Jung and religion
Amy L. Cook
August 24, 2017 DOI: 10.4324/9781315563732-8 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Jung understood religious experience as a numinous encounter with humanity's archetypal foundations and held that such experience lifts individuals above personal problems. The author proposes that the goal of therapy is the provision of a religious experience and the restoration of "homo religiosis" to the center of the psyche. |
Abstract
Jung often stated that the first effort of therapy was to try and reconnect patients to their native religions, since many did not suffer from a sense of the impossibility of coping, but, rather, from a meaningless, barren quality of life. This chapter has as its focus Jung’s understanding of religious experience as a numinous experience of the archetypal and eternal foundations of humanity itself and his belief that it is this experience of the numinous that enables the individual to lift himself above personal problems. Such an understanding leading to the conclusion that we might reasonably suggest that the goal of therapy is the provision of a religious experience, a restoration of homo religiosis to its rightful place in the center of the psyche.