Some Implications of Jung's Understanding of Mysticism
John Patrick Dourley
Toronto Journal of Theology March 1, 1990 DOI: 10.3138/tjt.6.1.15 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Argues that Jung treated religious experience and mystical imagery as externalizations of the psyche's archetypal depths, which humanity universally shares. Jung framed this as a 'demonstration of the psychic origin of religious experience,' and his fascination with mystics of many traditions reflected his view that their experiences were immediate, intense encounters with the psyche's religious depths. |
Abstract
For Carl Jung, the imagery depicting religious experience represented a valued extemalization of the deepest energies and structures of the psyche, energies and structures in which humanity universally participates. In reference to what he considered to be his discovery of the psyche as author of religious experience, Jung refers to his ‘demonstration of the psychic origin of religious experience.’ In continuity with his understanding of the intra-psychic origin of religion, his fascination with mystics of many traditions was grounded on his conviction that their experience and imagery were immediate and particularly intense experiences of the archetypal, and thus religious, depths of the psyche itself.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |