Claiming Our Divine Potential
American psychotherapist, Ira Progoff, was fascinated by the relationship between depth psychology and spirituality. As a neo-Jungian, he took seriously the presence and power of the collective unconscious and the need to “individuate” the self—to search for the principle of cosmic potential at the depths of the person and free it to reach its fullest actualization.
According to Progoff, the psyche is such a principle of wholeness. It is like a seed that contains within itself potentially all that the plant can become as it develops toward maturity across its lifespan.[1] Deep within us, he argues, there is also a seed, a psychic dimension that contains in sheer, unfathomable potentiality all that the self is and can become. The steady emergence of this profound psychic potential reflects the evolutionary emergence of the whole cosmos—the whole process of creation. As human consciousness rises from the potentiality of the cosmos, the psyche is our inner source of cosmic potential, directing both the conscious and unconscious.
The psyche is likewise a unifying principle. The pattern of development in our personal existence, in other words, reflects not only the development of individual life but also, and perhaps even more, our connection to a larger meaningful course of life unfolding transpersonally in the cosmos. Progoff explains:
By its very nature, therefore, the functioning of the psyche tends to have a connective effect. As it brings about an experience of meaning and greater union within the person, it awakens in the finite being a sensitivity to the infinite. It leads to the realization that since this sensitivity is possible it must be that somewhere in the depths of the finite person there lies a capacity to perceive some of the meaning in the infinite.[2]
Progoff’s insights certainly offer some noteworthy theological implications. For instance, we can say that while there may not be an external designer and a micro-managing providence from the outside, neither is the world devoid of divinity. Rather, God is constantly showing Godself as the world’s future—its endless potential. We have only to be sensitive to the experience of the infinite within us.
Far before the birth of modern depth psychology, many mystics and prophets in fact spoke of God as an energetic power within the depths of oneself. In his brilliant book God in Search of Man, Hebrew Bible scholar Abraham Heschel states that the prophets participated so intensely in the dimension of depth within themselves that the psyche expressed itself for them as a subject-to-subject, person-to-person encounter with the divine. They entered into the experience with a firm awareness that this dimension of reality is one in which they actually belonged.[3] Progoff expounds on this point:
A [prophetic] experience … indicates the deep psychological atmosphere that underlies ancient Israelite experience of the divine. With it in the background, it became possible for certain individuals to know that there was present within them and accessible to them immediately and personally a dimension of reality that is valid in ultimate terms.[4]
Indeed, the ancient prophets were bold and courageous visionaries who became capable of reflecting their in-depth experience of divine presence often over and against the domain and strictures of formal religious teaching and practice. They were vehicles by which the God-world relationship took on new meaning and purpose precisely because they consciously realized and claimed divinity as the deepest part of themselves. They did not tell people revelations of God; rather, they awakened to the revelatory character of their own lives.
May we, too, learn from the experiences of the prophets and persist in reaching toward a larger and more intimate contact with the mystery of reality. May we open a path by which fresh and continuing experiences of Spirit can break through and ultimately awaken the whole community of creation to its deepest divine potential. May we remember that God’s presence to us is always a presence within.
[1] Ira Progoff, The Symbolic and the Real (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973).
[2] Progoff, The Symbolic and the Real, 81.
[3] Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1955).
[4] Progoff, The Symbolic and the Real, 218-219.
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Robert, thank you for who you are and what you do!
You and your work are a catalyst for my transformation & wholeness, at 73 years of age.
Jan
Thank you, Robert — very well said. The challenge for me has been navigating my way through the layers personality that keep me from wholeness. It took me a long time to realize that psychological integration and spiritual realization are not separate processes. Learning to uncover my shadows, deal with my fixations, and navigate my instincts is a challenging, ongoing journey.
Thank you for this reflection Nicastro …..very inspirational.
The seed …..an image of possibilities within vulnerability…
May we continue to pay attention!!!
AM Dower
Ken Wilber always says “that for which we are seeking is always already present”
Wow! I’ve often wondered how the prophets could be so sure of what they preached. What wonderful food for thought this is.
Thank you for this reflection.
There is ‘that of God in everyone.’ Therefore, infinite potential for an abundance of Goodness, that which can make known the Kingdom of God in the hear and now. [However, there is a lot of individual and collective trauma to work through.]
Zoroastrians, Sufis, early Israelites, and early Christians formed intimate relationships with the Divine [sic through practice of solitude]. Jesus modeled seeking solitude, by going off to be alone and taught disciples to pray by going to ‘your inner room.’ Meditation is fundamental to most Eastern traditions.@
I think that the early Christians sensed such a deep connection to Creator and Creation throughout time, collective consciousness, that developed the idea of the ‘Communion of Saints.’
For me, silent meditation, and weekly Quaker Worship are spirit sustaining practices in this busy and at times chaotic world. Also, Ccmmunal worship is so important to celebrate, reflect, lament, mourn, ‘hold each other in the light,’ and renew. Humankind, indeed all creation is capable of becoming (continuing to evolve) true Communion-unity with God in the Kindom. Ilia’s works are revelatory, as are your reflections and study of depth psychology. … we are all seeking understanding and connection.
Peace.
Amen…
As usual — insightful and stirring! We are blessed to have you, Robert.
Beloved,
May we learn from mystics and prophets like Jung and Progoff, Delio and Nicastro, that deep within each of us You have planted Your Divine seed so that through persistent intimacy with this Mystery of Reality, we too may lovingly participate in awakening the whole community of creation to its Divine potential.
Amen.
John,
Your emphasis on the community really hit a string on my harp.
It lifts me so when I see the bonding and community of believers forming up in this world.
Over and out.
I experience the article as heart warming and empowering…all so true. If only we allowed ourselves to live it. Thank you.