Loss of the Sacred
The loss of the sacred in western society is also a loss of soul, a loss of the soul of the earth, of the cosmos, of human society. Modern men and women are truly in search of soul, and a retrieval of the sacred is essential to their finding or recovering soul.
— C. Michael Smith
Scholar and author, C. Michael Smith, in his profound little book — Jung and Shamanism in Dialogue: Retrieving the Soul, Retrieving the Sacred, explores the intersections between Carl Jung's analytical psychology and shamanic practices from various cultures.
It’s an original, esoteric work that delves into the similarities and differences between Jungian psychology and shamanism, emphasizing their shared focus on the psyche and the quest for spiritual wholeness.
The author writes: “Perhaps the most salient common feature of shamanism and Jungian psychology is that they both offer a way of soulful living that takes its direction from spirit, a transcendent dimension of wisdom and power.”
Ultimately, this book sheds new light on the transformative potential of integrating Jungian psychology with shamanic wisdom, and how this synthesis can lead to a deeper understanding of the human psyche and its connection to the divine.
I hope you enjoy this passage.
In the modern West today, there has been a loss of the sacred from the assumptive world generally, and from the healing arts specifically.
Individuals may be religious, may go to church or synagogue, or practice some other form of institutional or non-institutional religion, but other areas of life are typically encroached upon by the secular. In traditional and tribal societies, every substantial aspect or function of life had a sacred basis.