Edward F Edinger’s small book, The Christian Archetype, has been a very large source of inspiration to my own understanding of how the stages of the spiritual journey conform to the major events in the life of Christ.  It is therefore in his memory I offer Higher Ground, grateful as well for the clarity of his many other Jungian studies, and also for his example of how to appropriate the rich heritage of religious art to enhance understanding of both psychological and spiritual truth.

In addition to Dr. Edinger’s influence, I also want to acknowledge my other two favorite Jungians—Morton T. Kelsey and John A. Sanford—for their Christian perspective into the archetypal symbolism of the Bible.

In addition I have a favorite visionary—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin—through whose eyes I see the evolutionary perspective of who Jesus was and who, as the Cosmic Christ, is the attracting force drawing humanity collectively to its higher, co-creative destiny as sons and daughters of God.  In my life I have been blessed to know two persons who knew Teilhard.  One was a close friend who grew up in China and whose father was a university professor and friend of Teilhard’s.  Among my friend’s most cherished childhood memories were Teilhard’s visits to his home.  The other was an elderly Jesuit priest and retreat master from South America who, over supper one evening, recalled for me his meetings with Teilhard at Jesuit gatherings, and who had been privileged to have been among those whom Teilhard’s writings were circulated in their “underground” mimeographed form.

Increasingly, Teilhard and Jung’s names are linked; both having approached the greater, spiritual Reality and its symbols as scientists, and both having looked upon the restoration of the feminine as crucial to the new paradigm of the unity of spirit and matter. 

Another whose life works are increasingly compared are Teilhard's and India's Sri Aurobindo. While still young Aurobindo was shipped off to England to be educated. So it was that when he returned to India in his twenties and began his studies of India's ancient masters teachings on the divine science of consciousness, the result was a unique East/West synthesis of science and spirituality.  I consider myself fortunate to have had enough years and freedom to delve deeply into the life works of these three—Jung, Teilhard and Aurobindo—and now to contribute what I can towards building a new unity of understanding between East and West and the sciences of psychology, spirituality, and consciousness.

Additionally, in gratitude and appreciation I would thank Bob, my husband of over fifty years, who in his retirement has delighted to trade places with me in keeping the home fires burning, enabling my total immersion in this project.

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