Psyche and the Sacred: Spirituality Beyond Religion [Paperback]

Lionel Corbett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2006

Describes an approach to spirituality that is based on personal experience of the sacred rather than upon any pre-existing religious doctrine or dogma. Using the language and insights of depth psychology, it describes the intimate relationship between sacred experience and the psychology of the individual, revealing the seamless continuity of personal and transpersonal levels of the psyche. This work contributes to the emergence of the new myth that is arising alongside the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

LIONEL CORBETT, M.D., teaches depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA, and is the author of The Religious Function of the Psyche.

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Spring Journal Books (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882670345
• ISBN-13: 978-1882670345
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #448,253 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spirituality without institutions/places/dogma, October 20, 2007

By 

Stephen Stoker - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Psyche and the Sacred: Spirituality Beyond Religion (Paperback)

I reviewed Dr Corbett's other book, "The Religious Functions of the Psyche" and also gave it 5 stars.

Both books will appeal to those who have a sense of the sacred but have not found it in ready-made religions. He covers all the psychological areas of life which are defined as "spiritual" in organized religions, virtually all of it. Familiarity with Jungian concepts, Jungian writers such as Edinger, Hollis etc. and a basic feeling of the rightness of depth psychology would almost be a necessity in order to use these books. At least, that's my opinion...might be I haven't looked at the issue from every angle yet!

He explains very carefully that "Our form of access to the transpersonal has therefore changed; we now experience it through the immediacy of the psyche rather than by means of a tradional religious container." In a sentence, that's it. For those whose religious containers have cracked and broken and yet still FEEL the sacred, he's presented a huge amount of information from many sources regarding how to relate to "spiritual" themes.

Two of my favorite chapters are "The Reality of the Psyche" and "The Dark Side of the Self and the Trials of Job". If you've read Jung's "Answer to Job" and Edinger's commentary and still want more elucidation, this chapter has it.

The last chapter, "A Sense of the Sacred" give 14 suggestions that are..."useful because they require no predetermined theology, no congregation and no specific prayers, priests, robes or special buildings. They are not based on the tenets of any particular creed or religious system and they are the work of this world, not directed towards gaining some future heavenly extistence."

For anyone who's begun to sense what Jung said, that the psyche is REAL and who's hungry to relate to wholeness...I'd say read this book.

I hope this and his other book gain wide readership. I'm a very interested layman!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars not just for psychologically minded, October 18, 2008

By 

Vivian - See all my reviews

This review is from: Psyche and the Sacred: Spirituality Beyond Religion (Paperback)

Lionel corbett is a leading voice in the field. acknowledging that our psychology is a totality of all that influences the human experience. consciously addresses the numinous, which has been the focus of man's experience, yet rarely acknowledged in our "scientifically minded" culture.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great work by Lionel Corbett, March 22, 2011

By 

Ross James Browne (Atlanta, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Psyche and the Sacred: Spirituality Beyond Religion (Paperback)

Preface: This review is written by a theologian. I realize there are atheist and secular interpretations of this book. My goal is to point out some of Corbett's insights about the Spirit and the psyche which can be of much use to theologians - especially in terms of understanding what the Holy Spirit really is. A more secular interpretation of this book would likely emphasize the way in which religious ideas can stem naturally from the human psyche - thus casting doubt on the supernatural origins of religious energy. Both interpretations are valid. But the theologian would likely emphasize the similarity between the Holy Spirit and Corbett's large "Self", the supposed source of this natural human religious energy. I cannot emphasize enough how valuable Corbett's insights are for the theologian, even if his intent was to describe what he viewed as a secular or natural psychological phenomenon. I choose to use Corbett's insights to shed light on the inner workings of the Holy Spirt, while bearing in mind that this is a subjective interpretation of this book which goes off-label in terms of the author's intent.

This work is a worthy follow up to Lionel Corbett's classic, "The Religious Function of the Psyche." Like his previous work, this book deals with the autonomous psyche or the large Self. Some refer to this phenomenon as the collective unconscious, but Corbett claims that this term has fallen out of use in favor of the autonomous Self. This thing - this Self - is precisely what theologians call the Holy Spirit. We have been trying to figure out what the Spirit is this whole time, and ironically it is the depth psychologists who finally figured out what the Holy Spirit really is. But they gave it a new name: the collective unconscious, the large Self, or the autonomous psyche. Even they are not sure what to call it, but the important thing is that we know what it is and how it works. This Spirit essentially orchestrates and coordinates archetypal experiences, which are the potent, life-changing experiences that propel us into higher consciousness through the search for meaning. The large Self gives us the experiences we need by acting as the hands of fate. The experiences create new psychological complexes that motivate us to live our lives with a greater degree of urgency. The Self or Spirit is responsible for creating the experiences that gave us consciousness and new motivations. The Spirit or Self is the force behind the forces behind our new motivations. You can call it whatever you want but it is and always was the Holy Spirit. Theologians owe the Jungian psychologists a debt of gratitude for defining this phenomenon. Too bad they called it by the wrong name.

But seriously, this book is very important for theologians because it does give us a clear idea as to how God and the Spirit can work in all aspects of human life, conscious and subconscious, even when we are seemingly immersed in the shadow. Corbett reminds us that even sin and addiction are really attempts to get closer to the divine; these chthonic, pleasure-principle motivations are motivated by the same complexes that stem from the archetypal experiences that were originally orc hestrated by the Spirit or large Self. This exploration into chthonic sin eventually leads us into a dead end, and we consciously decide to live our lives the right way in order to get out. This new compassionate life is still motivated by the pleasure principle - because now we realize that the most pleasurable thing is to live our lives the right way, as compassionate, evolved individuals. But all of this, according to Corbett (see page 83), is still being propelled by the complexes that were set in motion by the archetypes that were orchestrated by the Self/ Spirit (or whatever you want to call it). If these concepts sound interesting to you, I strongly recommend this book.

Also I would also like to strongly recommend the following books which are very relevant to Lionel Corbett, and go very well together with Corbett's books. These include: "The Psyche as Sacrament" by John Dourley, "Jung and the Religious Alternative: The Re-rooting" by John Dourley, "A Strategy for a Loss of Faith" by Dourley, and "The Illness That We Are," also by John Dourley. Of course all of this is influenced by Carl Jung. If you have not yet explored the writings of Jung, I suggest, "Aion", "Psychology and Religion", "Civilization in Transition", and "The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche".