ABSTRACT
In a scientific age, spirituality tends to be de-emphasized. However, we all develop whole person responses to the world into which we are born, which are a natural basis for spiritual life. Creation stories underpin worldviews and provide a symbolic cradle for members of a culture. The achievement of a sense of belonging may be nurtured by creation stories, although in the modern era we are confronted with a confusing array of such stories, often limited by rules of justification that may have restricted vitality or spontaneity, serving privileged individuals rather than communities. There are further reflections on the long conversation for the individual over his lifetime, in psychotherapy and elsewhere. Trauma in early life, its dissociative impact and its transformation are considered, with reference to the literary example of Jekyll and Hyde. Main themes of human conversation over the whole of its existence have included trauma, healing and love. Current responses to mental suffering and thoughts on the possibility of human civilization in the sense of a less violent and conflicted world, with an emphasis on the role of joyful dreaming, will bring the book to a speculative and hopeful close.
