been interpreting religion psychologically for centuries, Jung was unable to
avail himself of their methods.
The psychological approach to the study of religion is not itself
invalidated, however, by the shortcomings in Jung's own practical work on
Eastern teachings; on the contrary, it increases its validity with fuller and
more accurate information and analysis. Jung's caveats about practice,
therefore, should be understood in reference to cultism, which involves
fixation and therefore cannot in any case foster authentic realization of
golden flower mind blossoming.
In his time Jung did not have access to materials that would have
allowed him to make distinctions between normal and cultic practices of
Eastern teachings, and he could not objectively judge the relative merits of
the different exercises found in the corrupted version of The Secret of the
Golden Flower rendered by Wilhelm.
Furthermore, from sources such as Jung's introduction to the second
German edition of The Secret of the Golden Flower, and works such as
Siddhartha and Magister Ludi by Jung's contemporary Hermann Hesse, it is
evident that fragmentary imitation Eastern mystical cults were thriving in
Europe between the first and second world wars. Jung's reservations about
golden flower practice were as much held in reaction to events in his own
cultural milieu as they were based on his impressions of the text itself.
