Healing Without Medicine by Albert Amao

Author:Albert Amao
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quest Books

Chapter 16

Carl Gustav Jung

Doctor of the Soul

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of analytical psychology, also known as Jungian psychology. Although the roots of what has come to be called depth psychology can be traced to the Nancy school of hypnosis and to Thompson Jay Hudson, the theoretical contributions of Freud and Jung have been influential as well. Jung and James went further, as they took psychology into the realm of metaphysics and religion. One of Jung’s major contributions is that he demonstrated the mythic foundations of our daily life.

There are similarities between Carl Jung and William James. In addition to their interest in the paranormal, mind healing, mysticism, and religious experiences, both were spiritually independent and did not attend organized religious ceremonies. They respected all religions and considered them important mechanisms for the functioning and well-being of societies. James was convinced of the existence of authentic religious experiences, while Jung proclaimed that the human psyche is “by nature religious.” Both Jung and James studied the major religions of humankind. They are sometimes now characterized as transpersonal psychologists, as they incorporated spirituality and religious experiences into their psychological perspectives. Interestingly, both Jung’s and James’s fathers were deeply interested in the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg.

Jung was raised in an environment conducive to the study of occult matters. He had psychic abilities since early childhood—he played with imaginary friends and had visions and psychic experiences that were unusual for children of his age. Jung’s father was a minister; his mother had an interest in the paranormal and encouraged him to pursue his studies in the occult. Jung’s cousin, Helene Preiswerk, was a medium in séances attended by his family.1 His interest in the occult is evidenced in his doctoral dissertation, On the Psychology and Pathology of So-Called Occult Phenomena, which discusses Preiswerk’s séances.

Jung was a rather solitary child; starting with his first year at the gymnasium in Basel, Switzerland, he was the object of harassment by his classmates. To avoid going to school, he used sickness as an excuse; as a result he remained at home for six months, until he overheard his father speaking worriedly to a visitor about his future and his ability to support himself.2 At this point he understood that he would need to have a good education to earn his way in life. Jung initially thought of studying archeology, but changed his mind and opted to study medicine at the University of Basel.

Jung defined himself as an empiricist. His mission in life was to understand how the human psyche works, and to do that he explored the symbology of dreams, folklore, alchemy, mythology, religion, and philosophy. Jung can be seen as the psychologist who inspired much of the New Age: he coined many now-familiar terms, including archetypes, the collective unconscious, introvert and extravert, and synchronicity. These terms are frequently used in almost every current book on Tarot, astrology, alchemy, and esoteric psychology.

It is said that Jung did not have plans to pursue psychiatry as a profession because it did not have a good reputation at the time.

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