Welcome to Neurotic America

Current Events are Revealing the Split in Our Collective Psyche

People are already losing family and friends over political ideologies. Our current state of affairs has people holding up policy over relationships. Because of this neglect as well as the rationalization of the human experience, the collective psyche is crying out.

So welcome to neurotic America where society seems to be experiencing a “Split consciousness.”

“As if two different persons were making statements about the same thing each from his own point of view, or as if one person in two different frames of mind were sketching a picture of his experience. If for person, we substitute modern society, it is evident that the latter is suffering from a mental dissociation, i.e. a neurotic disturbance. In view of this, it does not help matters at all if one party pulls obstinately to the right and the other to the left. This is what happens in every neurotic psyche, to its own deep distress, and it is just this distress that brings the patient to the doctor.” (Carl Jung, P.53 The Undiscovered Self: Answers to Questions Raised by the Present World Crisis)

Does that resonate? Do you think we are in deep distress as a society? Or are you focused on the individual tree without relating it to the forest it grows in?

Imagine For One Moment

Let’s imagine a scenario that you might easily experience. You were at a dinner party, and politics comes up. A person you just met asks what you think about Donald Trump. You respond that you can’t stand him and wish he were impeached. That person listens intently and nods along, never really giving you much regarding their personal feelings.

You don’t give it much thought and enjoy the rest of the evening. The next day, the police show up at your house. You have been labeled an enemy of the state and threat. You are taken to jail, and your typical rights are ignored because you are being held on some domestic terrorist charges. The system has you, and just yesterday, you were drinking wine and enjoying some casual conversation.

The Shadow: “an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself.”

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, rather just an observer trying to explain dynamics at play that go deeper than what the eye can measure. Right now, I’m an especially concerned citizen who lives in a society that seems collectively afraid to confront its shadow side.

It is afraid of what it might learn about itself, but its avoidance is setting itself up to repeat the past.

The Carl Jung quote above was written a long time ago but is as relevant now as it was then, and if you think that the dinner party scenario above is far fetched, then you aren’t as awake as you think you are.

Learn From History, Don’t Bury It!

That very type of scenario took place in the Soviet Union during the early part of the last century and shows just how fragile government systems are and just how controlling and how “arbitrarily” right-restricting the government can be, especially when things get out of control.

Behavior is an interesting thing. For some, it is “the” measuring stick for morality and otherwise, the overall person. I’m not particularly eager to get caught up in that. Although it is what you see on the surface and can be appalling and scary, it doesn’t bear much fruit to pick apart another person’s choice of action, unless I understand its meaning.

Currently, we have a movement taking place, an energy, and a shift in the conversation. However, some would deny this opportunity for change by sitting and picking apart the behavior of the movement, while extracting themselves out of the equation that the movement is taking part in.

That last sentence might be hard for some to conceptualize, but what I am saying is that we are all a part of this situation as collective citizenship. Therefore the rules for engagement are no different than what they would be for marriage; our response needs to be led by relational means.

Seeing Ourselves as Part of the Collective

Collectively we have pulled the psyche of society apart, and we are going to reap what we have sown. Race is one particular construct that is showing itself in our experience. There is a clear victim that needs to be heard and understood for their experience within the societal family. Failure to listen to that voice over and over is the problem.

But it is not enough to say that, because the reason for failing to repair relations with black people is far more critical to note. This reason is that we do not want to see ourselves as sharing in the responsibility. We would instead let bygones be bygones, but that is not possible because wounds linger and get worse unless they are dealt with and acknowledged.

Regardless of your opinion of the protests, looters, and riots, a scary thing is happening before our eyes. While some are drawing lines in the sand and critiquing the other side, I want to call attention to the fact that what we are watching with our eyes is the fruits of dynamics playing out.

Dynamic Systems are Complex

Dynamic systems are hard to understand, and ultimately there are choices involved in behavior. No one blames the car when they get run over.

If you haven’t already, take a look at the following video from Grace Gonzalez:

The argument that all cops are not bad is fine because, of course, it’s true that individually most are trying to do an outstanding job in the world. But I am not in the business of going case by case to find out which ones are and which ones are not.

Although the problem may be expressed in individual situations, it is not an individual problem alone. There is a system at play, just like a lousy family might not produce all bad kids; they remain suspect as a reflection of the system they were raised.

Who is Driving The Car?

As the outrage on the societal dance floor is poured out towards the police officers themselves, I am stepping back and taking a knowing look at who is watching from the balcony. Who is directing this theater act, which is playing out before our eyes?

Who is letting this power get out of control and removing the police from being one of “us” and making them into one of “them”? Who has their foot on the gas pedal?

What we saw on the ground in these protests was an inexplicable response to protests. The police are being used to send a message to the people, showing us that we can’t do anything about their force, and that’s a scary thing.

I see the world in its dynamic nature, and I can not help but wonder what dynamic was behind the people involved in the Nazi Regime or the officials in the Soviet Union.

I wonder if there was a population of self-righteous ideologues out there who said, “Well, not all of the guards are bad.”

Maybe I’m just getting caught up as I watch these moral, political ideologues out there who think that they are fighting on Facebook for the good of the world when they counter statements such as “Black Lives Matter,” with “All Lives Matter,” instead of listening to meaning.

In any case, what I am afraid of is watching the shadow side of our society demand to be acknowledged. If the “powers to be” do not listen to and understand that part of our history but instead respond defensively, they are contributing to the ever-growing division in our psyche.

It’s a Relational Experience

Acknowledging the relationally shared experience is the individual responsibility of each of us, and failure to do so through rational dismissal means that acting out is the only other option.

What we need now are dialogue and conversations. What we need now is not judgment, but listening and connecting. Perhaps understanding our own shadow sides will help us go deep enough to see where we are all connected and in this together.

Or maybe you would rather live in a world where you think that your moral high ground is somehow defending your faith and honoring to God. Still, then again, if you actually knew him, you would know he would be out there relating rather than spouting off on Facebook in response to other people’s pain. In the end, we exist in a shared experience, an environment, and a relationship “being” created. The reality we share is not a fixed state, and no one owns it. So how are you contributing collectively, cooperatively?

If you have read this far, thank you! I would love to hear your feedback, have a discussion, or debate these concepts. Let’s connect at, PsychologyToday, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or shoot me an email at [email protected]