You will recognize that I have borrowed a line from the sixth chapter of the New Testament's book that carries the title, "The Revelation to John." "Revelation" is a translation of the Greek word, "apocalypse." The word means an uncovering, a revelation expressed in symbolic language dealing with a time of catastrophe and tragedy that appears as world-ending, so severe are the events.

People refer to our present coronavirus pandemic often in apocalyptic tones. This is understandable because as of this writing in the United States alone we have around 1,356,620 cases and 80,422 deaths and rising. Furthermore, we are experiencing the most severe economic downturn since the Depression, there is no assurance that the end is really in sight, most of us remain in lock-down status, there is a cantankerous debate about when we can return to work places, and we must continue to wear masks, wash hands regularly, and practice social distancing. And we endure a failure of leadership in the highest level to provide trustworthy information as well as to model and guide the public i appropriate behavior. 

As one infectious disease medical doctor said to me, it is a mess. This means we are continuing to learn new information about COVID-19 as we go along. And we go along state-by-state, county-by-county, and often city-by-city.

No wonder we linger under a cloud of heavy foreboding, and seemingly apocalyptic uncertainty. Friends, family, acquaintances, and public personalities are getting sick and dying. And yet, a prevailing mantra sounds throughout the land, "We will get through this together." Which we will.

Be of good heart! In the midst of this sorrow and death-dealing time, and in the words of the '60's still resonating in my ears, "Keep the faith"! To do that, be sure to grab hold of whatever humor you can.

Toward that end, Though you might enjoy reading this short message sent me by a care-giver who daily faces the uncertainty of our time and the anxiety of his patients. I am including his message, sent me this week, in full.  Please understand his irreverent tone as only one of his responses to the seriousness of our apocalyptic moment.

           RIDING LAWNMOWERS AND THE MEN WHO COMMANDEER THEM

Help! I am surrounded by seven very hungry, angry, obnoxious, deafening, hyperactive, abhorrent, roaring, vicious, bullying, and brainless riding lawnmowers and the men who commandeer them. And did I say relentless? Or socially insensitive? Or unbelievably clueless that there might be other people in the world who would like to sit quietly on their back decks, porches, lawns, hammocks, and beach chairs which will not see a beach and feel the warm, soothing, healing beach sand anytime in the foreseeable future?

But let me not presume to get carried away about these late 20th century machines that function as a secondary status symbol for the suburbanites whose chief marker of achievement in life was to grow the perfect, weedless, disease-less, greenest lawn as a measure of success and winner of the annual prize of first place in the neighborhood's rating of best lawns. Oh yes, such lawns command attention of the parents who ferry their children to various classes and events that will prepare the children to grow up and manicure lawns such as these!

​But, pardon me, I do digress. For I was talking about those monstrous machines and the men whose major delight in their lifeless days seems to be the moment they can hop on those sharp-toothed devils and ride off -- not into the sunset unfortunately, but beside the neighbor's house whose occupants might be trying to entertain a guest outside, perhaps even an elderly aging person whose hearing is not all that good anyway, and who had not been invited outside to talk to a live human being since the pandemic began some months ago, an age now lost in time before time itself was consumed by riding lawnmowers and the men who commandeer them. 

But another thousand apologies for my losing my train of thought. Sorry! I could not hear myself think because of the mind-controlling noise outside.

O yes, I was about to say something about those men who commandeer these strutting riding machines, all of which come in colors as loud as the noises they belch. However, as I was saying, or not saying because my train of thought continues to be interrupted by this creeping, gnawing interloper grinding up the dust beside my house, pulverizing the grass, chasing the squirrels and rabbits who still try to create their humble little habitats within the shrubs where we promised them they would always be safe -- an age long before we knew of the terror of men who seem to have nothing to do during pandemics but to jump on their riding mowers and play General Patton riding atop his M46 tank, commanding a battalion of men who also wanted to ride atop their tanks in pursuit of the enemy's tanks. 

​Ah, finally, I got back to where I was attempting to direct my attention, just before my neighbor made another swipe at my bordering yard that has not yet surrendered ! Although our cat looks at me quizzically, wondering either, "Why do you not have one of those?" or "What can you do to make them stop?"

But, as I was attempting to say before a loud noise like an explosion shook my study and I had to investigate if some plane had fallen on us out of the sky... No, I conclude, it is the neighbor behind us. He has a generator -- several, in fact, it seems -- and he was powering up for some other adventure which complements the chorus of several other riding lawnmowers in the neighborhood, which when they all get going at the same time with a cacophony of grunts, wheezes, pops, whines, grinds, and rattles would have made General Patton proud. 

There, I think I came upon what I may have been attempting to get at about men who seem to love riding their riding lawnmowers during pandemics when they cannot find other "manly" things to do. They just cannot help themselves. That is the long and short of it. If we do not have a war with tanks, if we cannot explore outer space, ride in a submarine under the ice caps, chase other cars in a circle around a race track, or pummel other men in a boxing ring -- men can claim their place in nature by subduing the lawn grass with their riding lawnmowers.

Before I forget it, however, let me put in a good word about these men. They dress up sharply in their red outfits and polish up their riding lawnmowers so they look particularly splendid in our neighborhood's annual Christmas parade, always led by a local fire truck that tests its horn at the smiling neighbors who proudly salute the passing riding lawnmowers and the men who ride them.

​
Not all of us have to contend with the riding lawnmowers as does my friend. But each of us has other "monsters" with which we must deal. Remember, however, just like those riding lawnmowers and the men who commandeer them, this too shall pass! It is not a rider on a pale horse or a man on a riding lawnmower, but whatever, this too shall pass.

Of all the dreaded calamities that can happen to us, viral infection is in the top tier. Out of sight, so tiny it cannot be seen by the naked human eye, so aggressive in its attack upon the invaded host, so undeterred in its natural expansion, and so initially mysterious in its origin and potential weakness, the microbe we call "virus" threatens individuals and groups, organizations and even countries. We can go to war against this deadly invader, but not with our tanks and planes. We respond with scientific knowledge, skillful counter-measures, risky human intervention at the point of the viral attack, and protective caution where we are vulnerable.

And the vulnerability extends beyond our bodies. Even our computers are subject to attack by a foreign agent we label as a "virus." Neither are we mentally immune to a viral attack. In fact, it may well be that psychic infections are actually more commonplace than physical ones. This will become the central focus of my blog. But for the moment, let me begin with the matter at hand, our fear-driven, media-focused obsession with the Coronavirus that threatens all of us. 

As of this writing, the graph of persons infected with the Coronavirus continues to rise here at home. We are in a mess: anxious about the disease itself that may take our life and that of others as well; anxious that the markets will slide lower and lower as we watch our savings disappear; anxious that leadership on the national political level was not prepared and remains an uncertainty; anxious that we might not have enough food, supplies, resources, and/or access to the normal medical, dental,, legal, psychological, spiritual, and social support we may need; and also anxious that a way of life we took for granted has been taken from us, exposing the fragile platform upon which modernity has been erected, where we create a  bubble of safety, security, and a general existence of well-being that we thought we could manipulate to last our lifetime.

Of course, things might turn out to be not as bad as our anxieties lead us to believe. Under the leadership of some of our governors and local officials, as well as the CDC, and other health officials, we may stymie the onslaught of the virus and master the resources to take care of the persons who fall in the path of this potential disaster. Also, if we are blessed, it may be that our doctors, nurses, and all care-providers will be able to hold the line before they collapse and become victims themselves not only of the virus but the overbearing exhaustion they are called upon to endure.

So, yes, things may not turn out to be as disastrous as they could be. But, in any case,  a larger question waves its hands to get our attention. When, and if, we can look away from the disease itself, we might consider not only the failed leadership that left us vulnerable to this pandemic, but the lifestyle that also contributed to the catastrophic "surprise" that has ripped away the deceptions that entertained us and hid the darker side of human existence: the impermanence of all things, and the sufferings of aging, disease, death, and meaninglessness.

Which brings us to ask these questions. Where do we focus our attention during the "good times?" How do we avoid chasing after the distractions that divert our attention from the dark side of human existence? How do we balance the joy of human existence without falling prey to the fallacy of human omnipotence? How do we find a center that unites our impermanence and finitude with our human potential to create and destroy?

Hold to that thought of having a "center." Just what does that mean? From my vantage point as a pastoral counselor and psychoanalyst trained in Jungian psychology, I am thinking of two functions in the human personality where we might experience a center.

The first is the deep Center of the collective unconscious which makes possible our experience of the God-image. This is the summon bonum, the Highest Good, or as the theologian Paul Tillich would call it, the very Ground of Being, not bound by time, space, or even human personality. This "Center" is the emanating Power of Being out of which existence unfolds and within which the experience of the Holy or Sacred may be realized. Obviously, even to talk about such a phenomenon calls upon a mythopoeic language that borrows from the poet more than from the scientist in her laboratory.

And so I have to leave there this description of the deep Center, realizing it longs for a concrete specificity that poetry and religious language cannot fully provide. There are musings, however; there are intimations, as Wordsworth would say, of immortality in which we hold a deep knowing of our soul, "our life's star that had somewhere else its setting and comes from afar." 

But in addition to that deep Center in the foundational depth of the psyche's collective unconscious, there is also a center within the personality's executive function, the ego. Within that center, which bubbles along the psychological membrane of consciousness, a person holds awareness of memories, lessons learned, mistakes made, loves lost and won, friendships formed and lost, personal identities that have floated along through life's stages -- as a child, a young person, an adult, an elder who may look back with satisfaction and gratitude or unhappiness and a tragic sense of having never fulfilled one's short and precious life. Clearly, with the self-conscious reflections of the ego, there is an executive within the command module that operates with its own internal guidance system.

So now we come to a most important question: How is that internal guidance system I am calling the center of the ego, how is it oriented? What are its values? What is its moral code and from what source? Is it healthy and sane? Or is it defective? Could it be that a personality could be misguided, misdirected, misinformed, missing its moral function, a most important function that guides the individual on making life's difficult decisions, understanding difficult and dangers missions with an intent to serve the greatest good in a way that is honorable and furthers the humane aspiration to make possible the health, safety, sanity, and general well-being of everyone, but especially the poor and dispossessed who cannot help themselves.

Is it possible that one could be deficient in moral judgement and psychological health? Is it possible that one could be so oriented toward self-aggrandizement that the group, the nation, the people become ensnared in his polished charm, yearning for greatness above all. Is it possible one could lose one's soul in the all-obsessing grab for power, wealth, fame, and adulation? Is it possible that one could feel entitled to become the ruler of all because of a self-deception of greatness? Are these things possible? Yes. Each and all of them are possible.

They are not only possible; they have become our fate. For we have been infected with the most dreaded virus of all, and that is the psychic infection of an obsession for money and all the titillating toys it can buy. It is the virus that will destroy not just our bodies but our souls. It is a psychic infection to be feared much, much more than the Coronavirus, because this psychic infection attacks not just the cells of our bodies but the deepest aspirations of the human soul.

Wrapped in the garb of business success, huckstered in the ballyhoo of "I have become great and so can you," floated in public "snake-oil medicine shows" on TV, and supported by would-be followers who are afraid to acknowledge the lies of the charmer, the infection spreads.

Is the United States less and less a Christian nation? Nicholas Kristof shares why he thinks that might be the case. In his New York Times article published on October 27, 2019, titled "Less and Less a Christian Nation," Kristof presented the following facts:

• A majority of young adults do not identify as Christian. Forty-nine percent of millennials describe themselves as Christian compared to eighty-four percent of adults in their mid-seventies and older.
• There has been a decrease of twelve percent of adults in the last decade who consider themselves to be Christian.
• "For more young people Christianity is associated less with love than with hate."
• The group identified as "nones" numbers more than Catholics in the U.S., amounting to one-quarter of the American population.
• In a recent study of religious identification, the Pew research group announced that "The United Sates is becoming less Christian and less religiously observant." 

But what does this last statement really mean with the reference to the United Sates being less Christian and less religiously observant? Up to that point, Kristof appeared to base his article on Christianity and what his research reflects about declining church participation and/or a person's movement away from identifying as a Christian. However, Kristof then concludes his article with reference to the Pew study reporting that people in the United States are "less religiously observant." Observant of what? How much "less?"

In other words, one can be religious but not be Christian. This leads us to consider not just the matter of statistics concerning Christian faith and participation in communities of faith. Rather, we are led to ask what is happening to us in terms of human nature to be "religiously observant." The fundamental question then becomes what is religion? What does the Pew study group consider religion to be? What exactly are they observing in their study?

But, for that matter, what do you and I mean when we talk about religion? When people say they are "spiritual" but not religious, what do they mean? How would you define "religion" and "spiritual?" This is important because we are talking here about what it means to be a human. Is religion and the practice of religion simply a relic from the past, some old belief or superstition such as fears of black cats crossing our paths, breaking mirrors, walking under ladders, avoiding the number 666, etc.? It is true that a person could make a religion of any of those superstitions, and the reason for this is because the religious impulse is deep and universal. However, this does not mean religion is an old superstition. In other words, religion is not simply a belief; it is an attitude that is archetypal, an attitude of mind that might be "seized" by anything that carries a numinous character -- a character that is strongly emotional, exerting a strong influence on our mind and feelings.

Carl Jung defines religion not as a creed or dogma but as an archetypal encounter in which a person is moved profoundly by "powers" such as spirits, daemons, gods, laws, ideas, ideals which are experienced as powerful, dangerous, helpful, or meaningful enough to be devoutly worshipped and/or loved. (Collected Works, Vol. 11, para. 8). In other words, religion is more than "a particular symptom of faith and worship," as defined by The New Oxford Shorter Dictionary. Not just a system or organization, religion is: 

       ... the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude,
       so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they
       may consider the divine.

​This definition of religion was offered by William James in his Gifford Lectures on natural religion delivered at Edinburgh, 1902-1902, and recorded in his book, The Varieties of Religious Experience (See page 42). And while his definition and language in general read today as somewhat quaint, nonetheless the book contains gems of understanding on page after page. James continues to inform, stimulate, and challenge us after more than a century, because he plumbed the depths of our psyche with an understanding that grounds religion in the nature of human personality.

But, to continue James' thesis on the nature of religion, the encounter with whatever we consider "divine" does not end with what happens in our "solitude." Because the religious experience is dynamic and transformative of our inner life, the experience wants to be shared, to be communicated and anchored within a circle of others -- family, friends, personal groups.

And thus is born the system and organization of what most people may understand religion to be. From the primal religious experience come (1) adoration of the founder; (2) words, writings, and stories of the founder; (3) a system of beliefs that formulate into creeds, dogmas, traditions; (4) a code of ethics; (5) a cosmology that attempts to explain the nature of the world, its origin, its possible ending, its place within the universe; (6) a spirituality that guides followers in dealing with the sufferings of disease, aging, death, the threat of meaninglessness, the catastrophes that come upon the group; (7) worship experiences and rites of passage that guide the followers through life's passages including birth, coming of age, courtship, marriage, and funerals; (8) the establishment of institutions in the greater society to further the growth of life, such as hospitals, universities, places of worship, and protection of the natural environment; (9) the formulation and enactment of policies to combat disease, overcome violence, support understandings of just wars or the affirmation of pacifism, and the establishment of an alliance with the ruling government or in some cases the formation of a theocracy; and (10) the management of media to communicate within the organization as well as to reach outside with commentaries on current events, educational materials regarding the group and its purpose and mission in the world. 

Such are the ways of religion when understood as a system or organization. But in the most basic sense, as Jesus of Nazareth would probably answer if asked today, and as William James and Carl Jung were quoted earlier, religion begins as a "way" within the solitude of each human. This is the "Way" of Lao Tzu, the legendary Chinese founder of Taoism. He left this simple description of religion before he went up in the clouds, sometime in the 6-5th century B.C.E., never to be seen again.

       The tao that can be told
       is not the eternal Tao.
       The name that can be named
       is not the eternal Name.

       The unnamable is the eternally real.
       Naming is the origin
       of all particular things.

       Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
       Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

       Yet mystery and manifestations
       arise from the same source.
       This source is called darkness.

       Darkness within darkness.
       The gateway to all understanding.
             
                        -- Tao te Ching. Stephen Mitchell, Trans. New York: Harper and Row, 1988.

Each beginning of a New Year is auspicious. Around the world we press the pause button in our routines of work, play, worship, parenting, love-making, fighting, creating, and planning. We are encouraged to change our lives and the world for the better. New possibilities appear within our reach and our wills; bad habits are recognized for what they are, and our human potential is celebrated. And so I take this moment to wish you a New Year and a New Life worthy of all you are capable of enjoying!

Meanwhile, back in my blog-world, I continue to tell the story of Ava who came to my consulting room carrying the vague but troublesome anxiety of feeling that "something is not right in the world" -- something beyond the everyday concerns commonplace in our everyday existence. 

I have called Ava's state of mind "the disorientation of our time," while noting that a major danger for individuals and societies is two-fold. One, such a disorientation can arise imperceptibly, like a slow erosion which goes unnoticed at first. And, two, this disorientation may also be be experienced not only in individuals, but also the collective mind of a people and their institutions.

For example, who can say exactly when the Fascist ideology of Nazi Germany took hold of the German people, blessed as they were in the highest achievements of the West. Scientifically, artistically, philosophically, and intellectually, they were poised to assume leadership in an awakening world that would further the highest ideals of humanity. 

And again, to jump to another extreme, consider the lynch mobs of the pre-Civil War southern United States. What hatred, racism, and amusement of human torture occupied the minds of a very warm, hospitable, and otherwise principled people! When did this dangerous disorientation creep over the walls of civility and basic human dignity?

For that matter, what disorientation clouds our minds today, evoking a distinct sense, as with Ava, that "something is wrong." The "cloud" of obfuscation blinds our perception and distorts our judgments. However, we are not entirely without perspective and objectivity. We have lived long enough and experienced enough barbarity in our "modern" times that we have a capacity to jolt ourselves awake when the way becomes muddled and our leaders speak and operate erratically, with bluster in their code of conduct and jingoism as their mode of speech.

Centuries ago, a Japanese Zen monk and swordsman lived and wrote a treatise that reads as if written today. Gifted not only in the honorable way of the sword, Takuan Soho was also a poet, gardener, calligrapher, painter, and tea master. Writing between 1573 and 1645 B.C.E., the old monk challenges us to live "the unfettered mind" with these words:

       If you follow the present-day world, you could turn your back on the Way; if
       you would not turn your back on the Way, do not follow the world.  1

In this brief statement of warning, Takuan distinguishes between two paths each of us may take: "the present-day world" and "the Way." By his use of "way," the Zen monk, as might be expected, means a state of existence in which the individual lives true to herself, authentically fulfilling her personal claim to human potential. And by "world," Takuan means a state of existence in which disorientation shapes the person's life-trajectory. This latter state of existence is marked by distractions, diversions, and the demonic powers that can arise from the deep unconscious and seize one's life -- in short, a mind that is "fettered." 

This dichotomy between "the Way" and the "world" appears throughout the stories of Buddha, Christ, and Jungian dreams. But you as reader already have a sense of what this "breech of being" has meant in your life, as well as how it is playing out in our society at this time. It is a "pull of opposites" that we may experience in our lives each day, just as it also appears in the extremes of group life, and throughout our society. 

It is this societal crisis that brought Ava to my consulting room with her disturbing sense that "something is wrong." Ava could not put into words what troubled her. Trapped as we all are within the bizarre, irrational daily dramas of our political scene, Ava couldn't name the threatening spirit that possesses us, creeping into the here-to-fore trusted institutions of our democracy.

I am using the word "spirit" here intentionally. Of course, in Christian theology, Spirit is understood as a manifestation of God and occupies a place within the Trinity: God, Christ and Spirit. But spirit is also used to refer to other animating powers that may or may not be benevolent. In general, "spirit" may be used as a force or power that animates persons, and in depth psychology the word may also be used to describe a feeling and thought that arises from the unconscious with a capacity to take over the person. An individual or group of people may be "possessed" by such a force, leading to ways of thinking and acting not normally observed in the people. Referring back to the people of Nazi Germany and the southern lynch mobs, we could say they were possessed by a spirit -- a spirit that came up from the depths of the human psyche with such force that it formed what we could call a Zeitgeist, a spirit of the time.

If we look closely at our dreams, sometimes we may discover an image of a person, an action, or a place that reflects the spirit of the time. Such an image appeared in Carl Jung's dream of Siegfried. This is the way her remembered the dream on the night of December 18, 1913.

       I was with an unknown, brown-skinned man, a savage, in a lonely, rocky
       mountain landscape. It was before dawn; the eastern sky was already bright, 
       and the stars fading. Then I heard Siegfried's horn sounding over the mountains
       and I know that we had to kill him. We were armed with rifles and lay in wait
       for him on a narrow path over the rocks.

       Then Siegfried appeared high on the crest of the mountains in the first ray
       of the rising sun. On a chariot made of the bones of the dead he drove at
       furious speed down the precipitous slope. When he turned a corner, we shot
       at him, and he plunged down, struck dead.

What does the dream mean? How does it reflect the spirit of the time in which Jung lived? Who was Siegfried, and how did he radiate the spirit of Jung's age? Jung struggled to understand the dream; its meaning eluded him until finally it came to him.

       ... suddenly the meaning of the dream dawned on me. "Why that is the 
       problem, that is being played out in the world." Siegfried, I thought, 
       represents what the Germans want to achieve, heroically to impose their
       will, have their own way. "Where there is a will there is a way!"  I had
       wanted to do the same. But now that was no longer possible. The dream 
       showed that the attitude embodied by Siegfried, the hero, no longer
       suited me. Therefore, it had to be killed.  2
                                                        (Memories, Dreams, Reflections, p. 180)

There it is, the spirit of the time. We see how it invaded Jung's life as well as the German nation. Such a chilling experience in light of the disastrous wars that devastated Germany alerts us to the phenomenon of psychic possession that may threaten each of us. As we shall see, this was the threat approaching Ava who entered my life with the warning, for me as well as herself:  "I feel I am living through a very difficult time. ... something is not right." 

Threats can be imperceptible. At what point might a person become aware of a disorientation, one so severe it might result in a fragmentation of one's psyche or at least disturb a person's work and relationships?

Like the frog in a pot of water when the temperature ever so slightly, imperceptibly, rises to the boiling point, how and when do we human beings sense a danger in our environment? With this word, "environment," I am referring not only to the physical world of our habitat, our material world, our physical cosmic structure; I am referring as well to our social, spiritual, artistic, and psychological world -- our many worlds both inner and outer.

In which of these worlds did Ava experience such anxiety that she felt the need to talk to someone about it? Ava and I sat quietly, each waiting for the other to speak. Finally I broke the silence and said, "Tell me a dream. You may remember several, anticipating your session today. Tell me the dream that coms to your mind and seems to want to be shared."

"Well," she replied, "I had begun to write down my dreams the past two or three weeks, but this one came to me last night." Leaning forward slightly and uncrossing her legs, Ava spoke softly and thoughtfully as if she was reading a story from long ago.

            I was in a house or structure of some sort with many rooms, very old. There
       seemed to be many people sitting or moving about. Some of them talked to
       others, but there were none I recognized. I kept passing through the rooms as
       if I might be looking for someone or something. I felt increasingly afraid when 
       I realized we might be locked inside. So maybe I was looking for a key or for
       someone to help me find my way through the maze of rooms and let me out.
       As best I remember, it was a diverse group of people. Maybe there were many
       different functions taking place in the rooms. Like me, some people were 
       moving around and others sitting but I do not recall any specific chairs or sofas.
       And there was another odd thing... I don't remember any lighting except for 
       candles. That also frightened me. The flames were burning low as if they might
       be extinguished in a short while. But no-one appeared to notice or be concerned
       except me. And I could not find the owner or manager or even a staff person to
       call their attention to the danger. No-one appeared who seemed to be in charge.
       That's when I realized I needed to speak to someone, anyone, to see if they
       knew what was going on and could help me warn others about the candles but
       also to find out if anyone else knew the way out.

"What do you suppose the occasion was?" I asked.

"I am not sure," Ava said. "I was still wondering about that as I recalled the dream. It could have been a reception following a wedding, although the energy in the rooms did not convey that sense of joy and lightness. I wondered also about a gathering of friends, acquaintances, and family after a funeral. Or even the reception for diverse participants in an educational/training event, who may or may not know each other. But the atmosphere was neither somber nor joyful; maybe it could be called anticipating as if we were unsure of what to expect.

"And the candles! What was that about, do you suppose?" I asked her. "Did you notice any lamps or overhead lighting, even chandeliers?"

"That is peculiar," Ava acknowledged. "I cannot imagine there would not have been some kind of lighting in a large house like that. However, the event itself was present time based upon the dress of everyone -- anything from business casual, to physical labor, to semi-formal, I believe. But, back to the candles, there may have been a power failure, even though at the time I thought the candles were for atmosphere and was not allowing for the fact that the candles may well have been the only source of light.

"Do you have any idea what time of day it was?" I asked.

"Well," Ava reflected,"I never saw any light from the outside. The windows, if there were any, must have been closed, but I don't recall even seeing any windows or doors to the outside. Strange. You would think there had to be some somewhere"!  

"So," I ventured. "In your dream, you appear to be in a state of mind that might describe the feeling that brought you here. That is the feeling and thought that something is not right. Yes?" 

Ava thought for a moment and then quickly replied. "I guess you could say that. But so what? That might be expected that I would dream about my waking state of mind. Right? What does that tell me?"

Realizing that this first dream Ava presented may suggest the deep work to come, I wanted to engage Ava in exploring with me the dream as a symbol of her psychic state, leading us into a vast underground of meanings not only for her life but also for the wider culture, including myself. Keeping that in mind, I moved tentatively to consider the dream psychologically.  "Yes, it is true that we might well expect the dream to present the feeling and cognitive state of your mind in your waking life, but the dream tells us much more than that. What is the meaning of the structure in which you find yourself with no known exit? Why this diverse grouping of people? Why the candles as the only source of light? Why do you not see any windows or doors? And what is the meaning of this anticipatory atmosphere? Each of these elements is important."

"But why," Ava insisted. "I am talking to you about the real world, not some unreal, imaginary world in my dream. Are you saying this is all in my mind," she protested.

"But think about this," I responded. "In your dream you find yourself in a structure of some kind, do you not? It is, in other words, a complex, another word we use when referring to a building, a structure, or a "maze" of rooms, to use your words for the rooms." 

Ava was still not sure where I was going and pushed me to go on. "Let me make sure I understand," she said. "Are you suggesting this is all in my mind? That there is nothing out there that leads me to experience things not being right out in the world?"  

"No," I continued. "I am not saying your experience is only in your mind. I think it is both in  your mind and in the world outside, inner and outer. Something is occurring out there that is alerting your unconscious to a possible threat of some kind -- a threat or danger that has brought you to this consulting room. We could call it a psychological complex, but I do not want us to get ahead of ourselves because there is still a lot we do not know, and we do not need to get tangled up in psychological terminology." 

"But," she continued to insist, "To be clear, are you saying my concern -- whatever you call it -- is psychological?"

"I am saying it is indeed psychological," I replied. "But it is also social and spiritual at its deepest level. And it is very worthwhile that you and I explore this together." 

Walking into my consulting room for her first appointment, the fashionably dressed woman of early middle age quickly told me why she had asked for the appointment. Following our brief exchange of pleasantries, she said, "I feel I am living through a very difficult time." I asked her to tell me what she meant by that, to describe how she was experiencing what she called a difficult time. 

Then, after a slight pause when she seemed to be trying to collect her thoughts, she spoke slowly and hesitantly, "It is hard for me to tell you what the problem is. I feel satisfied with my marriage, we make a good living, I have friends who seem to like me, my children are well with their relationships and work. But something is not right." 

We sat silently for awhile and then she went on. "I was afraid to come, afraid you might tell me I am depressed or anxious and might need medication. And I might, but I don't think so. It is as if we are all going along, pretending we are happy. I mean, the markets are doing fine, but we know there are problems at the border, warnings about our environment, a gulf between those who could be described as having enough and those who do not." She paused.

"Is this what you mean?", I asked. "That you feel depressed or anxious about those things you have just described, but also worry that you may be clinically depressed and anxious? Is this what you want to sort out? Is this what you mean when you say you feel like you are living through a difficult time?" 

"I am not sure," she replied. "It seems to be somehow deeper than that." She went on,"I remember a poem we read in college, Yeats' "Second Coming," where he described the time with a very disturbing thought, 'The center will not hold.' I do not know for sure what he meant by that, but come to think about it, this reminds me also of another line I have brought with me from those years in my literature classes. Hamlet said that things were rotten in Denmark and that 'The time is out of joint'."

The woman paused again briefly, as if pondering what she had just said, and then she continued, "I don't mean to take us away from my situation, but when you ask me what I mean when I say I am living through a very difficult time, it seems that those two lines describe what I am feeling better than any of my attempt to explain myself. But what do you think? You are the analyst," she said as if trying to bring some levity to what appeared to have become a dark and possibly foreboding state of her mind.

However, the truth was, I did not know how to answer her question. Was she expecting me to suggest why her personal experience of living through a difficult time reminded her of lines from Yeats and Shakespear's Hamlet? Had she pondered them down through the years, or did they arise surprisingly just at this moment? And how appropriate were those lines in describing the woman's present situation? As she probably was aware, Yeats wrote his poem at a time when Word War I had just concluded; the woman had not experienced what at Yeats' time had been described as the "Great War." And Hamlet's experience of his time being "out of joint" was quite different from the woman's description of her marriage and domestic life as generally very stable and content. 

So what was the connection of this apparently healthy woman's "difficult time" with a world in which the "center is not holding" and the "time is out of joint?"  

Also, I had other questions. Had there been early trauma in the woman's life? What did I need to know about her medical history, her relationship to her parents and ancestry, her religion, her social life, her political orientation and participation? And how did she choose to work with me, a Jungian Analyst with early training as a pastoral counselor? Was that intentional, well thought-out, or a synchronistic happening? 

In other words, what were her expectations of analysis in general and work with me in particular? Is she interested in the intersection of psychology and religion, and if so -- to return to my earlier question -- what might be her religious orientation? Does she need to talk with a priest, pastor, or rabbi rather than a psychoanalyst? 

These questions filtered through my conversation with this new contact, who asked to be called by her first name, Ava. She quickly responded to the questions I presented as part of my intake and declared there were no traces to her knowledge of any medical and psychological issues that had bearing in her visit to my office. As for how she came to pick my name, she claimed it was almost a "fluke" that she came across my website and a blog I had written recently, a blog in which I had referred to the depth dimension as a quality that had led me into my work. Her only experience in counseling had come through five sessions she and her husband shared as part of their pre-marital counseling -- he, a Roman Catholic, and she, a Protestant, both considering themselves as non-practicing at this point although she appreciated the important role of religion in society having to do with weddings, funerals, baptisms, care for the ill and dying, as well as crisis intervention.

"You must have found something meaningful in religion at some point in your early life to have been credentialed as a pastoral counselor that no doubt required clinical training and experience," she said, looking at me quizzically as if she could not quite put together religion, psychology, psychoanalysis, and clinical training. Her curiosity was warranted. "Yes," I admitted, "it must appear as quite a stretch to put all those parts together in shaping a career, meeting professional and governmental standards." And so, I gave her the quick version of how all of that came to be and how it began with a very significant dream of an eagle that came to me in my twenties with the message, "There is more."

"But," I said, returning to Ava's presenting concerns, "I need to hear more about what makes this time so difficult for you?"

At this point in our conversation, I had begun to suspect the political, social divisiveness of our time as lying at the root of this very sensitive woman's anxiety. Many others come to my office with this concern. The social divide in our society not only fragments our society as a whole, but also the sub-groups within our society that -- in better days -- work together by forming a social contract in which a respectful empathic resonance vibrates through our schools, our clubs, our families, our entertainment venues, our churches, synagogues, and mosques, creating a unified identity that holds together our differences and tensions. When this does not happen, it is not only our society as a whole and the sub-groups of our society that are fragmented, it is also our individual psyches that become disoriented as well.

In a letter written by Carl Jung to A. Gerstner-Hirzel of Basel in September 1957, Jung refers to the place of art in stabilizing and focusing the psyches of persons who have "collided headlong with the fatal disorientation of our time."  (See Letters, Vol. 2,
p. 387).  And in another letter to Philip Magor written on May 23, 1950, Jung says this:

       If you take the concept of prayer in its widest sense and if you include Buddhist
       contemplation and Hindu meditation (as being equivalent to prayer), one can
       say that it is the most universal form of religious or philosophical concentration
       of the mind and thus not only one of the most original but also the most frequent
       means to change the condition of mind. If this psychological method had been
       inefficient, it would've been extinguished long ago, but nobody with a certain 
       amount of human experience could deny its efficacy.  (Letters, Vol. 1, p. 558).

Prompted by Ava's concern for her disturbing experience of living through this troubled time, a time that could be understood as a "collective trauma," I thought back to Jung's reference to "the fatal disorientation of our time." What was Ava's difficulty but precisely this: a collision of her psyche with the fatal disorientation of our time, threatening each of us with a fragmentation so severe it poses the threat of psychic chaos. 

(Ava has given me permission to reference her case, which will be continued in future blogs. I have chosen the name "Ava" to protect her identity.)

There are stars, and then there are "stars." Lately I have noticed that my mind seems to come back, not just to stars, but to the "stars" who fill our public spaces, cluttering our social, spiritual, and psychological life.

For example, there are the "stars" who crowd the media with clownish tactics which seem unfailingly to dominate our attention. Consider our political news and the toxic narcissism of our would-be leader. Consider also the fawning, obsequious flattery that follows in his wake, producing a medieval horror show that tortures our sensibilities and threatens our traditions of civility. Even the worst script writer for grade-B fiction would not write such tragic/comic scenes for fear the public wouldn't accept them. But this ever-performing "star," starved for accolades, succeeds in dominating our mutual life.

Of course, this act in the "big tent" of our political arena is but one parody of "stardom." Other stages vie for attention. Our short attention span appears to crave more and more of less and less: more danger, more aggression, more sensationalism; and less substance, less art that explores the deep nature of our existence, less depth in helping us to live lives that care for one another and our natural world. Such is our "star"-filled universe of media productions in which politics has become a horror show. And again, I am not acknowledging that some creative, worth-while productions exist, but rather that our attention span itself appears to be oriented toward the "star"-gazing fascination with distractions of greed and those who manipulate it. 

And so I ask myself, why is it that we human beings are so fascinated with the "stars" and their movements in our movies, sports, preachers, politicians, and executives? But, then again, why not? Consider the fact that most human beings find the night sky fascinating. Even as small children, we delight in looking at the sky -- the changing moon, the shooting stars, the movement of constellations, the designs and patterns the stars make: "the little dipper," "the big dipper," "Aquarius," "Scorpius," "Aries," etc.

The Greek and Roman names of the constellations witness to the human tendency to project meaning upon a surface that compels our interest and attention. In this way, the dramatic characters of our mythological history play out their dramas above our heads and move through the night sky, bringing with them the seasons that rotate through our earth-bound life.

For the young mind, historically as well as biologically, this seeming cause-and-effect relationship enhanced us with a wonder that lingers still. This is so because it is archetypal. The patterns we see in the sky dwelt within us before we projected their "meaning" upon the heavens.

For example, as our Space.com website describes the mythology of Aquarius:

       The Greeks linked this constellation Ganymede, the cupbearer to the gods.
       According to lore, Ganymede was a good-looking young man who was the
       object of Zeus' affection and was brought to Mount Olympus, where he 
       served as cup bearer to the gods and was granted eternal youth.

       Aquarius has also various meanings and associations in other cultures. 
       Babylonian astronomers identified the constellation as representing the 
       god Ea, or "The Great One," which was often pictured with an overflowing
       vessel. In ancient Egypt, the water bearer's jar was said to cause the spring
       overflow of the Nile when it was dipped into the river. The Chinese 
       astronomers viewed the "stream" as soldiers.

In this centuries-old fascination with stars, we see a deep interconnection with human beings and the stars. They serve as points of orientation in our need to find meaning beyond the experience of our existence on earth. The sense of a greater controlling force that moves the stars in established patterns may have meaning for our orientation on earth as well.

And indeed that is the case. In previous centuries, we had only the stars to guide our risky journeys across the oceans, for example. And the stars also proved to be a valuable, trustworthy guide on land as well.

One such example was the experience of southern slaves who had only one guide to orient them in their escape to northern states and Canada. That guide was the North Star. Suspended above the earth, perched on the line that would form an axis from the earth's northern hemisphere into space, Polaris, which we call "the North Star,"remains a constant point over our heads around which the northern sky moves like movement of a clock's hands. While other stars move, rising and setting, the North Star remains in the same spot and thus serves as a directional point.

It was because of this natural, unmoving point in the night sky that run-away slaves could chart their route toward freedom. On December 3, 1847, Frederick Douglas founded a publication called The North Star. Douglas himself was an escaped slave, and his newspaper sounded the theme that not only supported slaves in their escape to freedom, but also helped bring an end to slavery itself. The North Star's slogan is worth recalling:

       Right is of no sex -- 
       Truth is of no color --
       God is the Father of us all
          and all we are Brethren.

With this publication, Douglas creatively merged a natural object -- the star -- along with a human fascination with the inexplicable wonder of the night sky, and an escape of humanity from the degradation of slavery. In doing this, Frederick Douglas helped to make each of us a little more conscious, reminding each of us that we need a North Star to escape the smothering slavery of the spirit that possesses us today and shackles us to the present age's slave masters of greed and "stardom." 

It is these words of Carl Jung that call us to an orientation of our inner psychological, spiritual North Star.

       The more a man's life is shaped by the collective norm, the greater is his
       individual immorality.  (Collected Works, Vol. 6, para. 762)

The "collective norm" refers to the danger of locating our personal identity and values within a group's mass-mindedness. It is the path of disorientation in which we become vulnerable to the collective psychic epidemics of war, prejudice, and the loss of soul. 

​Much about this time in which we are living troubles us. It is not just the stress we experience in our outer world – the climate crisis as described by a United Nations report on September 27, 2019; the deception, lies, and manipulations in the highest levels of our government; the failure to develop a national policy on energy that would both recognize the finite nature of our fossil fuels and the untapped potential of sun, water, wind, ocean currents, geothermal heat, algae, and plants to provide energy while protecting our planet. There is also a failure of our government to establish a stabilizing foreign policy in world affairs; racism; an ongoing war in the Middle East; and a spiritual dark hole within churches that have been captured by a fundamentalist theology aligned with a right-wing political ideology.
 
But, as I said, the stress we experience is not just a response to our outer world. Rather, if we are honest with ourselves, in our quieter moments when we dare to engage in deep reflection, we sense a foreboding within the inner chambers of our soul. Of course, the intensity of this foreboding, the consciousness of it, varies from person to person. If at all! I say this because here at home our economic situation is relatively stable. We have money to support our habits and distractions.
 
But still there is something rumbling in our psyches. We might refer to it as a quiet anxiety, but for this moment I am focusing on the frantic pursuit of happiness, which is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “deep pleasure in, or contentment with one’s circumstances.” And The New York Times (September 29, 2019) included an article by Laura M. Holson titled “Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?” That could very well have described the question rumbling around in my head as I was pondering what seems to me to be a pervasive absence of happiness, which Ms. Holson also must be pondering if we are to place credence in her provocative question “If joy is everywhere, why does happiness feel so elusive?” What she means by joy being “everywhere” is what I see as the frantic pursuit of happiness.” In other words, the references to “joy” drive the marketing engine in our media, portraying the idyllic life which each of us reaches for and is led to believe we really can experience joy with another gadget, toy, and/or special happening.
 
Meanwhile, however, we appear to be becoming angrier and angrier, more and more aggressive, less and less confident the future of our children will be as “happy” as our past life was, and more and more confused about where, how, and when to discharge our malcontent.
 
So what do I say to the unhappy, joy-seeking individuals who come to my consulting room with darker and darker dreams? But, of course, to begin, it is not my business as a psychoanalyst to see my business as that of passing out “joy-pills.” Rather, it is my business to listen carefully to the anger, bewilderment, and puzzling images in their dreams.
 
It is also my business to attend to my own life, as I also live in the same “joy-seeking” culture of my analysands. And in that regard, it is my business to remind myself of the “truth” of our existence as far as I have been able to discern it.
 
And there have been “markers” along the way, markers that point to a depth dimension in life where, I believe, happiness may be discovered. For example, in Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince, one of the characters, a fox, shares a special secret with the little prince. It is this: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” 
 
But it is here where the “mind” gets involved. Of exactly what are we “mind-ful” of what the heart has “seen?” What does it mean to us? For we know very well the possibility of which Takuan Soho reminded us in his book, The Unfettered Mind, a title which I borrowed to insert in the title of this blog. Soho, a Buddhist priest and sword master, born in 1573, in the village of Izushi, a village long since lost in the early history of Japan. Soho says this in his book, “If you follow the present-day world, you will turn your back on the Way; if you would not turn your back on the Way, do not follow the world.” 
 
But to follow the Way may prove to be tricky, as is one’s understanding of what the heart “sees.” Why? Soho would say it is because of the nature of the mind itself, and here he quotes from a song of his Buddhist heritage:
 
                  It is the very mind itself
                  that leads the mind astray;
                  Of the mind,
                  Do not be heartless.
 
Here, then, we see our predicament when we think we are living with an “unfettered mind” and a “pure heart.” How deceptive our perceptions may be! How irrational our rationalizations may prove to be! And how self-serving may be our feigned attempts to make our way in the world, negotiating our way through the general complexities of life itself and the chaotic delusions of our present age in particular! 
 
In other words, our awareness arises from the heart, the “seat of one’s inmost thoughts and secret feelings” (Oxford Dictionary).  Then, when the awareness of what rises from the heart comes to our attention, the mind gets busy because it forms a “person’s opinion, judgment, and/or view” (Oxford Dictionary) of what has risen. But can we trust what the heart has “seen,” and the mind’s “judgment?”  After all, this is the point where differences and conflicts develop between persons, groups, and even nations. Clearly, we do not always agree on what the heart sees and/or the mind judges to be true. 
 
What is happening here? How can we look at the same thing but “see” differently and become “mindful” of conflicting conclusions? This dilemma greatly concerned Carl Jung. If civilization is to survive, he believed, we must try to understand what goes on in the heart and the mind.
 
So what did he conclude? Simply put, Jung conducted psychopathological laboratory experiments, observed closely the behavior of people, and intently examined dreams of individuals from cultures around the world. From this life-long work, Jung defined the human psyche as having two dimensions, two processes at work – the conscious and the unconscious. The unconscious is the source from which the conscious arises. Jung says it is ... “the source of the instinctual forces of the psyche and the forms or categories that regulate them, namely the archetypes.”  (Collected Works, Vol. 8, para. 342)
 
Our consciousness allows us to reflect upon our heart and mind, and what goes on within them. But then there is the unconscious which we cannot see except from hindsight – after the fact. We may become aware that something is going on in the way we are thinking, feeling, and sensing in our bodies, but we can become fully aware only later when there is a reflection upon the meaning of what we have experienced. 
 
This is the task, the challenge, and the value of becoming conscious. But it appears that in the history and evaluation of our species as human beings, we are a long way from becoming conscious, as well as a long way from even understanding the interplay of consciousness and unconsciousness. This absence of understanding threatens our survival as a species precisely because our means of destruction have far exceeded our capacity for survival, along with the importance of understanding how the greatest conflict in the world today is not between persons, or groups, or nations – but between the forces and powers of consciousness and unconsciousness.
 

As I said in the previous blog (July 2019), one of the more troubling issues I see in my practice as a psychotherapist is an individual's abuse of oneself and others in the name of that individual's religion. What make this abuse so troubling is the fact that the abuse is rationalized and justified because it carries the sanctity of one's most deeply held beliefs. These beliefs are considered to be demanded by the particular deity of the abuser's religion which may condone shaming, judging, condemning, rejecting, expulsion from family, and in some extreme cases even punishment by death.

This toxic, destructive behavior in religious practice does not characterize all religious life. But variations of these aberrant actions are likely to appear in religious fundamentalism which we can find throughout the world. How do we account for the rise of this religious phenomenon in our present age? One would hope that our level of education and our knowledge of the potential in each of us to exploit and dehumanize others would serve as a safeguard against fundamentalism. But such is not the case. Fundamentalism thrives in our world, in our society, and in our religion. It has nestled within the TV evangelists, it has aligned itself with political extremism, and it has copied the flare of the entertainment world's personality cult with the style of both high-fashion as well as the hyper-cool persona of T-shirts, ragged jeans with holes, and the must-have baseball cap worn backwards! From whatever vantage point you view fundamentalism it must be seen as a potent force in our homes, our institutions, and our society. So let's dig deeper into the robber of our humanity's potential and spiritual destiny.

The American Heritage College Dictionary defines fundamentalism as "an organized, militant Evangelical movement originating in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century in opposition to Protestant liberalism and secularism, insisting on the inerrancy of scripture."  That well describes fundamentalism from the perspective of Protestantism. However, fundamentalism is a term now used to describe movements within most of the world's major religions. The movements may usually be defined by specific beliefs that people are not to question, as well as an attitude of superiority. The beliefs center around a confession of certain tenants or propositions considered to be "fundamental" or basic to the particular faith; these beliefs are supported by militant fervor with accompanying programs designed to convince and convert other persons or groups to the "right" and "authoritative" way of believing, with the threat of damnation and judgment for non-believers at the end of the world which is expected to come soon in a likely apocalyptic catastrophe. This last characteristic does not surface as a theme within Hinduism but is quite prominent especially within Christian fundamentalism. In summary, Protestant Christian fundamentalism is a movement of zealously committed persons who regard the Bible as supernaturally communicated by God to inspired individuals who recorded the divine and infallible words in the original documents for the purpose of revealing knowledge of God, Christ, and the morally perfect conduct of life as the only means of avoiding eternal damnation at the Last Judgment.

The roots of Christian fundamentalism may well be traced back to the Holiness Code of the Old Testament Pentateuch, its development and implementations by Ezra and Nehemiah following the Jewish Exile, an other-worldly emphasis on purity by the Pharisees, and the mood of apocalyptic doom which seeped into early Christian thought from an ancient Persian dualism via the Jewish experience of anticipating the coming of the "day of Yahweh." However, within the United States, the term itself first appeared in the early twentieth century with the publication of a series of books called The Fundamentals: A Testimony of Truth. Between 1910 and 1912, these books became circulated quite widely, financed by two wealthy laymen who sought to resist the tendencies of major theological schools to use scientific principles in studying scripture.

The Fundamentals stressed the need to bring Christian thought and practice back to a doctrinally sound position. Such a "sound position" would be based upon five articles of faith: the inerrancy of the Bible in every detail, the Virgin birth of Christ, the physical resurrection, the substitutionary theory of the atonement (Christ was "substituted" for human beings and "paid the price" for the sins of humanity), and lastly, the imminent physical return of Christ. 

Having been distributed in three million copies at a cost of $250,000, The Fundamentals soon came to impact the major Protestant denominations in the United States, with a carry-over to Great Britain as well. The wide-spread dissemination of a work designed to challenge an understanding of the Bible influenced by the academic tools of higher criticism and literary analysis led to an eruption of a mean-spirited conflict which had been building within churches, denominational agencies, and theological schools. Lacking a spirit of civil discourse, a willingness to engage in open debate, and an appreciation for the insights of any disciplines other than the formula of inerrancy for studying scripture, the fundamentalists zealously pushed an agenda to enshrine their five articles of faith as the sole measure of Christian orthodoxy.

To that doctrinaire creed, the leaders of the movement also added some very strict measures for setting themselves apart from the world. Forbidden were the use of alcoholic beverages, playing cards, dancing, smoking, slacks for women, long hair for men, and participation in worldly entertainment such as the theatre. Turning their eye upon civil society, the fundamentalists espoused a notion of the United States as a kind of theocratic state, certainly a "Christian nation" where the Bible would serve as a supreme guide for the conduct of policy.

While more could be said in describing the range of fundamentalist thought and programs, I want to turn now to a psychological understanding of the movement. The first thing to note is the role of its charismatic leaders. In fact, the notion that fundamentalism is a monolithic, unified force is not quite accurate. Throughout its history, fundamentalism looked more like a river fed by many tributaries, each reflecting a particular leader, e.g., Benjamin B. Warfield of Princeton University in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Jerry Falwell of Liberty Baptist Church and Liberty University in the late twentieth century, and Billy Graham of the "evangelistic crusade" in the mid-twentieth century.

These individuals, and other fundamentalist leaders who could be cited, appear in society as what Jung would call "mana-personalities." Jung brought the word, "mana," into the field of psychology from the discipline of anthropology which had studied the manifestation of mana in Melanesia where it was regarded as "a universal magical power about which everything revolves." (Collected Works, Vol. 7, para. 108)  Jung went on to apply the concept of mana as the powerful force which appears in one who has lost rational discernment under the influence of unconscious dynamics. 

Such certainly appears to be the case with fundamentalist leaders who appear to be oblivious to the autonomy of unconscious forces within their psyches. Such religious figures appear as personalities who are possessed by a sense of power, self-righteousness, a divine call to speak for God, and a capacity to cast a spell-binding influence upon would-be followers. Such a person has indeed been possessed by "a dominant from the collective unconscious, the well-known archetype of the mighty man in the form of hero, chief, magician, medicine-man, saint, the ruler of men and spirits, the friend of God." (Collected Works, Vol. 7, para. 377)

Jung goes further: "... it is a question of inflation. The ego has appropriated something that does not belong to it." (Collected Works, Vol. 7, para. 380)  This rings true to my ears as a description for the root cause of fundamentalism. With its militancy, its self-proclaimed authority, its confidence in being ordained by God to speak with ultimate pronouncements, and its harsh judgment of all who fail to live "perfect" lives, fundamentalism conveys the mood or feeling tone of psychological inflation. It comes from what Jung would call a sense of one's "god-almightiness," as he goes on to describe:

               An inflated consciousness is always egocentric and conscious of
            nothing but its own existence. It is incapable of learning from the past,
            incapable of understanding contemporary events, and incapable of
            drawing right conclusions about the future. It is hypnotized by itself
            and therefore cannot be argued with. ... Paradoxically enough, inflation
            is a regression of consciousness into unconsciousness. This always happens
            when consciousness takes too many unconscious contents upon itself and
            loses the faculty of discrimination, the sine qua non of all consciousness.
            (Collected Works, Vol. 12, para. 563.)

Such a state of inflation compensates one's sense of inferiority. Given the fact that fundamentalism has often appeared to take root under conditions of powerlessness and within groups who fear their sense of powerlessness, we may understand then the rise of a movement which brings a promise of power and vindication to its adherents enthralled by the summons of their inflated leaders whose egos are taken over by the God-image.

But we must add one more element to the prevalence and power of fundamentalism. Not only are its adherents seeking power and a place of recognition and respect in contemporary society, fundamentalism must be accounted for by at least one additional dynamic that propels its ascension within our materialistic, secular society.

Fundamentalism masks our terror of death. So swiftly do the dogma, rituals, and personalities of fundamentalism speed by us, that we do not notice its distracting feature. And the reality from which we are distracted -- from which we want to be distracted -- is the existential anxiety about the inevitable approach of death... whether it be brought on by age, disease, or accident. This looming prospect of our inevitable end is a heavy load to bear. How much easier it is to live our lives if we are distracted from this inevitability of our end with the promise of a heavenly reward if we live by fundamentalism's righteousness, and a hellish judgment if we do not.

Of course, all the major religions of the world provide some narrative about a world beyond this world, a final judgment and a life after this one, etc. And it is a comforting promise of all the religions that this life is too much a Mystery to be accounted for by the brevity of this physical existence. The awe and complexity of life, even from the perspective of scientific theory itself, hints at levels of being that cannot be accounted for in this one brief existence.

But it is the inflated, self-serving ideology fundamentalism -- adrift from reason and powered by the dynamic of fear -- that disturbs us in our core where reason and emotion intersect an in-depth spirituality. Fundamentalism is not only bad science; it is also bad psychology and bad religion. It offers nothing either to affirm the dignity of humanity, or to provide a way of coping with the riddle of death. 

​More on this next time.

In my years of work as a psychotherapist and Jungian analyst, I have observed one theme in particular that proves very difficult to unravel That theme is the self-inflicted abuse of oneself in the name of one's religion and its moralism. How are we to understand this pattern of abuse, the nature of such a cruel moralism, its origin, how came to be embedded in that particular religion, how and why religion is susceptible to fostering a belief system that is punitive and counter to the formation of healthy children and adults, the kind of deity such an abusive religion worships, its toxic infection of all areas of a person's life, including the deepest impulses to realize the human potential for empathy, love, and the quest for meaning. 

What are some examples of this kind of toxic religion and its sadistic/masochistic moralism? Within the wider scope of historical records, we know of the religious crusades in the Middle Ages. And even closer, we know of religion's missionary zeal to evangelize other cultures, to subject other people to a forced worship of a god-image foreign to them and their history. But, closer home and to our present time, we observe a moralistic rejection of people who differ from us in skin color, or ethnicity, or customs, as well as other countries described in tones of inferiority and disgust.

Those images we all know very well. They are common-place in our history books but also our print and other media coverage today. However, this theme of a toxic, punitive religion appears more subtly in our public conversations and in my consulting room.

I am referencing here examples such as the following:

• bullying tactics in the boardrooms, cubicles, and conference rooms of our corporations;
• substance abuse in families resulting in physical or emotional abuse hidden from public view;
• the break-up of marriages in which there is no moral center to guide the formations of erotic desire;
• bullying behaviors on the playgrounds of our children by aggressive kids who are themselves bullied;
• an enthrallment with sports in which competition trumps sportsmanship and winning overshadows the under-observed acts of courage and finesse;
• sermons of would-be prominent preachers who are (1) afraid to tell their congregations the truth about the way scientific investigation of religious traditions and sacred documents have brought new light to the origins of their religion's history, or (2) avoiding the dialogical exchange between secular culture and religious tradition, or (3) seduced by the power-obsessed right-wing's ideology and tactics, or (4) infatuated with the glamour of performing for TV, radio, and movies.

Except for this last example, you may wonder why I listed the previous examples as having anything to do with "psychological abuse in the name of religion." The reason is this.  Our daily life is shaped directly or indirectly by our religious vision and experience, whatever that religion may be. And this brings me to the question of how I define religion.

Following the lead of Paul Tillich, one of the most insightful of Protestant theologians in the last 100 years, religion may be defined in two ways, what Tillich referred to as "a larger concept and a narrower one." 

            The larger concept of religion has appeared as the dimension of ultimate
            reality in the different realms of man's encounter with reality. It is, to use  
            a metaphor, the dimension of depth itself. ... Religion is this basic and 
            universal sense I have called "being grasped by an ultimate concern"
            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
            This definition, however, is also valid for the narrower concept of religion.
            ... I have usually described it as the experience of the holy in a particular
            presence, place, or time, in a particular ritual act, spoken word or
            sacramental object. These direct experiences are found in unity with
            a sacred community, in the Western world usually called a church, a
            monastic group, or a religious movement. This is religion in the narrower,
            the traditional sense.  1

Most of us probably think of religion in this narrower sense. But Tillich reminds us that all
manifestations of religion -- whether in an explicit religious sense, or a secular expression of religion -- arise from the archetypal depths of the human psyche. In these unfathomable depths, a sense of ultimacy rises up to grasp us and offer a glimpse into the Mystery of life itself, or at least, to call us away from the distractions that get in the way of what most deeply calls to us.

However, there is a third definition of religion not included in Tillich's "larger concept" and "narrower concept." This is religion as a state of mind possessed by a punitive god-image that demands unconditional obedience, worship, and tribute. The name for this psychological abuse is fundamentalism. And it is this fundamentalism that has largely captured the minds of our culture, either in positions of commitment or avoidance and, often, angry neglect of the depth dimensions of our souls.

How this occurred will be continued next month.

​
                                                    REFERENCE
1  Paul Tillich (1967). My Search for Absolutes. New York: Simon and Schuster, pp. 130-131.