Jung and the Numinous: Art, Science and Psyche

Only in our creative acts do we step forth into the light and see ourselves whole and complete. Never shall we put any face on the world other than our own, and we have to do this precisely in order to find ourselves. For higher than science or art as an end itself stands man, the creator of his instruments. (CW 8, para. 737)

Carl Jung thought that the rich, numinous inner-world of the unconscious and the more scientific, rational world of consciousness were bound inextricably together. Echoing this insight, the creative work of individuation challenges us to understand the myriad ways in which we unconsciously reshape the external psychological world into replicas of our inner unconscious selves. While such topographic distortions are an inevitable part of life, Jung also exhorts us to become increasingly aware of the relationship that exists between the inner and outer worlds themselves. In so doing, we come to understand and embody these complexities. Of course, this is not an easy task. To achieve such insight requires personal perspicacity and considerable effort. As he comments:

This is an important warning for us globally. We live at a time when intolerance and fanaticism are on the rise. It is a period of global instability both politically and ecologically. Art, science, and numinosity all have the capacity to illuminate or darken. Sometimes it feels almost impossible to live with such pressures; outside of our personal control, they nonetheless bear down on us. Yet Jung, rather more reassuringly notes, “In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order” (CW 9i, para. 66). How then are we to discover this secret order that is so well hidden in the cultural chaos of daily life? Jung finds the answer in our creative spirit—in psyche. Creativity, in its broadest sense, spans the arts and sciences. Creative insights in science are crucial. Equally, the arts have always relied on the sciences, never more so than in our digital age. In an enantiodromaic move, we can see these two orientations as entangled and not as separate worldviews.
Only in our creative acts do we step forth into the light and see ourselves whole and complete. Never shall we put any face on the world other than our own, and we have to do this precisely in order to find ourselves. For higher than science or art as an end itself
stands man, the creator of his instruments. (CW 8, para. 737) It is significant that Jung draws on nature, habit, prejudice, and population as factors in considering human psychology. What he appears to suggest is the primacy of human nature in the process of individuation—an idea that has recently come under some challenge from eco-psychology’s exhortation to be more fully in relationship with the non-human world.

Perhaps a consideration of the following questions might elicit a way forward:
• What does a psychological perspective illuminate about our current cultural and scientific problems?
• How can we creatively hold cultural and scientific tensions?
• How do scientific and cultural engagements assist to raise consciousness?
• How do the archetypal and the numinous help in understanding our social and scientific
condition?

The theme of this year’s conference is an implicit call to reflect on the role of science, art, and spirituality, across and between an array of disciplines. The conference in its scholarly engagement and artistic practice, through the energy of dialogue/dialectic (not debate) and the
thoughtfulness of meditative reflection, provides a space to hold and understand the diverse creative energies in our lives and cultures.