an academic exercise. It is a very important and useful guide for individuals involved in experiential therapy and self-exploration and an indispensable tool for those who support and accompany them on their journeys (Grof 2006). The experiences originating on deeper levels of the psyche, in the collective unconscious, have a certain quality that Jung referred to as “numinosity”. The word “numinous“ – first used by Rudolf Otto – is relatively new and neutral and thus preferable to other similar expressions, such as religious, mystical, magical, holy, or sacred, which have often been used in problematic contexts and are easily misleading. The term numinosity applied to transpersonal experiences describes direct perception of their extraordinary nature which Otto described with the terms mysterium tremendum et fascinans andwholly other – something that cannot usually be experienced in everyday states of consciousness. They convey a very convincing sense that they belong to a higher order of reality, to a realm, which is sacred. In view of the ontological reality of the imaginal realm, spirituality is a very important and natural dimension of the human psyche and spiritual quest is a legitimate and fully justified human endeavor. It must be emphasized that this applies to genuine spirituality based on personal experience and does not provide support for ideologies and dogmas of organized religions. To prevent the misunderstanding and confusion that have compromised many similar discussions in the past, a clear distinction must be made between spirituality and religion. Spirituality involves a special kind of relationship between the individual and the cosmos and is essentially a personal affair. By comparison, organized religion is institutionalized group activity that takes place in a designated location, a temple or a church, and involves a system of appointed officials who may or may not have had personal experiences of spiritual realities themselves. Once a religion becomes organized, it often loses the connection with its spiritual source and devolves into a secular institution that exploits human spiritual needs without satisfying them. Organized religions tend to create hierarchical systems focusing on the pursuit of power, control, politics, money, possessions, and other worldly concerns. Under these circumstances, religious hierarchy tends to dislike and discourage direct spiritual experiences in its members, because they foster independence and cannot be effectively controlled. In such cases, genuine spiritual life continues only in the mystical branches, monastic orders, and ecstatic sects of the religions involved. People who have experiences of the immanent or transcendent divine open up to the spirituality found in the mystical branches of the great religions of the world or in their monastic orders, not necessarily in their mainstream organizations. A profound mystical experience tends to dissolve the boundaries between religions and reveals deep connections between them, while the dogmatism of organized religions tends to emphasize differences between various creeds and engender antagonism and hostility. There is no doubt that the dogmas of orga28 (26) Stanislav Grof
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzgxMzI=