ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter I presented a case for several propositions. These include the idea that suffering and joy are a part of the subjective experience of the attempt of the Self, or its archetypal components, to incarnate into a self. As well, such experiences, via the complexes which contain them, have an intrapsychic aspect (in the form of thought or imagery) and synchronistically an affective or bodily aspect. An image is the soul’s portrayal of the experience of the Self, which is synonymous with spirit. Spirit or Self gives rise to soul as it embodies-what was transpersonal becomes relatively personal. What we call ‘ego’ is that aspect of the soul which is self-reflexively conscious in the body. But this kind of formulation is of course far too removed from experience to be of much use to the suffering individual. The sufferer wants to know why he suffers, and this search for meaning is often the beginning of spiritual or psychological awakening. The eventual achievement of a sense that one’s suffering has meaning is an end point of the process of incarnation, and makes suffering more bearable. This goal may be achieved in as many ways as there are ways to gain wisdom, but here I want to focus on two particular types of search for such meaning; that which proceeds by means of adherence to a traditional theological system, and that which is gained in psychotherapy.
