Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@jeremy6d
Created December 29, 2017 17:06
Show Gist options
  • Star 0 You must be signed in to star a gist
  • Fork 0 You must be signed in to fork a gist
  • Save jeremy6d/ab4d2259fab0e3814f574bac573015d9 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save jeremy6d/ab4d2259fab0e3814f574bac573015d9 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Carl Jung, The Undiscovered Self; Page 64

The religious person enjoys a great advantage when it comes to answering the crucial question that hangs over our time like a threat: he has a clear idea of the way his subjective existence is grounded in his relation to “God”. I put the word “God” in quotes in order to indicate that we are dealing with an anthropomorphic idea whose dynamism and symbolism are filtered through the medium of the unconscious psyche. Anyone who wants to can at least draw near to the source of such experiences, no matter whether he believes in God or not. Without this approach it is only in rare cases that we witness those miraculous conversions of which Paul’s Damascus experience is the prototype. That religious experiences exist no longer needs proof. But it will always remain doubtful whether what metaphysics and theology call God and the gods is the real ground of these experiences. The question is idle, actually, and answers itself by reason of the subjectively overwhelming numinosity of the experience. Anyone who has had it is seized by it and therefore not in a position to indulge in fruitless metaphysical or epistemological speculations. Absolute certainty brings its own evidence and has no need of anthropomorphic proofs.

[Carl Jung, The Undiscovered Self; Page 64.]

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment