Mystical Moments and Unitive Thinking

Mystical Moments and Unitive Thinking PDF Author: Dan Merkur
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791440643
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book Here

Book Description
Merkur proposes an alternative to the traditional psychoanalytic explanation of mystical experiences as regression to the solipsism of earliest infancy. He does this by viewing unitive thinking as a line of cognitive development, and mystical moments as creative inspirations on unitive topics. Utilizing classical self-reports by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim mystics, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and modern Western peak experiences, Merkur argues that experiences of mystical union are manifestations of a broader category of psychological processes that manifest in scientific and moral thought, as well as in mysticism. Unconscious as well as conscious, unitive thinking is sometimes realistic and sometimes fantastic, in patterns that are consistent with cognitive development in general. Mystical moments of unitive thinking may be considered moments of creative inspiration that happen to make use of unitive ideas. Building on the psychoanalytic object-relations theory that the self is always in relationship with an object, Merkur argues that the solipsism of some varieties of mystical union always implies unconscious ideas of a love object who is transcendent.

Mystical Moments and Unitive Thinking

Mystical Moments and Unitive Thinking PDF Author: Dan Merkur
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791440643
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book Here

Book Description
Merkur proposes an alternative to the traditional psychoanalytic explanation of mystical experiences as regression to the solipsism of earliest infancy. He does this by viewing unitive thinking as a line of cognitive development, and mystical moments as creative inspirations on unitive topics. Utilizing classical self-reports by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim mystics, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and modern Western peak experiences, Merkur argues that experiences of mystical union are manifestations of a broader category of psychological processes that manifest in scientific and moral thought, as well as in mysticism. Unconscious as well as conscious, unitive thinking is sometimes realistic and sometimes fantastic, in patterns that are consistent with cognitive development in general. Mystical moments of unitive thinking may be considered moments of creative inspiration that happen to make use of unitive ideas. Building on the psychoanalytic object-relations theory that the self is always in relationship with an object, Merkur argues that the solipsism of some varieties of mystical union always implies unconscious ideas of a love object who is transcendent.

Mystical Moments and Unitive Thinking

Mystical Moments and Unitive Thinking PDF Author: Dan Merkur
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438412878
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book Here

Book Description
Merkur proposes an alternative to the traditional psychoanalytic explanation of mystical experiences as regression to the solipsism of earliest infancy. He does this by viewing unitive thinking as a line of cognitive development, and mystical moments as creative inspirations on unitive topics. Utilizing classical self-reports by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim mystics, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, and modern Western peak experiences, Merkur argues that experiences of mystical union are manifestations of a broader category of psychological processes that manifest in scientific and moral thought, as well as in mysticism. Unconscious as well as conscious, unitive thinking is sometimes realistic and sometimes fantastic, in patterns that are consistent with cognitive development in general. Mystical moments of unitive thinking may be considered moments of creative inspiration that happen to make use of unitive ideas. Building on the psychoanalytic object-relations theory that the self is always in relationship with an object, Merkur argues that the solipsism of some varieties of mystical union always implies unconscious ideas of a love object who is transcendent.

Seeking the Sacred with Psychoactive Substances

Seeking the Sacred with Psychoactive Substances PDF Author: J. Harold Ellens
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 681

Get Book Here

Book Description
Can drugs be used intelligently and responsibly to expand human consciousness and heighten spirituality? This two-volume work presents objective scientific information and personal stories aiming to answer the question. The first of its kind, this intriguing two-volume set objectively reports on and assesses this modern psycho-social movement in world culture: the constructive medical use of entheogens and related mind-altering substances. Covering the use of substances such as ayahuasca, cannabis, LSD, peyote, and psilocybin, the work seeks to illuminate the topic in a scholarly and scientific fashion so as to lift the typical division between those who are supporters of research and exploration of entheogens and those who are strongly opposed to any such experimentation altogether. The volumes address the history and use of mind-altering drugs in medical research and religious practice in the endeavor to expand and heighten spirituality and the sense of the divine, providing unbiased coverage of the relevant arguments and controversies regarding the subject matter. Chapters include examinations of how psychoactive agents are used to achieve altered states in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism as well as in the rituals of shamanism and other less widely known faiths. This highly readable work will appeal to everyone from high school students to seasoned professors, in both the secular world and in devoted church groups and religious colleges.

Watching and Praying

Watching and Praying PDF Author: Keith Haartman
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004493956
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 255

Get Book Here

Book Description
Using John Wesley’s sermons and treatises, and the autobiographical narratives of his followers, Watching and Praying gives a detailed examination of the contemplative techniques that comprised Wesley’s “method” and model of personality transformation. The first of its kind, the book employs a psychoanalytic perspective that explains both the effectiveness of the method and the emotional crises that arose at every turn. Haartman argues that Wesley’s view of spiritual growth – a series of developmental stages that culminated in “sanctification” – was legitimately therapeutic as measured by the standards of contemporary psychoanalysis. Wesley’s pastoral genius lay not only in his implicit grasp of the unconscious (e.g. repression, defense, sublimation), but also in his abiding appreciation of healthy ideals and their integrative power. Watching and Praying will appeal to psychoanalysts interested in the clinical facets of religious experience, to scholars in the field of psychology and religion, and to researchers in the area of personality change.

Integral Ecology

Integral Ecology PDF Author: Sean Esbjörn-Hargens
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1590304667
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 833

Get Book Here

Book Description
Dozens of real-life applications and examples of this framework currently in use are examined, including three in-depth cases studies: work with marine fisheries in Hawai'i, strategies of eco-activists to protect Canada's Great Bear Rainforest, and a study of community development in El Salvador. In addition, eighteen personal practices of transformation are provided for you to increase your own integral ecological awareness."--Jacket.

Jung’s Studies in Astrology

Jung’s Studies in Astrology PDF Author: Liz Greene
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351972863
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Get Book Here

Book Description
Winner of the IAJS award for best authored book of 2018! C. G. Jung had a profound interest in and involvement with astrology, which he made clear in virtually every volume of the Collected Works, as well as in many of his letters. This ancient symbolic system was of primary importance in his understanding of the nature of time, the archetypes, synchronicity, and human fate. Jung’s Studies in Astrology is an historical survey of his astrological work from the time he began to study the subject. It is based not only on his published writings, but also on the correspondence and documents found in his private archives, many of which have never previously seen the light of day. Liz Greene addresses with thoroughness and detailed scholarship the nature of Jung’s involvement with astrology: the ancient, medieval, and modern sources he drew on, the individuals from whom he learned, his ideas about how and why it worked, its religious and philosophical implications, and its applications in the treatment of his patients as well as in his own self-understanding. Greene clearly demonstrates that any serious effort to understand the development of Jung’s psychological theories, as well as the nature of his world-view, needs to involve a thorough exploration of his astrological work. This thorough investigation of a central theme in Jung’s work will appeal to analytical psychologists and Jungian psychotherapists, students and academics of Jungian and post-Jungian theory, the history of psychology, archetypal thought, mythology and folklore, the history of New Age movements, esotericism, and psychological astrology.

Sigmund Freud and Oskar Pfister on Religion

Sigmund Freud and Oskar Pfister on Religion PDF Author: Carlos Domínguez-Morano
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000914631
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book Here

Book Description
Sigmund Freud and Oskar Pfister on Religion examines the dialogue between psychoanalysis and religion through the encounters of two men: the "unfaithful Jew" who founded psychoanalysis, and a pastor of profound religious faith and proven psychoanalytic conviction. Carlos Domínguez-Morano analyses the original encounters between Freud and Pfister and their respective positions, noting the incidences, impasses and progress of their discussions. The complex interactions between psychoanalysis and religion over time are considered, and Domínguez-Morano assesses the fundamental parameters of each perspective, with reference to Catholicism. The book explores the relationship between psychoanalysis and religion as a rich, ongoing, and unending dialogue and sheds new light on the origins of psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud and Oskar Pfister on Religion will be of great interest to academics and scholars of psychoanalytic studies, religion, the history of psychology, and the history of ideas.

Shamanic Trance in Modern Kabbalah

Shamanic Trance in Modern Kabbalah PDF Author: Jonathan Garb
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226282066
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description
Bringing to light a hidden chapter in the history of modern Judaism, Shamanic Trance in Modern Kabbalah explores the shamanic dimensions of Jewish mysticism. Jonathan Garb integrates methods and models from the social sciences, comparative religion, and Jewish studies to offer a fresh view of the early modern kabbalists and their social and psychological contexts. Through close readings of numerous texts—some translated here for the first time—Garb draws a more complete picture of the kabbalists than previous depictions, revealing them to be as concerned with deeper states of consciousness as they were with study and ritual. Garb discovers that they developed physical and mental methods to induce trance states, visions of heavenly mountains, and transformations into animals or bodies of light. To gain a deeper understanding of the kabbalists’ shamanic practices, Garb compares their experiences with those of mystics from other traditions as well as with those recorded by psychologists such as Milton Erickson and Carl Jung. Finally, Garb examines the kabbalists’ relations with the wider Jewish community, uncovering the role of kabbalistic shamanism in the renewal of Jewish tradition as it contended with modernity.

Becoming Like a Child

Becoming Like a Child PDF Author: Jerome Berryman
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 0819233234
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book Here

Book Description
Berryman invites the reader into a creative process that explores what it means to be spiritually mature, starting with Jesus' injunction to "become like a child." What does this mean at the literal level? the figurative level? the mystical level? the ethical level? The structure of the process parallels the book's organization and the structure of Christian worship, as well as the arc of life itself. The steps on this journey begin when we enter, and the world of childlike maturity opens to us as we respond with inarticulate wonder and gratitude. This book, like The Spiritual Guidance of Children, is less academic and has broader scope than Children and the Theologians. Berryman includes stories and examples from his long career working with children, which adds warmth and appeal to the book. He has described this volume as his "summary, theological statement." Audience: Those interested in Berryman's work; the Godly Play community; those interested in personal spiritual growth; Christian educators; clergy; those interested in the spiritual

Unconscious Wisdom

Unconscious Wisdom PDF Author: Dan Merkur
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791449486
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 196

Get Book Here

Book Description
Contra both Freud and Jung, argues that the unconscious is not exclusively irrational.