He was amazed it hadn’t broken him as it had done others, such as Schreber.
In The Red Book, Jung writes of Schreber as one who was “broken by the spirit” (a paraphrase — the original wording varies slightly by translation).
This “brokenness” refers to:
1. Ego Dissolution
Schreber’s ego-structure shattered under the influx of transpersonal energies — archetypal contents so powerful that his ordinary consciousness could no longer mediate them.
Where a mystic might endure the encounter and integrate it, Schreber was overwhelmed by it.
In Jung’s model, this marks the border between individuation and psychosis.
2. Possession by the Unconscious
Instead of symbolizing the experience (as art, myth, or ritual might), Schreber identified with the archetypal drama itself — he lived it literally.
His mind became the battleground of gods and cosmic forces, leaving no autonomous ego to contain them.
3. A Necessary Tragic Example
For Jung, Schreber exemplified the danger of confronting the unconscious without sufficient strength or symbolic form.
In Jung’s own descent (the visionary material that became The Red Book), he felt himself on the same precipice — and feared becoming “like Schreber,” broken and lost in madness.
The difference, Jung believed, was that he maintained dialogue with the figures of the unconscious rather than becoming them.
