"Berdyaev attempts to development of Christian symbols that is parallel to Jung's in order to give a place to human freedom and creativity in this sphere of Christian spirituality. Much of the creative self-expression, which ought to have been given a spiritual-religious meaning, had to emigrate out of the domain of ecclesiastic Christianity into the secular sphere, even though it had its origin within it. Both of these elements which Jung and Berdyaev address, that of soul and that of human freedom and creative self-expression, could not be fully accommodated within traditional Christianity and as a consequence found a home in the "pagan" rebellion since the Renaissance and its progressive push towards secularization. The spirituality that had initially been shaped by ecclesiastic Christianity has burst its container and has in turn given shape to the underlying meaning-structures of modern secular society. Jung and Berdyaev share an awareness of these underlying historical dynamics. We have learned and are still learning very bitter lessons about the link between claims of absolute truth and violence. For good reasons contemporary thinkers are more or less unanimous in their suspicion towards all "meta-narratives" which end up justifying the violation of individual freedoms. Any return to a serious consideration of spirituality will have to remain mindful of this persistent danger. Jung's psychology offers an abundant wealth of insights about the need for remaining consistently mindful of the ways in which the shadow operates most forcefully where the light shines most strongly. But a convincing argument could be made for claiming that at present we are paying the price for the repression of religion and spirituality that occurred as a reaction to their destructive sides. In the absence of a spiritual culture the return of repressed spirituality takes destructive forms. Spirituality, by being repressed, does not disappear but mutates into more atavistic forms. This shadow side of spirituality should not make us shy away from it but on the contrary motivate us to find a way to give it a new place in our contemporary culture, a way which does not jettison the liberating games of secular modernity."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Georg Nicolaus, in C.G. Jung and Nikolai Berdyaev: Individuation and the Person (2011), Introduction, p. 6
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikolai_Berdyaev
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Nikolai Berdyaev
Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev [Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Бердя́ев] (18 March 1874 {O.S. 6 March} – 24 March 1948) was a Russian Christian universalist mystic and Christian anarchist political philosopher.
33 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Nikolai Berdyaev →
Related Quotes
"The uniting of Orthodoxy with state absolutism came about on the soil of a non-belief in the Divineness of the earth,…"
"The new religious consciousness rises up against the nihilistic attitude towards the world and mankind. If a religiou…"
"Ethics occupies a central place in philosophy because it is concerned with sin, with the origin of good and evil and …"
"It is beyond dispute that the state exercises very great power over human life and it always shows a tendency to go b…"
"There is absolute truth in anarchism and it is to be seen in its attitude to the sovereignty of the state and to ever…"
"The Christian world doesn't know Orthodoxy too well. It only knows the external and for the most part, the negative f…"
"The greater part of Eastern teachers of the Church, from Clement of Alexandria to Maximus the Confessor, were support…"
"It must be recognized that man in his limited and relative earthly life is capable of bringing about the beautiful an…"
"The whole economic system of Capitalism is an offshoot of a devouring and overwhelming lust, of a kind that can hold …"
"In order to be able to go on living it is possible that the bankrupt peoples will have to enter on a new path of self…"