Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl00366)

Richard:
>So . . . were you just being a good guy again, Jerry, or have you really
>figured out a meaning that you can agree with?
	I figured out what Alexis has since already said:
Alexis:
>Is that the Jungian "psychologization" of various states of consciousness
>that we all agree to call "metaphysical" is far too easily interpreted as
>pathology

	The dangers are the possible conclusions that theosophy is
*just* psychology, and that samadhi is pathological.  I don't think this
will happen if we supplement the existing Theosophical teachings.  I
am also not too worried about Alexis' "Jungian psychologization."  Jung
himself cautioned against the idea of *mere* psychology or *just*
psychology.  Without consciousness, he said, there would be nothing
at all.  Also, Jung believed that the psyche resides in a "psychic
continuum" that is different and separate from our physical space-time
continuum.  He taught that the psyche pre-exists physical birth and
post-exists physical death.  This is a radical departure from all other
psychologists, and is, I am afraid, one main reason for his lack of
acceptance in the psychological community today, which is very
materialistic.  Obviously, he is most popular today with religious
psychologists.  Anyway, I have tried to compare the stages of the
Path with Kohlberg's moral developmental stages, and will continue
to do this kind of thing.  There is precious little psychology mentioned
today in theosophical literature, and yet it is such a rich field.  For
example, Erickson's developmental stages could be applied to
the human lifewave as it undergoes the 7 Rounds.

	Jerry S.
	Member, TI