A Strange Fire: an exploration of psycho‐spiritual development aided by Jungian analysis and Vedanta

This paper explores the process of psychological and spiritual development through a series of active imaginations arising from the author's ‘psycho‐spiritual quest’, a process of transformation in which the individual progressively frees themselves from the ego's identifications and may be afforded a vision of the ‘self as consciousness’, as described by Vedanta. The author describes how this quest was facilitated by the disciplines of Transcendental Meditation, Jungian analysis and Vedanta, and how these three disciplines can work together to foster psycho‐spiritual development. The paper aims to de‐mystify the actual experiences that can accompany these practices. The records of these active imaginations, tracing some key stages in this process, are then presented, with a commentary by Marcus West, linking them to Jung's concepts of ego and Self and recent understandings of consciousness and ego development. There is a discussion of Jung's conceptualizations of the ego and the Self and his rejection of the Vedantic understanding of the Self as consciousness. These views are then explored and a reconciliation is suggested through the understanding of the process of disidentification where the difference between Jung's view of the Self and that of Vedanta is understood to be due to the extent of disidentification from the contents of consciousness.     

Psychological individuation and spiritual enlightenment: some comparisons and points of contact

In his writings on individuation Jung often references Eastern religions and philosophies such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism. This essay discusses differences and similarities between analytical psychology's concept of individuation, especially in its advanced stages, and enlightenment as expressed in such texts as Zen (Chan) Buddhism's Ten Ox‐Herding Pictures. I advance the argument that important common features can be found while cultural differences must also be respected. There is here a convergence between West and East that can foster dialogue and mutuality.