- # 2: Carl Jung on the
Assumption: It was in 1950,
that the famed Lutheran psychiatrist Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist,and an influential thinker, the founder of analytical psychology, remarked that the papal announcement of the Assumption of Mary, in 1950, was "the most important religious event since the Reformation." (Storr 1983 p. 324) It means that along with the glorified masculine body of Jesus in heaven there is also a glorified feminine body of his mother Mary.
According to Jung "bodily reception of the Virgin into heaven" (Ibid.) meant that "the heavenly bride was united with the bridegroom," (Ibid. p. 322) which union "signifies the hieros gamos"[the sacred marriage]. (Ibid.) Acknowledging that the Assumption "is vouched for neither in scripture nor in the tradition of the first five centuries of the Christian Church," Jung observes that: "The papal declaration made a reality of what had long been condoned. This irrevocable step beyond the confines of historical Christianity is the strongest proof of the autonomy of archetypal images." (Storr 1983 p. 297).
Jung remarks that “the Protestant standpoint . . . is obviously out of touch with the tremendous archetypal happenings in the psyche of the individual and the masses, and with the symbols which are intended to compensate the truly apocalyptic world situation today." (Ibid. pp. 322-323) Jung added: “Protestantism has obviously not given sufficient attention to the signs of the times which point to the equality of women. But this equality requires to be metaphysically anchored in the figure of a 'divine' woman. . . . The feminine, like the masculine, demands an equally personal representation
2 comments:
Msgr. Easton of the Nat'l Shrine of the Little Flower mentioned this posting at the noon mass for the Feast of the Assumption yesterday. I entered the Church at Easter Vigil 2009 (the Pauline Year) and have discovered subsequently a devotion to the Blessed Mother that surprised me. Jung has brought a powerful insight to why this is so. It is a completeness of faith that I never imagined as an Episcopalian. Thank you Sister Florence for posting this (and to Monsignor for bringing it to the attention of his parishoners).
Thank you Grahm Combs for your remarks.
Carl Jung's remark has always been a help to me too.
god be with you.
Sister florence
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