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In Antiquity – the Individuation of Spirit in Matter and the Complexio Oppositorum

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In Antiquity – the Individuation of Spirit in Matter and the Complexio Oppositorum THE COMPLEXIO OPPOSITORUM IN ANTIQUITY – THE INDIVIDUATION OF SPIRIT IN MATTER REFLECTIONS ON ZARATHUSHTRA DURING AT LEAST 3500 YEARS OF CIVILIZATIONS PENNY NORRIS From one perspective, the article that follows appears to have nothing to do with Jungian Psychology. But, if one stretches the perspective a bit it may have, because the historical, imaginal and symbolic inhabit the story of events. The life and times of the Ancient Middle East veer between opposing forces, making their history a vast 'complexio oppositorum' – battles between antagonistic opposites. In this history, archetypes of conflict and resolution are repeated throughout millennia. These are historically experienced in actual wars and conquests seeking power and territory, alternating between war and peace, settlement, growth and stability. There is implicit (in the subtexts of history) the conflict between different forms of worship – deva worship and a multiplicity of gods versus devotional paths dedicated to monotheism. From a holistic viewpoint, the extraordinary history of growth in culture and civilization between 5000 BCE to 630 CE, is due perhaps to the archetypal antagonism of war and peace, spirit and matter, love and hate in the nature of the collective unconscious. To digest this as a symbol is a challenge in its totality of at least ten millennia but, with the help of one's imagination and interest it could be experienced. If only humankind could learn deeply and consciously from its experiences. Transformation of any kind requires difficulties, differences in intensity and a capacity to imagine. Imagination is the means through which fixed and unchanging attitudes may be loosened. Jung writes, "After violent oscillations at the beginning the opposites equalize one another, and gradually a new attitude develops, the final stability of which is the greater proportion to the magnitude of the initial differences. The greater the tension between the pairs of opposites, the greater will be the energy that comes from them … the less chance is there of subsequent disturbances which might arise from friction with material not previously constellated." (CW8 #9) The aim of analysis is like the aim of the diplomate, not to eliminate the confrontation and tension in the opposition, but to understand the role it plays in the critical self- regulation that is taking place in the objective and subjective worlds. The complexio oppositorum is the gold dust of individuation. This probably applies to all levels of such constellations – individual or collective, internal or external. PG. 1 PENNY NORRIS© THE COMPLEXIO OPPOSITORUM – UK 2020 (A coincidence between Humankind and Nature) During the lockdown and restrictions caused by the Covid-19 virus, I watched the death rate rise and rise every week. I found myself concerned for families who had lost their loved one. I wondered whether there was sufficient compassion, empathy and kindness in the world, whether government, religion and above all, whether belief in something more than the human ego was in place – to help those who were so ill and those who had lost their dearest. As the virus claimed and did not claim its victims, it became clear that many were doing everything they could to mitigate the consequences of this illness. People were offering service and love and taking up responsibilities. People recognised the courage and stamina of those who worked in the NHS, Care Homes and individual carers. As the virus increased its victims, people found love – given by grandchildren, young people, adults, schools, universities, organizations and all those in the front line and behind the scenes who continued to work, help and assist – to maintain a status quo that benefited all. It seemed to me that throughout the United Kingdom the majority of people had the imagination to see what needed to be done and did it, others did not. People had the imagination to create solutions to problems. People had the imagination to see how others struggled and offered their help. Some people discovered and created vaccines. It felt like a wondrous spirit was flowing through the nation. It was like a strong river that did its best to wash away despair, resistance, fear, anger, judgment. As the year trundled toward the New Year, at many levels significant changes were made to steady the status quo. Community matters. Despite all the things that were not ok (and many were not) to those who watched and listened in villages, town and cities, it seemed communities were working towards what to do for communal wellbeing at every level. That we have to do this, to make this stand, challenges each one of us to rethink our lives, our attitudes, our actions and our beliefs. It seems that in responding to the pandemic we are responding to imagining a new way of being and creating a new way of living. The spirit of Nature and the spirit of humanity calls us to wake up to our world's reality – "You live in a new era, treat it well, make it beautiful, give it life, use your imagination!" When one thinks about it, it's quite a shock to realize that the capacity to imagine, has been around for millennia, even before the great apes had the imagination to pick up a honeyed stick to stir ants from the anthill, or early humankind imagined how to shape stones into utensils. These thoughts move me to post this long article on the journey of individuation and the growth of spirit through consciousness – implicit in the confrontation of opposites such as war and peace, order and chaos – a battle from the earliest stages of human evolution to this day to form strong civilizations. If it were not for Imagination, how would we resolve this challenge? PG. 2 PENNY NORRIS© THE COMPLEXIO OPPOSITORUM A JOURNEY – THE INDIVIDUATION OF SPIRIT IN MATTER REFLECTIONS ON ZARATHUSHTRA AND 3500 YEARS OF CIVILIZATIONS PENNY NORRIS INTRODUCTION In the 20th century BCE, the Proto-Indo-Iranians of Aryan race lived around the Caspian Sea and later settled along the Aral Sea, north of Uzbekistan. In the 10th millennium BCE there was a Neolithic Revolution – the first agricultural revolution! This induced the change from hunter-gatherers to settlements and husbandry.1 Over millennia sedentary villages and towns were established and the nomadic life of hunters and gathers was abandoned. The natural environment was altered by agriculture, deforestation and issues of water and irrigation. Over millennia populations developed complex forms of civilized living that related to and supported inter alia society, politics, agriculture, husbandry, religious forms of worship, magic and dogma, in which superstition, spirituality and faith played their roles. It also included war and all that comes with it. Around the 5th millennium BCE in the Middle East, a great wave of change began as people known as the Sumerians, became one of the earliest nations to create and initiate orderly systems of social- political behaviour. By the 4th millennium BCE, Iran became home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, which began with the formation of the Proto-Elamite and Elamite kingdoms in 3200 – 2800 BCE.i In the same era, around 3150 BCE, the Egyptian people agreed to unite Upper and Lower Egypt, creating a powerful civilization that endured for millennia. Egypt initiated the first pharaoh, public laws and duties etc., and created complex, social, political and religious systems. Over millennia the Middle East established a number of nations and civilizations. By the 3rd millennia BCE, around 2700 BCE, the increasing number of populations established diverse forms of worship, many were polytheistic. By 2000 BCE the Proto-Indo-Iranians of Aryan race, living around the Caspian Sea, also settled along the Aral Sea, north of Uzbekistan.2 The Zoroastrian 'Book of Laws' called the Vendidaad,3 records the original home of the Aryans as 'Airyana Vaeja' or Iranvej, meaning Aryan Settlement. Ancient Iranvej included the Central Asian countries where Aryans had settled long before the great division between Proto-Indo-Iranian people. This great divide in the Aryan people into Indian and Iranian, was actualised in large migrations to other lands. The Proto-Indo-Iranian division may have 1 Archaeology indicates that c. 11700 BCE the turn to plants, animals and settlements was worldwide, not exclusive to the Middle East. An interesting psychological phenomenon perhaps. 2 These regions later became Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan and Uzbekistan. 3 The writing of the Vendidaad probably began before the 8th Century BCE. It was translated into Pahlavi between c. 100s - 600s CE. PG. 3 PENNY NORRIS© been caused by conflict for territory and by conflict of belief between monotheistic and polytheistic practices. Between 6000-1500 BCE, polytheistic worship was established among Aryans in Central Asia and certain historians maintain that monotheism was practised at the same time. Conflict between the two was inevitable. An early example of a rising spirit in making conscious choices in this coincidence of opposing forces. One which had vast consequences. One of the earliest forms of worship in the Aryan Stone Age was to Mazda. The worship of Mazda in this era is not identical to the monotheistic worship of Mazda that occurred later around 1500 BCE. The earlier Mazda worship is referred to as Mazdayasni Paoiryo-Tkaesha, literally 'primitive doctrine' and it is uncertain whether it was polytheistic or monotheistic as in this era various forms of deva worship were in existence4. The oldest Indo extant scriptures, the Rig Veda indicate that Asura Varuna was already known as the one and only supreme God. The same oldest Hindu scriptures of the Rig Veda state that monotheism, through the worship of Asura Varuna among Aryans, came before deva and polytheistic religious practices. Millennia later, the collected writings of Zarathushtra, known as the Avesta, state that Gaya Maretan had worshipped Mazda.
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