Digesting Jung_ Food for the Journey (St Daryl Sharp

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from relegere, meaning a careful consideration and observation of
irrational factors historically conceived as spirits, demons, gods,
86
Psychotherapists or the Clergy, Psychology and Religion, CW 11, par. 509.
87
C.G. Jung Speaking, p. 98.
88
Psychological Factors in Human Behaviour, The Structure and Dynamics of
the Psyche, CW 8, pars. 235ff.
89
See Memories, Dreams, Reflections, pp. 92ff.
95
96 The Religious Attitude and Soul-Making
goblins and horrors under the bed the attitude peculiar to a con-
sciousness which has been changed by experience of the numi-
nosum 90 which is to say, the unknown.
Thus someone in a conflict situation, he said, has to rely on
divine comfort and mediation . . . . an autonomous psychic happen-
ing, a hush that follows the storm, a reconciling light in the darkness
. . . secretly bringing order into the chaos of his soul.91
Although Jung often used the word soul in its traditional theo-
logical sense, he strictly limited its psychological meaning. By
soul, he writes, I understand a clearly demarcated functional
complex that can best be described as personality. 92 Thus soul-
making, in this secular sense, can be seen as a natural consequence
of differentiating and assimilating previously unconscious contents,
particularly shadow and anima/animus.
Personally, I experience soul when I stare at the wall in the still
of the night. Soul is there when I am in conflict with myself, when I
struggle for answers. Soul is what I am, as opposed to what I seem
to be. Soul is forged in the interactions between me and my inner
complexes (persona, shadow, anima, etc.), between me and my
outer companions (friends, family, colleagues), and I see abundant
evidence of it daily in my analytic practice.
At times of transition from one stage of life to another, tradi-
tional religious imagery often appears in dreams. A childless
woman in her forties dreams of baptizing her new-born. A man in
his fifties dreams of finding a long-lost baby boy under a pile of
rubble in the basement of a church. People dream of being priests
or nuns, of celebrating Mass, of family seders, of pilgrimages, of
mountainous journeys, fearful descents into black holes, wandering
in the desert. A shopping mall becomes a mosque. Shrines magi-
cally appear in parking lots. Virgin births and divine children
born walking and speaking are not rare.
90
Psychology and Religion, Psychology and Religion, CW 11, par. 9.
91
A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity, ibid., par. 260.
92
Definitions, Psychological Types, CW 6, par. 797.
The Religious Attitude and Soul-Making 97
The particular significance of such images is inextricably bound
up with the dreamer s personal history and associations, but beyond
that they seem to derive from a common bedrock, the archetypal
basis for all mythology and all religion the search for meaning.
Hence Jung writes that a neurosis must be understood, ultimately,
as the suffering of a soul which has not discovered its meaning. 93
Marie-Louise von Franz notes that Jung realized early in his life
that institutionalized religion could give him no answers. Instead,
he found the way to illumination in the depths of himself; thus:
The basis and substance of Jung s entire life and work do not lie in
the traditions and religions which have become contents of collec-
tive consciousness, but rather in that primordial experience which is
the source of these contents: the encounter of the single individual
with his own god or daimon, his struggle with the emotions, affects,
fantasies and creative inspirations and obstacles which come to light
from within.94
The religious attitude can hardly be pinned down in a sentence or
two, but it certainly involves acknowledging, and paying homage
to, something numinous, mysterious something far greater than
oneself. God? Nature? The Self? Take your pick.
Jungian analyst Lawrence Jaffe writes:
Jung says of his message that it sounds like religion, but is not. He
claims to be speaking as a philosopher, whereas on other occasions
he rejected even that designation, preferring to be considered an em-
pirical scientist. Consistently he rejected the idea that he was a reli-
gious leader understandable in view of the usual fate of founders
of new religions (like Christ): dismemberment and early death.
Jung s protestations notwithstanding, his psychology can be con-
sidered a kind of religion; not a traditional religion with an emphasis
on dogma, faith and ritual, to be sure, but a new kind a religion of
experience.95
93
Psychotherapists or the Clergy, Psychology and Religion, CW 11, par. 497.
94
C.G. Jung: His Myth in Our Time, pp. 13f.
95
Liberating the Heart: Spirituality and Jungian Psychology, p. 19.
98 The Religious Attitude and Soul-Making
Well, I can live with that, for when all is said and done, what is
the wellspring of religion if not humanity s age-old experience of
the gods? Nowadays we may call them archetypes or complexes,
but we might as well call them turnips. By any name they will al-
ways be essentially unknown. Jungian psychology locates these
gods inside instead of out, but the alchemists saw little differ-
ence, according to this ancient Hermetic ditty quoted more than [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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