A wealthy American sits in Carl Jung’s office in Zurich, months into treatment, and he has just started drinking again. What Jung told him that day became part of the story of Alcoholics Anonymous, and it says something every Christian needs to hear about thirst.
In the first episode of the Foundations series of The Christian Jung, Angela Meer begins ten weeks on the foundations of Christian contemplation and what Carl Jung’s psychology can teach us about the soul. She starts with the word numinous, coined by the German theologian Rudolf Otto in 1917 for the awe-filled, holy otherness of God, and she shows how Jung borrowed it to describe the way people meet the holy in dreams, visions, and ordinary life. She tells the story of Rowland Hazard, Ebby Thacher, and Bill Wilson, and of the 1961 letter in which Jung named the cure in three Latin words: spiritus contra spiritum, Spirit against spirits.
Angela grounds the episode in Scripture: Jacob waking at Bethel in awe, Jesus offering living water to the woman at the well, His declaration that God is spirit and seeks those who worship in spirit and truth, Daniel’s vision of the Ancient of Days, and the invitation of Psalm 46 to be still and know. She shares a dream in which she met God as the Ancient of Days, and the night she spent afterward not analyzing it, only receiving the awe.
The episode teaches three movements from mental assent into encounter: truth is held, not traded; thirst is a signpost, not a sin; and encounter needs a container. It closes by praying the Jesus Prayer together, followed by Augustine’s prayer from the Confessions to the Beauty of ancient days.
Find this week’s free article and the paid companion with the full guided practice of the Jesus Prayer on Substack by searching The Christian Jung, and find the free weekly letter at angelameer.com.
Awaken holy wonder.
Show notes:
Scripture referenced (World English Bible): Genesis 28:16-17; John 4:13-14; John 4:23-24; Daniel 7:9; Daniel 7:15; Psalm 46:10; Luke 18:13; Luke 18:38.
Key terms: Numinous (Rudolf Otto’s 1917 term for the awe-filled, holy otherness of God, from the Latin numen). Mysterium tremendum et fascinans (Otto’s phrase for a mystery that makes us tremble and draws us in). Spiritus contra spiritum (Jung’s phrase in his January 30, 1961 letter to Bill Wilson: the Spirit against the spirits of addiction). The Jesus Prayer (an ancient prayer of the Desert Fathers and Mothers: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me).
Prayer: Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, Book X (translated by E. B. Pusey).
Heal Deeply. Walk Holy.
Keywords (12): numinous encounter with God, Rudolf Otto numinous, spiritus contra spiritum, Carl Jung and AA, Rowland Hazard Jung, woman at the well John 4, God is Spirit, Ancient of Days dream, Augustine Confessions prayer, holy awe and wonder, contemplative prayer podcast, Jungian psychology and faith
Tags (7): Christianity, contemplative prayer, Jungian psychology, Christian podcast, spiritual formation, mysticism, prayer
Links (copy-paste ready):
Substack article: https://angelameer007.substack.com/p/3d524d25-1e01-482d-8cb0-0940d6a58bd2
Website: https://www.AngelaMeer.com
