David T Johnston Phd

Individuation and the Evolution of Consciousness David T Johnston Phd

Jung's individuation process is founded on the fact that everything living dreams of Individuation. His path involves a specific concentration of a natural phenomenon of nature, which speeds up the process. This grounding in nature is a significant factor that distinguishes his spirituality and psychology from other spiritual and psychological disciplines and methods. The one major exception is the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, which is why I use them both as my most significant hermeneutic references, and the former for insight into the evolution of consciousness. Jung's path involves the incarnation of the Divine through individuals that potentially leads to far-reaching transformation of both individuals and culture. This reflects his important challenge to Western and world culture at this critical turning point in human history. In addition to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, I refer to the work of Jean Gebser to add insight into the phenomenon of the evolution of consciousness. I also refer to the study on the development of the Western mind by Richard Tarnas for understanding the unfolding Western psyche from a philosophic, religious and psychological perspective. Not only do I wish to represent Jung's challenge at this juncture in history, but I am particularly interested in differentiating Jung's approach to psychology from that of his prize pupil, Eric Neumann, as well as from that of a brilliant post-Jungian, James Hillman, in addition to Erich Fromm, a post-Freudian, and Charles Poncé, another post-Jungian. I believe these differentiations are important in helping to elucidate the deeper and higher nature of Jung's challenge.