Numinous Unconscious
By adding the numinous unconscious as the fourth and deepest level of the human mind R. Toro widened our perspective on human beings.
The concept was initially proposed by Jung, who had recognised two opposing tendencies in human beings,
- towards light, positivity, health, kindness and beauty
- towards darkness, negativity, illness, wickedness and ugliness
Jung believed that “Every good quality has its bad side, and nothing that is good can come into the world without directly producing a corresponding evil. This is a painful fact”.
However, R. Toro insisted that genuine human expressions were only those that allowed humanity to evolve in a positive way, to develop its healthy part, and to move towards human greatness. For him, the numinous unconscious represented the splendour, sacredness, and greatness of humankind.
Like Jung, R. Toro thought that approaching the numinous was an important step for the healing for many illnesses.
“The main interest of my work,” writes Jung, “is not concerned with the treatment of neurosis but rather with the approach to the numinous. But the fact is that the approach to the numinous is the real therapy and inasmuch as you attain to the numinous experiences, you are released from the curse of pathology. Even the very disease takes on a numinous character.”
What are the contents of the Numinous Unconscious?
According to R. Toro, first and foremost, love, the cosmic force that organizes life.
1. Love: to love and be loved is an intrinsic need of human beings. Humanity needs to overcome its fear of love, to open up to receive love, to give tenderness, to see the other as part of one’s self, to act with empathy, to cultivate friendship, to give and receive affective containment. Love manifests in different forms – communion, tenderness, passion, and as an epiphany (Emmanuel Levinas union of souls).
2. Illumination
“To confront a person with his shadow is to show him his own light.” ~ Jung.
R. Toro didn’t conceive of enlightened beings as masters or gurus travelling around the world spreading light. Instead, he saw them as those with the cognitive capacity to truly see and understand others, to glimpse into their souls as if they had a shining light with which they could illuminate their shadows, dissolve their darkness, and help them discover their essence and unveil their will to live and be happy.
3. Courage: we need courage to face our shadow, to overcome the fear of the unknown, the fear to love, to live, and to express ourselves. We need courage to enter into chaos and come out again by connecting with an attractor (chaos theory) that leads us beyond the chaos, an attractor that enables us to keep on moving in the midst of chaos, and then to come out and flower in the desert.
4. Enstasy: inner ecstasy, entheogenic experience (the god within, divine inspiration). We need to connect with the eternal god within to experience our cosmic power, to feel part of the universe, to feel the presence of the cosmos in the body. Once we feel part of the cosmos we would no longer bear to knock down forests or pollute rivers.
Therefore, the path to reaching the numinous experience through Biodanza is one of love, because only love can illuminate the shadow. Then, the courage to face it, embrace it, and transmute it in order to attain enstasy.
LOVE - ENLIGHTENMENT - COURAGE - ENSTASY
Rolando Toro searched dances and music to help us liberate and assume our human greatness.
PJ2017