Recently, I noticed an intriguing article by Frank M. Wanderer (blog, books, FB, LI) about Carl Gustav Jung‘s theory of “the three births of the human spirit” (eg, Wikipedia). I read that article as I felt a relation with my theory on Needs, Wants and Beliefs. I was not disappointed.
Our body, our mind, and our spirit face three stages: (1) psychical birth and outer bodily growth into adolescence, limited mental awareness and limited use of opportunities, (2) physical maturity, full mental awareness and full use of opportunities, birth of ego, (3) the period of inner development and growth, a.k.a. the spiritual birth of consciousness. Frank Wanderer states that “Unfortunately, the majority of people will never experience the spiritual birth for various reasons.”
These 3 stages of body, mind and spirit mirror the 3 stages of Needs, Wants and Beliefs.
When we grow up we are fully dependent on our parents (ie, Needs). When we reach mental and physical maturity, we tend to be focused on consumerism (ie, Wants). A minority of people loses interest in material fulfillment (ie, consumerism) and finds happiness and satisfaction in spiritual fulfillment (ie, Beliefs).
The various articles that I noticed about Carl Jung‘s theory of “the 3 births of the human spirit” seem to support my earlier idea that (1) the vulnerability of complexity of the human mind and (2) life altering events creating a vacuum (eg, burn-out/depression, loneliness) are the main drivers for migration from (1) Needs into Wants and (2) Wants into Beliefs. (Various relevant articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).
FW: “Our spiritual birth is usually prevented by the conditioned deep programming of the mind. These programs place the development of the Ego in the foreground, and make efforts to sustain that development until the end of the life of the individual. The programmings support the progress of the Ego, they urge us to develop a powerful and efficient Ego for ourselves, and they make us believe that it is the ultimate goal in human life. These programmings regard any effort at suppressing the Ego as a sign of weakness that we should be ashamed of, and that we should avoid at any cost.”
Initially, I thought, felt and believed that the migration towards the 3rd stage – Beliefs – was the dangerous path, considering the many examples of extreme beliefs that we see today. After writing this part 6, I am less sure now. It might also be our destined path in life. This view would be more in line with the final and last Book of Revelation, “an allegory of the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil.”
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