It is difficult to address the crises of ecology and relevance in religion where the culture is i... more It is difficult to address the crises of ecology and relevance in religion where the culture is increasingly secular, disbelieving, and unable to ground itself in local experience. This paper proposes that church leaders have the opportunity to change perspective from one that is “other-worldly” to one which focuses on the environment as earth-based, sacred, and which ultimately requires our respect. Indigenous Australians led the way in this regard. Only by making the world sacred, by turning the earth into creation, can we approach the problem of the environmental crisis and work toward repair
Today I would like to consider the topic of Australians and the future of spirituality from a rel... more Today I would like to consider the topic of Australians and the future of spirituality from a relatively personal point of view. We in academia like to pretend that our views are not 'personal' at all, that we are somehow exempt from the personal equation as we tackle the big issues in our disciplines. But feminism, cultural relativism, and now social constructivism have done much to undermine the idea of a fully objective scholarship, which enables people like myself to address our own 'speaking position' in the conference paper. We can, I hope, learn how to be intelligently personal without indulging our 'personality', and I think the future of scholarship depends on our ability to know the difference between these things.
The twenty-first century could well be Jung's century, just as the twentieth century was Freud's.... more The twenty-first century could well be Jung's century, just as the twentieth century was Freud's. Jung predicted the demise of secular humanism and claimed we would search for alternatives to science, atheism and reason. We would experience a new and even unfashionable appetite for the sacred. Educated people, however, would not return to unreconstructed religions, because these do not express the life of the spirit as discerned by modern consciousness. The sacred has developed a darker hue, and worshipping symbols of light and goodness no longer satisfies the longings of the soul. The new sacred cannot be contained by the formulas of the past, but nor can we live without a sense of the sacred. We stand in a difficult place: between traditional religions we have outgrown and a pervasive materialism we can no longer embrace. These changes in our culture have come sooner than Jung might have imagined. In his time, Jung struck many as eccentric or unscientific, but his works speak to our time since we have experienced the full gamut of Jungian transformations: the unsettlement of Judeo-Christian culture, the rise of the feminine, the onslaught of the dark side, the critique of modernism and positivism, and the recognition that the Western ego is neither the pinnacle of evolution nor the lord of creation. A new life is needed beyond the ego, but we do not yet know what it will look like. The outbreak of strong religion and terrorism are signs of the times, but these are expressions of a distorted and repressed spirit, and not, one hopes, genuine pointers to the future. What the future holds is uncertain, but Jung's prophetic vision helps to prepare us for what is to come, and this will be of great interest to analytical psychologists and psychoanalysts, as well as to theologians, futurists, sociologists and the general reader. David Tacey has written extensively on spirituality, mental health and society. His most recent book is Gods and Diseases: Making sense of our physical and mental wellbeing. David is Professor of Literature at La Trobe University, Melbourne, where he teaches courses on the crisis of meaning in Western culture, Jungian psychology and postmodern theory. He is the author or editor of thirteen books, including Jung and the New Age, The Spirituality Revolution and The Jung Reader.
EarthSong Journal: Perspectives in Ecology, Spirituality and Education, 2016
In the consumeristic culture of the 21st century so much militates against a serious sense of con... more In the consumeristic culture of the 21st century so much militates against a serious sense of connectedness and relationship even amongst the human society, whatever about to Earth. This article explores the value of initiation practices and questions what form they might take for non indigenous peoples today.
International Handbooks of Religion and Education, 2009
... This strategy is particularly suited to young adults who do not like to be told what to belie... more ... This strategy is particularly suited to young adults who do not like to be told what to believe by outside authorities but who welcome any sincere attempt to illuminate the semi-dark realm of their interiority (Tacey, 2001). ... New York: New Directions. O'Murchu, D. (1997). ...
It is difficult to address the crises of ecology and relevance in religion where the culture is i... more It is difficult to address the crises of ecology and relevance in religion where the culture is increasingly secular, disbelieving, and unable to ground itself in local experience. This paper proposes that church leaders have the opportunity to change perspective from one that is “other-worldly” to one which focuses on the environment as earth-based, sacred, and which ultimately requires our respect. Indigenous Australians led the way in this regard. Only by making the world sacred, by turning the earth into creation, can we approach the problem of the environmental crisis and work toward repair
Today I would like to consider the topic of Australians and the future of spirituality from a rel... more Today I would like to consider the topic of Australians and the future of spirituality from a relatively personal point of view. We in academia like to pretend that our views are not 'personal' at all, that we are somehow exempt from the personal equation as we tackle the big issues in our disciplines. But feminism, cultural relativism, and now social constructivism have done much to undermine the idea of a fully objective scholarship, which enables people like myself to address our own 'speaking position' in the conference paper. We can, I hope, learn how to be intelligently personal without indulging our 'personality', and I think the future of scholarship depends on our ability to know the difference between these things.
The twenty-first century could well be Jung's century, just as the twentieth century was Freud's.... more The twenty-first century could well be Jung's century, just as the twentieth century was Freud's. Jung predicted the demise of secular humanism and claimed we would search for alternatives to science, atheism and reason. We would experience a new and even unfashionable appetite for the sacred. Educated people, however, would not return to unreconstructed religions, because these do not express the life of the spirit as discerned by modern consciousness. The sacred has developed a darker hue, and worshipping symbols of light and goodness no longer satisfies the longings of the soul. The new sacred cannot be contained by the formulas of the past, but nor can we live without a sense of the sacred. We stand in a difficult place: between traditional religions we have outgrown and a pervasive materialism we can no longer embrace. These changes in our culture have come sooner than Jung might have imagined. In his time, Jung struck many as eccentric or unscientific, but his works speak to our time since we have experienced the full gamut of Jungian transformations: the unsettlement of Judeo-Christian culture, the rise of the feminine, the onslaught of the dark side, the critique of modernism and positivism, and the recognition that the Western ego is neither the pinnacle of evolution nor the lord of creation. A new life is needed beyond the ego, but we do not yet know what it will look like. The outbreak of strong religion and terrorism are signs of the times, but these are expressions of a distorted and repressed spirit, and not, one hopes, genuine pointers to the future. What the future holds is uncertain, but Jung's prophetic vision helps to prepare us for what is to come, and this will be of great interest to analytical psychologists and psychoanalysts, as well as to theologians, futurists, sociologists and the general reader. David Tacey has written extensively on spirituality, mental health and society. His most recent book is Gods and Diseases: Making sense of our physical and mental wellbeing. David is Professor of Literature at La Trobe University, Melbourne, where he teaches courses on the crisis of meaning in Western culture, Jungian psychology and postmodern theory. He is the author or editor of thirteen books, including Jung and the New Age, The Spirituality Revolution and The Jung Reader.
EarthSong Journal: Perspectives in Ecology, Spirituality and Education, 2016
In the consumeristic culture of the 21st century so much militates against a serious sense of con... more In the consumeristic culture of the 21st century so much militates against a serious sense of connectedness and relationship even amongst the human society, whatever about to Earth. This article explores the value of initiation practices and questions what form they might take for non indigenous peoples today.
International Handbooks of Religion and Education, 2009
... This strategy is particularly suited to young adults who do not like to be told what to belie... more ... This strategy is particularly suited to young adults who do not like to be told what to believe by outside authorities but who welcome any sincere attempt to illuminate the semi-dark realm of their interiority (Tacey, 2001). ... New York: New Directions. O'Murchu, D. (1997). ...
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