Fortunately for all former Christians and secular humanists from other religious backgrounds, or no religious background, both Nietzsche and Jung have surfed the sea of the collective unconscious long enough to report back to us about their respective experiences.
Jung's report can be found in his recently published Red Book (2010), edited by Sonu Shamdasani.
Nietzsche's report can be found in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Tragically, Nietzsche (1844-1900) subsequently descended into madness in 1889.
Arguably, the most famous idea in Nietzsche's Zarathustra is the idea of the Ubermensch, which Jarrett says translators today prefer to render as the Overman. But in Jung's day, this term was rendered in English as the Superman.
In the 1988 two-volume edition of Jung's seminar, Jung on December 5, 1934, suggests that Nietzsche's Superman is a super-Protestant (page 286). But Jarrett, perhaps wisely, omits this passage from the 1998 abridged edition. (Like Nietzsche, Jung was the son of a Protestant pastor.)
Over against Jung's suggestion, I would propose that the Overman is post-Christian.
However, for all people whose cultural conditioning has taken place in one Christian tradition or another, the process of initiation into becoming an Overman in their actual lives will probably involve undergoing an inner experience that may resemble being crucified, but hopefully without actually dying physically -- but dying figuratively instead, to their old Christian cultural and personal conditioning.
People who dot not come from a Christian background will probably have to undergo a comparable inner experience.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
