1st Edition

Psyche and the Sacred Spirituality Beyond Religion

By Lionel Corbett Copyright 2020
    302 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    302 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book presents an approach to spirituality based on direct personal experience of the sacred. Using the language and insights of depth psychology, Corbett outlines the intimate relationship between spiritual experience and the psychology of the individual, unveiling the seamless continuity between the personal and transpersonal dimensions of the psyche. His discussion runs the gamut of spiritual concerns, from the problem of evil to the riddle of pain and suffering. Drawing upon his psychotherapeutic practice as well as on the experiences of characters from our religious heritage, Corbett explores the various portals through which the sacred presents itself to us: dreams, visions, nature, the body, relationships, psychopathology, and creative work. Referring extensively to Jung’s writings on religion, but also to contemporary psychoanalytic theory, Corbett gives form to the new spirituality that is emerging alongside the world’s great religious traditions. For those seeking alternative forms of spirituality beyond the Judeo-Christian tradition, this volume will be a useful guide on the journey.

    Acknowledgements;  Foreword;  Introduction;  Part 1: Meeting The Mystery: Developing a Personal Spirituality;  Chapter 1: The Numinosum: Direct Experience of the Sacred;  Chapter 2: The Reality of the Psyche: The Archetype as a Spiritual Principle;  Chapter 3: Personality, Psychopathology, and Personal Spirituality;  Part 2: Through Psyche's Lens: A Depth-Psychological Approach to Spiritual Questions;  Chapter 4: A Depth-Psychology View of Some Religious Ideas;  Chapter 5: A Depth Psychology of Evil;  Chapter 6: The Dark Side of the Self and the Trials of Job: Transformation of thw God-Image;  Chapter 7: A Sense of the Sacred: Spirituality Beyond Religion;  Notes;  Index

    Biography

    Lionel Corbett is a psychiatrist and Jungian analyst. He teaches depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, California.

    ‘In this timely book, Lionel Corbett explores some of the unexpected ways in which the numinous can reach and transform us from within – often in the very depths of our suffering – provided that we know how to listen. This is a book that provides a depth-psychological language for the sacred and a sacred language for the psyche. It helps us to speak about the Unspeakable, and in so doing, it gives us hope that the great mystery at the core of life might once again become a valid part of our story in the modern age. I highly recommend this wise and inspiring book.’ – Donald E. Kalsched, Ph.D., author of The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defences of the Personal Spirit

    ‘Corbett provides a clear and cogent path between the exhortations of fundamentalism and the shallow seductions of secularism to a personal recovery and immediacy of religious experience.’ – James Hollis, Ph.D., author of Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life

    ‘For those who are interested in novel manifestations of the numinous, this book will be a valuable resource.’ – Marian Woodman, author of Bone: Dying into Life