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Digital Jung

Digital Jung

Written by: Jason E. Smith
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Living a Symbolic Life in a Technological Age. Our digital age presents unique challenges for the practice of the inner life. What can the insights of Jungian Psychology offer for dealing with these challenges? In this series, we explore Carl Jung's idea of "the symbolic life" through the lenses of depth psychology, mythology, fairy tales, poetry, religion, and more. We focus on three core questions: 1. What is the symbolic life? 2. Why do we need a symbolic life? and 3. How can we cultivate and live a symbolic life? This is a companion podcast to the book 'Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life' by Jungian analyst Jason E. Smith.© 2026 Digital Jung Hygiene & Healthy Living Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Sciences Spirituality
Episodes
  • The Doors of Perception
    Oct 8 2026

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    In this episode:
    I introduce the fifth season of Digital Jung with its special focus on the book Practical Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill.

    Listen to the preface of Practical Mysticism Here

    Sources for quotes and more:

    1. 'Practical Mysticism: A Little Book for Normal People' by Evelyn Underhill
    2. 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' by William Blake
    3. 'The Aims of Psychotherapy' by C.G. Jung in Collected Works vol. 16
    4. 'The Undiscovered Self' by C.G. Jung in Collected Works vol. 10
    5. 'Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness' by Evelyn Underhill
    6. 'Jung’s Psychology and Its Social Meaning' by Ira Progoff
    7. 'The Development of the Personality' by C.G. Jung in Collected Works vol. 17
    8. God’s Grandeur, poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins
    9. 'Love and the Soul' by Robert Sardello
    10. 'Psychology and Alchemy' by C.G. Jung in Collected Works vol. 12
    11. 'A Dwelling Place for Wisdom' by Raimon Panikkar
    12. 'Memories, Dreams, Reflections' by C.G. Jung

    Music:
    "Dreaming Days," "Slow Vibing," and "The Return" by Ketsa are licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0


    Like this podcast?
    Please consider leaving a review:
    Apple Podcasts
    Spotify

    Or, if you are able, support the show with a donation at Buy Me a Coffee:

    Support the show


    Connect with me:
    Instagram (@digital.jung)
    Facebook (facebook.com/jungiananalyst)
    Bluesky (@digitaljung.bsky.social)

    Subscribe to the Digital Jung Newsletter


    For more on living a symbolic life:
    Please check out my book, Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life.

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    29 mins
  • The Mystic Way
    Sep 24 2026

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    In this episode:
    I discuss the figures of Ahab, Starbuck, and Ishmael as representatives of three possible responses to the encounter with the numinous. I look at the contrast between the Iron Way of Ahab and what I call Ishmael’s Mystic Way, suggesting that Ishmael's way is a path of self-emptying that makes possible a deeper experience of life.

    Sources for quotes and more:

    1. 'Moby-Dick' by Herman Melville (Chapter 1: Loomings; Chapter 16: The Ship; Chapter 35: The Mast-Head; Chapter 37: Sunset; Chapter 41: Moby Dick; Chapter 49: The Hyena; Chapter, 79: The Prairie; Chapter 82: The Honor and Glory of Whaling; Chapter 104: The Fossil Whale; Chapter 110: Queequeg in His Coffin; Chapter 135: The Chase – Third Day; Epilogue)
    2. S4, Ep. 6 - Moby-Dick: An American Myth, pt. 1
    3. S4, Ep. 8: A Collision Course with Life
    4. 'Man and His Symbols' by C.G. Jung
    5. 'Memories, Dreams, Reflections' by C.G. Jung
    6. 'Two Essays on Analytical Psychology' by C.G. Jung in Collected Works vol. 7
    7. S4, Ep. 9: The Gorgon’s Eye
    8. 'Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self' by C.G. Jung in Collected Works vol. 9ii
    9. ‘Freud, Goethe, Wagner’ by Thomas Mann
    10. 'Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual Consciousness' by Evelyn Underhill
    11. 'The Soul and Death' by C.G. Jung in Collected Works vol. 8
    12. 'A Dwelling Place for Wisdom' by Raimon Panikkar

    Music:
    "Dreaming Days," "Slow Vibing," and "The Return" by Ketsa are licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0


    Like this podcast?
    Please consider leaving a review:
    Apple Podcasts
    Spotify

    Or, if you are able, support the show with a donation at Buy Me a Coffee (link below)

    Support the show


    Connect with me:
    Instagram (@digital.jung)
    Facebook (facebook.com/jungiananalyst)
    Bluesky (@digitaljung.bsky.social)

    Subscribe to the Digital Jung Newsletter


    For more on living a symbolic life:
    Please check out my book, Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life.

    Show More Show Less
    44 mins
  • Symbols of the Mystery
    Sep 17 2026

    Send Me a Note

    In this episode:
    I look at the image of the whale as a symbol of both Jung's notion of the Self, as well as the numinous experience of the divine mystery: the mysterium tremendum et fascinans.

    Sources for quotes and more:

    1. 'Moby-Dick' by Herman Melville (Etymology; Extracts; Chapter 32: Cetology; Chapter 36: The Quarter-Deck; Chapter 41: Moby Dick; Chapter 42: The Whiteness of the Whale; Chapter 55: Monstrous Pictures of Whales; Chapter 85: The Fountain; Chapter 86: The Tail; Chapter 104: The Fossil Whale; Chapter 105: Does the Whale’s Magnitude Diminish? – Will He Perish?)
    2. 'Melville’s Moby-Dick: A Jungian Commentary' by Edward Edinger
    3. S4, Ep. 2: Outcasts of the Spirit
    4. 'Psychology and Alchemy' by C.G. Jung in Collected Works, vol. 12
    5. 'Two Essays on Analytical Psychology' by C.G. Jung, in Collected Works, vol. 7
    6. 'Religious but Not Religious' by Jason Smith
    7. 'Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self' by C.G. Jung in Collected Works, vol. 9ii
    8. Psalm 139: 6-9, Book of Common Prayer, 1979
    9. Exodus 33:18-23, NRSV
    10. Hebrews 10:31, NRSV
    11. Isaiah 55:8, NRSV
    12. 'The Idea of the Holy' by Rudolf Otto
    13. S1, Ep. 22: The Idea of the Holy
    14. S1, Ep. 23: Approaching the Numinous
    15. 'Anatomy of the Psyche' by Edward Edinger
    16. 'Psychology and Religion' by C.G. Jung in Collected Works, vol. 11
    17. Symbols in an Individual Analysis from 'Man and His Symbols' by Jolande Jacobi
    18. The Holy Longing, poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
    19. 'Psychology and Literature' by C.G. Jung in Collected Works, vol. 15

    Music:
    "Dreaming Days," "Slow Vibing," and "The Return" by Ketsa are licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0


    Like this podcast?
    Please consider leaving a review:
    Apple Podcasts
    Spotify

    Or, if you are able, support the show with a donation at Buy Me a Coffee (link below)

    Support the show


    Connect with me:
    Instagram (@digital.jung)
    Facebook (facebook.com/jungiananalyst)
    Bluesky (@digitaljung.bsky.social)

    Subscribe to the Digital Jung Newsletter


    For more on living a symbolic life:
    Please check out my book, Religious but Not Religious: Living a Symbolic Life.

    Show More Show Less
    38 mins
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