Industrialization and the development of Democracy following the revolutions of Russia and Germany inspired the middle and working classes to advance themselves both spiritually and intellectually. Ideas of social reordering such as Communism and Socialism, as well as Spiritual philosophies from the East filled the imagination of doctors Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. The horrors of the First World War left many spiritual questions unanswered. Psychoanalysis was just one of the radical movements to arise at this time.
Others included the cult of Theosophy and numerous Rosicrucian based secret societies including The Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley's Order of the Oriental Templars, and the more broadly appealing Spiritualist Movement that was embraced by the Feminists and Suffragettes. A thirst for sexual experimentation and spiritual inquiry were central to the appeal of these new cults. As consciousness strived to reach for the new Millennium, mental hysteria amongst women of the bourgeois classes of Vienna seemed to be at epidemic proportions. In his subsequent investigations, Freud began to look upon the behavior of human beings as a complex series of cause and effect. Perhaps if the original cause to a negative effect could be discovered, sanity and conscious understanding could be achieved.
Jung who had been initiated into the mystical and Occult secret doctrines of the Freemasons and Rosicrucians developed Freud's theories further. By including mystical ideas of a Supra-consciousness that informs all individuals, Jung took Freud's cause and effect model into the celestial sphere of the Collective Unconscious. As Mankind is a social being traveling through an elaborate historical journey, it was clear that individuals who necessarily belonged to or identified with groups ie. nationality, race, sexuality, religious beliefs etc. will be effected by not only personal but also historical causes. Thus, the demonic irrational and unconscious impulses of Man ie. hate and violence, racism, homophobia, sexism, xenophobia, etc. are the effect of historical causes that an individual within his time must become aware of on the personal journey to salvation, as he strives for self-awareness and consciousness.
With the rise of Nazism and the outbreak of World War II, Jung immediately distanced himself from the racist and elitist Rosicrucian ideas that had informed his initial investigations, and ultimately caused his own mental breakdown (he believed the ghosts of Knights Templars were tormenting him). In an attempt at recovery and in order to understand his experience, Jung traveled widely including periods in India and Africa. He was searching for the roots of the mystical teachings that had been an obsession for most of his life, yet had finally driven him to apparent madness.
Jung came to understand that a separation had occurred within modern Western Man, who had become psychologically fragmented from his own Spiritual source. This was terrifyingly apparent in the real insanity of Nazi Germany that had slipped into a schizophrenic abyss. Jung discovered the remedy to this historical dilemma in the primitive Shamanism of ancient cultures. As Western Man had striven for the rational and scientific understanding of Nature, so now Jung strove for the rational and scientific understanding of Man's consciousness - his psyche and mind - and how Man actually perceives Reality. The results were startling, yet he found these truths had always been with him, hidden within art, ritual and literature throughout history.
By studying the myths, rituals and practices of primitive Shamanism, Jung regained his own sanity, and learned to live consciously within the Myth that is Life.
Having embraced his Inner Hero, confronted his own demons and won the Final Battle, Jung not only redeemed himself, but opened the gates for the rest of Humanity. By finding his Christ-within and becoming aware of Nature's raw and undying truths, Jung not only achieved his own salvation, but consequently created the theories behind the science of psychology that informs the best of today's spiritual and psychological renaissance. The old axiom "Save one's self and you save the whole world" could be a fitting epitaph for anyone who is Jung at heart.
Modern psychology has been responsible for freeing millions of people from the prisons of unconsciousness and its negative effects, and historically may be seen as the Holy Grail that consciousness has been questing for throughout the darkest moments of history.