C. G. Jung, Mystical Experience and Inflation

In this article I address the question: Given Jung’s insistence that he was a scientist or empiricist, rather than a mystic, can we circumscribe Jung’s interest in mysticism: that is identify which type or types of mystical experience he valued and which he did not? Since I cannot address this question comprehensively in this article, I focus my attention in the ensuing discussion on one particular form of psychopathology, preoccupying Jung throughout the post-Freudian phase of his career, which I regard as providing a key for interpreting Jung’s relationship to a variety of mystical experi¬ences: inflation. The question I want to address is whether Jung’s definition of inflation forces him to distinguish the experience of individuation from some, or perhaps even all, types of mystical experience, even to conceive of individuation and mystical experience to be in opposition to one another. To what extent is mystical experience, according to Jung, inflationary and therefore irreconcilable with the individuation process? Did Jung regard some mystical experiences as free of inflation and therefore consistent with the individuation process, but not others?