Erich Neumann, Maslow, and Models of Higher Consciousness

Born more than 100 years ago, Erich Neumann is the author of acclaimed works on human personality, growth, and creativity from a Jungian perspective. Fleeing Nazi Germany in 1934, Neumann studied personally with Jung in Zurich before settling permanently in Tel Aviv—and for the rest of their respective lives (they died only a year apart), they remained close. Upon learning of Neumann's sudden death, Jung described him as "a friend and a companion on the way in whose fate I participated in tranquility and from a distance."

Neumann always regarded Jung as his chief mentor, and Jung wrote the introductions to all of Neumann's major published books. These included The Origins of Consciousness, Depth Psychology and the New Ethic, and The Great Mother; after Neumann's death, several more books, on such topics as art, creativity, and child development, have been published to wide acclaim. Yet, they were both intellectually courageous enough to criticize aspects of each other's views—and Jung, who was 30 years older, readily acknowledged having learned from Neumann's wisdom.

Since the Jung-Neumann correspondence was published in 2015, worldwide interest in the latter's work has skyrocketed—and generated new books including a two-volume set titled The Roots of Jewish Consciousness that Neumann completed in 1945. He spent 11 years on this seminal project, which delved deeply into the Kabbalah (the esoteric branch of Judaism) and early Hasidism to extend Jung's ideas into the social realm. It seems likely he was Jung's key source of information about these traditions. Unfortunately, for reasons that remain historically unclear, Neumann never chose to publish Roots. Possibly, he felt that the subject matter was simply too unconventional and esoteric for the field of psychology at the time.

Connecting All Humans
Drawing from the Kabbalah that a divine "spark," metaphysically linked to the prophet Elijah, connects all human beings, Neumann wrote, "Elijah is said to be the precursor of the Messiah. [Elijah's] redemptive function is the crucial fact in the world, from which comes the emphasis on the individual, on the here-and-now ... and to human service." It's fascinating to observe that during Jung's dark period of near-madness after breaking with Sigmund Freud, Jung experienced a vision of Elijah as a spiritual guide for recovery and wholeness; his now-famous Red Book described this powerful inner encounter.

Certainly, Neumann's notion can be viewed metaphorically or literally for productive value. For him, it meant that the process of individuation (as Jung originally formulated) is never privatistic, but necessarily interpersonal, communal, and ultimately, world-changing. Neumann also strongly rejected the gnostic idea, popular among some of Jung's admirers to this day, that the best path is to separate oneself from our seemingly dull, mundane surroundings. Neumann asserted: "Only a life that accepts the manifest and the secret world, both at the same time, not renouncing one for the other, can [lead to true reality]." To several in Jung's inner circle, Neumann's views were an unacceptable "revisionism," but Jung himself appreciated Neumann's perspective and shared his enthusiasm for the Kabbalah and early Hasidism.

Neumann and Maslow never met, and no evidence exists that they had read each other's works. Maslow never cited any of Neumann's writings, and it seems unlikely that Neumann, whose proficiency in English was weak, had read Maslow's books or journal articles at the time of Neumann's death in 1960. In seeking to build a radically new model of the psyche, they were also inspired by quite different spiritual traditions: Neumann studied the Kabbalah and early Hasidism, beginning in his youth, whereas Maslow became increasingly influenced by Daoist thought and practice, especially through his encounters at the Esalen Institute.

Yet, they independently arrived at strikingly similar views. Both thinkers emphasized our innate capacity for transcendental experience, and both saw such precious moments as a byproduct of growth—never as the end-point or goal. Both valued the body as a source of joy, not as an enemy to be overcome. And both rejected the notion that spirituality was a privatistic experience, but believed, rather, that it brings us closer to other people—friends, family, neighbors, and, ultimately, all of humanity. As Maslow wrote in Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences only a few weeks before his sudden death a decade after Neumann's: "The great lesson from the true mystics ... [is that] the sacred is in the ordinary ... To be looking elsewhere for miracles is a sure sign of ignorance that everything is miraculous."