As a Jungian psychoanalyst, I can no longer keep silent in these tumultuous times.  My country  is in trouble.  I have watched with increasing alarm as the constitutional foundations of our country are being challenged, politician against politician, neighbor against neighbor, white against those of color, religion against religion.  Gross misunderstanding, vitriol and divisiveness have exploded to dangerous levels and fill our news.  Not unlike immature children in the sandbox acting out by angry name calling, emotional and verbal abuse has become a daily diet in our country.  

In Jungian theory, there is a concept that is highly relevant for these times, namely “the shadow”.  All humans have a shadow part of our psychological makeup, that deeply buried, unconscious part of our psyche where unresolved conflicts, powerful complexes and undigested negative feelings reside. 

Part of the process of Jungian analysis is to identify and resolve those repressed feelings for the purpose of becoming a more mature, solidly balanced individual who no longer needs to act out. The individual takes ownership for that dark part of themselves and does not project it onto others.  

When the shadow remainspsychologically unconscious, it is easy to project onto the outside world causing grave harm to others.  Most of us take no responsibility for our own deeply buried feelings.  Instead we unconsciously direct them onto others in the outside world — those we fear, resent, dislike because they remind us of that part of ourselves we do not want to acknowledge.  My anger towards my father becomes anger that is projected onto that man over there whose physical appearance or behavior unconsciously reminds me of my own father.  If I was bullied as a child, I will bully others.  If I feel inadequate or inferior, I can temporarily gain a sense of adequacy and superiority by taunting another human being with ridicule about their inadequacy and inferiority.  

If we Americans of all different political persuasions do not address this hidden, destructive and growing cancer of rampant projection, our American democracy will not survive.  We need to learn to agree to disagree without attacking the very essence of who that person is.  We need to rein in our harsh, mean, name calling and abusive language and deal with our own inner shadow.

Sadly, our political leaders are encouraging this divisiveness.  But we are all Americans.  We are all fallible human beings.  We all have blind, unconscious parts of ourselves.  As a nation, we have a lot to lose by continuing this raucous, pervasive diatribe of hatred and abuse against each other.

And yes, most certainly I, too, who struggle with my own anger and dismay at Trump and his minions who seem to demonstrate exactly what I am talking about.  So this is my homework, to be aware of my own resentment that does not belong to others but to my own family history. 

There are human flaws in our politicians but there are also human flaws in each of us. We need to wake up and collectively address our national shadow as well as our own.  That is my work and I hope it becomes yours as well.  

Polly Armstrong lives in South Thomaston