“It is not for nothing that our age cries out for the redeemer personality, for the one who can emancipate himself from the grip of the collective [psychosis] and save at least his own soul, who lights a beacon of hope for others, proclaiming that here is at least one man who has succeeded in extricating himself from the fatal identity with the group psyche.”
Carl was a bright soul. Which I suppose is as deep as saying snow is cold, piss is wet and Death Valley gets hot in August. In a way Jung’s words are more pertinent today than they were in 1964. The cult of the group has a backlash-like resurgence after the rise of the individual lionized in the popular culture of the late 20th century. Now there are certain set pieces of reality we are allowed, but without deviation from these allowed and accepted forms of rebellion.
The chains are tightening around society ‘for our own good’ – and it smells like a world cultural dictatorship to me: a smoothing over of differences into one huge ‘popular opinion’ imperative. Being different in a way that is not prescribed and ‘popular’ has become a dangerous proposition. The twitter piranha jump on any dissenters or rebels making sure they are chastened, exiled and driven to the outer edges of sanity. It matters to some people, most people, what others think of them. We can’t all be losers like me who don’t give a flying fuck what others think, because generally the consensus is ‘Detroit is a bad ‘un’. Who cares! Not me. I just care about surviving and loving those who love me and need me. It is my sick superpower, I guess. I am impervious to peer pressure.
I suppose I never was part of the group psyche, being exiled has its benefits. Being thrown out of the group means that I never cared about being part of it. I accepted I was outcast, and so did not come as a leap for me to be able to see beyond the virtue signaling group think of modern times. There are certain thoughts which I were to make them public, I fear of the reaction. Things I believe in. Things I don’t. Things I will do. Things I won’t. Things which are negotiable to me. Things which aren’t. I will not be shamed for thinking my own thoughts that DO NOT HURT ANYONE ELSE.
My body is mine. Who touches is it up to me. I believe in bodily autonomy. I will not be shamed into not. I almost enjoy the intellectual exercise of saying what I want to, without giving the rabid modern mob a pitchfork to beat me with, and a torch to burn me down.
We are being asked to make false equations. It is demanded of us that we subscribe to the whole ‘package’ of beliefs that go along with not being a total jerk. It goes beyond identity politics into an refusal to allow any difference, discussion or dissent.
Sometimes a pipe is a pipe. Sometimes the Powers That Be don’t mean us well. Sometimes the men and women who define science get it wrong – hence all the backtracking that is done on a daily basis. Heck, if they can’t work out whether eggs are good or bad for us, how are we expecting the scientists who refuse to allow debate or dissent or questioning or disagreement, to actually get things right fast and first time? Sometimes Science is as cruel a God as the one who once drowned most of the Earth’s inhabitants, and one with just as little evidence towards it’s ultimate total infallibility. Sometimes people get the science wrong. Sometimes the Word gets confused, and the sums don’t add up. Sometimes those with control seek to change the Truth for another narrative which pushes their own agenda. I fear the natural and free man and woman is rapidly becoming a myth that will one day be refuted just like some Christians like to put forth that Jesus hugged dinos…
Thing is, no one else will ever get to decide what is good for me and what I should accept being done to my body. No one. No one will ever get to decide to change the barriers and boundaries of reality, in short pissing up my leg and telling me it is raining, and leave me not questioning. I intend to survive and do it on my own terms.
Everyone likes to feel right, vindicated, special, and ‘better than’. Everyone needs someone not to love, but to look down upon and feel superior to. I say everyone, and that is unfair. There are always Jung’s Redeemer Personalities, who tread their own path of freedom.
Truth is not truth because some echo chamber declares it so. Watching the witch hunts against people who have unpopular personal opinions, some of my friends losing their livelihoods and being ostracized because they will not say a pipe is not a pipe, seeing the bad news in the distance where some Standard Boot Issued Agents of the State start kicking in doors of those who will not comply with the ‘popular opinon’ and who will not give over the rights to decide what is best for them and their bodies to the nanny state, I am left wondering: where is the light at the end of the tunnel, and if the train is going to come the opposite direction and wipe out all those who didn’t climb on it either through fear or compulsion.
That book has been on my shelf for decades – every now and then I take it down and re-read some part and see again that Jung foresaw our time well. He said more than once that Nazi Germany will be repeated again, and it only remained to be seen where it will happen.
But Jung was the standard bearer for the individual. Your fight to be yourself (anyone who wants to be themself now must struggle, unless maybe they have millions in the bank) is something he would urge you to never give up on.
Hello Alan, thank you saying hello. I hope you heed Jung too, and never try and smooth your edges down just to fit in. I am trying to regain my balance after a series of shocks. People sometimes accuse me of being cold, it isn’t true. The opposite is true, I feel things very deeply. It matters to me what the final accounting of my actions and bravery will be, and I am determined to not be listed as a coward. Remaining true to oneself might be the hardest ask of all.
Thanks to you Paltry Sum – here is a quote from my novel The Birdcatcher:
“Are there any people more misunderstood than those who are solitary? When we have nothing to say, people think we’re indifferent. If we don’t react to verbal abuse, they think we’re timid. If we don’t brag and boast, or do anything to promote ourselves, they think we have no confidence. If we show no emotion, they think we have none. “
How very true. Beautiful writing!
Thee best part of your blog is “I intend to survive, on my own terms!” I also intend to do that as well! I was taught that no one has the right to touch my body without my permission. I have got into a lot of trouble on that one. But several people (men) learned “don’t touch” is a good policy and not painful.
For me don’t touch includes governmental bodies as well as male ones. I feel like raising a middle finger and telling em to mandate this $^%*! Woohoo for us surviving on our own terms!
I agree. what is happening in Texas and many of the bible belt states is inhuman, and wo wrong on so many levels, it is criminal! Sign me up for that fight.
You got it, Sister!