Jung Thoughts

According to Jung, “The best political, social, and spiritual work we can do
is to withdraw the projection of our own shadow onto others.”
– source

I’ve been thinking about the Jungian concepts of projection, the shadow, parental complexes, and how they relate to the breakdown in communication and relationships that mark our era.

We live in a time of a bent political horseshoe and division while the legacy of family trauma goes unacknowledged and unprocessed.

What happens is a breakdown: instead of rational adults talking to each other and reaching compromise and consensus, we have instead defensive mindsets taken over by parental complexes yelling at each other and creating drama which darkens the mood, confuses the mind, and cuts us off from the transcendent function.

Open ended questions to think about: Why do we humans deny aspects of ourselves and then project the denied self on another? How can we take back those projections and acknowledge the shadow within? 

And why are there people who are desperate to impose control on those they have Othered and rejected, to seek power over the Other? I think the answer to this one is fear, in particular, fear of the self and the unacknowledged and unloved parts of the self--and greed for the money that manipulating this fear can generate.