Religious belief as a product of the human mind Carl Jung Religion necessary for personal growth with reference to: collective unconscious; individuation; archetypes; the God within. 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.

Checking your mind maps https://youtu.be/AeftcdXPt_0

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

Jung –start 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

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

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.

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

Page 18 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

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.

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?

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

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?

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

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

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

Animus and Anima

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

Individuation cont.. 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

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)

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

Knowledge check Think of fifteen key words associated with Jung’s theory Write on the white board Discuss an order Write up in your notes Create a class list

Watch the video clip Sea 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’

Examine Jung’s ideas about religion. AO1 20 marks An outlining and discussion of C G Jung’s interpretation of religious belief 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 the conscious and unconscious mind and the creation of archetypes • an exploration of the archetypes of the persona and the shadow and 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 religion plays in this process – Link to Otto • the benefits of religious belief and the potential harm caused by the rejection of religion – neurosis. Religion can’t be replaced by science, need religious imagery • reference to Freud’s contrasting view of religious belief. [30]

Attitudes to Jung’s ideas – AO1 Evaluating 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

Jung 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 the God archetype was a religious experience? 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?