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vided by the thinking process.
Jung describes intuition as one of the basic functions of the psyche. He defines in-
tuition as perception of the possibilities inherent in a situation, 30 sometimes called a
hunch. Whereas sense perception derives a conscious apprehension of reality, or
things as they are, intuition derives an unconscious or inner conception of the poten-
tialities of things. In viewing a mountain landscape, for example, the person who func-
tions mainly at the level of sense perceptions will note every detail: the flowers, the
colors of the rocks, the trees, and the waterfall, while the intuitive type will simply reg-
ister the general atmosphere and color.31 There are those situations encountered in life
where everything appears quite normal at the level of conscious sense perceptions, yet
the small inner voice of intuition tells us to look out, for things are not as they
should be. In such instances, suggests Jung, we have many subliminal perceptions, and
from these, at the unconscious level, our hunches arise. This is perception by way of
the unconscious.32 Jung says that the wisdom intuition offers us, especially when we
find ourselves thrust into primitive situations, comes from the archetypes, or memory
traces, of the unconscious. While the archetypes of the collective unconscious make
available to us in outline form the ways our ancestors have reacted in key situations, it
is the function of intuition to bring this wisdom forward to the level of consciousness
and to make it relevant by shaping and interpreting the sense impressions received
from the external environment. It is the function of the ego to receive such creations of
the intuitive process once the level of consciousness is reached.33
In contrast to the Yoga view of the highest level of consciousness as pratibh or
unlimited omniscience, Jung sees consciousness as a world full of restrictions.
No consciousness can harbor more than a very small number of simultaneous per-
ceptions. All else must be in shadow, withdrawn from sight. Any increase in the si-
multaneous contents immediately produces a dimming of consciousness, if not
confusion to the point of disorientation. Consciousness not only requires, but is of
its very nature strictly limited to, the few and hence the distinct.34
What the yogi imagines himself to be perceiving in the state of pratibh would include
the simultaneous sum total of all available sense perceptions plus all the subliminal
WHERE JUNG DRAWS THE LINE 67
contents of the unconscious. Jung calls this Eastern claim a most audacious fantasy
and argues that the very maximum consciousness can achieve is to single out for per-
ception a small part of the external sensory input and the vast store of subliminal psy-
chic potentials in the unconscious. In Zen meditation, says Jung, what happens is that
consciousness is emptied as far as possible of its perceived contents, which then fall
back into the unconscious. The contents that break through into consciousness as
the satori, or enlightenment, experience are far from random. They represent the nat-
ural healing and integrating tendency inherent in the archetypes of the collective un-
conscious. The allowing of new contents to come forward and be integrated at the level
of the conscious ego is the Zen parallel to the therapeutic function of modern West-
ern psychological techniques, such as Jung s notion of active imagination. In Jung s
view, it is the unconscious and its contents that are Zen s original man. 35
Yet another perspective on Jung s understanding of perception is found in an ex-
planation he writes to A. M. Hubbard regarding Hubbard s experiments with the psy-
chedeletic drug mescaline. Jung describes the action of mescaline as paralyzing the
normal selective and integrative functions of apperception. The bare sense percep-
tions are added to by the myriad of emotions, associations, and meanings that the
sense perceptions evoke from the vast store of subliminal possibilities contained in the
unconscious psyche. Jung writes, These additions, if unchecked, would dissolve into
or cover up the objective image by an infinite variety, a real fantasia or symphony of
shades and nuances both of qualities as well as of meanings. 36 Unlike the normal
process of cognition where the ego and its apperceptive processes produce a correct
representation of the object by excluding inappropriate subliminal perceptional vari-
ants, the anaesthetic action of mescaline upon the ego-consciousness opens the door
to the riotous world of the unconscious. In Jung s view, it is better that this doorway
to the unconscious be opened by the technique of active imagination, which leaves
the integrative processes of the ego-consciousness functional, and thereby enables
therapeutic gains to be made.37
The concept of intuitive perception is used by Jung to account for cases of extra-
sensory perception (ESP). ESP is simply seen as perception by way of the unconscious,
and therefore should be thought of as a special case of intuition. In a 1945 letter, Jung
says that he is entirely convinced of the existence of ESP and has left a place for ESP in
his definition of intuition. What is needed now, he contends, is that physiology should
follow his lead and leave room for paraphysiology.38
KNOWLEDGE
All Eastern schools of philosophy that adopt a two-level theory of perception also
maintain that there are two levels of knowledge. Lower knowledge results when the
sense organs come into contact with some object. This knowledge is limited by the
factors of time, because the object is known in the present but not in the past or fu-
ture; space because the object is known in the present location but not in other loca-
tions; by the efficiency of the sense organ; and by the distortions imposed by
.
samskras of past usage of word-label and meaning which attach themselves to the di-
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