In her excellent book The Ecological Self, Freya Mathews (2006) mourns the loss of meaningful symbols in our culture. Symbols, which depth psychology has shown to be a connecting force between the ego and the unknown Other, help us make meaning. Without them, an enduring sense of exile takes a profound toll on our identity and connection to authenticity. She writes:
A culture deprived of any symbolic representation of the universe and of its own relation to it will be a culture of non-plussed, unmotivated individuals, set down inescapably in a world which makes no sense to them, and which accordingly baffles their agency. What are they to do in this world to which they do not belong? No natural directives appoint themselves. Self-interest is the only rational motive. Any other values smack of arbitrariness. Vocationless, such individuals must sink eventually into apathy and alienation, or into the mindless and joyless pursuit of material ends.
With no cosmological foundation for their identity, they invent precarious individual self-pictures, self-stories, ego-images, but their sense of who they are is tenuous. Metaphysically adrift, these individuals experience insecurity; unless united by an external power, such a group does not offer the best prospect for stable community. (p. 13-14)
In The Red Book, Jung (2009) put forth his own realization about an “empty self” and its corresponding loss of soul, writing,
He whose desire turns away from outer things, reaches the place of the soul. If he does not find the soul, the horror of emptiness will overcome him, and fear will drive him with a whip lashing time and again in a desperate endeavor and a blind desire for the hollow things of the world. He becomes a fool through his endless desire, and forgets the way of his soul, never to find her again. He will run after all things, and will seize hold of them, but he will not find his soul, since he would find her only in himself. (p. 232)
Wondering: how can depth psychology help us overcome what I perceive as overwhelming apathy, evolved to cover or hold at bay what would be untenable despair in light of the cultural and planetary crisis playing out around us?....and what can we do as individuals and as a community to put depth psychology into play?
I'm thinking about creating a collaborative online group of community members who are deeply affected by our cultural milieu and concerned about the spiritual and psychological well-being of our fellow humans that would meet regularly to reflect, discuss, and create projects together to implement depth psychological practices in the face of the crisis. Anyone interested?
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How can depth psychology help us overcome collective apathy? There, Bonnie, I fixed it for you.
There is a feeling of collective apathy and confusion that, as I already mentioned in my previous comment, didn't exist just a decade ago. Still, I can't point my finger at what it actually is.
I've witnessed the power of depth psychology on the individual scale, where a few claims about a "patient" (friend) can make a lot of difference. But, how far can we go with this approach on the collective and global scale? Also, some people are more and some people are less pulled into the story. I've had this "zoom back camera" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agw27HhB4H4 (including the story how and when I heard about that film) experience some many times that I can't even count, but I'll still choose to be skeptical about is as long as I don't hold an outcome of collective active imagination in my hands.
Holly, the catch with that David Rousseau is that the reason I've contacted him (regardless whether or not he will ever respond) has nothing to do with that specific document. It just happened that our interests met at least two points.
If it ever happens (also, if it never happens) to me that I am in a situation to nudge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudge_(book)), convince, or force someone to do something, it will never be my choice to do so. It took me 12 years to write a book chapter that will be, as it seems, published in May. If I had actually written a page every six months, I would have been just as fast. The same applies to all kinds of situations and people I've met. Even if I fail about something, it's still an interesting and useful experience.
I've "known" since 2004 that I would be involved in this kind of discussions on the international scale. Just imagine if it actually had happened in 2004. We can only guess what the situation (what is and what isn't urgent and possible, what I can or cannot give up) will look like in 2026. Both on the physical and the psychological level.
"Here is another thought that comes to mind. Rather than control car ownership, what if road access was restricted?"
We wouldn't control or restrict. I mean, we could, but would force lead to the psychological paradigm shift we're seeking? No.
(if my Ayn Rand-loving free enterprise-preaching Facebook friends were reading this they'd pounce here and say "Oh! So you mean let THE MARKET decide!!!" and hijack the rest of the thread as I bang my forehead bloody against my desk. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster they're not into Jung)
Debra wrote:
"And, what would you think about having a community car rental, in which people can rent a car for a private purpose much like the bicycle sharing done in Portland, OR (maybe elsewhere, I live near Portland now)?"
Or Uber (as my free market friends would advocate). We're still fixated on the car though. It's more than that. To me, it's a radical rethinking of how we plan our communities and where we choose to live. To me, the first step is making our communities walkable. Even if it takes you an entire day you should be able to walk to where you're going.
Debra wrote:
"This makes sense, give up cars, less fossil fuel consumption and emissions and a slower pace in which we live and act locally. "
That's the pitch to the quants. To the poets I liken this to walking a labyrinth, with its accompanying psychological and spiritual benefits.
“The real spirit will come from the knowledge that separate individuals have of one another and for a time it will transform the world. The community spirit at present is only a manifestation of the herd instinct. Men fly into each other's arms because they are afraid of each other – the owners are for themselves, the workers for themselves, the scholars for themselves! And why are they afraid? You are only afraid if you are not in harmony with yourself. People are afraid because they have never owned up to themselves. A whole society composed of men afraid of the unknown within them!” – Hermann Hesse, Demian
That whole chapter is good (The best chapter ever?), but I quoted just a part.
(everyone on the Alliance takes a drink)
Depth Psych stealth!—Yes! I have heard Malidoma Some talk about how we have to "sneak up on" those who don't understand (those who are not necessarily seeking increased consciousness, I think he meant) because its the only way change can occur.
Your question IS the question of the hour: How do we get people to recognize the need for higher consciousness on so many levels, and be interested in exploring it further. Another mentor of mine said, "When someone is having a good nap, you can't wake them up"--meaning some people will never really rise to the occasion, and it may not even be part of what they are here (in this lifetime) to do. Maybe all we can do is work on ourselves and hope it will parlay out into the world....
So, is it a right time for some links?
http://journals.isss.org/index.php/proceedings57th/article/viewFile... - Philosophical Conditions for Sustainable Outcomes to Complex Systemic Interventions by David Rousseau
http://isss.org/world/laszlo_incoming_2012 - Increasing the Range and Reach of the Systems Sciences by Alexander Laszlo (mentioned many times in the article behind the previous link)
I wasn't searching them or anything like them, I just sent today an e-mail message to David Rousseau (he knows a man who knows a man (Kent Palmer) who is a member of Depth Psychology Alliance). It just happened today.
I suppose that surprise might under some circumstances play an important role. I’m not in any way claiming that I know what I’m talking about, but active imagination actually can sometimes bring surprising results. For instance, my chapter will be published in this book: http://www.igi-global.com/book/rethinking-machine-ethics-age-ubiqui.... This is its less serious variation: http://communityalchemy.com/eWorkshop1/Will.pdf (from http://communityalchemy.com/eWorkshop1/index.html). I wasn’t planning anything in advance, it just happened one strange step after another. My reaction to the outcome was more “oops” than “I did it”. Maybe, just maybe, other people could (while doing something totally different) achieve similar or better results. Again, I really have no idea what I’m talking about and this comment might be an announcement of either a breakthrough or a dead-end.
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