Howard Collier, a physician and surgeon in Worcester, England, gave the Swarthmore Lecture in 1936, and sojourned in 1938 at Pendle Hill. His previous pamphlet, The Quaker Meeting, is framed as an answer to questions which were often asked of Friends. In this pamphlet Dr. Collier presents his experience and examines his own inner life and the tension which grew from his disenchantment with the scientific method and the "arbitrary subdivision of experience into two separate departments produced the conflict between religion and science, the deeply rooted mental schism from which my generation has suffered." That inward search of Dr. Collier was prompted by his own observations about the inadequacy of the medical arts when faced with more complex problems. "This redirection of my search - from an outward search for truth in nature to an inward search for truth in myself - was the next step necessary for the healing of my own divided mind." Walk those steps with Dr. Collier as he introduces the five characters, or what have become known as Jungian archetypes, which influence his inner life: the Egoist, the Black Dog Sambo, My Lady, She, and the Painted Woman. Influenced by the new psychology he sees "how immensely important religion is to wholeness and to all forms of healing. I see that a new theory and practice of healing has come into being during my lifetime ... I see that human life is a process of growth, not only of the body, but also of the soul; the spirit, a process which commences in infancy and should not cease until we die."

close