Barack Obama’s Challenge with Our Mass Psychology

AziMuth

The collective emotional release for the supporters of Barack Obama and the international sigh of relief present the President-elect with new set of distinct challenges. While the pundits are talking about delivering on change and the appointments to the new administration, I’d like to keep the focus on the people by focusing on the dynamics of mass psychology.

The radio coverage on NPR driving to and from work this week captured the enthusiasm in one interview after another. Local programming interviewed my neighbors and the tone coincided perfectly with the national voice. Even on twitter I followed along as Al Gore received an enthusiastic standing ovation before opening his speech at #web2summit with “It’s been quite a week.”

Now let’s turn to Jung:

If any considerable group of persons are united and identified with another by a particular frame of mind, the resultant transformation experience bears only a very remote resemblance to the experience of individual transformation. A group experience takes pace on a lower level of consciousness than the experience of the individual. This is due to the fact that, when people gather together to share one common emotion, the total psyche emerging from the group is below the level of the individual psyche. If it is a large group, the collective psyche will be more like the psyche of an animal…The group experience goes no deeper than the level of one’s own mind in that state. It does work a change in you, but the change does not last.

(“Concerning Rebirth” CW 9i, par.206-quoted in Jung Lexicon, Daryl Sharp; Inner City Books, 1991)

The promise of change has resonated with hundreds of millions of individuals yearning for transformation. But the current emotional wave will recede. Disappointment will follow when the enthusiasm fades. Disappointment will have its target. I encourage the Obama administration to beat the drum loudly for personal development and growth, what Jung called individuation, at this time. The collective projections onto Obama the man are immense. The collective expectations need to be let down gently.

In as much as the Obama political machine managed to turn out an unprecedented amount of action, resources should continue to be invested in the individual development of those who have grabbed hold of this ‘change’ ticket. They should continued to be challenged to find the place of the collective myth in there current life station. Folks need to be guided into the activity of making the collective promise a personal goal and reality. And they need the message to keep coming directly from the top. They should not be tossed aside out of political expediency.

Obama will emerge as a true leader of his people if he can both govern the nation’s collective needs and inspire it’s individuals to claim the path of personal change for themselves. And besides, it really wouldn’t be politically expedient to loose all this support when you’ll need it again in another four years.

(Image cc via Wikipedia)

johnny

Thanks for good post

Kate

Very timely post. Thanks Richard.

We recently went to a movie about 1950's South Africa called "The World Unseen". Through the experience of a bold woman, the film explores apartheid, miscegenation laws, caste systems of Indian peoples of South Africa, misogyny within marriage, same-sex attraction, and other themes of racism and intolerance. It's a lovely and complex film. After the film there was a Q & A with the director. The last question of the evening was heady: "Now that Obama is President, do you think movies like this will still be relevant?"

The otherwise polite audience erupted in nervous laughter. Collectively breaking the ice on the conversation about the enormous, unwieldy, and impossible expectations this win has set Obama up to address. Disappointment, unless we're prepared for reality, is inevitable. Your post is a sound argument for the latter.

Thank you.

P.S.
Perhaps, even more ironic. Obama's site about the transition www.change.gov was down when I went to check out what he has to say about Lesbian & Gay marriage. The message is: "No suitable nodes are available to serve your request."

Alden Smith

Yours is an interesting premise. I believe what you say is closer to the truth than we realize. Obama has an almost mystical presence, and this will trip up a lot of people when he gets into the trenches and starts to make the change he has advocated for.

One only needs to look to Nazi Germany to realize that what Jung says is true. I have pondered that for many years, and your presentation of Jung's words gives me food for thought on this day. Thanks for a great post.

Alden Smith

Critt Jarvis

"The group experience goes no deeper than the level of one’s own mind in that state."

Transparency--Am I allowed to see how, participate in, this administration of the people, by the people?--might be a conduit for interaction, participation One to many, many to one. Growing group consciousness one at a time.

Seth Gray

great post. I know there are many folks projecting many things onto Obama, and I agree that there are some serious risks with that. But I wonder how many others really did take the idea of Change as a personal thing? The idea of a "Groundswell" (interesting book from HBR & Forrester) is that people are connecting with each other to get what they need, rather than relying on traditional institutions. I wonder how many people in the Obama Groundswell are looking to him to lead, but not do it alone-- i.e. he leads, the Groundswell gets it done on a person-by-person level.

p.s. Vijay, I love you idea of "Small is Better!" I've been wondering about the common wisdom that "Bigger is Better." Evidently it's still prevalent in the U.S. financial sector--look at all the consolidation happening! But, I wonder if we've reached a point of diminishing marginal returns, culturally & economically.

jeb

i think this challenge is one faced by every president, and it grows more so with each passing year as we (americans) become more and more accustomed to looking to things (or people) outside of ourselves for our happiness, as we rely more and more on the 'quick fix' approach to life. there must be a 'tipping point', or so i imagine, when the irrationality of that line of thinking (that our problems can be solved by others) becomes so evident that real change can occur. perhaps that point is coming, perhaps obama will be its steward. certainly a great leader can impact when such a point is reached (and i believe it's so much more likely to happen with a president obama than it would have been with a president mccain), but we'd all do well to remember that he wont be doing the heavy lifting. nope, only we can shoulder that burden...
cheers...jeb

Milena Thomas

I think "inspire" should be the operative word. Despite the massive appeal of Obama, there are many who are not coaxed by his ideas. He needs to continue to lead and inspire, not require, civil action.

MC Milker

Great post. I've been thinking and asking folks about this sea change in "the national voice". "Is it like 1960, I ask?" And, "yes" seems to be the answer. What Kennedy did was make his goals national goals and encourage the individual. Of course, most presidents try to do that, but will Obama be out in front of the trend and be able to not just tell , but also inspire folks to individuate?

One hopes so.

Vijay Sankaran

Gr8 post. I was thinking abt the opportunity to convert this "groundswell" into something like a domestic Peace Corps. The same day, Nicholas Kristof wrote in NYT about tapping the energy thru a National Service Corps. The opportunity is huge, because as a recent report says "More Young People Looking for Post-College Stints in the Volunteer Corps." and plan to enter the workplace when things are looking up. Imagine unleashing "Small is Beautiful" entrepreneurship and community rebuilding through social media tools ! Just as America created the 20th century mass manufacturing model for the rest of the world, this could be the beginning of something different.
Vijay