Steven Herrmann is a Marriage & Family Therapist, Jungian Analyst, and author of ten books with a central theme of Spiritual Democracy. His book, Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries (2014), was the inspiration for David Kopacz & Joseph Rael’s chapter on Spiritual Democracy in Becoming Medicine: Pathways of Initiation into a Living Spirituality. Steven’s books often have Carl G Jung as a counterpoint to an indepth study of William James, Vivekananda, Meister Eckhart, and Emily Dickinson.
In this twentieth episode of the Becoming A True Human podcast, Chris and Dave talk with Steven around the concept of Spiritual Democracy as a nondual or trans-dual inner experience that leads to the outer manifestation of political democracy. Steven traces the concept of Spiritual Democracy back to Walt Whitman’s essay Democratic Vistas and his description of Religious Democracy and the three levels of democracy: economic, political, and spiritual. Broadening the concept to Spiritual Democracy, we also speak of Jeremy David Engel’s concept of Mindful Democracy, and the idea of Inner Democracy and Outer Democracy.
We can think of Spiritual Democracy as a Medicine of equality, respect, and care for all people and all creatures of the Earth. Steven Herrmann’s books and work can be considered a kind of Yoga of Spiritual Democracy and even an Upanishad of Spiritual Democracy. Steven speaks of Spiritual Democracy as an archetype that can manifest in different ways in different people and at different times. From a Jungian perspective, we could view our current turbulent times as living out the shadow of democracy, particularly American democracy. If we do not integrate our personal and collective shadows, we live them out, projected into the physical world. The hope for the future lies in the work of Spiritual Democracy that each of us can practice – in our hearts, in our minds, and in our souls.
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