Images of the Abyss

Images of the abyss in traditional Christian theology and psychology are generally symbolic of hell, destruction, or death. Here, the notion of abyss is regarded afresh through the experiences of Jacob Boehme, the 17^th century German shoemaker and mystic, and Carl Jung, the 20^th century Swiss psychoanalyst. Boehme's pre-existent abyss, which he called the Ungrund, or un-ground, and saw as underlying all of creation, even God, relates to the unitary reality of Jung's Self. The Self is before the beginning of the individual human psyche and also its ultimate goal in terms of psychological life.