The Resurrection in Emily Dickinson, Jung, & Steven Herrmann

In his excellent book on Emily Dickinson: A Medicine Woman for Our Times, Jungian analyst Steven Herrmann (who, for transparency’s sake, I confess is a friend of mine) shares Dickinson’s insights about Resurrection.

He cites Jung on the Resurrection: 

The better we understand the archetype, the more we participate in its life and the more we realize its eternity or timelessness….The realization of the self also means a re-establishment of Man as the microcosm, i.e., man’s cosmic relatedness. Such realizations are frequently accompanied by synchronistic events. (The prophetic experience of vocation belongs to this category).

I very much appreciate Jung’s intuition that Resurrection awakens our sense of the cosmos and our role as microcosm within a macrocosm, because this moves us from a sense of self to a sense of Self, of relating to the whole and not just to our egos. So much of modern consciousness is stuck on the self.

There is deep spiritual importance in the cosmology of cosmogenesis that science is gifting us with today. It invites us to interact with the 13.8 billion years of time and 2 trillion galaxies of space that constitute our home.

It is central to wrestling with the peril Mother Earth is in today, and our responsibility to work to prevent her demise. It puts into practice Thomas Berry’s insight that “ecology is functional cosmology.” Here lies what Jung calls the “prophetic experience of vocation” and Berry calls “the Great Work” and what I laid out in my book on reinventing work.

Hearing Jung talking about microcosm and macrocosm brings to mind vividly the mandalas of Hildegard of Bingen. She, like indigenous peoples everywhere, and like premodern mystics like Francis, Aquinas, Mechtild, Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, and Nicolas of Cusa after her, presents a spirituality that begins with the whole. She paints humanity as a microcosm within a macrocosm constantly.

Herrmann, moved by Dickinson’s statement that “Twas just this time last year, I died,” talks about the death and resurrection experience of Emily as a “trans-psychic experience.”

He offers his own poem on “Meaning of the Resurrection.”

What is the meaning of the Resurrection of Christ?
What does the Resurrection mean to me?
The Resurrection of Christ,
That He arose from the dead—
Rose to life—and bestowed upon us—
A vocation to live by.

He is revealed to the world
Through the creative Act.
This means He must become creative in us—
Christ—who was hidden in all things
By losing his career on the Cross,
Christ attained the Light of his Vocation—
His final Resurrection—for all Eternity.

To suffer with Christ
Means that we too are in pursuit of the Light….
Christ must be reborn in the Soul—
Must endure the torment of his Crucifixion in our careers
If we are to realize the meaning of the Resurrection ourselves.

It is our callings that make this Transfiguration possible in us;
It is also our vocations
That lead Christ to be Crucified and Resurrected again
Within us.

Herrmann credits Dickinson for her “comprehension” of the Resurrection archetype that surpassed even that of Whitman and Melville. She knew the passion of the Self in its cosmic dimensions and lived out its mystery in the field of her calling and career like no one else…When she says, therefore, she died and arose from the dead, I do in fact believe her. *

Citing Mircea Eliade, who says that initiation rites in North America “involve the ritual of the candidate’s death and resurrection,” Hermann credits Dickinson with being a shaman. For “this is the basic experience of shamanistic dismemberment.” She is a “medicine woman” summoning us in this way.*

* Steven Herrmann, Emily Dickinson: A Medicine Woman for Our Times, pp. 266-269.

Banner Image: “‘Nature’ is what we see— | The Hill—the Afternoon— | Squirrel—Eclipse— the Bumble bee— | Nay—Nature is Heaven— | Nature is what we hear— | The Bobolink—the Sea— | Thunder—the Cricket— | Nay—Nature is Harmony— | Nature is what we know— | Yet have no art to say— | So impotent Our Wisdom is | To her Simplicity.” ~~ Emily Dickinson. Photo by Nick Kenrick on Flickr.

Queries for Contemplation

Do you recognize a prophetic experience in your vocation? Have synchronicities been a part of your vocation? How has your vocation evolved over time? Have you undergone death and resurrection in this lifetime?

Related Readings by Matthew Fox

The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time

Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen

Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations

A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ

Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox, Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision For a New Generation

Matthew Fox, Skylar Wilson and Jen Listug: Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action

Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality