If an institution has three possible scenarios that may play out when facing change (transrevolution, self-destruction, or parasitism) then might also these three options be offered to an individual facing change? When facing change, an individual can also either assimilate the change and reinvent themselves, or ignore the need for change and self-destruct, or resist the change but at the same time seek out others and convince them that they have need of them in their current state. And might these three options also represent ways to interact with our shadow nature: integrate, be overtaken, or repress (knowing that with repression we feed the power of that which we seek to repress). Taking it to the cultural level, we can envision three stories that give possible meaning to the way in which a culture responds to change. If the zombie fascination in one of these possible responses, then what shape might the other two take?
If we operate under the belief that “To some extent, the recurring rise of the zombie reflects our fear of the shadow side of unreflective technological progress,” then what transrevolutionary tale might we tell that would help us assimilate this fear and move us out rom underneath its grip? If my brain wasn’t in its end-of-quarter fog I might be able to offer up a possibility. I'll ponder on it a bit -anyone else?
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The Zombie myth for me expresses the high cultural value the West places on the competitive thinking function rather than the feeling function. To value and actualize the feeling function and place a high value on the importance of compassion and meaning is the saving “stake through the heart”. Perhaps a parallel would be the myth of Percival and the Holy Grail. The question must be asked: “Whom does the grail serve?” What does developing more complex mechanical technologies and specific scientific knowledge mean in terms of serving not only humanity but the earth spirit of the world around us, Gaia, that is now dying from pollution and taking us with Her.
Thanks Marta...I had the same question (saw the same contrast/comparison) regarding institution vs individuals (transrevolution, self-destruction, or parasitism). I thought of a Johari Window and congruence...being in the "open, blind or hidden" quadrants.
Very interesting ideas. Yes, that makes perfect sense.
My impulse is always to go into the myths that are actually up, even when being lived out unconsciously, and look for how they could be reimagined. In some stories the zombie through various interventions can be given back its humanity. In others the only way to deal with it is a stake through the heart.