Appropriating Archetypes: Carl Jung, Hindu Statuary, and Spiritual Seeking in California
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Southern California, this paper explores how non-Indians use and appropriate statues of Hindu deities. In particular, I focus on a particular group of spiritual seekers who see these statues, or murtis, not as manifestations of the divine - that is, not as Hindu go...
| Published in: | Nova religio |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Californiarnia Press
[2021]
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| In: |
Nova religio
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
California (Süd)
/ Hinduism
/ Statue of a god
/ Cult
/ Spirituality
/ Archetype
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| RelBib Classification: | AE Psychology of religion AZ New religious movements BK Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism KBQ North America |
| Further subjects: | B
Spirituality
B Appropriation B Hinduism B Yoga B Archetypes B Carl Jung |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Southern California, this paper explores how non-Indians use and appropriate statues of Hindu deities. In particular, I focus on a particular group of spiritual seekers who see these statues, or murtis, not as manifestations of the divine - that is, not as Hindu gods themselves - but instead as symbols that correspond to Jungian "archetypes." This spiritual practice of "working with" an archetype is quite different from what one might encounter in a Hindu temple in India, and indeed, the underlying theologies of the practice map better onto American metaphysical religion than they do Hinduism. The article ends with a reflection on appropriation, focusing on the ways in which this spiritual practice promotes a form of universalism in which the very idea of appropriation becomes impossible. |
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| ISSN: | 1541-8480 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Nova religio
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1525/nr.2021.24.3.96 |