The Transcendent Third: Jung, Alchemy & Visions of Three

"The conflict between the opposites can strain our psyche to the breaking point, if we take them seriously, or if they take us seriously. The tertium non datur [the third that is not given] of logic proves its worth: no solution can be seen. If all goes well, the solution, seemingly of its own accord, appears out of nature. Then and then only is it convincing. It is felt as "grace". Since the solution proceeds out of the confrontation and clash of opposites, it is usually an unfathomable mixture of conscious and unconscious factors…"

— Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962)

"As a rule [the third] occurs when the analysis has constellated the opposites so powerfully that a union or synthesis of the personality becomes an imperative necessity. … [This situation] requires a real solution and necessitates a third thing in which the opposites can unite. Here the logic of the intellect usually fails, for in a logical antithesis there is no third. The "solvent" can only be of an irrational nature. In nature, the resolution of opposites is always an energic process: she acts symbolically in the truest sense of the word, doing something that expresses both sides, just as a waterfall visibly mediates between above and below."

— Jung, Mysterium Coniunctionis (1955)

The transcendent third is one of the most interesting and most useful gifts left behind by Jung. It is the primary mechanism by which oppositional tensions in psyche are resolved, the transcendent infrastructure which leads into unforeseen evolutions of being and new levels of psychic integration. In this program, we will root into/out-of Jung's descriptions over time of the transcendent third function. Tritiya prakrti ('third nature') in Sanskrit literature/scripture will be brought in to amplify our exploration, in addition to the triton genos ('third kind') of Ancient Greece//Plato, the tria prima (salt, sulfur, mercury) of Alchemy, as well as triadic visions received by myself and others. A coherent model for recognizing and engaging with the third in its varied contexts will be provided, including the differences between synthetic third and non-synthetic third—working with the binary and beyond it. Bring your questions and your stories, and let us see what sort of thirdian ekstasis we might be able to facilitate in psyche~