From the numinous to the sacred.

Carl Jung adopted Rudolf Otto's concept of the 'numinous' from his book 'The Idea of the Holy' and made it central to his understanding of religion. However, Lucy Huskinson argues this involves a misreading of Otto: one must look beyond the numinous (the non-rational factor) toward the 'holy,' which, like a symbol, holds rational and non-rational aspects of religious experience together in a personally transformative way. Case material from intensive analytical psychotherapy supports this: a numinous experience was only the first step in a process that, through mourning, led to the patient's capacity to symbolize. The author suggests the sacred resides in a quality of symbolic relatedness to self and other, which may or may not involve numinous experience.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Jung took the idea of the 'numinous' from Rudolf Otto's book Das Heilige (E.T. The Idea of the Holy) and made it central to his understanding of religion. However, as Lucy Huskinson has recently pointed out, this involves a misreading of Otto's work in which we have to look beyond the numinous (which is the non-rational factor in religion) towards the 'holy' which, like a symbol, holds the rational and non-rational aspects of religious experience together in a personally transformative way. This understanding of the spiritual and psychological journey is supported by case material in which a numinous experience, arising in the context of intensive analytical psychotherapy, proved to be but the first step in a process which led, through a period of mourning, towards the development of the patient's capacity to symbolize. In the light of this, the author suggests that the sacred is to be found in the capacity for a certain quality of symbolic relatedness--to self and other--which may or may not be attended by numinous experience.