Mythology for Christians: An investigation and empirical test of C.G. Jung's proposal that protestant theologians and adherents should think of God as a mythologem. S.P. Myers A thesis submitted for the degree of Psychoanalytic Studies Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies University of Essex Date of submission: 4 Apr. 2017 . Abstract This research tests C.G. Jung’s suggestion that if protestant Christians think of God as a mythologem then it advances consciousness. There is an implied benefit of greater religious tolerance. The research methodology is to investigate the theoretical concepts involved, operationalise them, and then conduct an empirical test of their relationship. There are multiple problems that have to be overcome, including Jung’s amorphous and protean use of terminology. His concept of myth, in this context, is clarified and positioned within his philosophy, the contemporary culture of materialism, and the primary beliefs of the target audience. The contemporary understanding of Jungian consciousness is also revisioned to incorporate Jung’s notion of advancement based on the transcendent function. There are no existing measures for ‘thinking mythologically’ nor ‘advancement’. The concepts do not lend themselves to established psychometric principles. Therefore, two new forms of questionnaire are devised to measure these concepts, alongside two new questionnaires of conventional design that collect information about demographics and religious tolerance. There is an Information Technology sub-project, using a bespoke database and set of programs, to develop, publish, and promote the questionnaires on the internet. There are then two stages of statistical analysis: one to develop reliable and valid measures for each concept; the other to measure the relationships between the concepts. The main result of the test is that the specific relationship Jung describes in the letter – between mythological thinking and advancement of consciousness – does not hold. However, the data does suggest there may be a direct relationship between mythological thinking and religious tolerance. Despite the failure of the main test, there are a number of useful lessons from the results and suggestions for future research. There are also several spin-offs from the thesis, in terms of both concepts and resources. These are reviewed in the final chapter. Figure 1 – Carl Gustav Jung I stick to my proposal that we take all talk of God as mythological and discuss these mythologems honestly… Let the Protestant theologian therefore… admit to the layman that he is mythologizing and is just as incapable as he is of expressing God himself… [This is so that] verbal image and object are no longer identical, i.e.… their participation mystique is abolished. I have this advance of human consciousness particularly at heart. It is a difficult task to which I have devoted all my life’s work. (Jung 1976, pp. 262-64) 4 Contents Part I Introduction ................................................................................................................ 11 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 12 Part II Mythology ................................................................................................................. 37 2 The Meaning of a Mythologem ...................................................................................... 38 3 Jung’s Epistemology ...................................................................................................... 73 4 Living Myth................................................................................................................... 85 Part III Consciousness ........................................................................................................ 115 5 Advancement of Consciousness ................................................................................... 116 6 Restoring the transcendent function to typology ........................................................... 146 Part IV Empirical Study...................................................................................................... 173 7 Measurement ............................................................................................................... 174 8 Validation/Reliability ................................................................................................... 201 9 Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 231 Part V Discussion ............................................................................................................... 243 10 Review and Conclusions ............................................................................................ 244 Appendices ......................................................................................................................... 271 Appendix A – Factor Analyses ....................................................................................... 272 Appendix B – MMDI data review ................................................................................... 279 Appendix C – Online Questionnaires and Debrief ........................................................... 280 Appendix D – Computer System ..................................................................................... 320 References ...................................................................................................................... 322 Table of Figures Figure 1 – Carl Gustav Jung ...................................................................................................4 5 Figure 2 - Myth Map ............................................................................................................ 29 Figure 3 - Transcendence Question Scoring .......................................................................... 33 Figure 4 - Mythological Question Scoring ............................................................................ 33 Figure 5 - Perspective Images ............................................................................................... 69 Figure 6 - Flag of Dominica ................................................................................................. 79 Figure 7 - Hand Fan Metaphor .............................................................................................. 80 Figure 8 - Hand Fan Subject/Object Regions ........................................................................ 82 Figure 9 - Matter, Spirit, Psyche ......................................................................................... 104 Figure 10 - Four Types of Mythology ................................................................................. 105 Figure 11 - Myth Map ........................................................................................................ 110 Figure 12 - Caduceus .......................................................................................................... 156 Figure 13 - Myth Map Scales .............................................................................................. 177 Figure 14 - Example Myth Statements ................................................................................ 178 Figure 15 - Myth Symbolic Scale ....................................................................................... 179 Figure 16 - MMDI Example Original Statements ................................................................ 184 Figure 17 – MMDI Distributions ........................................................................................ 186 Figure 18 - Average Diff Scores by Age ............................................................................. 187 Figure 19 - Average Diff Scores (East) ............................................................................... 188 Figure 20 - Figure 19 - Average Diff Scores (West) ............................................................ 189 6 Figure 21 - Worldwide Diff Scores ..................................................................................... 190 Figure 22 - Distribution of Diff Scores ............................................................................... 191 Figure 23 - Standard Deviation of Diff Scores (West) ......................................................... 192 Figure 24 - Standard Deviation of Diff Scores (East) .......................................................... 193 Figure 25 - New Transcendence Statement (example) ......................................................... 194 Figure 26 - Transcendence Scoring ..................................................................................... 195 Figure 27 - Consciousness Scoring ..................................................................................... 203 Figure 28 - Mythological Scoring ....................................................................................... 204 Figure 29- Myth Response Distributions ............................................................................. 207 Figure 30 - Distribution of Literal Responses ...................................................................... 209 Figure 31 - Distribution of Literal/Symbol Scores ............................................................... 215 Figure 32 - Distribution of Consciousness Responses ......................................................... 216 Figure 33 - Old/New MMDI Distributions