From St. John of the Cross and Dr. C. J. Jung, Part III, Chapter 9. Inner Growth Books, 1986.

Epilogue: Magnum Opus

   There has been a certain amount of progress in meeting the three initial challenges that stood in the way of using St. John and Jung in the spiritual life.

I have tried to steer a middle course between what Marie-Louise von Franz has called the old king, that is, a theology so jealous of its prerogatives as to be closed to the insights of psychology, and a facilely conceived Jungian spirituality that would identify the archetypes with the Christian mysteries. Christian spirituality is in dire need of the kind of help Jungian psychology can give, but to profit from it, it has to appreciate the differences in methods and goals that exist.

   Further, it has to clarify its own history. This means rediscovering St. John, clearing away the encrustation’s of past misinterpretations, and delving into the shamefully neglected field of modern spirituality from the 17th through the 20th century. The question of acquired contemplation is only one of the issues at stake, but it illustrates how far some spiritual writers have strayed from St. John, and it is particularly significant because, Jung's psychology allows us to pose an alternative solution to the problem of the inability to meditate.

   Yet, neither epistemology nor history will be of any avail if Christian spirituality loses sight of the overriding practical issue involved, which is the restoration of the life of prayer under the twin lights of individuation and contemplation. Hopefully, the discussions in Part III have given us a glimpse of the possibilities that exist in this direction.

A TASK FOR THE FUTURE

    But to follow this path calls for a collaboration between Jungian psychology and Christian spirituality, and such a joint effort, while difficult, would not have been foreign to Jung's mind. He wrote in his first letter to Victor White, "...I would surely be among the first to welcome an explicit attempt to integrate the findings of psychology into the ecclesiastical doctrine." And later, at the time of Fr. White's death, "I had nursed the apparently vain hope that Fr. Victor would carry on the magnum opus." Strange and powerful words. What is the magnum opus but a renewal of the religious life of the West? Christian spirituality and Jung's psychology, despite their differences, share this ultimate intent, and this is the most basic foundation for their collaboration. This common work could be carried out by Jungian analysts, theologians of the spiritual life, and people devoted to the life of prayer, especially contemplatives by gift and by state of life. Then the discussions initiated by Jung and Fr. White so many years ago at Bollingen would finally bear fruit.