope.

Pessimists think this was the worst item of all, and we’re lucky to have just a bit.

Optimists say Zeus included this to counterbalance the rest.

(After all, we didn’t ask for consciousness). Either way, we have a world full of suffering, with a little hope. When someone points out all the evil in the world, you can’t disagree, but what they usually leave out is all the good. Maybe the bad dwarfs the good, but you can’t deny it’s there, even if just a potential.

For better or worst, there is hope.

The ambiguity of this myth leads me to believe it is asking a question.

One we are yet, as a species, to answer: is hope good or bad? I’ve made the individual decision to believe it’s good. If you’re reading this, I think you have as well (even though you might be pretending otherwise).

Carl Jung’s circumambulation is a theory that accounts for life’s ups and downs.

It can help you make sense of the things that don’t make sense.

Here’s Jungian circumambulation explained and how to use it in 2 parts (see end for summary and asset 💾)

Part #1: What is Circumambulation?

“The way to the goal seems chaotic . . . at first, and only gradually do the signs increase that it is leading anywhere. The way is not straight but appears to go in circles”

– C.G. Jung, ‘Psychology and Alchemy,’ para. 34

Circumambulation originated as a Tibetan Buddhist practice.

Jung’s early work introduced him to mandalas (see below): a quaternary image within a circular housing. Jung thought these pieces represented the Self: the entirety of the psyche. 4 is a special number as it implies wholeness in many beliefs. These are synonymous with crosses found throughout world culture, and are a of way of expressing a state of psychological being.

Monks built this geometry into sacred structures.

Tibetan mandala and Jung’s own painting

They would circumnavigate (walk around) them praying.

Jung thought this symbolised our life’s journey around our inner Self. With each rotation, you learn more about yourself, and become more familiar with deeper psychological truths. This is why we often feel our efforts aren’t going anywhere: “I’m in the same place I was before!”

Yes, but this time you’re a level deeper.

Our authenticity is hidden beneath unscalable walls of false beliefs and fears.

Like the Israelites circling the walls of Jericho, eventually they will fall down. We might experience the same shortcomings again and again, and naturally our inner Resistance lords this over us as a failure – but it simple isn’t. When an addict relapses, it’s because they’re getting closer to the true trauma that they’re using the substance to hide from – and eventually it all becomes too much.

You could say this is a failure (most do).

But if that person has gone deeper than before, they’ve gotten closer to knocking that wall down.

Doesn’t sound like failure to me. It just didn’t happen in that instant. The action was right, it’s just the pay off wasn’t tangible. This is why you can do the right thing and work to exhaustion, but be confused by lack of progress.

There’s more to circumambulation.

It’s a psychological function that guides us through:

• Belief

• Instinct

• Chance events

We are led along by an invisible string.

Part #2: How to use Circumambulation to Find Hope

“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards”

– Søren Kierkegaard