Unity of consciousness

…The so-called unity of consciousness is an illusion. It is really a wish-dream. We like to think we are one; but we are not, most decidedly not. We are not really masters in our house. We like to believe in our will-power and in our energy and in what we can do; but when it comes to a real show-down  we find that we can do it only to a certain extent, because we are hampered by those little devils, complexes.

Complexes are autonomous groups of associations that have a tendency to move by themselves, to live their own life apart from our intentions. I hold that our personal unconscious, as well as collective unconscious, consists of an indefinite, because unknown,  number of complexes or fragmentary personalities… (p.81)

The closer you approach the centre (unconscious), the more you experience what Janet calls abaissement du niveau mental: your conscious autonomy begins to disappear, and you get more and more under the fascination of unconscious contents. Conscious autonomy loses its tension and its energy that reappears in the increased activity of unconscious contents.

C.G. Jung, Analyticl Psychology, its theory and practice. Ark, Routledge, London, 1986. P.82

We are less and less in control starting from the diffentiated function (sensation / intuition, thinking / feeling), on to memory (only partially controlled by the ego), shadow (trickster), affects-emotions, down to the complete invasion of the consciousness by the unconscious contents. This is true for perfectly healthy "normal" individuals, and insanity is only a question of degree; a pathology is actually the impossibility for an individual to function as a coherent whole acting out of the center of his personality.

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Leaving the results to God

What I aim at is to live within a situation and to be totally engrossed in it, and yet free from involvement. The basic thing is that I never ask myself what the result of any action will be -- that is God's concern. The only question I keep asking myself in life is: what should I do at this particular moment? What should I say? All you can do is to be at every single moment as true as you can with all the power of your being -- and then leave God to use you, even despite yourself.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, School for Prayer. Daybreak, London, 1989, p xvii

Acceptance of otherness

So often when we say "I love you" we say it with a huge "I" and a small "you". We use love as a conjunction instead of it being a verb implying action. It's no good just gazing out into the open space hoping to see the Lord; instead we have to look closely at our neighbour, someone whom God has willed into existence, someone whom God has died for. Everyone we meet has right to exist, because he has value in himself, and we are not used to this. The acceptance of otherness is a danger to us, it threatens us. To recognise the other's right to be himself might mean recognising his right to kill me. But if we set a limit to his right to exist, it's no right at all. Love is difficult. Christ was crucified because he taught the kind of love which is a terror for men, a love which demands total surrender: it spells death.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, School for Prayer. Daybreak, London, 1989, p xvi.