Religious belief as a product of the human mind Carl Jung

1. Religious belief as a product of the human mindCarl Jung

2. Checking your mind maps# • https://youtu.be/AeftcdXPt_0 • https://my.dynamic-learning.co.uk/ViewPage.aspx?tid=9e063056-3738-4f7d-8e1a-ff5fa4c5e3f2&fn=dps0002-0003.swf

3. Summary of Jung’s ideas about religion • Religion was an expression of the collective unconscious - a natural process • The quest for integration/ individuation • The theory of archetypes • The god within

4. Jung – checking mind map on Jung Section 1 - background • An ex-pupil of Freud • Accepted that religion was a psychological phenomenon • However he was opposed to the idea that it was: • A neurosis caused by sexual trauma and, • a dangerous entity • that should be discarded and replaced by science

5. A healthy, well balanced person does not need religion. “Religion is an illusion, based upon emotional and psychological needs and desires.” “Religion maintains the balance of the mind. Religious images aid the process of individuation”. The removal of religion would lead to psychological problems.

6. Jung-the relevance of schizophrenia • He worked with patients who had schizophrenia • Unlike Freud he didn’t believe this disorder was a result of repressed sexuality • He agreed it was a neurosis but had no sexual component

7. How does this relate to religion? • Patients who suffer from schizophrenia were recognised as having similar disturbances of the mind, i.e. delusions, visions etc. • They can experience generic images • Which could be perceived as religious experiences i.e. visions etc.

8. Jung’s idea of the unconscious: • Disagreed with Freud’s idea that religion was the result of sexual trauma (oedipus..) • The libido, may cause neurosis although it is much more complex than mere sexual drive • Instead the libido is a source of psychic energy; if its flow was interrupted-this would result in neuroses

9. Page 19 The collective unconscious: • Jung proposes this is oldest part of the mind • It contains a kind of “blue print” for many of our ideas, perceptions and images • Each one of us is born with an ability to conceive similar and general images, they come to us in dreams and in their concept of God • So, God becomes an expression of the unconscious, or collective unconscious of the many • That’s why many of our perceptions about God are common amongst people

10. The personal unconscious: • This is similar (in a way) to Freud’s repression as this part of our unconscious mind contains our forgotten memories • Explain how it is similar to Freud’s idea.

11. Dreams • Create a list of dreams that you can remember. • Compare your list with your class • If there are any common features how would you explain them?

12. All humans share a common idea of God as it is part of the collective unconscious According to Jung’s concept of the mind, the fantasy of Miss Miller and the likeness drawn by religions between light and the deity come from the collective unconscious Her dream compared her desire for God with a moth’s desire for light Miss Miller’s dream Christians – Jesus is the light of the world Jung observed that the parallel between God and light can be found in many religious traditions Aztecs = light

13. Archetypes: • This is the part of the mind which actually creates primordial images, perceptions and conceptions • So-they are “image generators” • The mind contains structures based on our knowledge and experiences • From this, images are created-through archetypes • How have these ideas been misunderstood?

14. Jung identified important archetypes that many of us share: God, the self and the persona So God is an archetype

15. God as an archetype • Images of God are themselves archetypal, which means each one of us is born with a tendency to generate religious images of gods, angels and other religious icons • So our religious experiences come from our own experiences of the world • The Christian concept of God is a manifestation of our archetypal tendency to create an image of an all powerful, perfect being • In other words: God, is an inner psychological experience and, an expression of the collective unconscious

16. The persona: • Represents our “public face” or image • It is like a mask- in the sense that we often use our persona as a front to the outside world • This front could be a good impression of how we want to be viewed, or it could be a false impression when we need to be manipulative • It is even possible to mistake our persona for our “true self” • This can make us believe we really are what we pretend to be The Shadow

17. Animus and Anima

18. Individuation: (also referred to as integration) • Is where ALL the features of the personality need to be integrated • We need this for our psychological health • So, there needs to be a balance between the conscious mind and the unconscious • There also needs to be a balance between the different archetypes • The failure of this process causes mental disorders i.e. neurosis

19. Individuation continued It’s driven by the archetype of the self, where the self has the desire and need to become whole So individuation is- knowing our true inner self, that we are exactly how and who we want to be So: • individuation is like a religious process

20. Individuation cont.. • The self actually aids individuation, as it creates images of wholeness An example would be the religious image of God • Jung would suggest that the images created by the God archetype are the same as images created by the self archetype • So through religious images, worship and behaviour-personality achieves integration (that is, all aspects of our personality)

21. If a person rejects religion they also reject the process of individuation, so they are more likely to experience neurosis. It’s like they don’t become whole…? Hence Jung concludes, religion is a valuable entity Therefore, religion prevents neurosis through individuation, whereas Freud suggests, religion is a product of neurosis

22. Watch the video clipSea of faith documentary • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWB8Gx2j0R0 • Sea of Faith • List a difference between Freud and Jung • What did Jung believe the role of religion was? • What is a mandala? Documentary 2 Part 2 Why does Jung think ‘I don’t need to believe’

23. Knowledge check w/b 11 Dec • Think of fifteen key words associated with Jung’s theory Write on the white board Discuss an order • Create a class list

24. Jung DIL Test • What is the collective unconscious? • How do we know about the ideas in our collective unconscious? • What are archetypes? • What are archetypal images? • What scholar influenced Jung’s ideas about a priori categories in our minds? • Why did Jung think God was an archetype? • Why did Jung think experiences of the God archetype were religious experiences? • List four other archetypes. • What happens to humans in the first phased of the individuation process? • What happens in the second phase? • Why did Jung believe Mandalas were important?

25. For discussion • You are a movie exec. You want to produce a new movie and are approaching a number of script writers • Compose descriptions of the following characters that you want in your film

26. Summary activity on Jung In groups of 6/7 create a human psyche. What does the psyche contain? Conscious – ego Personal unconscious Collective unconscious – Archetypes – persona, shadow, anima/animus, self, God within Now create a poster to show Jung’s ideas about religion and the psyche. Then use the posters and key words list to plan the essay ‘Examine Jung’s ideas about religion.’

27. So how does it all link to religionThe God Archetype • At a deeper level in the unconscious than even ‘the self’ archetype • The core of all symbols and imagery of God in all the religions. • Cannot be known directly (none of the archetypes can)

28. Numinous – link to Otto/Religious Experience • In Psychology and Religion, Jung argued that ‘the numinosum is an experience of the subject independent of his will’ • Like Otto, he believed that religious experience is due to an external cause • Any experience that is archetypal can be classed as religious as it involves an invisible presence, independent of the subject’s will • Jung affirmed that God, along with images generated by the other archetypes, is ineffable, since He comes from a part of the mind about which nothing can be known

29. So is God real? • God stems from structural components of the psyche “We simply do not know the ultimate derivation of the archetype any more than we know the origin of the psyche. The competence of psychology as an empirical science only goes so far as to establish, on the basis of comparative research, whether for instance the imprint found in the psyche can or cannot be termed a ‘God-image’. Nothing positive or negative has thus been asserted about the possible existence of any God.”

30. Do you believe in God? • If he expressed a belief in something, he didn’t really ‘know’ it. • “Either I know a thing and then I don’t need to believe it because I am not sure that I know it. I am well satisfied with the fact that I know experiences which I cannot avoid calling numinous or divine.” • He didn’t believe in God, he knew him: but not as an external reality, rather a psychic truth.

31. The Problem with Triunes • In many religions and cultures God is a triune • Because the trinity is symbolic of aspects of the self it is a potent symbol of the unknowable contents of the collective unconscious. • However, without the fourth element, the Shadow (thus forming a quaternity) the human psyche cannot be considered ‘whole’. • Trinities according to Jung were incomplete quaternities.

32. TASK Consider ways in which Christians might react to Jung’s understanding of Christ. • Christ as a symbolic psychic reality of our unconscious but not an external reality? • God as a quaternity not a Trinity (because God must encompass the ‘shadow’ archtype to be complete in the human mind)? • The figure of Christ as a representation of the archetype of Self?

33. So how does this relate to psychological illness? • The key to Jung’s idea of psychological health was balance. If one archetype becomes dominant in the psyche, then the person suffers from neurosis, even schizophrenia. The journey to individuation requires making the archetypes conscious; or to put it another way, integrating the unconscious with the conscious mind... Individuation = The process of integrating the unconscious mind into the conscious mind, and bringing the archetypes into balance.

34. And how do we do that? • If dreams and daydreams (what Jung called visions) are interpreted correctly they show the archetypes to the conscious mind. • Also in our relationships with people in the world, we project, or as Jung put it, we actualise archetypal material, usually without realising it. • Certain events are archetypal such as birth, marriage and death. When the representation of the archetype is encountered in the external world, the archetype in the unconscious mind is activated, and can thereby be actualised (known consciously), leading to individuation. (So there are certain triggers/symbols in everyday life which can lead us to discover what is going on in our unconscious mind!) • And the key to individuation, according to Jung, is....

35. Religion • Religion is one of the best mechanisms by which individuation through the actualisation of the archetypes can take place. • For Jung the absence of religion was a very bad sign for psychological health.

36. What was Jung’s opinion of organised religion? (p111) • Symbols only work if they are dynamic (change with changing realities). • If people think that symbols are representations of outer reality (like the cross being a symbol for Jesus, the Son of God who actually lived on Earth), then the symbols lose their power. • Thus for Jung, much of organised religion had lost its meaning. The symbols had lost their power to actualise/know the God archetype latent in the Collective Unconscious. • The failure of organised religion was encapsulated for Jung in a dream in which God dumped a giant poo on Basel Cathedral! The meaning, he assumed obvious, that God despises organised, dead religion. • Jung didn’t believe in God. Instead he knew God: but not as an external object, rather as a psychic truth. So God was real to Jung but not as many other religious believers would understand.

37. Examine Jung’s ideas about religion. AO1 20 marks An outlining and discussion of C G Jung’s interpretation of religiousbelief may include, e.g.: • reference to Jung’s work with schizophrenic patients• an exploration of Jung’s views concerning religious belief,religion’s function in harmonising the psyche• reference to Jung’s views concerning the distinction between theconscious and unconscious mind and the creation of archetypes• an exploration of the archetypes of the persona and the shadowand their links to the concepts of evil/Satan – repressed aspect of psyche• reference to religious imagery as archetypical - universal• reference to the writings of Jung concerning religious belief –“Symbols of Transformation”, “Psychology and Religion”• an exploration of the process of individuation and the role religionplays in this process – Link to Otto• the benefits of religious belief and the potential harm caused bythe rejection of religion – neurosis. Religion can’t be replaced by science, need religious imagery• reference to Freud’s contrasting view of religious belief. [20]

38. Attitudes to Jung’s ideas – AO1Evaluating Jung – AO2 Supportive evidence including recognition of religion as a source of comfort and promotion of positive personal and social mind sets arising from religious belief. Challenges including lack of empirical evidence for Jungian concepts and reductionist views regarding religious belief arising from acceptance of Jung’s ideas. Archetypes Religious experience Reductionism Unscientific