Jung's equation of the ground of being with the ground of psyche.

Summary

The study discusses how Jung's psychology of ground relates to the alchemical process and divinity, suggesting that this understanding transcends monotheistic views. It highlights the monistic and pantheistic aspects of this experience, drawing on insights from Eckhart and Tillich. The authors argue for a new societal myth that recognizes the ground as the source of all divinities, which could help mitigate the dangers posed by monotheistic consciousness to human survival.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The paper amplifies Jung's psychology of ground associated with the culmination of the alchemical process in the unus mundus. It argues that Jung and Dorn identify the experience of the ground with the experience of divinity as the common originary source of individual and totality. It notes the monistic and pantheistic implications of the experience and goes on to amplify the experience through Eckhart's mediaeval mysticism of ground and Paul Tillich's modern philosophical/theological understanding of ground. It concludes that the Jung/Dorn psychological understanding of ground supersedes monotheistic consciousness. Their vision supports the emergence of a societal myth based on the identification of the ground as the source of all divinities and faith in them. This source currently urges a mythic consciousness that would surpass its past and current concretions and so alleviate the threat that monotheistic consciousness in any domain now poses to human survival.