Across centuries and continents, mystics have used erotic metaphors and sexual analogies in descriptions of Divine love. The special states of consciousness they recorded have become the subject of modern psychological studies, e.g., by the school of C. G. Jung (often favored by Zaehner).Zaehner, his article "A new Buddha and a new Tao" (1959, 1967), subsection 'Jungian depth psychology' at pp. 403-406. Zaehner often referenced Jung's analytic psychology. When Jung equates the "God-image" with the archetype of the "self", he is expressing in his own psychological terminology the old Hindu identification of the atman, the human soul or self, with the Brahman, the ground of the entire universe. Zaehner (1959, 1967), p.414 (quote).Cf., e.g., Jolande Jacobi, The psychology of C. G. Jung (Zurich 1939; London 1942, Yale University 1943, 6th ed. 1962). An ego's animating figure (and entryway to the unconscious) is contrasexual, called for men the feminine anima, and for women the masculine animus. Yet a person's center of wholeness (the goal of individuation) is his or her inner unifying Self, an archetype that may function as a deified god image. Comparing terminologies can illuminate or confuse (i.e., work as near equivalents or not): the soul for the unconscious (ultimate source of the ego), and spirit for the unifying Self (conjoining both the conscious and the unconscious). For Christians Jesus may symbolize the Self; for Hindus the mandala.Cf., Zaehner, Mysticism. Sacred and Profane (1957), pp. 118-123. Here Zaehner enters on a sustained critique of Carl Jung's psychology. While praising Jung's ability to heal, Zaehner nonetheless alleges missteps per alchemy, the hieros gamos, the trinity's 'square halo', theodicy, Zoroaster, pride and the split personality. "Jung takes from religion only what confirms and illustrates his psychology." (p.120 quote) Among Christian mystics Teresa de Jesús (1515-1582) employed the spiritual marriage metaphor in writing about her experiences.Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle ([1577]; NY: Sheed & Ward 1946, reprint 1989 by Image Doubleday), the fifth mansion concerns Spiritual Betrothal, the seventh Spiritual Marriage.Zaehner, Concordant Discord (1970), p.320: provocative quote from her 'autobiography', Vida de la Madre Teresa de Jesús (1588). Mechthild von Magdeburg (c.1208-1282/1294)Mechthild of Magdeburg, The Flowing Light of the Godhead (Mahwah: Paulist Press 1997), translated and introduced by Frank Tobin.John P. Dourley, Love, celibacy, and the inner marriage (Toronto: Inner City 1987), pp. 29-43: discussion of Mechthilde's writings, e.g., her being among the "brides of Christ" and the "frankly sexual nature of her imagery" (pp. 30-31), and the Trinity (pp. 34-36). At p.42 Dourley opines about Mechthilde, applying Jung's psychology: "the archetypal truth of celibacy lies in the immediate and unprojected experience of the contrasexual, and through it of the Self". Dourley (1936-2018) was a Catholic priest, a professor of religion, and Jungian analyst.Dourley, Jung and his mystics (Routledge 2014), pp. 38-55 (Mechthilde, e.g., in context: the Beguines pp. 37-40; sexual imagery pp. 40-48; Eckhard pp. 49, 76; Jung pp. 48-51). "The process of intercourse with the animus, a divine/human figure in Mechthild's imagery, gives birth to the power of God in consciousness." "Mechthild was among the pioneers... to make this interiority conscious" (p.50, quotes).C. G. Jung, Symbols of Transformation (1912, rev. 1952; Bollingen 1956, 1967: CW, v5), p.90 (Mechthild quoted); p.433 (the hieros gamos, adopted by early Christianity).C. G. Jung, Psychological Types (1921; Bollingen 1971: CW, v6), p.232 (Mechthild and 'Christ-eroticism'), p.237 (spiritualization of eroticism, libido and symbol). provides a special example of the woman mystic.Underhill, Mysticism (1911, 1961), p.92 (Mechthilde quote); but cf. p.267 re Angela of Foligno.Fiona Bowie, Beguine Spirituality (New York: Crossroad 1990).
