God Discovered by Psychologists : A Dialogue between Psychology and Theology

ABSTRACT

Through the discovery of the existence of unconscious, Freud showed us that there is another area besides the consciousness in the human psyche. His findings were not only a strong basis for the development of modern psychology but also a great contribution to other human sciences. In his psychoanalysis, Freud held a strong position that the God of Christianity is nothing but an illusion arising from the unconscious neurotic impulses. Nonetheless, whether he likes it or not, his analysis of the unconscious contributed to exploring divine presence in the deepest core of human psyche.Critically adopting Freud's psychoanalytic theory, Jung divided the unconscious into two categories, viz., the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. He found various archetypes, which are universal in all humanity, in the collective unconscious. Of all the archetypes the Self is the most important one. The Self is the ultimate goal of life that an individual person has to seek for through individuation process. The Self is divine presence that pulls the person toward integration and wholeness.Frankl, an existentialist psychologist, put a strong emphasis on the self-realization. He considered it as the ultimate goal of human life. Putting spiritual flavor to psychology, Frankl saw the unconscious as a spiritual world and termed it as 'the transcendent unconscious.' This concept means no more or less than man has always stood in an intentional relation to transcendence. The transcendent unconscious drives the person to the self-realization.Modern theology also mentions the God dwelling in the depth of the person. Paul Tillich, an eminent Protestant theologist, by the term 'indwelling Spirit,' held that God is an indwelling divine presence in the person. This presence drives the person to strive for the ultimate self-realization. Karl Rahner, a great architect of modern Catholic theology, claimed that at the center of human beings is God's grace. He termed 'the supernatural existential' to describe human situation with relation to God.There is no big difference between the unconscious dynamics converging on the Self in psychology and God within in theology. What psychologists found in the unconscious is God's human feature caught in the psyche, and also what theologists found in the unconscious is the person's divine feature.