Cure of souls
Dan Merkur, Jon Mills
May 12, 2017 DOI: 10.4324/9781315188539-2 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Jung integrated psychoanalysis with spirituality by treating ethics, aesthetics, and spirituality as part of normal psychology, adding numinous experiences to psychotherapy as a modern, would-be scientific cure of souls. The author contends that Jung psychologized the Christian procedure, replacing its traditional theological goal with his own psychotherapeutic one, and that the current Zeitgeist can learn from both Jung's successes and failures. |
Abstract
C. G. Jung pioneered the integration of psychoanalysis with spirituality, and the current Zeitgeist has much to learn from both his successes and his failures. In his view, the general field of normal psychology included ethics, aesthetics and, of keenest interest to himself, spirituality. Jung frequently remarked that Freud focused psychoanalysis exclusively on medical concerns, which is to say, on the theory and technique of what today is called symptom analysis. By "rational therapy", Jung referred to approaches, such as psychoanalysis and individual psychology that aspire to promote rationality through a reduction of irrationality. In adding numinous experiences to the armamentum of psychotherapy, he devised a modern, would-be scientific cure of souls. Jung&s;s treatment of secular and religious discourses as alternate ways to discuss single psychological phenomena was consistent with his overall program, which deployed religious experiences for therapeutic purposes. Jung psychologized the Christian procedure by replacing its traditional theological goal with his own psychotherapeutic one.