Towards Restoring the Soul in Mental Health: Magic and Melancholia: Recovering the Soul After Modernity

Has modernity eliminated the soul?—that this question even needs to be asked is indicative of a profound crisis in modernity. The Western worldview has claimed a monopoly on psychology, banishing any sacred science of the soul as long taught by traditional cultures. Despite calls for the decolonization of Occidental psychology today, this dominance continues to thwart attempts to remedy our current global mental health crisis. The suggestion that there are alternative knowledge and healing modalities is met with derision and resistance. Modern psychology claims supremacy for itself alone, failing to acknowledge that there are many other approaches, as reflected in the world’s diverse spiritual patrimony. These are able to facilitate a fully integrated “science of the soul” informed by a metaphysical framework that is capable of providing an effective and enduring response to human wholeness.