7/8/2023 0 Comments Marie louise von franz smilingThe only one which I have encountered is the Liberal Catholic Church, which blends east Indian Hindu philosophy and Theosophical insights in their free-thinking (that’s what “liberal” means) church. There were very few Christian churches in the 19th and 20th centuries which would tolerate such odd beliefs. In earlier times the dreamer would be considered a heretic and could have been burned at the stake for such an assertion. They would be shocked and wouldn’t believe it. That’s why the dreamer can’t announce his insight to the culture’s ceremonial context. The culture can’t handle this new way of seeing the divine as being within the human being. And the dream teaches the dreamer to be quiet about his inner realization. Von Franz saw this dream as an example of how the archetype of the Cosmic Man, the Anthropos, appeared to her client. So he remains quiet and smiles to the “stranger” as a sign of his secret agreement. Then the dreamer realizes with what shock and incredulity the praying congregation and the priest would react if he were to tell them that Christ is here. He turns to him, but the stranger puts his finger on his mouth and smiles. In spite of his unprepossessing quality, he is somehow numinous and suddenly the dreamer realizes with deep emotion that this is Christ. Then a simply clothed, somewhat vagrant-looking, mysterious and strange man comes in and sits down quietly next to the dreamer. A service is just in progress, so he discreetly takes a seat in one of the rear pews. In the dream “he goes to the Catholic Church. He was a graphic artist, a Protestant, who liked to visit Roman Catholic churches for their aesthetic interest. Von Franz tells a wonderful story about her client’s dream experience. The image can be quite varied, as varied as there are individuals. The image of the transcendent Divine Man has been frequently portrayed as the Christ throughout the past two thousand years. Our western civilization’s images have varied depending upon the historical times and traditions. Modern humans have dreamed about cultural avatars in a large variety of forms. The images might appear in dreams or visions. This is a goal toward which we strive, called Individuation by Carl Jung and his lineage. They are possibilities of perfection, where the distinction between the divine and the human blurs into oneness. These images have been present throughout human history as goals toward which our spiritual development evolves. “The most important of these are the mandala, the cosmic divine man, the divine child, the flower, the diamond body or stone ( lapis philosophorum), Christ, Buddha, Khidr, Adam Kadmon, and others,” said Marie-Louise von Franz in Archetypal Dimensions of the Psyche (1997, p. These symbolic expressions are essentially different forms of the divine image. It represents the goal of human development and arises from the unconscious depths in a variety of symbolic motifs.
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