[Buddha-l] Re: Filtered Buddhism

[curt]

Marie Louis von Franz is one of my favorite Jungians (and, apparently, 
she was one of Jung's favorite Jungians, too). I have enjoyed reading 
several of her books - and I was thrilled when I found that she had 
written a whole book on the subject of Apuleius' "Metamorphoses" (aka 
"The Golden Ass"). It's one of those books that has major sections of it 
available online at Amazon - and I was intrigued (and also saddened) to 
find her saying the following in the first chapter:

"We also have to know that Apuleius was in a situation which we still 
can observe in modern Europeans. He was a member of a Roman family which 
settled in North Africa and which in the second generation whose certain 
typical defects that we now express by saying that those people have 
"gone native." If people of white civilizations go to such countries, 
where the primitive modes of life and behavior are better preserved 
within their natural frame than with us, then the instinctual layer of 
the personality, and the original primitive impulses, are reinforced. If 
this is not observed and dealt with consciously, a split personality 
develops. One can observe this for instance in British people who have 
lived a long time in Africa. They have a wonderful way of not being 
disturbed in their own habits, and even when in the bush they will 
change for the evening into a smoking jacket and a decollete, and read 
some newspapers, while surrounded by mosquitoes, snakes, and panthers. 
But it does not help, for the "native mentality" gets into white people 
who go to Africa, and if you visit such families, you find that they 
have the style of the white man as far as their way of living is 
concerned, but that little African traits come in negatively: the 
crockery is chipped, the curtains are not clean, everything becomes a 
bit sloppy."

The banality and off-handedness of such racism is simultaneously 
fascinating and horrifying. But mostly I think it should be chastening. 
It would be a big mistake to read this and respond by tisking tisking 
and declaring how lucky we are that "all that" is safely behind us.

Here's the link at amazon: 
http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Ass-Apuleius-Liberation-Foundation/dp/1570626111/ref=sr_1_1/102-7586623-6241760?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183038331&sr=8-1 
. The above excerpt is from page 10.

Also, Apuleius' "ethnic" identification as "Roman" is far from certain. 
He claimed to be of "mixed" descent: in his own words "half Numidian, 
half Gaetulian". Contemporary authors often refer to him as a "Berber".

- Curt