The projection of the self as imago Dei

The phenomenon of projection, Jung's concept of the self, and the place held by the imago Dei are explored with the aim of showing how these basic concepts of Jung's psychology can be used to explain both the origin of religious experience in the individual and the religious fervour with which leaders and ideologies are followed by invidivuals and society. The thesis shows how Jung's view of the collective unconscious expands the conception of projection to include mythico-religio-politico configurations. It was Jung's opinion that, at the present time, the State and technology are common objects of the projection of the self as imago Dei in the image of a saviour. It is the contention of the thesis that the awareness and withdrawal of these projections is a necessary step towards world peace. The result of the withdrawal of the projection is that one becomes aware of the self as an intrapsychic resource moving the individual to personal wholeness and to expanded empathies toward the whole. The thesis argues this is currently a more desirable religious consciousness.