Psychology of Religion
Carl Jung's religious beliefs were based largely on personal experience, inspite of his introduction to organized religion in his childhood.Therefore, when he offers an interpretation and analysis of his patient'sdream, Jung endows each symbol and fantasy with meaning. In his writing,Jung explains his perception of the collective unconscious as well as hisbelief in the meaningfulness of human imagination or fantasy. Jung noticesthat the doctor in the dream symbolized a god, a person endowed withsuperhuman characteristics. This causes Jung to speculate about thereligious instinct, or the "longing for god." Jung's rhetorical questionsin the excerpt from his book The Personal and the Collective Unconsciousspark a myriad of questions of my own regarding the nature of religion.While I have not had momentous dreams or strong religious beliefs, I dofeel that the instinct toward religion is a natural part of the human Jung states that he is convinced that
Even inWestern religious traditions, God is often thought of as a person, mostoften as a powerful male being. Perhaps God does not take on a human form. This passage brings tolight that each person seeks spiritual truth in his or her own way, andthat the unconscious mind can offer clues as to how an individual feelsabout religion. Jung does notdirectly address this issue in the passage. However, I do believe that the human longingto understand the universe is natural. Whether or not the patient's dream indicates a deeplonging for god I cannot say. To the patient, a doctor is a typeof god because he appears to be wiser and smarter than the patient, whocomes to him for help. This process of transference also stems fromthe unconscious; it is a powerful urge. This is entirely possible, since dreams arestill mysterious and misunderstood by scientists. Manycultures around the world have deities that have human forms. From this longing comes an instinctto create gods that may or may not be in the form of human beings. I have always thought that this tendency tocreate god in human form is a sort of transference; Jung merely introducedme to this formal word. In fact, when Jung callstransference "inappropriate love," he is in essence stating that this loveis illusory. The dream allowsthe patient to transfer his thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about thenature of god onto the doctor. On the other hand, the unconscious taps into primordial realitiesand perhaps spiritual truths by using a symbolic reality.
Common topics in this essay:
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Acceptance Essays
