It is not an imitation of Christ but its exact opposite: an assimilation of the Christ-image to his own self, which is the true man. It is no longer an effort, an intentional straining after imitation, but rather an involuntary experience of the reality represented by the sacred legend.
christquotes
As Jung says more clearly of Christ: This Gnostic Christ, symbolizes man’s original unity and exalts it as the saving goal of his development.
Christ / development / Gnostic / Jung / unity
Jung identifies the Anthropos (Primal Man or Original Man), Christ, and the Son with God. The Anthropos begins as part of the unconscious godhead, emerges as an independent ego, eventually forgets his unconscious origin, must be reminded of it by the godhead, and then returns to it to form a unified.
Anthropos / Christ / ego / Jung / unconscious
Is there any one among you who believes he can be spared the way? Can he swindle his way past the pain of Christ? I say: Such a one deceives himself to his own detriment. He beds down on thorns and fire. No one can be spared the way of Christ, since this way leads to what is to come.
I must say that I think all this doctrine, that hell-fire is a punishment for sin, is a doctrine of cruelty. It is a doctrine that put cruelty into the world and gave the world generations of cruel torture; and the Christ of the Gospels, if you could take Him as His chroniclers represent Him, would certainly have to be considered partly responsible for that.