This is a reflection of the altar in the chapel at Enders Island in CT.
When I attended the Assisi conference in June, I was inspired to contemplate the images of offerings on an altar in a small chapel by the water. I was in the process of reading Marie Louise Von Franz's’ book Psyche and Matter.
As I looked at each image, I wondered, What actually happens when people pray? What psychic energies are set in motion and how do they manifest themselves in matter?
I remembered from Jung, that “prayer” is an archetype because it is an inherited psychic behavior pattern that is common to the whole of human species.
This short video that I created was an example of how psychic energy as image is both meant to be transmitted over long distances as well as concretized into powerful symbols and images of matter.
We now know from quantum physics, how psychic energy has no limitation in time or space. Thanks to researchers in Holland (Scientists from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have conducted an experiment to prove that quantum entanglement is a real phenomenon and not just “spooky” science as once famously claimed by the late Albert Einstein . The New York Times. October 25, 2015.)
Finally ,it has been scientifically proven that particles in one object influence similar particles at far distance in similar objects, in a way sends signals, and interact in ways we did not believe possible just twenty years ago. The theories connected to this phenomenon explored by Rupert Sheldrake have thus been proven to be right.
In the video, we can see the inner psychic work of prayers as energies at play.
First, there is the image of the altar. The statuette of the Holy Virgin is placed in the center. The altar and the chapel faces the open ocean, the symbol of the deep unconscious which is just a few feet away.
Secondly, the camera starts panning the granite shelf and we see items of all kinds which people have reverently placed on the altar. The items range from packets of cigarettes, to pictures of deceased loved ones, seashells, earrings, postcards , etc. All these objects are concrete manifestations of a prayer from a person. Marie Louise Von Franz writes in Psyche and Matter, “ We can in fact not truly see the objects because we see only their bodies, their outer appearance which we call matter, and not their inwardness which is their true nature.” The corporal existence is only an illusion, or a by-product of our sense perception. End of quote. Sometimes, as with the cigarette package, it might be the prayer of strength to get rid of an addiction, sometimes it is a prayer for someone in need of physical help. It is all there,
To put an item on an altar is an act of concretization, of placing physic personal energy into form.
Placed in front of the Mother Goddess any item displayed is the image of a hope for her intervention. Remember, Mary, for the Catholics, is the mother of compassion, the one who takes the believers’ prayer and lays it at the feet of the all powerful God. She is the “Ombudsman” the intermediary of the worshipper.
How does this concretized prayer, this image then work after it is placed at the altar? It works through amplification, through all the people who walk up to the altar, see the item and contemplate it and thereby add it to their own prayers.
The mother who placed the post card on the altar, asks for help for her son Chris who is in basic training at Fort Paris Island is engaged in something important that occurs outside of time and space. Following the rule of no limitation to time and space, the subatomic particles in him which are identical to hers (as he is her son) will react positively to the concern she is bringing to the altar.
Every particle consists of all other particles (Fritjof Capra). They are verified parts of a unified whole. (Psyche and Matter MLVF.) We know this from the Dutch experiments and we know it from all the experiments which has been conducted in hospitals where groups of patients were prayed for and other groups not. The prayed for patients actually improved faster from the same sickness as the group who was not prayed for. It is impossible to just argue that this is what Jung calls acausal or even random synchronicity. This is actually sound science, scientifically proven half a century after Jung’s theories around this matter.
There is yet a third factor involved, the numinous. Here we are at the mercy of faith, or of the Gods, in this case the Mother God. Watching the movie, I am convinced that it is also a force of energy which gathers in the realm of the higher numinous Self of the God Mother, The Imago Dei, the most powerful manifest operative factor, as Jung named it. For what else is the statue, than the image as a gateway to a higher place of grace, just as in the theory behind the function of a Russian Orthodox icon. Here I think the movie with it's touching images moved me in an extremely powerful way. The stories which emerge as the camera pans the shelf of the altar tells its own story of the suffering of humanity. The concretized spirit in matter has manifested in my own mind and heart and I cant help but unite with all of these souls prayer for a moment of grace.
I have given you a link to an unlisted YouTube because out of respect for the privacy of the sacred. Although all items were placed in a public space, I originally wanted to keep the video inside the Assisi community. I am offering it here because I believe it can be an important contribution to anyone exploring the connection between psyche and matter. Clicking the link will take you to the video: Psyche and Matter
Flemming Behrend. Certified Dream Pattern Analyst
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