The Diamond Heart: Jungian Psychology and the Christian Mystical Tradition

Two towering figures thread their way through this book: St Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Spanish Carmelite saint, writer and reformer and C. G. Jung, the founder of modern depth psychology. Through sharing 15 key papers and talks written over nearly 25 years, the author draws on their writings to focus on, and explore, the interface and relationship between the Christian mystical tradition and Jungian, depth psychology.

Jung saw the human psyche as 'by nature religious' and made this insight a principal focus of his explorations. In this regard, the book aims to explore an essentially depth approach to spirituality and numinosity relevant for todays' largely post-religious situation. Jungian depth psychology, with all its own richness, can serve as an essential psychological foundation for, and bridge to, the Christian mystical tradition.

The author looks forward with enthusiasm, hope and optimism to renewed, creative and invigorated approaches to understanding the nature of our inner life that characterize the essential writings of St Teresa of Avila and C.G. Jung. St Teresa of Avila's writings assure us our life journey can be graced by divine presence - describing various stages of transformation of the soul, in God's Love, in her classic book on prayer, the 'Interior Castle.' Living symbols were a major preoccupation in the life and writings of C.G. Jung, where he explored the psychological foundation of religion, particularly the Christian tradition - what he termed the path of individuation.

McLean believes we are in the midst of another flowering of theologia mystica in our own secular time. The unprecedented spiritual longing and emergency of our own times is fuelling a strong need for the depth psychological tradition of Jungian psychology and the ancient tradition of theologia mystica to become more widely known, understood, practiced and lived. There is a wider evolutionary shift happening in our times - in the diamond heart of individuals, groups, nations and the global community. Something new and unprecedented is being born in our world today - we are not only in a new time, but a new era.

Table of Contents

1. Walking Towards Jerusalem - Tribute to Dr Gerhard Adler

2. Opening the Heart, Approaching the Numinous

3. Jung and the Christian Way

4. C. G. Jung and Prayer

5. St Teresa of Avila and Depth Psychology

6. St Teresa of Avila and Self Knowledge

7. God Enters through our Wounds

8. Symbols of Transformation in Christian Spirituality

9. Edges of Wisdom, Compassion and Living Waters

10. Introduction to the Christian Mystical Tradition

11. The Threefold Way

12. The Third Spiritual Alphabet, Guide of St Teresa: A Learning Hidden Deep in the Heart

13. The Third Spiritual Alphabet, Guide of St Teresa: Exploring the Path of Recollection

14. Introducing the Mystical Text "The Interior Castle"

15. Mystical Theology and the Renewal of Contemplative Spiritual Practice

Bibliography

Index