Jung claimed that a spiritual life lies buried in the unconscious and could be dug up and brought before consciousness with therapeutic results. He used this method with individuals and felt the same method could be applied to societies. Thus Jung’s ideas, derived from his clinical setting, could be applied beyond the clinic to the world at large. Jung believed that rationality and hubris prevented many in the modern world from acknowledging the spiritual aspects of our lives, and repressing the spiritual (Jung) was as harmful as repressing the sexual (Freud). His psychology was the first in the modern era to insist on the importance of spirituality in mental health and as a key element in psychotherapy. What Jung argued seemed incredible at the time, when science was confident about its belief in a rational world, but as this confidence has waned, and researchers have discovered the importance of spirituality in healthcare, Jung’s ideas are becoming more accepted. This series of talks will explore the applications and ramifications of Jung’s psycho-spiritual theory.
Talk 1: 9th November
Jung, Spirituality and the Modern World
Jung had one eye on clinical matters and another on the world. He diagnosed early that modern humanity had a “spiritual problem”, and this had to be addressed by societies and nation states. If we did not address this problem, more people would feel disturbed, unsettled, and prone to subscribing to fanatical ideologies, which he thought were religious substitutes. As Jung grew older, his reflections turned more toward the world and the problem of meaning.
Talk 2: 16th November
The Hunger for Spiritual Experience
The modern soul wants to be moved and transported. It wants ecstasy; a word which derives from the Greek ekstasis, which means ‘to be or stand outside oneself, a removal to elsewhere’. In Greek philosophy, ecstasy means to be removed from our normal lives, our day-world identities, and return to the One from which all life originates.
Talk 3: 23rd November
Individuation as a Spiritual Journey
In this talk I want to explore the notion that what we refer to today as ‘spirituality’ is close to what Jung meant by the term ‘individuation’. This is debatable, but I believe it is worth considering. Spirituality is not what it used to be. It was once a flight from suffering and an escape from psychology, but it has changed its complexion.
Talk 4: 30th November
Spirituality and the Stages of Life
Jung’s theory of the archetypal life-cycle appropriates the Biblical mythology of a threefold experience: Innocence, Experience and Innocence Regained. Or: Garden of Eden, Paradise Lost, and the New Jerusalem. Jung quite deliberately bases his psychological theory on the mythology of the Jewish and Christian Testaments.
Talk 5: 7th December
Spiritual Connections with Tradition and Society
For Jung spirituality and religion cannot be separated, even though for us today, generations later, they seem distinct and often far removed. This shows how fast history moves, since there are many question marks over religion today, and the study of spirituality without religion is possible, but this was not the case in Jung’s time.
Talk 6: 14th December
Building the New Temple
Jung said all of us, in our spiritual work, are preparing the foundations for a new temple. He said people all over the world are building this temple. The temple we are building is the new religion and it will take six hundred years to develop. How did he know this? Jung said from his and other people’s dreams.