My relationship to reading for pleasure waxes and wanes, unlike my husband, who, since the beginning of our relationship, has read at least a few pages of a book every single night. I’ve spent much time reading dry, scientific papers during the day, or mindlessly scrolling social media content, that sometimes reading at night, for pleasure, isn’t pleasurable.
Recently I was feeling the lack of this activity in my life and daily habits. In a time of scattered attention, social chaos, and ubiquitous mis/dis-information, reading good books is the remedy.
I started reading my husband’s copy of Carl Jung’s The Undiscovered Self, and the RELEVANCE of the content to our times and problems lit me up.
Here’s the first passage I made a note of, on page 5:
“Rational argument can be conducted with some prospect of success only as long as the emotionality of a given situation does not exceed a certain critical degree.
If the effective temperature rises above this level, the possibility of reason’s having any effect ceases and its place is taken by slogans and chimerical wish-fantasies.”
I made a post on Facebook a couple months ago after a bothersome exchange, regarding strategies for dealing with the ‘ideologically possessed’. I was feeling frustrated that seemingly kind and intelligent people can simply not process or even receive information that counters their entrenched belief, a belief that is often verifiably false and stupidly encapsulated in a dialogue-terminating slogan.
“Trans women are women” is a great example of such a slogan because it is obviously false (anyone saying it knows they are lying is the truly bothersome part for me).
So reading Jung’s words about the role of emotionality in destroying the capacity for rationality was validating, especially when he mentioned the slogan! There are so many examples in our current culture of movements driven by simple, stupid slogans.
These slogans often end up dividing people even more (you either support the slogan or you don’t). They interrupt opportunity for genuine connection and understanding.
I’m still seeking out ways of dealing with this issue, of which Jung has much to say but nothing is straightforward.
How can we support individuation in a culture gripped by mass psychosis? How can we protect the seemingly shrinking rational stratum of society? Especially when so many forces seem bent on diminishing it to nothing…
This other passage made me think of Covid times, and the pressure and coercion to vaccinate:
“Resistance to the organized mass can be effected by the man who is as well organized in his individuality as the mass itself.”
It takes self-knowledge and inner strength to stand against the tidal wave of mass pressure, and the pressure is composed of very deep, instinctual emotions concerned with survival and conformity. Conflicting, unmet infantile needs screaming out for validation!
These thoughts are a work in progress, but I’m grateful for my husband’s passion for reading as well as his excellent book collection so I can ground myself more firmly in an understanding of the past, and in an appreciation for well-fleshed out models of social ills.
May we continue to protect and build the rational stratum of our society, so we can have the individual strength and rootedness to stand against beliefs and movements that seek to undermine our sovereignty.