Channel Button

There are 118 articles on this title. You are reading the article ranked and rated #1 by Helium's members.

Religion & Spirituality   >

Thoughts on God

Get a Widget for this title

What is your understanding of God?

particular, we retain those genetic combinations that result in instinctual behavior in the "lower" animals. In humans, however, because we can conceptualize to a degree not available to other animals, we tend to ask "Why?" when confronted with the urge to behave in an unexplained manner, when we are driven by our instincts.

Jung postulates that humans sublimate their instincts that are clearly discernible in animals. This sublimation assumes a form he calls archetypal figures. Because we all generate similar archetypes, the human groups we form inevitably merge these figures into legends that underpin every human society. Jung discovered that everywhere on Earth, every society - no matter whether primitive or advanced - has created similar legends all containing exactly the same archetypes. Furthermore, he postulated that if you remove one set of archetypes, the affected society will substitute another, so that each instinct remains represented by the same figure, although in different garb.

For example, Jung analyzed the structure of the Russian Orthodox Church in Imperial Russia, and identified a list of archetypes. He then analyzed the structure of the Communist Party as it existed in Soviet Russia, after it had displaced the Russian Orthodox Church. The archetypes matched, point for point. And these compared closely with the archetypes he identified in Indian Vedantic literature, old Chinese Confucianism, Japanese Buddhism, ancient Greek mythology, and even the theistic beliefs of Australian Aboriginals. Stripped of their details and the bells and whistles of sophistication, they were all the same. No matter where Jung looked, and no matter how different beliefs, legends, and myths appeared on the surface, underneath all were identical.

This was heavy stuff for a young man!

Essentially everything in which I believed had been swept aside in one fell swoop, if Wylie and Jung were correct.

I had learned to think clearly, to analyze differences with formal logic, to apply appropriate BS filters - basically, I arrived at this point at the tender age of 20, possessing the necessary tools to reach a meaningful conclusion for my personal life.

I went to work, and I kept my nose to the grindstone for a solid week. I skipped classes, missed meals, slept little. I reread the Bible from cover to cover (for the tenth time), but this time I read it with a skeptical eye, keeping Wylie and Jung firmly in mind.

I reexamined everything I had learned about modern science, about


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

What is your understanding of God?

  • 1 of 118

    by Robert Williscroft

    I came out of a Christian Pentecostal background. As a young man I genuinely believed the doctrinal precepts with which I

    read more

  • 2 of 118

    by Obi Rowland

    My understanding of God is based on His awesome attributes or qualities. The attributes of God here signify all the traits

    read more

  • 3 of 118

    by Matthew Martin

    I believe learning to understand God should be a full-time job. Unfortunately, many of us have put God in the "too-incomprehensib le-box"

    read more

  • 4 of 118

    by James Lynne

    The idea of a god concept has existed since the beginning of time in virtually all cultures. It is used to explain what men

    read more

  • 5 of 118

    by Alexander Natiku

    God is sometimes more of a concept than a supreme being. After half a century of life I know inherently that He exists,

    read more

View All Articles on:
What is your understanding of God?

Add your voice

Know something about What is your understanding of God??
We want to hear your view. Write_penWrite now!

Helium Debate

Cast your vote!

Do sacred texts have to be written?

Click for your side.

215160

Featured Partner

The Responsibility Project

The Responsibility Project is the brainchild of Liberty Mutual Insurance. As an insurance company, we like respons...more

What is Helium? | Buy Web Content | Contact Us | Privacy | User agreement | DMCA | User Tools | Help | Community | Helium’s Official Blog | Link to Helium

Helium, Inc.
200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA