Madness, Religious Experience, and the Wisdom to Know the Difference

with Thomas Patrick Lavin, PhD

This diagram accompanies the lecture series

This episode is the first session of the series Madness, Religious Experience, and the Wisdom to Know the Difference. It was recorded in July 1993. From the series description:

In the history of humankind, there have always been seeming psychotic features accompanying authentic religious experience, and there have often been apparent religious images and/or identifications associated with psychotic disorders. In our transitioning and liminal culture, what Jung has called the “transcendent function” acts like a balancing pole for those of us who feel “called” to walk the tightrope between madness and religious ecstasy.

This course examines the work of C.G. Jung and others to help develop imaginal strainers to sift the sounds of the many voices which call to us. It explores our perceptions of the presence of the divine in madness and the madness in the divine.

Topics in this program include:

• Varieties of Religious Experience
• Varieties of Psychotic Experience
• Higher Powers and Deeper Powers: The Transcendent/Immanent Axis
• Feeding the Ego-Self Loop

Note: I am away from home through May 2021 so my microphone quality will be less optimal during this time. Thanks for your understanding!

Thomas Patrick Lavin, PhD is a Zürich-trained Jungian analyst who holds a PhD in clinical psychology and a PhD in theology. He was formerly chief clinical psychologist for the U.S. Army in Europe and is a founding member of the CG Jung Institute of Chicago. He is in private practice in Wilmette, Illinois, and consults internationally on typology, spirituality and addictions.

Links
The complete series
All of Dr. Lavin’s lectures in our online store
Tomas Patrick Lavin on Jungianthology
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© 1993 Thomas Patrick Lavin. This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may share it, but please do not change it, sell it, or transcribe it.
Executive Producer: Ben Law
Producer: Patricia Martin
Music: Michael Chapman

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