ABSTRACT

From the psychological perspective, any religious tradition reveals a particular image of the Self, and there are many such images. Religious traditions are also based on particular experiences of the objective psyche, which have become clothed in particular images and concepts in order that the personal psyche may relate to them. In his writing on religion, Jung’s approach is to expose the archetypal themes which underlie the teaching of particular traditions. We tend to associate many traditional notions, such as those of redemption and salvation, with the long-formalized structures of established religions. But these ideas are universal in their applicability and importance when removed of any particular bias and seen simply as important intrapsychic motifs. Themes such as those of redemption and salvation have persisted precisely because they are of archetypal significance; they make a structural difference within the psychology of the individual. If their mediation to the individual is not restricted to any prescribed format, many people will be seen to participate in archetypal experiences that would otherwise be the proprietary claim of one church. For example, the concept of the sacrament is that of a sign, or channel, allowing an inner experience of the sacred, or of divine grace, clearly something of great importance. But for many people the traditional Christian sacraments, such as the eucharist, no longer perform their historical role in mediating the experience of the sacred. Some people experience the divine in different ways, and for them different sacraments are needed. For example, now that we recognize that the incarnation of the divine is a phenomenon that is more widespread than was formerly thought, any form of such incarnation, such as the human body or the body of the earth, may become sacramental.