Can a nation ever truly be "whole"? A tribe, perhaps. It seems to me America, and my country Canada, are far, far too large to ever be a united whole. There will be those people and classes of people that comform readily to the desires and ideas in the minds and on the papers of the heads of the nation building and the rest that must keep their heads down or be weeded out. A permanent situation.
If the state of the nation and the psyche of the individual are interdependent constructs—and the country is still in its adolescence—then there exists perpetual transformation, or deconstruction and rebuilding, as has happened repeatedly throughout our history. Unlike the European psyche, embedded in the ancestral soil, steeped in centuries of myth, tradition, and cultural inheritance, America remains in a state of psychological flux—left to wrestle with a new, undeveloped identity.
Considering the “melting pot” we are, it is unlikely that “wholeness” is achievable, and perhaps it isn’t even necessary. America has constructed its own mythos throughout time, with a pioneering spirit that exemplifies the hero’s journey with its conquest and formation out of the womb of Mother Europe.
A tribe is different in that it operates as a unit, undivided, and each “individual” solely contributes to the collective ego rather than himself. Some can say that it is selfless, while others claim it is cultish; however, where lies the difference between the modern ultra-nationalist American, adorned in team colors and patriotic symbols, and his Indigenous brother, donning war paint before battle? As Jung observed, both are similar, and European Americans assimilated to the soil rather than the reverse.
“North Americans preserved their European standards with the most rigid puritanism, though they could not prevent the souls of their Indian foes from becoming theirs.” —C.G. Jung, Mind and Earth, CW 10, §103.
Very interesting, thanks. Scale i am sure plays a huge role in how all this pans out and doesn’t. While i certainly can’t be in disagreement with the hero’s journey of conquest driven by the pioneering spirit having risen to the level of mythos, i would argue it is not just that, this view of things is very real and very true. It’s just also very incomplete. We were heroes and monsters, and i’d say that applies to all peoples in their journeys at junctures. It absolutely applies to the ones we displaced.
I’ve never much felt like “a Canadian” i must admit. It just doesn’t interest me, the idea of belonging on that level, of identifying. I might find out i feel differently though if and when Trump comes for us. For a long time i felt i’d have been just as happy being a citizen of the USA and before that, happier. That time has passed in recent years. ;) Love the Jung quote!
Can a nation ever truly be "whole"? A tribe, perhaps. It seems to me America, and my country Canada, are far, far too large to ever be a united whole. There will be those people and classes of people that comform readily to the desires and ideas in the minds and on the papers of the heads of the nation building and the rest that must keep their heads down or be weeded out. A permanent situation.
If the state of the nation and the psyche of the individual are interdependent constructs—and the country is still in its adolescence—then there exists perpetual transformation, or deconstruction and rebuilding, as has happened repeatedly throughout our history. Unlike the European psyche, embedded in the ancestral soil, steeped in centuries of myth, tradition, and cultural inheritance, America remains in a state of psychological flux—left to wrestle with a new, undeveloped identity.
Considering the “melting pot” we are, it is unlikely that “wholeness” is achievable, and perhaps it isn’t even necessary. America has constructed its own mythos throughout time, with a pioneering spirit that exemplifies the hero’s journey with its conquest and formation out of the womb of Mother Europe.
A tribe is different in that it operates as a unit, undivided, and each “individual” solely contributes to the collective ego rather than himself. Some can say that it is selfless, while others claim it is cultish; however, where lies the difference between the modern ultra-nationalist American, adorned in team colors and patriotic symbols, and his Indigenous brother, donning war paint before battle? As Jung observed, both are similar, and European Americans assimilated to the soil rather than the reverse.
“North Americans preserved their European standards with the most rigid puritanism, though they could not prevent the souls of their Indian foes from becoming theirs.” —C.G. Jung, Mind and Earth, CW 10, §103.
Very interesting, thanks. Scale i am sure plays a huge role in how all this pans out and doesn’t. While i certainly can’t be in disagreement with the hero’s journey of conquest driven by the pioneering spirit having risen to the level of mythos, i would argue it is not just that, this view of things is very real and very true. It’s just also very incomplete. We were heroes and monsters, and i’d say that applies to all peoples in their journeys at junctures. It absolutely applies to the ones we displaced.
I’ve never much felt like “a Canadian” i must admit. It just doesn’t interest me, the idea of belonging on that level, of identifying. I might find out i feel differently though if and when Trump comes for us. For a long time i felt i’d have been just as happy being a citizen of the USA and before that, happier. That time has passed in recent years. ;) Love the Jung quote!