Spiritual Rebirth

This article analyses the 1936 ‘‘Wotan’’ essay by Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung in light of one of its reigning motifs, Ergriffenheit. First, this term is examined within the works of Protestant theologian Rudolf Otto and Indologist Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, who used it to describe what they claimed to be the original religious experience, a state of being deeply stirred or even seized by the ‘‘the holy’’ or by ‘‘the ultimate reality.’’ The article then examines antecedents in Jung’s theory of states of psychic seizure, in which two halves of the psyche come into conflict, the resolution of which leads to an increased capacity
to create the arts of culture. The analysis then moves to the ‘‘Wotan’’ essay itself, where Jung brings together his own theory of psychic seizure with the theory of the original religious experience as proposed by the above-named scholars of religion in order to suggest that, under National Socialism, the Germans were in the midst of a collective confrontation with their own inner divinity, which should lead to a national spiritual rebirth. The article then investigates the works of several of themen Jung mentions in the essay, as well as his use of ancient Germanic mythology, to support his claim. Through his portrait
of the Germanic archetype Wotan, Jung psychologizes and thereby essentializes the Romantic image of the Germans as ‘‘a people of poets and philosophers’’ as well as that of a Nietzschean ‘‘master-race.’’ In conclusion, the article argues that, at least in 1936, Jung’s attitude towards Hitler and National Socialism was much more favorable than has previously been recognized.
PLEASE NOTE: This article has been exapnded and revised as chapter 6 of my book, "Jung's Wandering Archetype: Race and Religion in Analytical Psychology".

Speaking in tongues as portrayed in Acts 2, 10, and 19 has always been a sensitive issue, even outside the context of salvation. A widespread claim is that today's glossolalia is a counterfeit of the gift of speaking in other languages. The article defends the authenticity of the biblical phenomenon and concludes that tongues evidence spiritual rebirth.

Humanity is on the threshold of recognizing the fundamental error in its view of life and death. Both death as well as active life is necessary to the vital formation of a larger, more essential whole. In this paper, I apply the sociology of knowledge and change as it pertains to death and focus on ways in which we can step outside its traditional frameworks and limitations. I also discuss topics related to death such as birth, aging, sickness, and war, and examine cultural differences in attitudes toward death. I offer varying perspectives including the Buddhist view and from these draw implications and conclusions. I apply the lenses of contemporary social scientists such as Edgar Morin, Kenneth Gergen, Edward Stewart, Milton Bennett, Mary Catherine Bateson, E. Doyle McCarthy, Philip Slater, and Piotr Sztompka. To these I add other relevant passages from the writings and speeches of key thinkers on the topic of death, in particular, Buddhist philosopher, peacebuilder, and educator, Daisaku Ikeda. To construct a more humanistic and sustainable view of life, it is first of all crucial to establish a culture which perceives death in its larger living context as but one cycle in the expansive eternity of life.

The earliest expressions of Irish identity are found in the letters of Patrick and Columbanus. They both saw a deep significance in the conversion of the Irish to Christianity: it was the realisation of the Christian oikoumenē and, for Columbanus, affirmation of the universal extent of Rome's authority. This contrasts sharply with the representation of the Irish in Cummian's Easter letter and in Bede's reporting of the synod of Whitby in the Historia Ecclesiastica. Both writers drew on the conventional descriptions of the heterodox, on constructions of Judaism and on rhetorical geography to show that the far-flung islands of Ireland and Britain were also far removed from the apostolic norms defined and maintained at Rome. Universality and unity were the defining characteristics of orthodoxy; the particularism of the Irish and British in the celebration of Easter therefore threatened their place as members of the universal church.

This article analyses the 1936 “Wotan” essay by Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung in light of one of its reigning motifs, Ergriffenheit. First, this term is examined within the works of Protestant theologian Rudolf Otto and Indologist Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, who used it to describe what they claimed to be the original religious experience, a state of being deeply stirred or even seized by the “the holy” or by “the ultimate reality.” The article then examines antecedents in Jung’s theory of states of psychic seizure, in which two halves of the psyche come into conflict, the resolution of which leads to an increased capacity to create the arts of culture. The analysis then moves to the “Wotan” essay itself, where Jung brings together his own theory of psychic seizure with the theory of the original religious experience as proposed by the above-named scholars of religion in order to suggest that, under National Socialism, the Germans are in the midst of a collective confrontation with t...