The Jungian interpretation of religion, pioneered by Carl Jung and advanced by his followers, is an attempt to interpret religion in the light of Jungian psychology. Unlike Sigmund Freud and his followers, Jungians tend to treat religious beliefs and behaviors in a positive light, while offering psychological referents to traditional religious terms such as "soul", "evil", "transcendence", "the sacred", and "God". Because beliefs do not have to be facts in order for people to hold them, the Jungian interpretation of religion has been, and continues to be, of interest to psychologists and theists. Jungian psychology Jung established a school of psychology that emphasizes the human quest for wholeness (which he defined as the integration of conscious and unconscious components of the psyche) through a process called individuation. Through studying folklore, world mythologies, and the dreams of his patients, Jung identified these components of the psyche as expressions of instinctual patterns (or archetypes). The role of the psychoanalyst in the Jungian approach is to assist in the analysis of dreams and symbols and prevent the patient from being overwhelmed by unconscious material or being cut off from the meaning offered by suprapersonal forces. Jungian analysts typically believe that the psyche is the source of healing and the drive toward individuation. Western religious tradition Jung's assessment of Western religion arose both from his own experiences as well as from the psychotherapeutic work with his European clients. As a young man, he had visions and dreams that were powerful and rich with meaning; yet he clung to Christianity. While he believed that God could "do stupendous things to me, things of fire and unearthly light", he was profoundly disappointed by his first communion—in his words, "nothing happened". He saw the same symptoms in his clients: namely, a fascination with the power of the unconscious, coupled with the inadequacy of Western religious symbols and rituals to represent this power. Summing up his analysis of the modern European situation, he said: "Our age wants to experience the psyche for itself ... knowledge, instead of faith." According to Jungian training analyst Murray B. Stein, Jung related theological and psychological constructs using three tenets: Theological elements (such as God) can be interpreted to refer to psychological concepts. Psychologists can evaluate the adequacy of theological constructs against the dynamics of the psyche. Words about the psyche are also words about God, due to the correspondence between subjectivity and