Soul, Flow, Healing

Western medicine treats mental illness as a ‘chemical imbalance’ in the brain, but there are other models, other avenues of healing. I will explore the relationship between soul and healing, and suggest that when we are able to restore a sense of flow to the inner life, the mind as well as the body can be restored. 

We have souls that need care and attention, and good therapy is aware of the role of nonrational factors in the healing of sickness. The shaman once spoke about ‘soul retrieval’, and we need to find a new approach to this archaic idea, so that we can win back the subtle dimension of health and healing.

Bio

David Tacey is Associate Professor in the School of Arts and Critical Enquiry, La Trobe University, Melbourne. He teaches courses on spirituality and rites of passage, analytical psychology and literary studies. His main research interest is the recovery of meaning in the contemporary world. 

David qualified in Australia in literary and cultural studies to the level of PhD, and then in the United States he trained in depth psychology and psychoanalysis, with a focus on the psychology of religious experience. He was a Harkness Postdoctoral Fellow with the Commonwealth Fund in New York City.  He is the author of eight books.

Books

How to Read Jung (2006)

The Idea of the Numinous (2006)

The Spirituality Revolution (2003)

ReEnchantment: The New Australian Spirituality (2000)