Supipi PereraJung, Religion and Modern Man
February 26th 2008 12:13
Throughout the ages, religion has been a constant idea within every society and civilisation (Freeman, 1964:1). Freeman (1964:22) suggests that religion in the biblical sense could be described as a relationship to God that gives rise to action and emotion, such as devotion and ritual. “Religion is here more than worship; it is the service of God, with one’s whole being throughout the entire course of one’s life.” (Freeman 1964:22) For Jung this statement could be considered somewhat true, because for him religion is a “peculiar condition of the mind” (Jung 1969:5), which he says is a constant process in one’s life that results in the construction of the whole being. However, unlike what Freeman implies, that is, religion being a service to God; Jung considers the service of religion as a service to oneself, the psyche, which Jung believes to be the “God within us” (Jung cited in Luther 1985:30).
According to Noll (1997:9), Jung in his prime was greatly influenced by the theologian and philosopher Schleiermacher. Schleiermacher (Noll 1997:9) suggested that religion was “…a spiritual movement that emphasised feeling, intuition, inwardness and a personal experience of God” (Noll 1997:9). As Noll (1997:23) suggests, even though spirituality seemed to be growing in popularity at the time when Jung was developing his concepts, there were many professionals and academics who sought to rebuke these arguments with a more rational and scientific explanation, an example of this being the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. Unable to accept Freud’s presumption that religion was reduced to the sexual theory (Noll 1997:53), and the connection Freud made with the belief in God and the father-complex (Palmer 1997:13), Jung decided to break away from these theories and find his own. Jung desired to explain the human experience, the numinosum, and the spiritual nature of people and so concluded that “religion can only be replaced by religion” (Jung cited in Noll 1997:53). Dunne (2000:3) suggests that Jung recognised that the human psyche was religious by nature and because of this Jung understood psychoanalysis as the religion of modern men (Noll 1997:66). For Jung, religion was found to be a significant need of the human psyche.
In his paper on Psychology and Religion, Jung suggests that “religion is incontestably one of the earliest and most universal activities of the human mind” (1969:1) Dunne (2000:152) indicates that Jung described religion as a defense against the religious experience, or what Jung (1969:7) calls the numinosum. The idea of the ‘mystical numinosum’ is understood by Jung as the impulsive thoughts of the mind, which come from the unconscious. Since Jung (1969:46) believes that the unconscious mind, like God is something that is unknown to people, religion is there to act as a barrier between the unconscious “perils of the soul” (1969:15) and the conscious part of the human mind. For Jung (1969:4) the existence of God is not a philosophical question, but something that can be understood by looking at the inner workings of the mind.
The numinosum as Jung suggests is:
A dynamic agency or effect not caused by an arbitrary act of will. On the contrary, it seizes and controls the human subject, who is always rather its victim than its creator… it is either a quality belonging to a visible object or the influence of an invisible presence that causes a peculiar alternation of the consciousness (1969:7).
According to Cambray and Carter (2004:205), Jung’s theory of the “God within” is derived from the understanding that the numinosum was similar to that of instincts, which like sexuality, aggression or hunger, were seen as omnipresent. The omnipresence of these thoughts and urges from the unconscious is then seen as transcendent and universal, depicting the characteristics of a higher power, or that of God. Therefore the ‘influence’ that Jung talks about when he describes the numinosum is then said to be the influence of the unconscious, which is the “God within”. Furthermore, Cambray and Carter (2004:205) imply that Jung considered religion to be an omnipresent function that paid attention to the “dynamic effect” caused by a numinosum, to serve as a mediator between the conscious and the unconscious.
Where as Freud defined the unconscious as something that was resultant of the conscious mind, Jung suggested that the conscious mind was due to the unconscious (Palmer 1997:95). Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious supports this point that the unconscious is something of a divine nature that gave way to the rise of the conscious mind (Jung 1969:345). This is because the collective unconscious holds symbols or what Jung calls archetypes that are constant and common to many different people all over the world. It is therefore the theory of the collective unconscious that gives credibility to the idea that the unconscious is transcendent and universal. Jung having studied so many cases where people exhibited the same dream symbols, allowed him to conclude that the factor which instigates these symbols, the unconscious, is the greatest power which is rightly called “God” (Gay 1984:87).
Since having a numinous experience is considered something that is psychical, religion as suggested by Palmer (1997:140) acts as a consequential process to the numinous experience. If as previously stated, the unconscious was something of great power, of Godly direction, Jung considered religion to be the natural occurrence in the mind to act as a defense to forces that were unknowingly present. In Jung’s words, religion behaved as “…spiritual safeguards and means of defense against the immediate experience of the forces waiting for liberation in the unconscious mind” (1969:59). Therefore Jung concluded that religion was a necessary component for the normal functioning of the mind, and an absence of it would imply that a neurosis was impending. For Jung this was evident in the patients he came across as he suggested that most of them fell ill due to a lack of spirituality, which was a symptom caused by the loss of meaning in the modern man’s life. (Cambray and Carter 2004:209)
Cambray and Carter (2004:208) supports the idea that Jung found that the modern man’s disposition to value science and reason over spirituality, was a primary cause for the religious function being disabled and producing a neurosis in the subject. They suggest that due to modernity: There are no unassailable spiritual facts, only theories, and every theory is open to doubt and revision. Thus modern people, it seems, are condemned to live a life of psychological poverty and partialness in the midst of material plenty, without the option of wholeness because the religious function has been disabled. (Cambray and Carter 2004:208)
With the adoption of science as the phenomena to explain everything, even the numinosum was reduced to brain chemistry and biological facts and figures and the idea of God and religious practices decreased in popularity and acceptance. Since Jung discovered that religion and religious practices were a way of finding meaning in regards to the workings of the mind (Cambray and Carter 2004:204), the psychoneurosis was deduced as a condition where the subject could not find a consistent meaning to their thought processes (Jung 1969:330). Since science did not consider the factors of the collective unconscious and the “God within”, the primary victims of a neurosis were that of intellectuals and modern men who had given up their dogmatic practices.
As the advancement of science continued and the loss of meaning due to science’s ability to reduce spirituality into theories progressed, Jung noticed that modern civilisation was regressing to that of an uncivilised state of being (1969:95).
It seems to me that, side by side with the decline of religious life, the neuroses grow noticeably more frequent. We are living undeniably in a period of the greatest restless, nervous tension, confusion and disorientation of outlook. (Jung 1969:336)
Jung explained that this was due to the modern man’s liberated unconscious. Since the religious function did not act as a defense anymore to the inner workings of the unconscious, darker aspects such as the shadow could reign freely and dominate the psyche in behaving in an ego driven way. What used to be the concept of the “God within” was now exchanged for the concept of man being God himself and Jung suggests that it is because of this egoism that there is dilemma among modern civilisations, which is characterised by the continuation of dissent and chaos in society.
He may not know, but he behaves as if his own individual life were God’s special will which must be fulfilled at all costs. This is the source of his egoism, which is one of the most tangible evils of the neurotic state. (Jung 1969:341)
The shadow is one of the dark aspects of the unconscious that religion seeks to govern and keep at bay. Without the function of religion in the modern man’s psyche, the shadow could be considered one of the main culprits that promote the onslaught of neuroses and also is perhaps one of the major causes for civil unrest and increasing tension in society. Jung (1969:60) suggests that not having religion to understand thought processes and what is present in the unconscious, the shadow is inadvertently projected upon the neighbour. Since the shadow consists of things that are repressed, like qualities that a person dislikes or doesn’t want to acknowledge about themselves (Dunne 2000:82), the projection of the shadow upon the neighbour, for example on a country different or unknown, creates civil tensions and the clash of modern civilisations with one another.
As nobody is capable of recognising where and how much he himself is possessed and unconscious, one simply projects one’s own condition upon the neighbour, and thus it becomes a scared duty to have the biggest guns and the most poisonous gas. (Jung 1969:60) Adorno (cited in Padgett & Allen 2003:35) supports this point as he suggests that “man imagines himself free from fear when there is no longer anything unknown” Since this is not the case, modern man battles the unknown through war and violence when the unknown is a race, or in regards to the shadow and the unconscious, battles the unknown with a neurosis (Jung 1969:345).
The unconscious is something to be aware of but Jung (1969:94) considers that even the shadow is not entirely evil and with the religious function in place, can be used to help in the process of self realization. The tarot deck which could be considered as another religious practice, uses many of Jung’s archetypes to define the card’s meaning for the purpose of self realization. Banzhaf (1995:49) with relation to the Aleister Crowley tarot deck and the Lovers card suggests that the Lovers card is symbolic of the anima and animus. If a person receives this card, it is considered to be a sign that the person should try and balance the anima and animus within their personality. The tarot card is more of a mystical apparatus to self realization than psychoanalysis but using Jung’s theory of synchronicity – where nothing is considered coincidental, or in other words is considered as a meaningful coincidence – tarot stands as basically another way that meaning can be obtained about the unconscious.
It is this, the principle of finding meaning about the unconscious that is the fundamental function of religion. As Cambray and Carter (2004:204) suggest, the religious function is present “wherever people make culture and try to find meaning.” Luther (1985:41) furthers this point as he states:
The shift of locus of meaning and order the social and traditional to the inner, personal, psychological sphere is the central conceptual leit-motif running throughout both Jung’s psychology and his theory of religion. (Luther 1985:41)
The neurosis of modern men is mainly due to the religious function not being present, because modern life as Noll (1997:171) suggests “created a crisis of meaning, a religious crisis that must be counteracted with religion”.
Whether it is the religious practices of Christians, Buddhists, or New Age mystics, meaning is what religion strives to achieve in order to understand the unconscious, which in a sense is to understand God. God is reduced to the mind and the Godly power is that of the unconscious which is universal and cannot be explained fully. In the words of Jung:
Nobody can know what the ultimate things are. We must, therefore, take them as we experience them. And if such experiences help to make your life healthier, more beautiful, more complete and more satisfactory to yourself and to those you love, you may safely say “this was the grace of God”. (Jung 1969:114)
References
Banzhaf 1995 The Crowley Tarot U.S Games Systems Inc, Stamford: USA
Cambray J & Carter L 2004 Analytical Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives in
Jungian Analysis, Brunner Routledge: East Sussex
Dunne C, 2000 Carl Jung: Wounded Healer of the Soul, Parabola books: New York
Freeman H.D, 1964 A Philosophical Study of Religion, The Craig Press: New Jersey
Gay V, 1984 Reading Jung: Science, Psychology and Religion, Scholars Press: California
Jung C.G, 1955 Synchronicity: An Acasual connecting principle, Routledge & Kegan Paul: London
Jung C.G, 1969 Psychology of Religion, Twentieth Printing: USA
Jung C.G 1969 The Collected Works of C.G Jung Vol. 11, Editors Read H, Fordham M, Adler G, Routledge & Kegan Paul: London
Luther H.M, 1985 Essays on Jung and the Study of Religion University Press of America Inc: USA
Noll R, 1997 The Aryan Christ: The Secret Life of Carl Jung, Random House: New York
Padgett, A & Allen, B (2003) 'Fear's Slave: The Mass Media and Islam After September 11' Media International Australia. n 109 November. pp pp.32-39.
Palmer M, 1997 Freud and Jung on Religion, Routledge: London
According to Noll (1997:9), Jung in his prime was greatly influenced by the theologian and philosopher Schleiermacher. Schleiermacher (Noll 1997:9) suggested that religion was “…a spiritual movement that emphasised feeling, intuition, inwardness and a personal experience of God” (Noll 1997:9). As Noll (1997:23) suggests, even though spirituality seemed to be growing in popularity at the time when Jung was developing his concepts, there were many professionals and academics who sought to rebuke these arguments with a more rational and scientific explanation, an example of this being the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. Unable to accept Freud’s presumption that religion was reduced to the sexual theory (Noll 1997:53), and the connection Freud made with the belief in God and the father-complex (Palmer 1997:13), Jung decided to break away from these theories and find his own. Jung desired to explain the human experience, the numinosum, and the spiritual nature of people and so concluded that “religion can only be replaced by religion” (Jung cited in Noll 1997:53). Dunne (2000:3) suggests that Jung recognised that the human psyche was religious by nature and because of this Jung understood psychoanalysis as the religion of modern men (Noll 1997:66). For Jung, religion was found to be a significant need of the human psyche.
In his paper on Psychology and Religion, Jung suggests that “religion is incontestably one of the earliest and most universal activities of the human mind” (1969:1) Dunne (2000:152) indicates that Jung described religion as a defense against the religious experience, or what Jung (1969:7) calls the numinosum. The idea of the ‘mystical numinosum’ is understood by Jung as the impulsive thoughts of the mind, which come from the unconscious. Since Jung (1969:46) believes that the unconscious mind, like God is something that is unknown to people, religion is there to act as a barrier between the unconscious “perils of the soul” (1969:15) and the conscious part of the human mind. For Jung (1969:4) the existence of God is not a philosophical question, but something that can be understood by looking at the inner workings of the mind.
The numinosum as Jung suggests is:
A dynamic agency or effect not caused by an arbitrary act of will. On the contrary, it seizes and controls the human subject, who is always rather its victim than its creator… it is either a quality belonging to a visible object or the influence of an invisible presence that causes a peculiar alternation of the consciousness (1969:7).
According to Cambray and Carter (2004:205), Jung’s theory of the “God within” is derived from the understanding that the numinosum was similar to that of instincts, which like sexuality, aggression or hunger, were seen as omnipresent. The omnipresence of these thoughts and urges from the unconscious is then seen as transcendent and universal, depicting the characteristics of a higher power, or that of God. Therefore the ‘influence’ that Jung talks about when he describes the numinosum is then said to be the influence of the unconscious, which is the “God within”. Furthermore, Cambray and Carter (2004:205) imply that Jung considered religion to be an omnipresent function that paid attention to the “dynamic effect” caused by a numinosum, to serve as a mediator between the conscious and the unconscious.
Where as Freud defined the unconscious as something that was resultant of the conscious mind, Jung suggested that the conscious mind was due to the unconscious (Palmer 1997:95). Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious supports this point that the unconscious is something of a divine nature that gave way to the rise of the conscious mind (Jung 1969:345). This is because the collective unconscious holds symbols or what Jung calls archetypes that are constant and common to many different people all over the world. It is therefore the theory of the collective unconscious that gives credibility to the idea that the unconscious is transcendent and universal. Jung having studied so many cases where people exhibited the same dream symbols, allowed him to conclude that the factor which instigates these symbols, the unconscious, is the greatest power which is rightly called “God” (Gay 1984:87).
Since having a numinous experience is considered something that is psychical, religion as suggested by Palmer (1997:140) acts as a consequential process to the numinous experience. If as previously stated, the unconscious was something of great power, of Godly direction, Jung considered religion to be the natural occurrence in the mind to act as a defense to forces that were unknowingly present. In Jung’s words, religion behaved as “…spiritual safeguards and means of defense against the immediate experience of the forces waiting for liberation in the unconscious mind” (1969:59). Therefore Jung concluded that religion was a necessary component for the normal functioning of the mind, and an absence of it would imply that a neurosis was impending. For Jung this was evident in the patients he came across as he suggested that most of them fell ill due to a lack of spirituality, which was a symptom caused by the loss of meaning in the modern man’s life. (Cambray and Carter 2004:209)
Cambray and Carter (2004:208) supports the idea that Jung found that the modern man’s disposition to value science and reason over spirituality, was a primary cause for the religious function being disabled and producing a neurosis in the subject. They suggest that due to modernity: There are no unassailable spiritual facts, only theories, and every theory is open to doubt and revision. Thus modern people, it seems, are condemned to live a life of psychological poverty and partialness in the midst of material plenty, without the option of wholeness because the religious function has been disabled. (Cambray and Carter 2004:208)
With the adoption of science as the phenomena to explain everything, even the numinosum was reduced to brain chemistry and biological facts and figures and the idea of God and religious practices decreased in popularity and acceptance. Since Jung discovered that religion and religious practices were a way of finding meaning in regards to the workings of the mind (Cambray and Carter 2004:204), the psychoneurosis was deduced as a condition where the subject could not find a consistent meaning to their thought processes (Jung 1969:330). Since science did not consider the factors of the collective unconscious and the “God within”, the primary victims of a neurosis were that of intellectuals and modern men who had given up their dogmatic practices.
As the advancement of science continued and the loss of meaning due to science’s ability to reduce spirituality into theories progressed, Jung noticed that modern civilisation was regressing to that of an uncivilised state of being (1969:95).
It seems to me that, side by side with the decline of religious life, the neuroses grow noticeably more frequent. We are living undeniably in a period of the greatest restless, nervous tension, confusion and disorientation of outlook. (Jung 1969:336)
Jung explained that this was due to the modern man’s liberated unconscious. Since the religious function did not act as a defense anymore to the inner workings of the unconscious, darker aspects such as the shadow could reign freely and dominate the psyche in behaving in an ego driven way. What used to be the concept of the “God within” was now exchanged for the concept of man being God himself and Jung suggests that it is because of this egoism that there is dilemma among modern civilisations, which is characterised by the continuation of dissent and chaos in society.
He may not know, but he behaves as if his own individual life were God’s special will which must be fulfilled at all costs. This is the source of his egoism, which is one of the most tangible evils of the neurotic state. (Jung 1969:341)
The shadow is one of the dark aspects of the unconscious that religion seeks to govern and keep at bay. Without the function of religion in the modern man’s psyche, the shadow could be considered one of the main culprits that promote the onslaught of neuroses and also is perhaps one of the major causes for civil unrest and increasing tension in society. Jung (1969:60) suggests that not having religion to understand thought processes and what is present in the unconscious, the shadow is inadvertently projected upon the neighbour. Since the shadow consists of things that are repressed, like qualities that a person dislikes or doesn’t want to acknowledge about themselves (Dunne 2000:82), the projection of the shadow upon the neighbour, for example on a country different or unknown, creates civil tensions and the clash of modern civilisations with one another.
As nobody is capable of recognising where and how much he himself is possessed and unconscious, one simply projects one’s own condition upon the neighbour, and thus it becomes a scared duty to have the biggest guns and the most poisonous gas. (Jung 1969:60) Adorno (cited in Padgett & Allen 2003:35) supports this point as he suggests that “man imagines himself free from fear when there is no longer anything unknown” Since this is not the case, modern man battles the unknown through war and violence when the unknown is a race, or in regards to the shadow and the unconscious, battles the unknown with a neurosis (Jung 1969:345).
The unconscious is something to be aware of but Jung (1969:94) considers that even the shadow is not entirely evil and with the religious function in place, can be used to help in the process of self realization. The tarot deck which could be considered as another religious practice, uses many of Jung’s archetypes to define the card’s meaning for the purpose of self realization. Banzhaf (1995:49) with relation to the Aleister Crowley tarot deck and the Lovers card suggests that the Lovers card is symbolic of the anima and animus. If a person receives this card, it is considered to be a sign that the person should try and balance the anima and animus within their personality. The tarot card is more of a mystical apparatus to self realization than psychoanalysis but using Jung’s theory of synchronicity – where nothing is considered coincidental, or in other words is considered as a meaningful coincidence – tarot stands as basically another way that meaning can be obtained about the unconscious.
It is this, the principle of finding meaning about the unconscious that is the fundamental function of religion. As Cambray and Carter (2004:204) suggest, the religious function is present “wherever people make culture and try to find meaning.” Luther (1985:41) furthers this point as he states:
The shift of locus of meaning and order the social and traditional to the inner, personal, psychological sphere is the central conceptual leit-motif running throughout both Jung’s psychology and his theory of religion. (Luther 1985:41)
The neurosis of modern men is mainly due to the religious function not being present, because modern life as Noll (1997:171) suggests “created a crisis of meaning, a religious crisis that must be counteracted with religion”.
Whether it is the religious practices of Christians, Buddhists, or New Age mystics, meaning is what religion strives to achieve in order to understand the unconscious, which in a sense is to understand God. God is reduced to the mind and the Godly power is that of the unconscious which is universal and cannot be explained fully. In the words of Jung:
Nobody can know what the ultimate things are. We must, therefore, take them as we experience them. And if such experiences help to make your life healthier, more beautiful, more complete and more satisfactory to yourself and to those you love, you may safely say “this was the grace of God”. (Jung 1969:114)
References
Banzhaf 1995 The Crowley Tarot U.S Games Systems Inc, Stamford: USA
Cambray J & Carter L 2004 Analytical Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives in
Jungian Analysis, Brunner Routledge: East Sussex
Dunne C, 2000 Carl Jung: Wounded Healer of the Soul, Parabola books: New York
Freeman H.D, 1964 A Philosophical Study of Religion, The Craig Press: New Jersey
Gay V, 1984 Reading Jung: Science, Psychology and Religion, Scholars Press: California
Jung C.G, 1955 Synchronicity: An Acasual connecting principle, Routledge & Kegan Paul: London
Jung C.G, 1969 Psychology of Religion, Twentieth Printing: USA
Jung C.G 1969 The Collected Works of C.G Jung Vol. 11, Editors Read H, Fordham M, Adler G, Routledge & Kegan Paul: London
Luther H.M, 1985 Essays on Jung and the Study of Religion University Press of America Inc: USA
Noll R, 1997 The Aryan Christ: The Secret Life of Carl Jung, Random House: New York
Padgett, A & Allen, B (2003) 'Fear's Slave: The Mass Media and Islam After September 11' Media International Australia. n 109 November. pp pp.32-39.
Palmer M, 1997 Freud and Jung on Religion, Routledge: London
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