"Collective Unconscious"?

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How are Christians supposed to interpret Carl Jung’s theory that there is a collective unconscious that all of mankind shares in which there are various archetypes some of which may be reflected in our religions including in Christianity. Is there a collective unconscious? Does God communicate to us through it?
 
In others words, of course there is a collective unconscious. But it is nothing mystical or weird. It is simply an aspect of our human nature. Why as StarcWars so popular? It taped into archetypes.
 
In between circumstances and human nature, we all value certain things, for example, courage, and we all despise certain traits such as obsequiousness.

So, yeah, we could call that the collective unconscious, but why?
 
Have you read much about it? We all have more in common that’s we might want to believe. And the more we become aware, the less power it has over us.
I think that was the gist of it.
 
Yes, I agree that we have a great deal in common. I just don’t think it is something inexplicable like a “collective unconscious.”
 
I haven’t actually read anything by Carl Jung, but he is often referenced in books I have read. I understand that the Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was influenced by Jung when he theorized what he called the “noosphere,” which is the collective consciousness of humanity, in his book The Human Phenomenon ( or Phenomenon of Man). Teilhard was initially shunned by the Vatican and his Jesuit superiors, but with the passing of time his ideas are becoming more acceptable to many Catholics, including Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

 
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Why would it be collective rather than common or shared? Collective suggests (to me, at least) something not present in the individual which emerges in the group.

The OP asks how Christians are to understand Collective Unconscious. If “collective” downplays the role of the individual person, there might be a conflict.
 
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Hmmm, I’m not sure if this could be related but the body of Christ might be called the collective Church.
 
To elaborate, if the Church were a collective, each member would act according to the collective will, not individual free will. Think of how a true democracy acts by majority rule; that is one model of a collective. All succeed or fail as one. All would be judged together, all would be saved together or all would be damned together. That’s the nature of a collective.

Communion, on the other hand, is a relationship of distinct persons acting freely and individually and yet cooperatively. The free will of individuals in communion is guided by love, so that there is not one will, but many wills aligned. Love is oneness of distinct persons. That’s what communion is about.
 
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Right, and St. Paul explains it as made up of parts (1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12). If one part is suffering, every part suffers with it.
 
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You’re being too strict with your definitions, rather you’re playing language games, and for some reason are extending collective and communion to a almost political schema. You’re thinking of the definitions all wrong. In the common sense of the word collective and communion are synonymous. That is, they are a group of various individuals with something in common that form a grander whole, whatever that might be. If, however, we are going to go with your strict definition then in reality a communion may be said to be a subset of a collective distinct from other subsets in the word collective or vice versa.
 
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I am not being “strict” with definitions or playing word games. I am being precise with definitions and trying to convey an essential truth of the Catholic faith.

I’m done arguing with you.
 
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YHWH_Christ said:
How are Christians supposed to interpret Carl Jung’s theory that there is a collective unconscious that all of mankind shares in which there are various archetypes some of which may be reflected in our religions including in Christianity. Is there a collective unconscious? Does God communicate to us through it?
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Jung emphasized the transcendent character of consciousness and introduced the idea of the collective unconscious, a kind of store for symbols and memories shared with people from various different ages and cultures. … It is certainly true that Jung’s psychology sheds light on many aspects of the Christian faith, particularly on the need to face the reality of evil, but his religious convictions are so different at different stages of his life that one is left with a confused image of God.
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https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/...s/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html
 
I would answer “sort of”.

Like for instance, people who are emotionally close can read each other’s minds and end each other’s sentences.
 
I don’t think his own religious convictions are importatent. Let his theories stand on their own.
 
Shakuhachi said:
I don’t think his own religious convictions are importatent. Let his theories stand on their own.
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Jung’s theories involve theology, so it is not strictly his convictions that create a confused image of God.
 
It has been a long time so I may be wrong but I thought he tried to stay clear of theology but others read theology into it.
 
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