On the Service of the Soul (p. 234) - Über den dienst der seele (folio ii(v)

“Welche härte des schicksals! wenn ihr zu eurer seele tretet, werdet ihr als erstes den sinn mißen. ihr glaubt, daß ihr in das sinnlose versinket, in das ewig ungeordnete. ihr habt recht! nichts errettet euch vor dem ungeordneten und sinnlosen denn dieses ist die andere hälfte der welt. euer gott ist ein kind, sofern ihr nicht kindisch seid. Ist kind ordnung sinn? oder unordnung laune? unordnung und sinnlosigkeit sind die mütter von ordnung und sinn—ordnung und sinn sind gewordenes und nicht werdendes. ihr öffnet die pforte der seele, um in euere ordnung und euern sinn die dunklen ströme des chaos hereinfließen zu laßen. vermählt dem geordneten das chaos und ihr erzeugt das göttliche kind, den übersinn, jenseits von sinn und widersinn—ihr fürchtet euch das thor zu öffnen? auch ich fürchtete mich, denn wir hatten vergeßen, daß der gott furchtbar ist. der christus lehrte: gott ist die liebe. ihr sollt aber wißen, daß die liebe auch furchtbar ist. ich sprach zu einer liebenden seele und als ich näher zu ihr trat, befiehl mich das grauen und ich thürmte einen wall von zweifeln auf und ahnte nicht, daß ich micht damit vor meiner furchtbaren seele schützen wollte—es graut euch vor der tiefe, es soll euch grauen, denn darüber führt der weg des kommenden. du mußt die versuchung der angst und deß zweifels bestehen, und dabei bis ans blut einsehen, daß deine angst berechtigt und dein zweifel vernuenftig ist. wie wäre es sonst eine wahrhafte versuchung und eine wahrhafte überwindung? der christ ueberwindet wohl die versuchung des teufels, nicht aber die versuchung gottes zum guten und vernünftigen. der christ unterliegt also der versuchung. das habt ihr noch zu lernen, keiner versuchung zu unterliegen, sondern alles freiwillig zu thun, dann seid ihr frei und jenseits des christenthums. ich mußte erkennen, daß ich ich mich dem, das ich fürchtete, zu unterwerfen habe, ja noch mehr, daß ich das, wovor mir graute, sogar lieben muß. solches müßen wir von jener heiligen lernen, die, als es ihr vor den prestkranken ekelte, den eiter der pestbeulen trank und gewahr wurde, daß er wie rosen duftete. die taten der heiligen waren nicht umsonst. du bist in jeglichem dinge, das deine erlösung und die erlangung der gnade betrifft, von deiner seele abhängig. es kann dir daher kein opfer zu schwer sein. hindern dich deine tugenden an der erlösung, lege sie ab, denn sie sind dir zum übel geworden. der tugendsklave findet den weg ebensowenig wie der lastersklave. glaubst du dich herr deiner seele, dann werde zu ihrem diener, warest du ihr diener,, so ergreife die herrschaft über sie, denn dann bedarf sie der beherrschung. dieses seien deine ersten schritte.” (fol ii(v) – iii(r) 

Translation by SS (Sonu Shamdasani etal):

“How hard is fate! If you take a step toward your soul, you will at first miss the meaning. You will believe that you have sunk into meaninglessness, into eternal disorder. You will be right! Nothing will deliver you from disorder and meaninglessness, since this is the other half of the world. Your God is a child, so long as you are not childlike. Is the child order, meaning? Or disorder, caprice? Disorder and meaninglessness are the mother

of order and meaning. Order and meaning are things that have become and are no longer becoming.

You open the gates of the soul to let the dark flood of chaos flow into your order and meaning. If you marry the ordered to the chaos you produce the divine child, the supreme meaning beyond meaning and meaninglessness. You are afraid to open the door? I too was afraid, since we had forgotten that God is terrible. Christ taught: God is love. But you should know that love is also terrible. I spoke to a loving soul and as I drew nearer to her, I was overcome by horror, and I heaped up a wall of doubt, and did not anticipate that I thus wanted to protect myself from my fearful soul. You dread the depths; it should horrify you, since the way of what is to come leads through it. You must endure the temptation of fear and doubt, and at the same time acknowledge to the bone that your fear is justified and your doubt is reasonable. How otherwise could it be a true temptation and a true overcoming? Christ totally overcomes the temptation of the devil, but not the temptation of God to good and reason. Christ thus succumbs to cursing. You still have to learn this, to succumb to no temptation, but to do everything of your own will; then you will be free and beyond Christianity. I have had to recognize that I must submit to what I fear; yes, even more, that I must even love what horrifies me. We must learn such from that saint who was disgusted by the plague infections; she drank the pus of plague boils and became aware that it smelled like roses. The acts of the saint were not in vain. In everything regarding your salvation and the attainment of mercy, you are dependent on your soul. Thus no sacrifice can be too great for you. If your virtues hinder you from salvation, discard them, since they have become evil to you. The slave to virtue finds the way as little as the slave to vices. If you believe that you are the master of your soul, then become her servant. If you were her servant, make yourself her master, since she needs to be ruled. These should be your first steps.” (p. 235)

Retranslation by Florian Birkmayer:

“How hard is fate! If you approach your soul, you will at first miss meaning (sense). You believe that you have sunk into the meaningless (senseless), into the eternally disordered. You are right! Nothing rescues you from the disordered and the meaningless (senseless), since this is the other half of the world. Your God is a child, so long as you are not childlike (childish). Is the child order, meaning (sense)? Or disorder, caprice? Disorder and meaninglessness (senselessness) are the mothers of order and meaning (sense)—order and meaning (sense) have become and are no longer becoming. (Order and meaning (sense) are what has become and is no longer becoming.) You open the gate of the soul to let the dark currents of chaos flow into your order and your meaning (sense). Marry the ordered to the chaos and you create the divine child, the transcendent meaning (the transcendent sense) beyond meaning (sense) and meaninglessness (senselessness)—You are afraid to open the gate? I too was afraid, since we had forgotten that the god is terrible. Christ taught: God is love. But you should know that love is also terrible (terrifying). I spoke to a loving soul and as I stepped nearer to her, I was overcome by horror, and I piled up a rampart of doubts, and did not suspect that I thus wanted to protect myself from my terrifying soul. You are terrified of the depth; it should horrify you, since the way of what is to come leads over it. You must overcome the temptation of fear and doubt, and at the same time accept down to the blood that your fear is justified and your doubt is reasonable. How otherwise could it be a true temptation and a

true overcoming? The christian surely overcomes the temptation of the devil, but not the temptation

of God to the good and reasonable. Hence the christian succumbs to temptation. You still have to learn this, to succumb to no temptation, but to do everything voluntarily, then you will be free and beyond Christianity. I have had to recognize that I must subject myself to that which I fear; yes, even more, that I must even love what horrifies me. This we must learn from that saint who was disgusted by the plague victims; she drank the pus of plague boils and became aware that it smelled like roses. The acts of the saint were not in vain. In everything regarding your salvation and the attainment of grace, you are dependent on your soul. Thus no sacrifice can be too great for you. If your virtues hinder you from salvation, discard them, since they have become evil to you. The slave to virtue finds the way as little as the slave to vices. If you believe that you are the master of your soul, then become her servant. If you were her servant, make yourself her master, since in that case she needs to be ruled. These should be your first steps.”

Notes on Translation:

The orthography of the German quote precisely follows that of the Red Book manuscript and is admittedly idiosyncratic, with no capitalized nouns and archaic spelling of some words.

Simple errors in translation are underlined, e.g. Mütter is the plural of mother, i.e. mothers.

Sinn can mean both meaning or sense.

 

The most blatant and crucial mistranslation in this passage is the sentence "Christ thus succumbs to cursing." The original sentence reads "der christ unterliegt also der versuchung." In German, Christ refers to a christian, never Christ. Why was 'Versuchung' (temptation) as 'cursing'. My suspicion is that the German Gothic 's', which looks like a vertical slash, confused the translator who thought it was an 'f' and thus you get 'Verfuchung', which if you add an 'l', makes 'Verfluchung' which means curse. The sentence "Christ thus succumbs to cursing." also makes no sense contextually, since the passage refers to temptation.

Introduction - A Need for A Better Translation of C. G. Jung's Red Book

In 1913 C.G. Jung started work on what would become his "Red Book." It was never published during his lifetime. A facsimile edition with and English translation, edited by Sonu Shamdasani was published by W.W. Norton & Company in 2004. It was translated by Mark Kyburz, John Peck adn Sonu Shamdasani.

C. G. Jung wrote and illustrated the Red Book like a medieval illuminated manuscript, to express a series of visions and dreams he had, starting in 1913. The content of these visions may be considered strange or bizarre, but they were a pivotal experience for C. G. Jung and laid the foundation for much of his subsequent work on understanding the human psyche.

Because the book is so voluminous and the content so seemingly bizarre, no one has questioned how accurate the translation is. 

I have closely read the facsimile of the Red Book and the translation and have found numerous translation errors, inconsistencies and editorial errors. These errors often make the text more confusing and obscure or misrepresent many crucial passages. In this blog, I hope to share some of my re-translations so the true beauty of the Red Book can be better understood by those willing to take the time.

Florian Birkmayer MD
http://thebirkmayerinstitute.com/