“While studying the behavior of subatomic particles, Pauli became enamored with mirrors and their reflections as a model for particle behavior. A friend wrote, making fun of his obsession with mirrors. Pauli wrote back, quoting the legend of Perseus and the Medusa.

In the mythical tale, the Medusa was a monster said to be so ugly that men would turn to stone if they gazed at her. Perseus used his shield to see her reflection and thus was able to slay her.

Shortly after sending this reply, Pauli received a paper from a former student he hadn’t heard from in years. The paper was about a fungus called Mykes, which is light sensitive. Mykes in Greek means “mushroom.” Shortly thereafter, he read an essay on Jungian philosophy about symbolism in the story of Perseus. It described how Perseus founded the town of Mykenea after killing the Medusa. According to the story, Perseus found and dug up a mushroom, and in the process, caused a spring of water to come forth from the ground. Thus, the town Mykenea was named after that mushroom. Upon reading this, Pauli burst into hysterical laughter.5 This, and other synchronistic events he witnessed, caused him to explore outside the accepted rationality of science.

Arthur Koestler, in his book The Challenge of Chance, says it was appropriate for Pauli to develop the exclusion principle and also be one of the first to recognize limitations in the experimental method. In the exclusion principle, he showed the behavior of electron orbits made it appear as if there was a force operating, yet no known force was identifiable. In a similar manner, he felt that unseen forces might be operating on scientific apparatus, placing great limitations on the experimental observer.

Pauli was having great personal difficulties when he became acquainted with Carl Jung. Jung described him as a very one-sided, intellectual man. At his request, Jung began counseling with Pauli, starting with an analysis of his dreams. He was intrigued to find the physicist’s dreams paralleled some of the symbolism in alchemy, the mystical teachings of medieval times. He later incorporated this discovery into a paper titled Individual Dream Symbolism in Relation to Alchemy. Pauli’s dreams culminated in what Jung called a “conversion” experience.

Pauli had a dream, or vision, that he called the “world clock.” This was a figure that included two perpendicular discs contained within a golden ring. On the horizontal disc, four little men were holding pendulums, and the vertical disc had the hands of a clock. The figure was covered with numbers Jung recognized as being similar to those used in the Kabbalah, the mystical teachings of the ancient Hebrews. Jung interpreted the figure as being symbolic of the conscious and unconscious aspects of Pauli’s inner balance. For Pauli, it also seemed to represent the orderly nature of the universe. He found the dream provided a cure to his inner turmoil and began collaborating with Jung on some of his theories.”