In this foundational work, Carl Gustav Jung approaches religion not as a doctrine but as a psychological phenomenon. Through the analysis of dreams and archetypes, after careful study of Western and Eastern religions, with references to myths, rituals, medieval alchemists, and descriptions of therapeutic sessions, he demonstrates that religious experience and the symbols associated with it originate from the unconscious. They express deeper mental processes and are intrinsically connected to our psychological development.
The book Psychology and Religion consists of three lectures given by the founder of Analytical Psychology at Yale University in 1937. Jung begins by emphasizing that religion is one of the oldest and most universal phenomena of the human soul, and therefore any psychology dealing with the structure of personality must take it into account. He distinguishes psychological truth from metaphysical truth and clarifies that he will limit himself to discussing his own experience and the relationship between practical psychology and religion.
He analyzes the autonomy of the unconscious and presents evidence of the existence of authentic religious functioning within it. He discusses the Animus, Anima, and the Shadow—concepts he introduced—and from descriptions of therapeutic sessions, he demonstrates that dreams and neuroticisms often display a religious or mythological character. He explains the alchemical and Christian symbols of the square, the Philosophical Stone, and the Trinity, showing that dreams repeat archetypal patterns and examining the function of the quaternary cycle (mandala) and other symbols that recur in religions and dreams, arguing that these symbols express the soul's desire for wholeness.
