ABSTRACT
Consciousness was the only reality that CG Jung considered empirical. Jung introduced the concept of consciousness expansion in connection with its developmental acquisition. He associated supreme consciousness with the perfection that he considered to be the goal of Eastern philosophy. An important aspect of Jung's valuation of consciousness expansion was the pessimism that he shared with much of the medical profession in his era. Mystical experiences are always necessarily experienced consciously, through the limited aperture of the ego in its perception of its union with the self. Complete consciousness would instead involve the perspective of the self, in its realization of all existence. In all formulations, unconsciousness was a momentary quality and never a psychic system or structure as it was for Freud. Within human reach were "levels" of consciousness that reflected stages simultaneously of enlightenment and therapeutic change. For Jung, there was direct continuity from unconsciousness and projection, to grades of consciousness.
