Religious But Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life

by Jason E. Smith

In Religious but Not Religious , Jungian analyst Jason E. Smith explores the idea, expressed by C.G. Jung, that the religious sense is a natural and vital function of the human psyche. We suffer from its lack. The symbolic forms of religion mediate unconscious and ineffable experiences to the field of consciousness that infuse our lives with meaning and purpose. That is why we cannot be indifferent toward the decline of traditional religious observance so widely discussed today. The great religions house the accumulated spiritual wisdom of humankind, and their loss would be catastrophic to the human soul. As human beings, we hunger for spiritual experience. To be "spiritual but not religious" is one possible response, but it often doesn't go far enough. All too easily it can become a kind of do-it-yourself spirituality, which lacks the capacity to effect the kind of growth and transformation that is the true goal of all the religious traditions. Smith argues that we need to be "religious but not religious." We need an approach to religion that recognizes the essential importance of the individual spiritual adventure while also affirming the value of collective religious tradition. He articulates an understanding of religion as a participation in the symbolic life as opposed to a mere content of belief. By recovering our personal sensitivity for symbolic experience together with a symbolic understanding of religion, we facilitate a profound encounter with life and with the human condition through which one may be tested, tried, and transformed.

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Psychology

230 pages, Hardcover

Published October 10, 2020

Reviews

[Anita Ashland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book to read if you are interested in Jungian psychology and are a practicing or recovering Christian.

“Carl Jung asserted that an essential aspect of his work was to Teach people the art of seeing." That is, he sought to articulate a means by which people could experience the truth inherent in the symbols of religion through an understanding of their psychological roots. He saw his psychology as providing a way out of both an arid rationalism and a metaphysical concretism. There is much in modern theology that has come a long way toward Jung's psychological approach. Religion, too, has felt the need to dissolve its own rigid formulations and put forward understandings that have the capacity to connect people to the essential truths-the experiential truthswhich lie at its heart.”

“Raimon Panikkar ... suggests that Being (that is, God) should be understood as a verb and not as a noun. In the light of this idea, religion, properly understood, is not something that one possesses but something that propels one toward religious experience, toward a deeper encounter with life. If we hold to the "thingness" of religion too tightly, a process of petrification sets in and we are in danger of losing the religious life that it expresses.”

[Jennifer Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every word of this and resonated deeply with Smith’s description of a symbolic life (via Jung). This book helped me sort out quite a bit of my own internal battles with organized religion and helped me see the value of participating in ritual, without having to take all of it as literal creed.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye-opening. Might be challenging for folks without some knowledge of Carl Jung and depth psychology. The last couple of chapters got a little “heady” for me. Nonetheless, I highlighted much and wrote many notes in the margins. This book is a synchronicity for me (IYKYK).