{"id":7246,"date":"2014-04-03T20:36:46","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T00:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gornahoor.net\/?p=7246"},"modified":"2014-04-03T20:36:46","modified_gmt":"2014-04-04T00:36:46","slug":"spiritual-pilgrims-carl-jung-and-teresa-of-avila","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=7246","title":{"rendered":"Spiritual Pilgrims: Carl Jung and Teresa of Avila"},"content":{"rendered":"

Father John Welch is a member of the Carmelite Order and a Jungian who has lectured and written extensively on the meaning and practice of St. Teresa d’Avila<\/strong>\u2019s Interior Castle<\/em> in tandem with Jungian psychology, especially where it concerns the process of Individuation.\u00a0 Father Welch\u2019s lectures and writings serve equally as a primer to both subjects, or fresh, insightful reviews, for those already familiar with the territory.\u00a0 In various contemporary \u201ctraditional\u201d writings and circles, both \u201cmysticism\u201d and Jungianism \u00a0have often gotten short-shrift, or been subject to certain austere, and or carte blanche criticisms\u2014thus the work of Father Welch serves to help counter balance these equations.<\/p>\n

In Meditations on the Tarot<\/em>, Tomberg\u00a0 raises a few points worth considering in the above context:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The objective of this work is a \u201cfusion\u201d of types of knowledge.\u00a0 Hermetism seeks a resolution of the \u201coppositions\u201d between spirituality and intellectualism, toward an agreeable \u201cparallelism\u201d, and lastly a \u201cfusion\u201d.\u00a0 This fusion Tomberg equates with the \u201cPhilosopher\u2019s Stone\u201d, and \u201cOperation of the Sun and the Moon\u201d (Meditation on The Fool).<\/li>\n
  2. That the work of Carl Jung constitutes a branch of such \u201cfusion\u201d in the domain of psychological and behavior sciences, Tomberg adds
    \n

    \nNeither Vladimir Solovyov<\/strong>, nor Nicholas Berdyaev<\/strong> nor Pierre Teilhard de Chardin<\/strong>, nor Carl Gustav Jung<\/strong>, for example were declared Hermeticists, but how much they have contributed to the progress of the work in question!\u00a0 Christian existentialism (Berdyaev), Christian Gnosis (Solovyov), Christian evolutionism (Chardin), and depth psychology of revelation (Jung) are, in fact, as many inestimable contributions to the cause of the union of spirituality and intellectuality (Meditation on The Fool).\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \u00a0 In the specifically religious domain, Tomberg finds this type of fusion present where prayer and meditation coexist as method, or exercise.\u00a0 He offers as examples St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross in Carmelitism, St. Boneventura and the Franciscans, and St. Ignatius Loyola and the Jesuit Order (Meditation on The Fool).<\/li>\n

  3. That the beginning task of the spiritual aspirant, the \u201cinitiate\u201d need attend to, by whatever other name one wants to describe it, what Jung dubbed \u201cindividuation\u201d.\u00a0 Tomberg explains that this individuation is the \u201charmonization\u201d of the consciousness and unconsciousness\u2014this has also been referred to in the Hermetic literature as the \u201cchemical wedding\u201d, preceding the \u201cmystical wedding\u201d\u2014in St. Teresa, as we will see, the individuation stage occurs throughout several \u201crooms\u201d, and culminates in \u201cbetrothal\u201d; whereas the seventh and final \u201croom\u201d corresponds to the \u201cmystical marriage\u201d.\u00a0 In Tomberg, St. Teresa and Jung, the common result of this phase of development is the birth of a new \u201cSelf\u201d which becomes the center of the being.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Architecture of The Interior Castle<\/em><\/h2>\n

    St. Teresa depicts seven \u201crooms\u201d in her castle, through which the athlete experiences differing intensities and effects of prayer, as well as numerous spiritual and external life challenges.\u00a0 Those familiar with Sufism might detect similarities between the castle chambers, with the Sufistic \u201cstations\u201d and their associated \u201cstates\u201d.\u00a0 In any event, the challenges of St. Teresa\u2019s path toward Union also evidence again, that unlike the shallow, \u201cfluffy bunny\u201d, \u201clet\u2019s all think positive and attract good vibes from the universe\u201d, pop-spirituality, here in the presence of an experienced heavy weight champion, we are taught that traveling the path may often exasperate internal and external difficulties, long before remedying such.\u00a0 In certain rooms, Teresa makes no bones about pointing out that one might feel alienated from both God and man, isolated, depressed, and longing for death.\u00a0 This too is the message of Jung concerning individuation, which he suggests is one of the most painful processes a human might undergo\u2014and which is also why he avers, many adults quite simply abandon the process early on in their adult lives, never \u201cgrowing\u201d much beyond who they were in their twenties\/early thirties.\u00a0 \u00a0Keeping this last point in mind, when out in public next time, try unobtrusively observing and listening to strangers noting their age groups\u2014this makes for an interesting thought experiment in itself.<\/p>\n

    Now despite the use of \u201cseven\u201d concrete rooms, one ought regard these as a matter of literary convenience, as the actual \u201cnumber\u201d of rooms is indefinite.\u00a0 Perhaps while considering the Gospel saying that \u201cIn my Father\u2019s house there are many mansions\u201d, St. Teresa noted that the castle is arranged in concentric rings, with each main room, in fact enveloping numerous sub-rooms, reminiscent of a palm frond as she described them\u2014or maybe in these days we could call to mind imagery of fractals or Manderblots:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Room one is straight forward enough.\u00a0 The individual meets the most basic religious requirements\u2014they \u201cpray\u201d, but their prayer is on the cold side.\u00a0 In terms of lifestyle, they are preoccupied with most everything external as their priorities\u2014in fact, although \u201creligious\u201d, they have little awareness of, or interest in anything \u201cinternal\u201d.\u00a0 This room is crawling with \u201creptiles\u201d and vermin\u2014a menagerie of Jungian \u201cshadow\u201d symbols.\n<\/li>\n
    2. The second room is reached when the person begins to have an inkling that their life has a purpose, call, or \u201cvocation\u201d, and proper discernment means developing a more intimate exchange with God.\u00a0 In prayer life, the person is becoming warmer, and they are exploring a bit more of scripture, liturgy, and charitable works.\n<\/li>\n
    3. This third room is particularly interesting, because it characterizes much of the \u201cexoterism\u201d of our times.\u00a0 But, the good news first.\u00a0 In the third room, the individual is living a \u201cwell ordered life\u201d.\u00a0 They are \u201cmature\u201d in their familial, social, professional, and religious lives\u2014they basically have mastered the \u201cletter of the law\u201d, and conduct themselves accordingly\u2014\u201cgood Christians\u201d, and what would be considered secularly as \u201cupstanding citizens\u201d.\u00a0 Teresa explains though, that remaining too long in this station of sincere, but exclusively outward prayer results in spiritual stasis, and dryness.\u00a0 In a Jungian context, this station might roughly run from a person\u2019s mid-twenties to mid-thrities; while necessary, useful, and inherently positive, we might observe that when becoming irrevocably habitual, not only seizes up the growth process, but generates what might be seen as a \u201cbourgeois\u201d moralizing, and at the worse, a burgeoning fundamentalism closing itself off from the \u201cspirit of the law\u201d.\n<\/li>\n
    4. Our fourth room is of great importance, as it establishes a division of the rooms into two groups, two broad hemispheres, representing the phases of individuation, with this fourth as \u201ctransition\u201d.\u00a0 From a Jungian perspective, the individuation process can be divided into two distinct phases:\n
        \n
      1. The first half of life (approaching ages 35-40), marked by personality growth, and adaptation to the external environment, \u201cthe world\u201d.<\/li>\n
      2. Second \u201chalf\u201d of life (beyond ages 35), and relating to the interior world.\u00a0 It should be noted that these \u201cages\u201d are relatively relative, as Jung observed that some teen-aged patients had already embarked along the second half; while many adults well into advanced age had never even begun such as stage.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Ideally, the second phase produces an \u201cequilibrium\u201d between consciousness, and the unconscious poles within the psyche; the arrival at individuation, is the arrival at the \u201cSelf\u201d.\u00a0 Not for nothing then, did Teresa explain that while self-knowledge is unnecessary to obtain salvation, pursuit of increasingly more profound self-knowledge develops and promotes union with God.\u00a0 Thus, we are reminded of something Guenon and others have mentioned:\u00a0 exotericism, and the fulfillment of the rites of a religion, are available to all (the masses) to obtain salvation; while, others upon accomplishing this task, might seek \u201cmore\u201d, an esoterism, attempting to move the Self into the occupation of the higher states.<\/p>\n

        Father Welch has then approached the rooms of the Interior Castle as spiritual pilgrimage, as well as equally corresponding to the individuation phases, where rooms 1-3 correspond to Jungian phase I, rooms 5-7 Jungian phase II, and room 4, as transition pivot.\u00a0 Both Teresa and Jung agree that room 4, or the transition between phases I. and II. is a particularly difficult and trying station.\u00a0 In Hermetic language, this room\/station reminds us of the \u201cmastery of the four elements\u201d, or the \u201ctrials of the Sphinx\u201d.\u00a0 In this room, opposite pairs from within the four \u201cfunctional types\u201d (thinking, feeling, intuiting, sensing) emerge to hopefully enter equilibrium.\u00a0 A recently published book attributed to Franz Bardon<\/strong>, entitled The Universal Master Key<\/em> examines these functions or properties of the elements in the soul, from a Hermetic angle, with advice on developing them in harmony, and worth exploring in room four.<\/p>\n

        As pertains to prayer, Teresa\u2019s fourth room inaugurates the \u201cfusion\u201d or \u201charmonization\u201d of outward prayer, and inner contemplation; it recalls what Tomberg mentioned above concerning intellectuality and spirituality.<\/p>\n

        5, 6, 7. Likely as one would anticipate then, the fifth, sixth, and seventh rooms, are \u201chot\u201d, individuation has reached an apex, and the spiritual life is characterized increasingly by states of Divine Union\u2014the influence of the merciful descent of Grace tends to take greater precedence though than individual actions or \u201cexercises\u201d (though these are not dispensed with).<\/p>\n

        In his meditation on \u201cThe Pope\u201d, Tomberg discusses the meaning of \u201cbenediction\u201d, what is also called \u201cbarakah\u201d in other traditions, and assigned the nomenclature of \u201cspiritual respiration\u201d in Tomberg.\u00a0 It involves another \u00a0type of \u201charmonizing\u201d; Tomberg\u2019s imagery uses the left and right columns of the Kabbalistic Tree, the Boaz and Jachin pillars\u2014more to the point, the upward ascent of prayer, followed by descent of benediction\u2014never forgetting the critical matter, that this descent is a gift of mercy\u2014not a product of a mechanical and \u201cscientific\u201d operation of \u201carbitrary magic\u201d.\u00a0 Two scriptural verses and a liturgical example help illustrate these principles:<\/p>\n

        \u201cMany are called, but few are chosen\u201d\u00a0 Matthew 22:14<\/p>\n

        \u201cLet my prayer ascend to you like incense, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice\u201d Psalm 141:2<\/p>\n

        And, the Epiclesis of the Mass\/Divine Liturgy.<\/p>\n

        St. Teresa\u2019s language regarding the sixth room involves betrothal, and the seventh the \u201cSpiritual Marriage\u201d, the reaching of the central room of the castle.\u00a0 For Jung, the center of the \u201cmandala\u201d has been reached; the whole Self attained.\u00a0 \u201cHorizontally\u201d the athlete, working in accord with the external law weds and makes whole the psyche mostly through their own efforts, energies, and disciplines, and a new \u201ccenter\u201d takes over.\u00a0 \u201cVertically\u201d, and more so through the grace of benediction, the harmonized soul might ascend to enter the bridal chamber of Spirit.<\/p>\n

        \u201cAnd I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me\u201d John 12:23<\/p>\n

        \n

        Notes:<\/p>\n

        Jung, Carl<\/strong>, \u201cMemories, Dreams, and Reflections\u201d, \u201cUndiscovered Self\u201d.<\/p>\n

        Teresa of Avila<\/strong>, \u201cThe Interior Castle\u201d.\u00a0 Online pdf at www.saintsbooks.net<\/a><\/p>\n

        Tomberg, Valentin<\/strong>, \u201cMeditations on the Tarot\u201d.<\/p>\n

        Welch, John<\/strong>, \u201cSpiritual Pilgrims: Carl Jung and Teresa of Avila\u201d.\u00a0 Video lecture \u201cThe Interior Castle of Teresa Avila: A Map of our Spiritual Journey\u201d, youtube.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Father John Welch is a member of the Carmelite Order and a Jungian who has lectured and written extensively on the meaning and practice of St. Teresa d’Avila\u2019s Interior Castle in tandem with Jungian psychology, especially where it concerns the process of Individuation.\u00a0 Father Welch\u2019s lectures and writings serve equally … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[374],"tags":[217,1045],"class_list":["post-7246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spirituality-2","tag-carl-jung","tag-teresa-of-avila"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}