## notes - [[ten features of the spiritual adventure]] - [[{1.4a2a} the numinous is the archetype of divinity]] - [[{1.4a1a} religio is the careful accounting of one's experience|religio]] // [[{1.4a1} pistis is loyalty to your inner law|pistis]] ### research further - [ ] jung platonic months - [ ] ages of religion ## highlights >Jung felt that spirituality implied a loyalty to one’s own experience of “the undefined and indefinable.” … that which is beyond our capacity to nail down or define, that which, in its very nature, is undefined >Jung drew upon Joachim of Flores’ concept of the 3 ages of religion.[^49] The first was the Age of the Father, as depicted in the Old Testament. The second was the Age of the Son, which was the subject of the New Testatment … Joachim predicted a third age, the Age of the Holy Spirit, when people would no longer need organized religion, since each person would be guided by the Holy Spirit. > >Jung melded this idea with his notion of the Platonic months: the era of the Old Testament/God as Father suited the Age of Aries; the era of the New Testament/God as Son suited the Age of Pisces; and the coming era of the Holy Spirit would reflect the quality of the Age of Aquarius (“water-bearer” in Latin),[^50] when each individual would bear the “living water” [^51] of the Holy Spirit. >This was also a basic theme of Jung’s thinking, and of his spirituality: ==To set forth on the spiritual path was to look to one’s own inner guidance, to have loyalty to one’s own experiences, and, in particular, to experiences of the numinous.== >any experience of the numinous [is] subjective … There is no “right” or “wrong” here, no guilt or shame, no external judge criticizing or condemning, no dogmas or creeds to which one must adhere to belong. There is no “belong:” the spiritual life exists *extra ecclesiam*. >Being subjective, such inner work is “liable to error.” [^70] Humility is essential for the spiritual adventure. This is no place for “cosmic vanity,” [^71] the all-too-common “ontological arrogance” [^72] that claims to be the only right way. >This process required *religio*, which Jung defined as taking “careful account” [^73] of one’s personal experience, and such careful accounting implies *pistis*, “… or loyalty to \[one’s\] experience, to enable \[one\] to hang on to it and continue it.” … “Fidelity to the law of one’s own being is a trust in this law, a loyal perseverance and confident hope” >The spiritual journey calls the sojourner to trust in his/her inner guidance so as to formulate a life, and make choices that align with his/her unique personality and life purpose. >“… personality can never develop unless the individual chooses his own way, consciously and with moral deliberation. Not only the causal motive—necessity—but conscious moral decision must lend its strength to the process of building the personality….. But a man can make a moral decision to go his own way only if he holds that way to be the best. … The fact that the conventions always flourish in one form or another only proves that the vast majority of mankind do not choose their own way, but convention, and consequently develop not themselves but a method and a collective mode of life at the cost of their own wholeness.” >Being true to one’s unique personality means understanding the teleological nature of human existence: According to Jung (who borrowed this idea from Aristotle), each person has a *telos*, an innate end or goal that his/her soul strives to achieve.[^82] If we act in alignment with our soul, we work toward completeness, not perfection,[^83] but a form of wholeness that is aligned with our unique being. In this work, this striving, we experience a *metanoia,* a change of consciousness.[^84] We become more self-aware, and more Self aware, and this makes life meaningful and rich. >Becoming aware of the Self, the reality of our inner divinity, is what Jung meant by “the exposure of human consciousness to the undefined and undefinable,…” … so as to create more consciousness, to become co-creators with the Divine, to savor the adventure