CARL GUSTAV JUNG’S THREE VIEWS OF RELIGION: RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM AND SYNCRETISM AND MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE OF GOD AND/OR THE SELF
Maja Mandić
Mostariensia July 13, 2023 DOI: 10.47960/2831-0322.2023.1.27.125 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mystical experience |
| Key points | Argues that Jung's three theses—religious symbolism, syncretic-eclectic view of religion, and mystical unity of Soul and God as core religiosity—are keys to his psychology of religion, and that Christian thought can accept them only partially due to doctrinal contradictions. |
Abstract
In this paper we elaborate on Jung’s three theses which we consider to be the main “keys” to the understanding of Jung’s psychology of religion: the symbolism of the religious, the syncretic-eclectic view of religion, and the thesis that the “mystical unity” of the Soul and the God is the core of any true religiosity. According to Jung’s teachings, the Self represents the wholeness of other fragments of the psyche (“ego”, “shadow” and “anima and/or animus”) – and it is the ultimate aim of the “individuation process”. The mystical (Numinous, Sacred) manifests and expresses itself through the “collective subconsciousness”, and through individual symbols and archetypes. According to Jung’s teaching, God manifests himself in many different languages – these “languages” (or ways of participation with Divine) all are equally valuable. One finds God and is connected with him inside himself, in the depths of his interior – such God is called by Jung “inner God”. Moreover, “experience of inner God” and “experience of the Self” (Self – as the inner wholeness assimilated with Absolute) – are equivalent experiences. Christian thought can accept Jungian concept of religiosity only partially, because some of Jung’s notions contradict the Christian doctrines.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mystical experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death | 1969 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Vectorial Cerebral Hemisphericity as Differential Sources for the Sensed Presence, Mystical Experiences and Religious Conversions | 1993 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The epistemic innocence of psychedelic states. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine | 1982 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |