Taken from:
The broad horizons of Ecstatic Naturalism#
Asher Walden, PhD | 2024-08-04
'Images, icons and myths are not intrinsically sacred. Neither is the Unruly Ground of Being. Nature naturing is not God. Yet, when the human observer is appropriately situated with respect to the image, in the context of emotional and practical needs and desires that tend to pull the self into entropic disarray, the image may be experienced as sacred, pouring forth anti-entropic energies that are felt as not only spiritual in nature, but spiritualizing, lifting the self up out of the fully immanent travails of ego-based striving. But that numinous energy does not come from the image. Actually, it comes from the wellspring of Nature Naturing deep within of collective/cosmic unconscious, and is projected (in the familiar modality of psychic projection) into the object. So the ultimate source of the numinous is not the image, nor the (personal) unconscious, but Nature Naturing. The archetypes are the channel, the bridge that maintains a continuous logical structure in all these different orders: from the Unruly Ground, through the collective and then the personal unconscious, out into perceptual reality, then reflected back to the conscious self. Not just any shape, image, gestalt, or topology has the robustness to obtain in all these different orders—never mind maintain the internal cohesiveness to not only survive but bear the weight of such powerful psychic energy; the ones that do teach us about the relations between the different spheres. Thus, Ecstatic Naturalism allows for a greater refinement of our ontological apparatus. Instead of being limited to two basic parts of Nature, we also have the ability to categorize the archetypes into natural kinds, which in turn reflect the basic spheres or dimensions of how the energies and potencies of Nature Naturing become gradually condensed or crystalized into the orders of Nature Natured.'
One can see a minor reformat using Media Sensate and saying:
'The well spring deep within the collective unconscious activates within the process of observing confronts emotional, practical needs and desires that pull the self into entropic disaray. This viewing may present the Media Sensate as being sacred, thus pouring forth anti-entropic energies that are felt as 'spiritualizing'.'