The Sacred Temporality of Healing: Solitude, Embodied Presence, and the Physician as Witness: Research Article

Julian Ungar-Sargon

doi:10.58372/2835-6276.1351

Authors

Julian Ungar-Sargon

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58372/2835-6276.1351

Keywords:

solitude, embodied theology, tzimtzum, depth psychology, therapeutic presence, time phenomenology, medical humanities, Kabbalah, archetypal psychology

Abstract

This article synthesizes depth psychological insights on solitude with mystical theology to propose a transformative framework for healing practice. Drawing on Carl Jung, James Hillman, Robert Bly, and Jordan Peterson's reflections on time's preciousness, I argue that solitude functions as therapeutic tzimtzum—a sacred contraction creating space for authentic presence. ¹³

The physician who practices solitude develops capacity to witness suffering without the defensive maneuvers of biomedical reductionism. By integrating Kabbalistic concepts of divine concealment and manifestation with archetypal psychology's understanding of the soul's imaginal depths, this work proposes an embodied theology of healing that honors the patient as sacred messenger rather than diagnostic object. ¹⁶

The essay the medicalization of time within healthcare systems and advocates for temporal practices that restore the physician's capacity for moral presence.⁵

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