Did Jung See Phosphenes? A Phenomenological Reading of Inner Light, Fractalized Colour, and Mandalic Vision in The Red Book

This paper explores whether selected visionary descriptions and paintings in C. G. Jung's The Red Book (Liber Novus) can be interpreted through the phenomenology of phosphenes, closed-eye visual phenomena, and entoptic form constants. Jung did not medically identify his visions as phosphenes or migraine aura, and this paper does not attempt a retrospective neurological diagnosis. Instead, it proposes a cautious phenomenological comparison between Jung's luminous inner imagery and the structured taxonomy of endogenous visual experience developed in recent neurophenomenological work (Keppel Hesselink, 2025a, 2025b, 2025c). Particular attention is given to the coloured, fractalized, crystalline, flame-like, radial, and mandalic structures throughout The Red Book. These forms suggest that Jung's visionary imagination may have been rooted not only in symbolic archetypal material but also in the visual substrate of inner light phenomena. The paper applies a six-phase taxonomy of meditation-induced phosphenes and a three-tier hierarchical model to Jung's paintings, arguing that they constitute a rare artistic archive of the transition from simple inner luminosity to complex visionary symbolism, and that the mandala may represent the stabilized endpoint of endogenous visual geometry as it achieves symbolic integration.