ritual, symbols, & the sacred
"The broken symbols of the sacred are not replaced by a vacuum but by psychological illness. The sacred forces that are no longer upheld by culture become expressed in the body-psyche as symptoms, illnesses and complexes. The 'gods' remain with us insofar as sacred energies constitute our being. We either live with them as forces that inspire and lead the way to transformation, or we live against them, in which case they become psychological afflications that undermine and destroy.
We need a new convenant with sacred forces, but how can we achieve this while the spirit is so intensely activated and disturbed?
The problem is that we are still ignorant of the violence done to the sacred field. How can we know of this violence if we think the sacred is an illusion of our own making? In ancient Greek terms, our failure has been hubris, that is, the inflation of the human at the expense of the gods. Greek tragedy constantly expresses the problems of hubris, but due to our lack of imagination and symbolic awareness we are unable to relate this condition to ourselves. Jung sees the modern psyche as a raging torrent, unruly with anger and wrath.
The modern encounter with the divine is highly problematical. We do not enter a cosmic seas which is steady, calm and supportive, as the New Age spiritual movement supposes, with its images of tranquility and peacefulness. We set forth on seas that are stormy and rough, and which are destined to overturn simple vessels that are not built for turbulent conditions."
- David Tacey, The Darkening Spirit, p. 17-18
We need a new convenant with sacred forces, but how can we achieve this while the spirit is so intensely activated and disturbed?
The problem is that we are still ignorant of the violence done to the sacred field. How can we know of this violence if we think the sacred is an illusion of our own making? In ancient Greek terms, our failure has been hubris, that is, the inflation of the human at the expense of the gods. Greek tragedy constantly expresses the problems of hubris, but due to our lack of imagination and symbolic awareness we are unable to relate this condition to ourselves. Jung sees the modern psyche as a raging torrent, unruly with anger and wrath.
The modern encounter with the divine is highly problematical. We do not enter a cosmic seas which is steady, calm and supportive, as the New Age spiritual movement supposes, with its images of tranquility and peacefulness. We set forth on seas that are stormy and rough, and which are destined to overturn simple vessels that are not built for turbulent conditions."
- David Tacey, The Darkening Spirit, p. 17-18