The founder of deep analytical psychology, Carl Gustav Jung, left a vivid and detailed description of his experiences during his clinical death.
Jung saw the globe from a great height, as if from space. Feeling incredible lightness and freedom, he soared above the Earth, recognized the outlines of continents and seas, saw many amazing, colorful details. Then he noticed a huge floating stone of dark granite, which turned out to be a temple, at the entrance of which was sitting a meditating black Hindu in white robes. Jung noted to himself that he had seen a similar temple in Ceylon. He realized that by entering the temple, he would know his true destiny. His former life seemed alien to him, just a “phantasmagoria of earthly existence,” all desires and intentions were unnecessary. At the same time, he was aware of his personality, remained himself.
Only one persistent desire remained - to enter the temple and find out what it really is, what is its true role in the flow of life. He was overcome with the confidence that he would find people there who knew the answer to this question. And they can tell him "about what happened before and what will happen next."
But Jung did not have time to enter the temple - suddenly he saw a doctor who was treating him. His image appeared against the background of the globe. Moreover, the doctor appeared in the guise of a basileus - the king of Kos. At that moment, the realization came to Jung that this was the original, true appearance of the doctor. At the same time, the understanding came that he was obliged to return to Earth, and this plunged him into deep despondency, almost into despair. He did not want to return without receiving an answer about the meaning of his existence.
When he woke up, Jung realized that the doctor, who appeared to him in his true form, was in danger. That he no longer belongs to the world of the living and will soon die, and he will die instead of Jung. He tried to convey this idea, but the doctor did not take seriously the words of the seriously ill person. Amazingly, Jung was right - the man soon died.
Jung had a hard time getting out of his illness. Earthly life, the familiar world seemed to him a wretched, primitive prison. At night, he was visited by wonderful mystical visions, it seemed to him that he was floating in space, plunging into the depths of the universe while experiencing inexpressible bliss. He painfully didn’t want to go back to everyday life. He spent the day depressed: "Compared to the fantasticness of my nightlife, this daytime world seemed ridiculously ridiculous." The rough materiality of the world, its heaviness and limitations irritated him.
For a long time he was between life and death. But gradually, the visions began to fade, and life began to acquire colors. Subsequently, he was able to take everyday life for granted, and recalled his experience with gratitude and confidence in the absolute reality of what he was given to see. He wrote: “I never could have imagined that something like this would happen to me, that eternal bliss is possible. But my visions and my experience were completely real, everything in them is absolutely objective."
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After the illness came the most fruitful period in his life. The experience allowed him to radically change his view of familiar things. Recalling his visions, Jung emphasized: "This 'life' is just a fragment of being."
