The use of religious symbols: Reflections on cases from psychiatry and analysis

Abstract The basic assumption is that organised religions still have a function in a secularised society though in a more individualised and private way than in traditional societies. A continuum for the use of religious symbols, reaching from a conventional and outward use to a psychological transformative function, is established and exemplified. The focus of this paper is brief case-vignettes where personal psychology interacts with the organised symbols, using them as containers and meaning makers, and thus reviving the symbols. Therefore, the relation between religion and spirituality is discussed and it is argued that religion and spirituality belong together, that religion has a function as a meaning-making system, and finally it is proposed to reintroduce the religious core in the concept of spirituality.