Jungian Tibetan Buddhism/Native American Spirituality/ and .....

[AtLast]

Like many, several years of my life are filled with spiritual passages. I left Christianity and searched for what might fit for me and ended up with somewhat of a hodgepodge of religious and spiritual thought. As a psychotherapist, the work of theorists in the field studying both Jungian psychology along with Buddism has always fascinated me. Part of this is due to Jung developing his ideas from several disciplines including philosophy, religion, biology, zoology, medicine, anthropolgy and paleontology. Amazing for someone that advanced the study of the unconscious! Then, again, he and Freud as ethnocists (the term was coined by both along with their contemporaries which became European cultural anthropology.

The Jungian concepts of Anima and Animus come up during our discussions of gender as Jung's ideas about gender were not of the binary. Interesting, given the time era he lived in and all of the Freudian influences in his studies.

Now that we are able to read Jung's Red Book, how much he was influenced by Eastern philosophy and spirituality is evident. He wrote this after the big break from Freud, but it was never published until last year.

I am wondering if any other members want to engage in discussion about Jung and Buddism, other spiritual thought such as Native American beliefs?

Some titles that I find interesting are (all are available at amizon.com- there is even a contest to win a hardcover copy of his Red Book!)-


The Essence of Jung's Psychology and Tibetan Buddhism: Western and Eastern Paths to the Heart

Radmila Moacanin

Buddhism and Jungian Psychology by J. Marvin Spiegelman

Jung and Eastern Thought (Suny Series, Transpersonal & Humanistic Psychology) by Harold G. Coward

Jung and Eastern Thought: A Dialogue with the Orient by J. J. Clarke

A book going into Jung, psychotherapy and Native American thought is-

Dancing Between Two Worlds: Jung and the Native American Soul (Jung and Spirituality) [Paperback]
Fred R. Gustafson

On Hindu thought-

http://spirituality-sparks.com/2010/...ddhist-anatta/

Jung’s “Self,” Hindu Atman and Buddhist Anatta
Madhu B. Wangu

Please add to the list! Winter always brings out reading more than usual, so, anything offered to take a look at would be great! Lets just enjoy this- I have no intention of arguing about what anyone believes in terms of their spirituality- or lack of it.

[Nat]

I would LOVE to get my hands on Jung's Red Book - it sounds really neat.

I'm currently listening to back-episodes of jungian's podcast which I really get a lot out of. Up until the last few years, I'd been exposed a lot more to Freud's ideas (which I find pretty fascinating really), but Jung is really compelling to me on a different level. I really appreciate his ideas on the anima/animus and the conscious/unconscious and the idea of the shadow aspect and projection. Once I finish listening to the podcast, I'm going to go back and start reading more. Right now my reading time is devoted to, well, the internet, but also to working toward a future job change. Podcasts I can listen to on the job, so they've become my main source of info lately.

I also listen to Zencast pretty regularly, which I really do like.

Jung is pretty revered in the Pagan world as well.

[AtLast]

An article I came across had a few things about organized religion (especially related to many feelings I have about the right-wing Christian zealots today) that are interesting.

http://epages.wordpress.com/2009/04/...nswer-to-evil/


Couple of quotes from it-

Jungians tend to say that sanctimonious individuals and related organizations project their own dark impulses onto others instead of facing the evil within themselves.

Jungians also tend to imply that the spirituality of organized religion only goes as deep as the persona,³ where individuals play a superficial role of holiness for the sake of appearances and to feel good about themselves.

The article is among some relating to culture and Jung's use of universal symbology/ethnological concepts. LOL, I always get a Jung rush when I read Dan Brown!

[MasterWolf]

This thread title caught my eye because, as I try to describe to others my spiritual philosophies in concise fashion, I frequently use the same combination of words....chuckle

I'm currently refining a workshop I have given on archetypes and looking at them in slightly different application to how they come in to play as we respond to our world from various states of 'consciousness'. (some interesting ideas tucked away in some of David Hawkins work)

My MS is in Radical Psychology & I have spent the past 10 years or so exploring my spiritual path, adopting different 'tools' for my spiritual tool box, and recently have found myself pondering the question of what draws people to commit the time, money and energy to either a spiritual or religious path.

I started a discussion on facebook the other day after looking at some diagrams that were 'examples' of critical thinking models in a critical thinking text book. The two examples shown were the Fear Model, (though I would argue critical thinking is, by definition, impaired by fear), and the Christian Model.

The Christian Model stated that its 'purpose' was "to save my soul" and I was aghast and wondering just how many Christians would agree that was their primary purpose when they applied 'christian critical thinking' to create a life view for themselves. Didn't get many responses but the ones I did, publicly and privately, all said that was definitely in there in the top purposes....

Which makes me go...hmmm...how is that any different from the fear model because it is fear based....

Im rambling, I apologize. Its been a long week and I am recovering from surgery and a bit medicated.

in peace & leather

Wolf

[Passionaria]

Originally Posted by AtLastHome

An article I came across had a few things about organized religion (especially related to many feelings I have about the right-wing Christian zealots today) that are interesting.

http://epages.wordpress.com/2009/04/...nswer-to-evil/

This was a really interesting Article, AL Home (((HOMEY))). I am pretty sure that understanding my shadow side has been the theme of the past ten years of my life. And I can giggle over the fact that it is a subject that has gone from fear, to intrigue.

In my experience how we view our shadow self is cultural, as well as religion based. In some cultures the shadow self is common knowledge and rituals and teachings are handed down to integrate and understand both the dark and the light within us.

As an American and a Christian, I was taught to fear evil. Fear it to the point where I tried very hard to do only good, and could not bear to believe that evil was inside of me. And yet, darkness came looking for me anyway, shattering my world view, leaving me to dance with the Devil. (Metaphorical he, Devil, I just need to be able to visualize it to understand the experience.)It is too long of a story to bore you all with here but in short "he" used my own self righteous beliefs to mirror my darkness, and enjoyed watching my beliefs crack. He's really a bit comical, and holds his own compassion and wisdom. Coyote medicine, Elegua. And it was funny to see my own hypocrisy, all I could do is laugh and shake my head. Laugh at the audacity of my own belief system, telling me I was not subject to the laws of the universe. Humbling. Now it appears that good and evil are opposite ends of the same continuum. They can't exist without one another. That is what yin and yang are, opposites ends of a thread, the tension of opposites interacting that dances the universe alive. I think this experience in a way reflects what you quoted from the article.

"Jungians also tend to imply that the spirituality of organized religion only goes as deep as the persona,³ where individuals play a superficial role of holiness for the sake of appearances and to feel good about themselves. (or to alleviate their own fear)

What a gift to be freed from the fear of my own darkness, I can now find ways of honest expression, and see the darkness as a friend, rather than something to run from. One of the things I love about Taoism, is the acceptance of the nature of the Universe, without judgment. It just is.....yet I still crave to share kindness.

Pashi

[Sachita]

I am going to try to come back to this. What an interesting topic. Over 20 years ago I discovered Jung searching for a deeper meaning within the divine feminine. I spent a few months with a hardcore Jungian sitting around a table drinking bourbon and talking about Goddess being an archetype. I began collecting his work, isnt there like 26 volumes? and trying to absorb the complexity of thought. I had many "Ahhhh ha" (is that right? lol) moments.

That was all just one part of my journey. Combined were hindu and tao. But I did find the work on gender- Anima and Animus really fascinating.

I'm going to subscribe and follow. Great topic.

[MasterWolf]

I'm in the process of downloading what is supposed to be a pdf of the book. http://megaupload.com/?d=N7NLVXBE

I wont have time to open the file this afternoon, and I am hoping it includes the english translation...chuckle...

peace

Wolf

[Tess]

[QUOTE=Passionaria;237712][FONT=Palatino Linotype][SIZE=3][COLOR=Purple][I][B]

And it was funny to see my own hypocrisy, all I could do is laugh and shake my head. Laugh at the audacity of my own belief system, telling me I was not subject to the laws of the universe. Humbling. Now it appears that good and evil are opposite ends of the same continuum. They can't exist without one another. That is what yin and yang are, opposites ends of a thread, the tension of opposites interacting that dances the universe alive. I think this experience in a way reflects what you quoted from the article.



So well put!

I guess this is a discovery most of us share it's how we deal with it and learn from it that matters the jouney to the true self. Never ending always changing.