EC Neurology

Further to my prior essays on the therapeutic encounter as a space of absence in tension with presence, this paper synthesizes the distinct yet complementary frameworks of three seminal thinkers: C.G. Jung's analytical psychology, James Hillman's archetypal approach, and Sanford Drob's kabbalistic hermeneutics.

The analysis explores how experiences of suffering, abandonment, and confrontation with evil can be transformed from obstacles to pathways of healing when approached through these theoretical lenses. I attempt to show how clinicians can engage meaningfully not only with patients' physical diagnoses but not to ignore their spiritual crises and existential dilemmas without reducing them to mere psychological mechanisms on the one hand nor subordinating clinical insights to theological doctrines.

This paper further examines the therapeutic implications of the "absent divine" and the problem of evil as articulated in the works of C.G. Jung, James Hillman, and Sanford Drob, in my series on human anguish the absent divine and evil.

Through a comprehensive comparative analysis of these three theorists' approaches, this paper explores how the confrontation with evil and divine absence can function as transformative elements in therapeutic practice.

Special attention is given to Jung's concept of the integration of the shadow and his notion of a developing God, Hillman's polytheistic psychology and his radical re-visioning of pathology, and Drob's kabbalistic hermeneutics with its dialectical approach to theodicy and divine contraction. The analysis demonstrates how acknowledging the reality of evil and divine absence within the therapeutic encounter can paradoxically serve as pathways toward wholeness, meaning-making, and healing.

 Keywords: Absent Divine; Jung, Hillman, and Drob; Therapeutic Practice

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