In 2015, while walking across Spain, something happened to me, and for the life of me, I can't explain what it was. One morning, well before sunrise, I was utterly alone in a forest, as far from home as it is possible to be, and felt the most profound sense of well being, blessing and completeness.
And that's it really.
At the time it didn't seem to be all that important, but over the past ten years my understanding of that brief moment has grown and deepened to the point where I now regard it as one of the most significant events of my spiritual and psychological life. My practice of intentional silence, my engagement with the Greek New Testament and, particularly, my programme of reading have all built on the foundation of that forest encounter to rebuild my psyche from the ground up. It's been difficult to describe what's been happening, even to myself, but it has been a sobering, exhilerating, challenging, graced and blessed journey.
Many writers have been significant to me over the past decade, but three in particular have helped me find a vocabulary with which to describe what has been happening: Iain McGilchrist, Bernado Kastrup and Peter Kingsley. I have also begun to revivify my long dormant relationship with Carl Jung.
As I journey on I have also been blessed with the company of people with whom to share my pilgrimage as they have shared theirs with me: John, Eric, Alden and several others.
Now, I think I have a firm enough grasp on what has been happening to be able to talk about it and reflect on it, and as part of that opening up, there is an email I received from Alden a week or so ago, which I think is too good not to share. Perhaps he had some organisational help from Microsoft Co-pilot, but that's beside the point: I found it a useful synopsis of where we all seem to be at.
An Email from Alden:
I thought I would just whip up this little comparison on my computer - just a trifle really, took me all of 5 minutes.
A.
The work of Iain McGilchrist, Carl Jung, and Peter Kingsley forms a striking triad—each challenging the dominant Western worldview and seeking to restore a deeper, more integrated understanding of reality. While they come from different disciplines—neurology, depth psychology, and mystic-philosophical history—their insights resonate profoundly,
Core Convergences
Theme
| McGilchrist (The Matter with Things)
| Jung
| Kingsley (Reality)
|
Split in consciousness
| Left vs. right hemisphere: the left abstracts, the right connects
| Ego vs. Self: ego isolates, Self integrates
| Rational mind vs. sacred knowing: logic vs. initiatory wisdom
|
Loss of the sacred
| Modernity is dominated by the left hemisphere, leading to a deadened world
| Modern man is cut off from the unconscious and myth
| Western philosophy forgot its sacred, initiatory roots
|
Restoration of wholeness
| Rebalancing hemispheres to perceive the world as alive and interconnected
| Individuation: integrating unconscious contents into conscious life
| Remembering the sacred origins of Western thought through myth and ritual
|
Language and perception
| Right hemisphere sees the implicit, metaphorical, and living world
| Symbols and archetypes mediate the unconscious
| Language as a portal to sacred presence, not just description
|
Symbolic and Philosophical Synergies
The “unmaking of the world” (McGilchrist) echoes Kingsley’s claim that we’ve forgotten how to be in the world. Both see this as a spiritual crisis, not just a cognitive one.
Jung’s archetypes and Kingsley’s iatromantis both point to ancient, transpersonal forces that shape human experience. McGilchrist’s right hemisphere, which grasps metaphor and presence, is the neurological ground for such encounters.
All three challenge the Enlightenment myth of detached rationality, arguing instead for a participatory, embodied, and sacred mode of knowing.
Differences in Emphasis
McGilchrist is more empirical and philosophical, grounding his claims in neuroscience and epistemology.
Jung focuses on the psyche and its symbolic life, offering a therapeutic and mythopoetic path.
Kingsley is initiatory and prophetic, calling for a radical return to the sacred roots of Western thought.
A Unified Vision?
Together, they offer a powerful synthesis:
McGilchrist gives us the neurological architecture of divided perception.
Jung maps the psychic terrain of transformation and integration.
Kingsley restores the sacred lineage that once held these truths in ritual and myth.
This triadic vision suggests that healing the modern soul requires not just better thinking, but a return to embodied presence, symbolic depth, and sacred participation in the world.
Hope you find this useful.
A
Yep, I certainly did. Thanks.
K.
