unconscious paved the way to religion which had been forgotten in the historical
process of modernization. At a first glance, medical psychology seems to have nothing
to do with religion. But at its depth it provides a new, though at the same time
primordial, perspective on what should be the subject matter of religion. It is both a
criticism and an approval of religion. It is in and through the soul that problems of
the world reveal themselves as world problems. The psyche is in no way merely one
of the parts of the world, but, to say it again with Aristotle, all the world.
In various passages Jung speaks of esse in anima, that is, ‘being-in-the-soul’. He
might be referring to Heidegger’s key-concept of being-in-the-world. In any case, it
is interesting to compare these concepts with each other. While the former is
associated with the concept of introversion as a central attitude toward life, especially
in the second half of life, the latter indicates the limitation of previous philosophies
based upon subjectivism which fail to grasp man’s unique mode of being, i.e. openness
to the world. Being-in-the-soul and being-in-the-world then seem to be in opposition
to each other.
Thinking further, however, especially in reference to the concrete problems
confronting both patients and physicians in psychotherapy, it becomes clear that they
are only different aspects of one and the same phenomenon of human existence.
I have already pointed out that psychology consists in self-reflection. Yet, it is not
self-evident that the psyche reflects upon itself. Rather, it can usually be described as
pre-reflective in the sense that it takes almost everything for granted. To use a
Husserlian term, it represents the natural attitude which constitutes the world of
everyday life.
What causes the psyche to reflect on itself, or what causes the psyche to experience
itself in its own being, is some event in the world that questions its natural or
pre-reflective attitude. It interrupts the natural stream of consciousness. This is what
we usually call a problem. It affects the core of the person in question. All that the
person has hitherto taken for granted suddenly proves to be uncertain. The world
shows him or her a different face from before.
But it is when that person himself or herself asks why it is so and what it means
that the functioning of his or her own psyche becomes apparent to him or her. Only
then does the psyche come to reflect on itself. It has been, so to speak, in a state of
slumber. It is the occurrence of a problem that awakens and activates it. Though
experienced as if coming from the outside, it does, yet, not deny inwardness as one
of the essential aspects of the psyche. The psyche knows that the problem which
alarms it is the meaningful manifestation of its own dynamism. In principle, between
the psyche and the world there is a dialectic or hermeneutically circulatory
relationship. Every problem that occurs in the world can make the psyche
self-reflective. And in this self-reflection the world as a whole becomes a problem.
Psychotherapy and religionThe subject matter of psychotherapy is usually described as personal problems. Its
importance has been recognized only in the private sphere, not in the public. The
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