E.1 — the spirit that undoes the mind
Season 1: Episode 1
the spirit that undoes the mind
In this episode you will learn:
Why the “numinous” encounters with God are the transformative encounters
What Jung did to help save millions of addicts
How the dreaming life allows us to meet with God and change
Episode length: 11:00
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Transcript
What if what you’re really searching for...
isn’t a mystery within the Bible or a sound theological argument but a stirring, and awe-inspiring encounter with God that transforms you?What if it’s not a riddle for your mind —
but something that undoes your mind completely?In the West, we’ve been taught to think about our stance on Israel, or our end times theology but we can’t tell when we’ve encountered the Spirit of God.
Im here to tell you that the Holy Spirit…
isn’t asking for mental ascent.It’s asking for… surrender to that which is beyond your mind, and deep within.
Today, we’re going to talk about numinous encounters with God —
the path that’s felt more than it’s figured out.Carl Jung said that the numinous encounters with the Spirit is where the real transformation of your life can begin.
If you are tired of mental ascent in your relationship with God who is Spirit, rather than deep, transformative experiences, then let’s awake your holy wonder.
Stay with me.
the numinous
Hey friend —
I’m Angela Meer, and this is the premiere episode to The Christian Jung.
Those of you who know me know that this podcast has been two years in the making. But if you don’t know me, I’ll let you know that I’ve been studying Carl Jung at a graduate level for ten years now. I have two graduate degrees in Depth Psychology which is the branch of psychology that started with Jung’s contributions to the field of psychology.
Currently, I’m a PhD Theology student with – you guessed it – a dissertation topic on Carl Jung’s contributions to theology. Now, enough about me.
In today’s episode, we’re going straight to the heart.
Not just theology. Not psychology.
But the place where your soul actually meets and is transformed by God.
In 1917, German Theologian Rudolf Otto wrote about something called the numinous. He actually invented this word from reading the Bible out of the Latin translation.
The numinous is that feeling of awe —
when you’re face to face with something you can’t explain.
It’s not logical. It’s Not sensory.
But it is holy. Terrifying. Magnetic.
It demands all of your attention… even as it humbles you.
Carl Jung was taken by Otto’s new word because he had experienced this phenomenon in his own life and seen it in his patients too.
He said these numinous experiences —
they rise from within our unconscious.
From the depths of the soul.
Not outside us, but in us.
They come in dreams… in visions… in prayer.
They don’t ask us to explain.
They ask us to feel.
And often, they completely transform us.
the origins of aa
Back in the 1930s, a man named Roland Hazard —
a wealthy American — went to Carl Jung for help with alcoholism.
After months of trying… Roland relapsed.
In response Jung told him
"You are a hopeless case... Your only hope is a vital spiritual experience, a complete transformation of the personality."
And that moment changed the course of history.
Roland joined a Christian movement called the Oxford Group.
There, he finally found sobriety.
His story made its way to Bill Wilson —
who would go on to co-found Alcoholics Anonymous.
Bill himself had a dramatic white-light spiritual experience during detox —
exactly the kind Jung had described.
Years later, Bill W. wrote to Jung, thanking him for his foundational role in AA’s development.
Jung replied with a now-famous letter, dated January 30, 1961, in which he said:
"His [Roland's] craving for alcohol was the equivalent on a low level of the spiritual thirst. Alcohol in Latin is spiritus, and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison. The helpful formula therefore is: spiritus contra spiritum."
spiritus contra spiritum
This is a Latin phrase which means — Spirit against spirits.”
Isn’t that stunning?
Bill W bookmarked the first and last steps in the AA and NA programs with real, experiential, numinous encounters with God as the potent exchange for addictions. spiritus contra spiritum .
drink of me
Jesus, in John 4, says this:
“Whoever drinks the water I give…
“That water will become a spring inside them…
welling up to eternal life.”
This is not just metaphor.
This is Spirit.
We have to move beyond mental assent.
Beyond just thinking about God…
And into experiencing God.
Let me ask you something.
When was the last time
you felt God in a numinous encounter?
The last time you drank something in the Spirit
that actually… satisfied you?
Just hold that memory — or longing — for a second as we go to a brief message.
a numinous dream
A few years ago I had a dream.
It was night and I was walking onto a dock that jutted out into a still lake. I stood at the edge of that dock and looked into the water below. From the depths of the water, I saw something slowly emerge. It was larger than any creature I had ever seen, and it’s eye – its enormous eye - was all that I could see. The eye looked up at me and that feeling of numinosity came over me. I knew that this creature knew me. That I was known by it, and that it loved me. But at the same time its sheer size, its anciet-ness and strangeness was awe-filling and terrifying in feeling.
I woke up in total peace, but in a overwhelming sense of wonder. I knew I had encounted God as the Ancient of Days in that dream.
That night as I laid in bed. I didn’t use my mind. I didn’t think. Instead, I let the feeling of awe wash over me, over and again. The dream was an invitation to wonder and be filled with awe.
These moments are not just rare, they’re absouletly transforming. If we let them be.
We just don’t always know how to name these type of experiences, but we should let ourselves exist in the space of feeling His holiness – His otherness – and His ability to transform us vitally over and over again.
I have created a community called The Christian Jung community where I help you discover the transformative aspects of your Christianity using Carl Jung’s techniques. In the community, I go deeper into what came after that dream —
and how I applied it in my real life.
I help you discover what’s awakening in you.
It’s not about information.
It’s about transformation.
I’m only opening this community to founding members for a few weeks, so I invite you to Go to AngelaMeer.com to join us.
action
As we wrap up this first episode
Would you take a moment to reflect?
📓 When was your last numinous experience?
📓 Are you drawing closer — or running from it?
Maybe start with a few minutes of silence.
Or write it down.
The important part is to just let the Spirit speak — and be still.
Next episode, we’re diving into a big one:
What is the ultimate goal of Jung’s psychology —
and how does it align perfectly with the Christian faith?
This is where faith and soul meet in deep, powerful ways.
For this first season we are dropping the podcast in batches, so if you want updates when a new episode drops,
just head to AngelaMeer.com and sign up.
Now…
just take a few quiet minutes.
Be still.
Let’s close with a prayer from St. Hildegard of Bingen:
“O Holy Spirit…
Make us vessels of your dreaming breath.”