Jungian Spirituality: A Developmental Context for Late-Life Growth

Abstract

Ira Byock's “opportunities for growth” at the end of life have become defining features of the hospice and palliative care movement and create a strong moral imperative against futile and distracting treatment for the terminally ill. This article examines a larger developmental and cultural context that includes the work of Carl Jung and others who describe similar growth as characteristic of the midlife transition and the movement toward “gerotranscendence” in later life. The author suggests that in developmental terms, gerotranscendence forms a bridge between the work of Jung and that of Byock. She examines archetypal concepts and practices that facilitate psychospiritual growth and argues that these may be used with terminally ill patients to help them engage the process of “dying well.” She notes that these modern findings lie within a long and cross-cultural humanistic tradition that anticipates the development of wisdom for those whose aging occurs within a spiritual framework that involves identifying with the soul rather than with the body.