Journey into Depth: The Experience of Initiation in Monastic and Jungian Training

Journey into Depth is about the experience of initiation as it plays itself out in two domains-the monastic and the training to become a Jungian psychoanalyst. The very disparateness of these fields, from an external point of view, highlights the deeper level of similarity in their initiatory experiences. A few major anthropological guidelines concerning initiation provide a framework of reflection as to what is really going on when a person passes through this kind of adult "rite of passage." Conclusions as to the human importance of such experiences follow with special emphasis on their spiritual consequences in terms of growth.

Sister Mary Wolff-Salin is a Jungian psychoanalyst who has published two previous books on connections between Jungian thought and spirituality or community life.