Panis angelicus. Nourishment for the soul

 


The lyrics to the christmas song Panis angelicus was written by the theologian Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. The first sentence: Panis angelicus fit panis hominum, means 'may the bread of angels become the bread of mankind'. In the original context this was about the eucharist. To me today however it points to something deeper: a longing for nourishment for the soul.

There is a tenderness and vulnerability in this longing. And in a way its not hard to find sources of nourishment - connecting with others, being in nature, creating, enjoying the beauty of art. But to me the  longing also points to something less obvious, something to do with the parts of us which traditionally have been expressed in religious and spiritual practices. 

How to understand this longing now, when most people reject organized traditional religion and find it irrelevant? In his book The darkening spirit. Jung, spirituality, religion. David Tacey argues that we have a postsecular society, a society which  is open for an integral view of reality that includes the spiritual. In this postsecular time, jungian perspectives may be the signpost that guide us forwards. In a society which reject religion which are experienced as abstract and locked into dogmatic systems far away from our experiental reality, the thought world of Jung shows us something which may help us understand our longing and thus contribute to a living and nourishing relationship with the soul. I am thinking about his perspectives on the unconscious.

To Jung the unconscious is a collective endless and timeless space constituted by powerful archetypal forces, which are impacting us deeply wether we acknowledge it or not. To live meaningful lives and become whole Jung says we need to establish an aware relationship with the archetypal forces in the unconscious. The connection with our soul and the possibility to nourish our soul depends on our relationship with the unconscious. Its almost like the hidden gold of the unconscious is this soulconnection.  

In our everyday lives it is important with social practices which create containers for us to establish and be present with this relationship with the unconscious. In earlier times religion and the church had this role. Now we need to find new collective arenas to relate to the unconscious and nourish our souls. 




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