Approaching the Numinous

In this episode:
We pick up on the previous episode’s exploration of the idea of the numinous and consider its effect on our psychological and spiritual health.

Let's make this a conversation:
Do you have a comment or  question about this episode, or about something you would like me to address in a future episode? Please contact me on Facebook (facebook.com/jungiananalyst) or Twitter (@Jason_E_Smith).

For more on living a symbolic life:
Please check out my book, Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life, available from Chiron Publications.

Sources for quotes and more:

1. "You are quite right, the main interest of my work is not concerned with the treatment of neuroses but rather with the approach to the numinous...." ~ C.G. Jung in 'Selected Letters.'
2.  Episode 22: The Idea of the Holy
3.  Episode 13: Living An Authentic Life
4. “Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.” ~ C.G. Jung in 'C.G. Jung Speaking.'
5. “In the last resort it is highly improbable that there could ever be a therapy that got rid of all difficulties. Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health." ~ C.G. Jung in The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche from 'Collected Works, vol. 8.'
6. “I want to know if you are prepared to live in the world with its harsh need to change you.” ~ David Whyte in Self-Portrait from 'Fire in the Earth.'
7. "Meaninglessness inhibits fullness of life and is therefore equivalent to illness.  Meaning makes a great many things endurable -- perhaps everything." ~ C.G. Jung in 'Memories, Dreams, Reflections.' 
8. “In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.” ~ C.G. Jung in The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious in 'Collected Works, vol. 9i.'
9.  Story of the Bronze Serpent from Numbers 21:4-9 (New Revised Standard Edition)
10. “In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.” ~ Victor Frankl in 'Man's Search for Meaning.'
11. “[Art] transmutes our personal destiny into the destiny of mankind, and evokes in us all those beneficent forces that ever and anon have enabled humanity to find a refuge from every peril and to outlive the longest night.” ~ C.G. Jung in On the Relation of Analytical Psychology to Poetry from 'Collected Works, vol. 15.'

Music:
"Dreaming Days," "Slow Vibing," and "The Return" by Ketsa are licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0