Quote:
Summerlander posted elsewhere:
In Aion, Jung's Quaternio 'chain' describes the structure and dynamics of the Self as well as our reality. The diagram in the book shows a series of double pyramids attached together by cones that denote the development of the Ego and the world, and the base of each pyramid is a quaternity distinguishing four separate elements. A Gnostic sect known as the Naassenes conceived of an image known as the Moses Quaternio—Moses being the second most important man in Judaism because, although he never achieved the prestige of Christ, he was the next best thing for setting the realistic example of working on his individuation throughout his lifetime—which is also known as the Anthropos Quaternio.
At the top of the pyramid lies the Anthropos or Higher Adam (Jungian Self) and at the bottom of the cone below the quaternity is the Lower Adam or Man (Ego). The edges of the square which represent distinguished elements and go between the Higher and Lower Adams are labelled as follows (with the corresponding Jungian archetypes in brackets): Higher Jethro (Wise Old Man), Higher Moses (Great Father), The Positive Miriam (Anima) and The Wise Zipporah (Great Mother). (These names are derived from the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament.) Before the Ego can become the Self, it has to confront the Moses Quaternio—in other words, the striving towards the Higher Adam by the Lower Adam describes the process of individuation.
The Moses Quaternio is only one of the four in the chain and sits at the very top (immediately above the Shadow Quaternio that begins with the Serpent at the bottom of the cone). Based on the decisions one makes, one can either strive towards God (Self) or the Devil (Serpent) depending on archetypal interaction. The Shadow Quaternio includes the following archetypal opposites: The Lower Jethro, The Negative Miriam, The Ethiopian Woman, and the Carnal Man. According to Jung, the Ego interacts with these archetypes and chooses to integrate their positive or negative contents. Even the Serpent is not necessarily all negative as it possesses its own peculiar wisdom which can catapult one closer to God—Lucifer, after all, means 'light bringer', and darkness bestows dimension to light. Even though the Serpent rules the Shadow, this one contains all the repressed material we need to confront for better or for worse.
The double pyramid at the very bottom of the chain is called the Lapis Quaternio, with the bottom of the cone labelled as Rotundum (prima materia or the chaotic state of being at the beginning of time) and the top is Lapis. The four edges of the middle square are labelled as follows: Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. (The tangible forms derived from the intangible source.) The Rotundum coming asunder can be symbolically thought of as the squaring of the circle in alchemy to form the elements to be subsequently united in the Lapis (which is not to be mistaken for the Philosopher's stone). The Lapis encompasses all elements like an ordered seed which marks the bottom of the Paradise Quaternio whose edges in the middle indicate the four rivers that flow from the source in paradise (Aqua Doctrinae): Gihon, Tigris, Pishon, and Euphrates. The water can be thought of as the blood of God which sustains paradise and culminates in the Serpent (the highest possible state in the animal kingdom where the Ego is developed but the lowest in the Shadow kingdom).
As we move up the planes in the chain, a point is reached which is indistinguishable from God and there are no more squares to integrate. As Jung puts it in Aion:
'The four quaternios depicted above are first and foremost an attempt to arrange systematically the almost limitless wealth of symbols in Gnosticism and its continuation, alchemy.'~Carl Jung
Once the Ego reaches the summit of the Quaternio chain, it has nowhere else to go but to go back to the beginning, thus the mouth of the chain turns to its tail to form the Ouroboros—where the Ego, having reached the perfect unity of the Self, disunites to start anew in the void.
'Man's task is ... to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious. Neither should he persist in his unconsciousness nor remain identical with the unconscious elements of his being, thus evading his destiny, which is to create more and more consciousness. As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.' ~Carl Jung
I see how this view might contradict your fatalistic stance and Jung wouldn't say this is the be all and end all (in fact, he'd be the first one to say that one must always consider opposing views) but it has been observed that certain symbols, in particular, the Ouroboros, keeps perennially emerging throughout the ages, like it's something deeply embedded in human psychology—like the archetypes.