The Don Quixote Syndrome: New Spiritualities, Individualism, and Evolution of Modern Myth

This paper charts the course of western spirituality as it diverged from the dogmatic constraints of medieval Christianity to create new spiritual pathways. The question of individuality is examined in detail as it emerges within the context of Grail lore, and in literary figures such as Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This analysis is Jungian, but is also grounded in a series of astonishing insights made by comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell in his magnum opus Creative Mythology. We argue that a far-reaching psychological shift had occurred in the West during the late medieval period, roughly coinciding with the transition from a geocentric to heliocentric worldview. This change is further manifested as a shift from collective to individual forms of myth, with a movement away from traditional religious belonging and into lone spiritual quests. We trace the post-Copernican pathways the western psyche takes as it expands out beyond the Reformation and into the Enlightenment period, when science replaced religion as the final arbiter of worldly truth. We moreover consider the dispositions of metaphysicians such as Goethe and Nietzsche, who provide critical responses to rationalistic positivism, and represent early embodiments of this new brand of spirituality.