The Innate Capacity: Jung and the Mystical Imperative
The Innate Capacity December 4, 1997 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780195116977.003.0006 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Jung's conception of psychic maturation is intrinsically religious, with its foundational telos being a movement toward mystical consciousness, understood as the unification of individual energies and a sense of continuity with the totality. |
Abstract
Abstract JUNG’ s UNDERSTANDING OF the nature and dynamic of the psyche is intrinsically religious in that the encompassing process of psychic maturation it seeks to describe has as its foundational telos, or intentionality, a movement toward a state of consciousness that can, and perhaps must, be described as mystical. “Mystical consciousness,” in this context, is taken to mean the conscious experience, admitting various degrees of intensity, of the unification of the many energies of one’s individual humanity, simultaneously informed by the sense of one’s continuity with the totality and marked by the expanded empathy such continuity engenders.