Verse 9: “If on your lips is the confession, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and in your heart the faith that God raised him from the dead then you will find salvation.”
Carl Jung wrote an essay discussing the instinctive factors in us from the psychological standpoint. He named the five categories of instincts as hunger, sexuality, activity, reflection, and creativity. For Jung, the move towards activity, reflection, and creativity came after the satisfaction of hunger and sexuality.
Considered symbolically as a picture of an inner process, this Scripture offers a guideline for such a shift within us.
Much current pop psychology and spirituality claims the power of words and thoughts to create reality. This belief contains a seed of truth; however, the source of the creative power is often wrongly interpreted to be our ego or conscious self.
This Scripture and Jung’s understanding of psyche/soul reminds us the source is the Christos/God Within that Jesus embodied and symbolizes. Deep transformation and growth in us occurs under the direction of our Self/God Within. Calling on this, making the “confession,” is essential in moving forward.
“Salvation” is the theological term for a restoration of the ego/self with the Divine Self; it implies a state of wholeness. Jung used the term “individuation.” Often, we feel as if our wholeness is dead, non-existent. We do not believe in our heart that the Divine is present in us or can lead us to the satisfaction of our instincts. Our emotional hungers and our desire for Eros (relatedness) may keep us from moving, seeing, or creating from our soul.
The truth of the embodied experience is that the Divine Essence in us is often thwarted because of our interactions with the outside world. We become adults who relate to ourselves, the Self/God Within, and others in ways that do not satisfy our instinctive needs. Yet, the Self/God Within calls us forward with our desires and longings. We keep struggling to find the way to express and satisfy our instincts.
Inner Reflection
As you struggle today, I invite you to reach to the Self/God Within and cultivate a belief in your heart that it can restore you to wholeness.
Take a few minutes to identify the ideas, beliefs, and historical events that keep you from the expression and satisfaction of your hunger, sexuality, activity, reflection, and creativity. Consider these on all four planes—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. “Confess” your need for the Inner Divine Spirit to guide and transform you to know and live from a more conscious connection between the ego/self and Self/God Within.