It’s telling that the State has gotten into the lottery business. Psychologically it’s fascinating. Collectively, our extroverted sensation which is so enamored with “experiencing” is easily led to hand over the dollars by the false hunches of the inferior introverted intuitive function. And all this gets wrapped up with the twisted idea that the American Dream equals a life without financial cares. That the casinos made their comeback through the Indian Reservations over the last few decades is not just a coincidence either. In his writings on shadow, Jung identified the Indian as a shadow figure for American culture. He also taught that the shadow resides in the inferior function.
One of the questions which seems to be in the air these days is simply this: is this really a time of reform? I would argue not. My answer is not pessimistic. It’s more subtle than that. Reform will require cultural development. The collective will need to acquire further differentiation. What would reform look like? Hmm…well…the stock market for instance…would it even exist if our weakness was different?
“It all depends on how we look at things, and not how they are in themselves.” Carl Jung
Same glass, half empty or half full, we know how the saying goes. This photo could be a riot. Turns out it’s a performance.
What I’ve been responding to on Twitter lately is the overwhelming sense of optimism that passes by my screen in the midst of the worst crisis the world has faced in my lifetime. It’s one thing to look at the glass with water reaching the middle point and taking a position as to how to judge the equal relationships. It’s another thing to look at an empty glass and say that it’s full. That’s denial.
So what’s behind our collective enthusiasm. Could it be fear? When was the last time you realized that the thought going through your head was a wee bit paranoid? I’m not sure about you, but that’s how fear colors my perception of the world. And I’m proposing that the lack of reality concerning the seriousness of the current crisis, the sort of naive optimism I’ve been watching month after month, is a form of collective paranoia. Shhh…nobody mention the elephant in the room.
My favorite passage in the New Testament says…”Be not afraid.”
Be not afraid and tell me just what things look like. No, I’m not advocating pessimism over optimism… just honest seeing. We will not find a handle to grab hold of our current problems is we can not even look at them.
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)
Dreams Unfolding
I’m at a blackboard and the teacher is indicating a loss of a third.
my response:
This dream emerged during a process of writing a guest post for my twitter friend @mylifesdesign. I had asked her to post in our Krater stream a week ago and was happy to return the favor. I’ll let that post, found here, speak to what’s going on with this dream.
Lifestream Digest for October 23rd
Drawing Lines
Dreams are a bit like fish
Missed Opportunities