numinous

Dictionary: nu·mi·nous (nū'mə-nəs, nyū'-) pronunciation

adj.

Of or relating to a numen; supernatural.
Filled with or characterized by a sense of a supernatural presence: a numinous place.
Spiritually elevated; sublime.

[From Latin nūmen, nūmin-, numen.]

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Thesaurus: numinous

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adjective

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Psychoanalysis: Numinous

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(Analytical Psychology)

The term numinous, based on the Latin numen ("will, the active power of the divine") was coined by Rudolf Otto (1917/1926) to define a "category for the interpretation and evaluation" of nonrational manifestations of the sacred. According to Otto, the numinous is characterized by a "sense of one's creature state" (p. 10), mystical awe (tremendum), a presentiment of divine power (majestas), amazement in the face of the "completely other" (mysterium), demoniacal energy, and paradox.

Otto's phenomenological method and the importance he granted to experience are congruent with the empirical approach of Carl Gustav Jung, who as a matter of course integrated this notion into his own field of research beginning in the 1930s (Jung, 1937-40). He had previously used the term numen to describe the autonomy of psychic energy, conceived in its most primitive sense, in relation to mana (spiritual power) (Jung, 1928b [1948], p. 233).

For psychology and psychotherapy, the numinous is a borderline concept that names and circumscribes certain dynamic and constraining psychic events through which the subject becomes linked to an object that is "completely other" and cannot be understood intellectually. Indeed, conscious will has no hold over the numinous object, which is experienced as indescribable and which "puts the subject into a state of amazement [being dumbstruck], or passive submission" (Jung, 1928b [1948], p. 186). The state of consciousness is altered, the mental level "lowered." The numerous warnings from therapists about this effect are commensurate with the risks entailed: schizophrenic dissociation, inflation of the ego, fascination, or possession; as well as the broader social consequences of fanaticism and the "terrifying suggestibility that lies behind all mass movements" (Jung, 1942 [1948], p. 184).

However, based on his own experience of the collective unconscious during his self-analysis from 1913 to 1918 and on the dreams and visions of his patients, Jung believed that the numinous effect could be therapeutic. Indeed, it signals the emergence of an archetype with specific energy or emotional charge, which can effectively compensate for the overly unilateral attitude of consciousness. For example, the numinosity of the archetype of the self "incites" man to realize the paradoxical totality of his being, conscious and unconscious, by means of the symbols of the quaternity that appear in dreams. In this case, the attitude of the ego is the determining factor. Jung described it as "religious," in that sense that for him, religion (from the Latin relegere, or "send forth," and not religare—"restrain") was "a careful and scrupulous observation of . . . the numinosum" (Jung, 1937-40, p. 7).

Bibliography

Jung, Carl Gustav. (1928b [1948]). On psychic energy. Coll.Works (Vol. 8). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

——. (1937-40). Psychology and religion. Coll. Works (Vol. 11). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Jung, Carl Gustav. (1942 [1948]). A psychological approach to the dogma of the Trinity. Coll. Works (Vol. 11). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

——. (1966). Theoretical considerations on the nature of the psyche. Coll. Works (Vol. 8). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Otto, Rudolf. (1926). The holy: an inquiry into the non-rational factor in the idea of the divine and its relation to the rational (John W. Harvey, Trans). London: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1917)

—AIMÉ AGNEL

Obscure Words: numinous

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1) supernatural, mysterious
2) filled with a sense of the presence of divinity
3) appealing to the higher emotions or to the aesthetic sense: spiritual

Wikipedia: Numinous

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Numinous (pronounced /nuːmɨnəs, njuːmɨnəs/) (from the Classical Latin numen) is an English adjective describing the power or presence of a divinity. The word was popularised in the early twentieth century by the German theologian Rudolf Otto in his influential book Das Heilige (1917; translated into English as The Idea of the Holy, 1923). According to Otto the numinous experience has two aspects: mysterium tremendum, which is the tendency to invoke fear and trembling; and mysterium fascinans, the tendency to attract, fascinate and compel. The numinous experience also has a personal quality to it, in that the person feels to be in communion with a wholly other. The numinous experience can lead in different cases to belief in deities, the supernatural, the sacred, the holy, and the transcendent.

1 Etymology
2 Rudolf Otto
3 Non-religious Usage
4 References

Etymology

Etymologically, numinous comes from the Latin word numen, which originally, literally meant "nodding", but was associated with meanings of "command" or "divine majesty". Its earliest known use as meaning 'divine majesty' dates to the middle of the seventeenth century^[1].

Rudolf Otto

Otto's use of the term as referring to a characteristic of religious experience was influential among intellectuals of the subsequent generation. For example, numinous as understood by Otto was a frequently quoted concept in the writings of Carl Jung and C. S. Lewis. The notion of the numinous and the wholly other were also central to the religious studies of Mircea Eliade.

Mysterium tremendum et fascinans (“fearful and fascinating mystery”) is a Latin phrase which Rudolf Otto uses in The Idea of the Holy to name the awe-some (fascinating and full of awe) mystery that was the object common to all forms of religious experience.

Mysterium tremendum is described in The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley in the following terms:

The literature of religious experience abounds in references to the pains and terrors overwhelming those who have come, too suddenly, face to face with some manifestation of the mysterium tremendum. In theological language, this fear is due to the in-compatibility between man's egotism and the divine purity, between man's self-aggravated separateness and the infinity of God.

"Nostalgia for paradise' was a term also used by Mircea Eliade to help bring understanding to the numinous. This idea was based on the theory that a person has a sort of longing for perfection or paradise, which creates a platform for experience of the numinous.^{[citation needed]}

Carlos Castaneda deals with a related concept in his books dealing with a particular Native American tradition of sorcery. According to the teacher Don Juan Matus (whose true existence has been called into question).^[2] there is just such an inconceivable dimension of human existence whose presence may be sensed but neither grasped by the senses or any rational framework. He refers to this as the Nagual. This Nagual (which seems to differ from a conventional anthropological understanding of the word) is a power that may be harnessed by a 'man of knowledge', the shaman or sorcerer who has undergone an arduous spiritual training.

It may be viewed as "the intense feeling of unknowingly knowing that there is something which cannot be seen." This "knowing" can "befall" or overcome a person at any time and in any place — in a cathedral; next to a silent stream; on a lonely road; early in the morning or in the face of a beautiful sunset. Similarly, unpleasant or frightening scenes or experiences can lead to a sense of an unseen presence of ghosts, evil spirits or a general sense of the presence of evil. Visions or hallucinations of god, gods, the devil or devils can also happen.^{[original research?]}

Non-religious Usage

The idea is not necessarily a religious one: noted atheists Carl Sagan, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have discussed the importance of separating the numinous from the supernatural.^[3]

References

^ See Oxford English Dictionary
^ see Richard De Mille, ed., The Don Juan Papers: Further Castaneda Controversies (1980; Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2001). ISBN 0595144993.
^ "The Four Horsemen", Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, September 2007

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Translations: Numinous

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - overnaturlig, mystisk, guddommelig, numinøs

Nederlands (Dutch)
goddelijke aanwezigheid aanduidend, spiritueel, ontzagwekkend, mysterieus, bovennatuurlijk

Français (French)
adj. - mystérieux, sacré

Deutsch (German)
adj. - göttlich, spirituell, beeindruckend

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - μεταφυσικός, υπερφυσικός, υπερκόσμιος

Italiano (Italian)
spirituale

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - sobrenatural, misterioso, espiritual, reverente

Русский (Russian)
священный, мистический

Español (Spanish)
adj. - sobrenatural, numinoso

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - övernaturlig, mystisk, gudomlig, vördnadsbjudande

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
精神上的, 超自然的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 精神上的, 超自然的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 신성한, 엄숙한

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 神秘的な, 神聖な

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) خارق للطبيعه,‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮אלוהי, רוחני, מעורר יראה‬

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	Archetype (Analytical Psychology)
	Religion and Psychoanalysis
	'Patmos'

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		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Psychoanalysis. International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. Copyright © 2005 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd. Read more
		Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Numinous". Read more
		Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more

numinous

Contents

Etymology

Rudolf Otto

Non-religious Usage

References