Developing Markers for Initiation

摘要

Initiation is a universal experience of crucial importance for both indigenous cultures and individual personality growth. Although outer ritual has largely faded from Western life, inner initiation images are a common occurrence. This article confronts the problem of deciding whether such modern images represent authentic inner initiation experiences. Using examples from one of Jung's medical lectures, the importance of establishing valid markers for initiation is discussed. Jung's physician-healer model of balancing the right method (effective treatments derived through experience and by identifying valid markers of normal and pathological psychic development) with being the right person is followed. This article explores well-established aspects of initiation, such as rites of passage, with application to life stages common in Western society. A comprehensive exploration of the psychological, philological, and anthropological aspects of initiation is presented. Special reference is made to the shamanic experience of initiation. The article proposes three markers for gauging the authenticity of the initiation experience: submission, holding the tension between the collective and the individual, and numinosity.