Jung, von Franz and Dice.

The dice that you use for playing games like Snakes and Ladders or Monopoly for instance, are far more remarkable than you might imagine. I will tell you why in due course. First I will provide some background information necessary to understand how dice can be that important. Although scientific materialism provided the dominant worldview of modern Western culture, it did not exist to the total exclusion of other alternatives. Nevertheless, these alternatives did not succeed in fundamentally challenging the dominance of materialism. Instead, this challenge largely came from within empirical science itself. In the 20th century the modern materialistic worldview began to unravel in the face of scientific developments, particularly in physics. In physics, the development of relativity and quantum theory served to radically undermine various fundamental assumptions at the base of the materialistic model. For example, the special and general theories of relativity forced physicists to revise their basic conceptions of space, time, movement, gravitation, matter, energy, and the nature of the cosmos as a whole. Quantum theory, on the other hand, forced a revision of the concepts of causality, determinism, and locality. Perhaps most importantly, it even challenged the idea that properties of matter have an objective existence independent of observation. As a result, 20th century physics undermined the very basis for materialism, and suggested to some thinkers that the psyche may be involved, in some mysterious way, with the determination of the observed properties of matter. (1) Meanwhile, developments in psychology during the 20th century explicitly introduced the psyche into the domain of scientific inquiry. In particular, Freud's psychoanalytic theory demonstrated the reality of a psychological unconscious, an unobservable psychic reality which contains repressed personal impulses and desires. These hidden psychic contents exert their influence upon consciousness and thus can be indirectly known by us through a study of various conscious contents, such as our dreams. Although the concept of the psychological unconscious did not initially challenge materialism, the discovery of the transpersonal depths of the unconscious by Jung (i.e., the collective unconscious and psychological archetypes) presupposed a psychic reality that was difficult to reconcile with any strictly materialistic understanding of human nature. Moreover, Jung's later work with the phenomenon of synchronicity provided evidence that the deepest regions of the unconscious (i.e., the unus mundus) consists of "psychoid" structures that transcend the distinction between psyche and matter altogether. (1) As Jungian psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz says, The unexpected parallelisms of ideas in psychology and physics suggest, as Jung pointed out, a possible ultimate oneness of both fields of reality that physics and psychology study. . . The concept of a unitarian idea of reality (which has been followed up by Pauli and Erich Neumann) was called by Jung the unus mundus (the one world, within which matter and psyche and are not yet discriminated or separately actualized). (1) The objective psychic world, or collective unconscious, is thus similar to the objective physical world in that both worlds have objective structures and both worlds have autonomous activity independent of our personal will. For example, just as the objective physical world serves as a creative impetus for the development of our scientific worldviews, the psyche develops and evolves because the objective psyche is not merely repressed conscious contents, but has an autonomous activity that is relatively independent of our personal consciousness. Because this activity of the unconscious is relatively autonomous, it often manifests as a compensation or correction to our conscious views or beliefs. The

result is an evolution of the psyche toward wholeness and integration, a process Jung called `individuation'. (1)

In an unconscious compensation, some unconscious content is spontaneously expressed or manifested in consciousness, such as in a dream, and provides the psyche with an opportunity to integrate the unconscious content into consciousness. One of the most interesting and dramatic types of unconscious compensation is the phenomenon Jung calls synchronicity. Synchronicity is necessarily meaningful in the sense that it is a form of unconscious compensation that serves to advance the process of individuation. It is distinguished from other forms of unconscious compensation by the fact that synchronicity involves a connection between inner psychological experience and outer experiences in the world, where the connection is acausal in the sense that the inner experience cannot have been an efficient cause of the outer experience, or vice versa. In short, synchronicity is a meaningful, acausal connection between inner and outer events. Because the phenomenon of synchronicity involves an acausal coordination of the inner and outer worlds in a meaningful way, it is not exclusively a psychological or physical phenomenon, but is "psychoid" meaning that it somehow essentially involves both psyche and matter. Thus, Jung interpreted synchronicity to imply the existence of an extremely profound level of reality prior to any distinction between psyche and matter. In other words, synchronicity phenomena represent a manifestation in consciousness of psychoid structures present in the depths of a transcendental unitary reality Jung called the unus mundus: Since psyche and matter are contained in one and the same world, and moreover are in continuous contact with one another and ultimately rest on irrepresentable, transcendental factors, it is not only possible but fairly probable, even, that psyche and matter are two different aspects of one and the same thing. (1) The unus mundus is also implied by the fact that we evidently occupy one reality that contains both psyche and matter, and that these two domains of reality are not absolutely independent and isolated, but interact with each other. As Jung says, Psyche and matter exist in one and the same world, and each partakes of the other, otherwise any reciprocal action would be impossible. If research could only advance far enough, therefore, we would arrive at an ultimate agreement between physical and psychological concepts. (1) From the above comparisons between physics and psychology, we can infer that the unus mundus is a domain of unified potentiality beyond the limitations of spatial separation and causal relationships in time. Although it is prior to many structures and limitations of manifest phenomena, this domain has orderedness and meaning--it is a domain of Logos. As a result, the deep structure of the unus mundus is perhaps most appropriately represented using the symbols of mathematics. As Jung explains, Number helps more than anything else to bring order into the chaos of appearances. It is the predestined instrument for creating order, or for apprehending an already existing, but still unknown, regular arrangement or "orderedness." It may well be the most primitive element of order in the human mind. (1) And von Franz amplifies Jung, pointing out that mathematical order is common to both psychological and physical domains:

The deepest and most clearly distinguishable archetypal factor, which forms the basis of psycho-physical equivalence is, the archetypal patterns of natural numbers. . . . In respect to mathematical structure, the acausal orderedness in matter is of the same kind as that in the psyche and each is continually reflected in the other. As an archetype, number becomes not only a psychic factor, but more generally, a worldstructuring factor. In other words, numbers point to a background of reality in which psyche and matter are no longer distinguishable. (1) In any case, the key to the unity of psyche and matter, and to understanding the unus mundus, essentially involves the nature of number. There was at least no doubt as to this point for von Franz: In the last analysis, the mystery of the unus mundus resides in the nature of number. (1)

PSYCHE unconscious contents unmanifest archetypes potentiality continuous numerical psychic qualities conscious contents manifest images actuality discrete distinct numerical quantities

MATTER unobserved quanta wave functions indefiniteness/probability nonlocal numerical physical qualities observed quanta particles definiteness localized distinct material quantities

TRANSCENDENT

EMPIRICAL

The understanding suggested by the above comparisons between structures in physics and psychology, therefore, is that physis and psyche are aspects of the same reality, with mathematics as a key archetypal core of both. However, we should note that the complementarity between psyche and matter (i.e., the two columns of the table above) appears distinct from the complementarity within psyche and matter (i.e., the two rows of the table above), so we should be careful not to confuse the two. (1) It appears that at a very deep level there is no distinction between physical and psychic structures, and that these are, as it were, two perspectives we have on the same core reality. Thus, through comparison and contrast of physical and psychic phenomena, we can isolate the essence of this common core. It does seem clear, however, that one key feature of this core is its mathematical nature. (Note that this view contrasts with the notion that "physical" is a concrete level of reality, while "psychic" is a subtle level. Rather, they both have depths of subtlety that penetrate to the core of reality, and they both have a concrete surface that is immediately present in ordinary empiric consciousness. Thus mind cannot be reduced to matter, nor matter to mind. Both emerge as different aspects of a more fundamental ground.) (1) von Franz concludes that: "Most probably the archetypes of natural integers form the simplest structural patterns in . . . (the common unknown confronting both physicist and psychologist) ... that manifest themselves on the threshold of perception." In order to explore further, it is therefore necessary to return "to the individual numbers themselves, and gather together the sum total of thought, both technical and mythological assertions, which they have called forth from humanity. 3

Numbers, furthermore as archetypal structural constants of the collective unconscious, possess a dynamic, active aspect which is especially important to keep in mind. It is not what we can do with numbers but what they do to our consciousness that is essential." (2) I hope those excerpts have shown that at the deepest levels of the psyche, in the collective unconscious, there is a link with the external physical world. Not only that, but also that the nature of such a linkage is mathematical in nature, based, in fact on the single integers. Synchronicity was mentioned and in terms of the individuals experience, the concept of synchronicity has become a main focus of attention in the realm of spirituality. Numerous books have been written about it, including an essay by C G Jung and books by von Franz. It is important because it provides one of the explanations for how divination works. We shall look at this now.

"Although the non-perceptual potential continuum or unus mundus appears to exist outside time, certain dynamic manifestations of it break through into our ordinary temporal sphere in the form of synchronistic occurrences." (3) "Synchronistic events appear to be linked up with an individual's inner development and in some way dependent on it."(3) "The unconscious actually appears to contain a kind of 'knowledge' which is not identical with ego consciousness. In his paper 'On the Nature of the Psyche,' Jung took great pains to demonstrate that the archetypes of the unconscious possess a kind of 'quasi intelligence' which is not the same as our ego consciousness. Jung applied the term 'luminosity' to this quasi- consciousness of the archetypes, in order to differentiate it from the 'light' of ego consciousness. The same phenomenon can be observed from another angle when a synchronistic occurrence takes place. Inner and outer facts then behave as if their meaningful relation were in some way known, but not to our personal consciousness. Differently expressed, a 'meaning' manifests itself in synchronistic phenomena which appears to be independent of consciousness and to be completely transcendental. It consists of representational images ... , and its appearances seems to be connected with the momentary activation of an archetype manifesting itself simultaneously in physical and psychic realms in the form of acausal orderedness. (3) The meaning that unites these inner and outer happenings consists of knowledge unmediated by the sense organs. This quality of knowledge is what Jung calls 'absolute knowledge,' since it seems to be detached from our consciousness. In other words, although the initial significance of a synchronistic event can only be experienced subjectively, the fact of a meaningful coincidence on psychic and physical levels suggests that the meaning may also have been originally present in the objective event itself; something rational or similar to meaning may inhere in the event itself. (3) "In his work on synchronicity, Jung cites a number of other thinkers, both ancient and medieval, who believed in ... a correspondentia or sympathy of all things, whose 'meaning' lay hidden in objective phenomena of the outer world and could be investigated with the help of mantic procedures. These are the residue of a primitive magical thinking which has been more or less eliminated in the development of our more exact modern sciences. In the course of the development of these sciences, however, the baby has, as so often before, been thrown out with the bathwater, so that the directly observable manifestations of 'absolute knowledge' in the collective unconscious have also been thrown away." (3) "Jung ... describes genuine synchronistic phenomena as 'parapsychological,' marginal phenomena 4

which are only observable when our ego consciousness becomes 'dimmed.' This would mean that the luminosity of a constellated archetype, which shines forth in the 'meaning' of a synchronistic event, increases its energetic charge in proportion to the degree that the light concentration of ego consciousness diminished ... ." (3) "The use of a divinatory oracle represents an attempt to induce a spontaneous manifestation of the ... autonomous spirit by offering him 'his' speech ... . By means of the chance throw of coins or twigs, a 'hole' is introduced into the field of consciousness through which the autonomous dynamism of the collective unconscious can break in." (3) "When such a constellation exists and eternity breaks through momentarily into our temporal system, the primal unity actively manifests itself and temporarily unites the double structures into one, so to speak. This is how the unus mundus becomes revealed in the phenomenon of synchronicity." (3) It should be noted that we all experience coincidences in our normal daily life. Some may be amusing or interesting but they nevertheless remain as coincidences. Jung differentiated these mere coincidences from synchronistic experiences. The latter are imbued with a sort of special meaning, indicating the presence of unconscious archetypes. As indicated above, these experiences function to bring to consciousness the ego matters which require attention for the psychic wholeness of the individual. Current theories about how divination works are listed below:

Theories of How Divination Works.

Humans have practiced divination for thousands of years. The word divination shares the same root as the word divine, so most people have assumed that the information received through divination comes from a divine sourceGod, Goddess, Great Spirit, etc. Divination was often used by oracles, prophets, shamans, and religious leaders who were trained to discern and interpret omens, symbols, and messages. In many respects, the diviner served as a bridge between the Divine and the personal life of the individual, group or tribe. For some civilizations, though, divination was a normal part of living for all people. For the Chinese the I Ching has been used as a source of knowledge by all sections of society for thousands of years. There are several theories about how divination works, but the foundation for all of the following theories is a belief in an ordered Universeand that there is no such thing as accidents or coincidences: Divine Source This is rather straightforward: it is belief that information received through divination comes straight from a Divine Sourcea spiritual Intelligence. Synchronicity Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) coined the term synchronicity to explain that coinciding events have meaning. A student of symbol and myth, as well as the divination method of Tarot, Jung believed that nothing was random, and everything happens for a reason. When consulting a divinatory tool, the individual will receive a message pertinent to his or her concerns and questions.

 Collective Unconscious Jung also believed in a collective unconscious, which is a vast database where information about every person, object, and event is stored. This collective unconscious could be accessed through archetypal recognition, hypnosis, dreaming, and divination. Higher Self Some believe that the subconscious exerts an energetic force that affects divination tools. Our Higher Self or spirit already knows the information that is sought, as well as whats best for us. By using divination, we tap into this Higher Self, bypassing the conscious, rational mind. Macrocosm/Microcosm Ancient civilizations believed that everything was connected through patterns of energy and universal laws. Divination was seen as a microcosm that reflected larger patterns of energythe macrocosm. Modern man often assumed that these beliefs and practices were mere primitive superstitions. However, with the advent of scientific discoveries such as the theory of relativity, chaos theory, quantum physics, etc. many are realizing that science is now confirming these ancient metaphysical beliefs and practices. Intuition Believed to be a part of the brain, intuition is a 6th sense whereby information is directly perceived by means outside of the five senses. That is, a knowing not based on rational understanding or the facts. Many believe that human intuition is in a state of evolution, especially as civilizations become more complex. We no longer need the daily flight or fight survival instinct that our ancestors once did, but rather, a higher form of knowing and understanding outside the realm of ego. Psychic Gifts Whether manifested through the human body (DNA/natural ability) or as a supernatural gift (bestowed by a divine source), some believe that certain individuals are born psychic and others are not. (4) It will be noted that all of the mechanisms enumerated above are based, one way or another, upon the unconscious, either as a direct source or as a channel for external influences. Synchronicity is the most developed theory but intuition is becoming increasingly used as an explanation. (But thats another essay). As noted above: Differently expressed, a 'meaning' manifests itself in synchronistic phenomena which appear to be independent of consciousness and to be completely transcendental. "The use of a divinatory oracle represents an attempt to induce a spontaneous manifestation of the ... autonomous spirit by offering him 'his' speech ... . By means of the chance throw of coins or twigs, a 'hole' is introduced into the field of consciousness through which the autonomous dynamism of the collective unconscious can break in." Jung developed his theory of synchronicity over a number of years and after his death von Franz continued his work. As psychologists have pointed out there are a number of inconsistencies in his explanations. Of particular note for our purposes is the following:

One difficulty is when Jung describes synchronistic events as very rare, while they derive from the constellation of archetypes. In Jung's theory, an archetype is constellated when it has been energized for whatever reason, and shines stronger than other archetypes. Still, Jung regarded the method of divination, known as I Ching, as building on synchronicity, and he himself experimented much with the yarrow stalks. But one cannot expect the archetypes of the collective unconscious to constellate just because one opens the book of I Ching. Therefore the notion of synchronicity seems hard to combine with divination practices. Nevertheless, Jung believes that synchronicity is what underlies mantic practices. He also keeps returning to astrological synchronicity despite the deterministic character of astrology. (5) I would suggest that a resolution to this ambiguity can be found by considering that an archetype can vary from being in a quiescent state, to the other extreme of being powerfully thrust into consciousness and projected onto the outside world. This would mean that divination would be less accurate or helpful when the archetype is dormant or less activated, but when the archetype becomes energised, divination would be a source of accurate and numinous knowledge.

Jung has more to say on synchronicity and the moment of divination in his foreword to Wilhelms I Ching: The manner in which the I Ching tends to look upon reality seems to disfavour our causalistic procedures. The matter of interest seems to be the configuration formed by chance events in the moment of observation, and not at all the hypothetical reasons that seemingly account for the coincidence. While the Western mind carefully sifts, weighs, selects, classifies, isolates, the Chinese picture of the moment encompasses everything down to the minutest nonsensical detail, because all of the ingredients make up the observed moment. (6) Thus it happens that when one throws the three coins, or counts through the forty-nine yarrow stalks, these chance details enter into the picture of the moment of observation and form a part of it -- a part that is insignificant to us, yet most meaningful to the Chinese mind. With us it would be a banal and almost meaningless statement (at least on the face of it) to say that whatever happens in a given moment possesses inevitably the quality peculiar to that moment. This is not an abstract argument but a very practical one. There are certain connoisseurs who can tell you merely from the appearance, taste, and behaviour of a wine the site of its vineyard and the year of its origin. There are antiquarians who with almost uncanny accuracy will name the time and place of origin and the maker of an objet d'art or piece of furniture on merely looking at it. And there are even astrologers who can tell you, without any previous knowledge of your nativity, what the position of sun and moon was and what zodiacal sign rose above the horizon in the moment of your birth. In the face of such facts, it must be admitted that moments can leave long-lasting traces. (6) In other words, whoever invented the I Ching was convinced that the hexagram worked out in a certain moment coincided with the latter in quality no less than in time. To him the hexagram was the exponent of the moment in which it was cast -- even more so than the hours of the clock or the divisions of the calendar could be -- inasmuch as the hexagram was understood to be an indicator of the essential situation prevailing in the moment of its origin. The ancient Chinese mind contemplates the cosmos in a way comparable to that of the modern physicist, who cannot deny that his model of the world is a decidedly psychophysical structure. The microphysical event includes the observer just as much as the reality underlying the I Ching comprises subjective, i.e., psychic conditions in the totality of the momentary situation. Just as causality describes 7

the sequence of events, so synchronicity to the Chinese mind deals with the coincidence of events. The causal point of view tells us a dramatic story about how D came into existence: it took its origin from C, which existed before D, and C in its turn had a father, B, etc. The synchronistic view on the other hand tries to produce an equally meaningful picture of coincidence. How does it happen that A', B', C', D', etc., appear all in the same moment and in the same place? It happens in the first place because the physical events A' and B' are of the same quality as the psychic events C' and D', and further because all are the exponents of one and the same momentary situation. The situation is assumed to represent a legible or understandable picture. (6)

To summarise all of the above information: The human psyche contains the unconscious, which itself contains archetypes. When the unconscious wants to influence the conscious mind it energises a relevant archetype by filling it with symbols, images and ideas. This can be readily experienced in dreams. The most fundamental archetype, organising and ordering the others, is number. The external world is similarly based on a foundation of number, such that the realm of psyche and matter are linked by number. Synchronous events are acausal connections between matter and psyche. It is the archetype that wishes the conscious mind, or ego, to pay attention to its message. In such cases the ego experiences this knowledge as being special or luminous. At the moment of divination a synchronous event is set in motion. The more emotional the question the more knowledgeable the answer. In one way or another divination involves the number archetype, either directly as number or as numbers contained within symbols. The meaning of a number in divination is derived from the intrinsic meaning of the integer Its quality rather than its mathematical quantity.

So why are dice remarkable? Well, when used in divination they provide a numerological answer they speak the same language as the archetypes. Their meaning resides in the number(s) thrown at that juncture in time. Of course one needs to become familiar with what the single integers mean, either through Numerology or researching other sources. Simple dice can reveal processes both in the unconscious and in the external world as well. You could consider them as diagnostic and prescriptive tools. One can simply throw a die or dice to find out what the present holds To sample the ebb and flow of energies and forces active at the moment of divination. From this baseline one can ascertain what is needful for the future. Dice are one of the oldest divination tools. 5,000 year old dice have been excavated in Iran. And we still use them today in games of chance and as a method of divination! I think thats pretty remarkable.

Notes

1. Quantum Physics, Depth Psychology, and Beyond. Thomas J McFarlane. http://www.integralscience.org/psyche-physis.html 2. The following is an excerpt from Representation, Comprehension and Communication of Sets: the Role of Number by A.J.N. Judge. http://empslocal.ex.ac.uk/people/staff/mrwatkin/isoc/vonfranz.htm 3. http://docsfiles.com/pdf_marie_louise_von_franz.html (Comments on her book: Number and Time) 4. HTTP://WWW.VITALPHNEWS.COM/?P=169 Abridged. 5. http://home.swipnet.se/~w-73784/synchronicity.htm 6. http://www.iging.com/intro/foreword.htm

Books (Some can be downloaded from the Internet).

Numbers
The Mystery of Numbers. Annemarie Schimmel. (1993). Numbers their Occult Power and Mystic Virtues. W Wynn Westcott. (Third Ed. 1911). Number in Scripture. E. W. Bullinger. (Fourth Ed. 1921). The Key to the Universe. Harriette Augusta Curtiss. (Seventh Ed. 1938). The Enigma of Numbers. Lance Storm. (2008). (Very comprehensive). Philosophy and mythology of Pythagorean numerology. (http://www.numeralgame.64g.ru/num/num1ens.htm) Numbers and Meaning. A compendium. My book on the Scribd website The Wisdom of Dominoes. My book on the Scribd website.

Correspondences
Liber 777. A Crowley. The Magicians Tables. Alan Richardson. The Complete Magicians Tables. Stephen Skinner. (The most comprehensive of the three).