Search for:
Cart 0
perm_identity Sign In
  • Home
  • Jungian
  • Dreams
  • Healing
  • Soulful Living
  • Courses
  • Lectures
  • Summit
  • Articles
  • Gift Card
  • About Us
  • FAQ
  • Faculty
  • Contact

Sign In

Registered Users

If you have a Jung Platform account, sign in below to access your orders and purchased content.

Lost your password?

Not a member yet? Sign Up
  • phone +1-801-656-8806
  • email [email protected]
  • Articles
  • Gift Card
  • About Us
  • Faculty
  • FAQ
  • Contact
0
Jung Platform
  • Jungian
  • Dreams
  • Healing
  • Soulful Living
  • Courses
  • Lectures
  • Summit
perm_identity Sign In

Culture and Belonging

HomeArticlesJungianCulture and Belonging
Susan Schwartz
Author
Susan Schwartz
Category
Jungian, Soulful Living
Read Time
3 min
Culture and Belonging

The snow is falling on the deserted field of my life, and my hopes, which roam far, are afraid of becoming frozen or lost.
– Federico García Lorca

We all contain possibilities and diversities unknown to others. Yet, how do we listen to the voices with receptivity to their collective pain? According to Jungian analytical psychology we need an open attitude to those in the shadows.

This approach examines the innate longing to belong, working against personal and collective polarization by bridging differences. And, it requires thoughtful reflection and response. By having such an attitude to culture, time and history, both personal and collective, we can tap into the past and institute changes in the present for a more fulfilling future.

The images and motifs or what Jung called the collective unconscious are a vast cultural array available for connections and freeing us from alienation with its hauntings and tragedies. Here we find the social bonds and human instincts like love, fear, sex, wisdom, and even good and evil for sustenance and meaning. “This widened consciousness…brings the individual into absolute, binding, and indissoluble communion with the world at large” (Jung, 1966 para. 275).

Our existence is fundamentally interpersonal. Human beings are not isolated, free-floating objects, but subjects existing in perpetual, multiple, shifting relationships. Life is defined by these myriad interactions – by the push and pull of inter-subjectivity as well as the overt and covert social contracts. Through them we realize our incompleteness and vulnerability. However, we seem to no longer know what to do with those who knock at our door. We have repudiated the idea we owe something to others and have acquired a debt.

Instead, there is a climate of self and other, separation and exclusion leaving some belonging and many with longing. The inequality arising from population redistribution has turned into negation and isolation of others often deemed as the enemy. Rather than windows for relationship, too often the face of the stranger evokes fear and distrust of the unknown. Many people are left, lost and grieving.

The psychological issues of unity and diversity, monism and pluralism have historical roots passing from generation to generation in an unending spiral. While we have an ethical obligation to others, inside and out, there remains uncertainty and ambivalence, circumventing justice and depreciating the diversity of the psyche.

Meanwhile, the illusion we are all the same feeds the fantasy a group can achieve a seamlessly secure and harmonious existence. This dangerous fiction implies purity and agreement predicated on the annihilation of differences. Regarding people with lives of equal worth recognizes the humanity of others and curiosity about the world beyond our familiar zones. Once we lose the desire to understand—to be surprised, to listen and bear witness—we lose our humanity. At the crux are the psychological tasks for linking the known and unknown, conscious and unconscious and balancing the tension between.

How do we make space to know others and remain receptive to the unexpected encounters for a transformative spirit to emerge? If we think about it, we are continually invited to engage in thoughtful dialogue with these relationships, their iterations and uniqueness, both personally and culturally. And, the conversation puts us in a direction towards deeper inclusion, reflection and healing.

Our psyches are intermingled, and our lives are interwoven on personal and cultural levels with those from other lands. The opposites and unknown parts enhance life’s beauty by acknowledging their differences. Being receptive to other cultural and psychological perspectives is part of resolving conflicts, both inner and outer, as adopting a single perspective is dull and limiting. The failure to integrate leads to collapse of the inter-relationships between cultures and within the individual.

The engagement with others gives voice to our many selves for reconciliation and higher consciousness. Our living-on demands inclusion rather than foreclosure on whoever is different. This requires the capacity to gather together the multiple personal and collective threads in the co-construction of belonging.

“Relationship to the self is at once relationship to our fellow man, and no one can be related to the latter until he is related to himself” (Jung, 1966, par. 445).

Listen to Susan Schwartz’s lecture Longing to Belong and deepen your understanding of belonging, negative projections, dreams, and the expansion of the personality.

    Stay inspired.
    Get our magical updates.


    Share
    Susan Schwartz
    Susan Schwartz

    Susan E. Schwartz, PhD, Jungian analyst and clinical psychologist, is a member of the International Association of Analytical Psychology. She has taught in numerous Jungian programs and presented at conferences, workshops and lectures in the USA and many other countries.

    More Posts by Susan Schwartz
    Newer Do Lucid Dreamers Control the Dream?
    Older Spaced Out in West Texas

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Article Topics
    • Jungian (49)
    • Dreams (18)
    • Healing (19)
    • Soulful Living (42)
    • Updates (2)
    Our Authors
    • Robert Romanyshyn Robert Romanyshyn (16)
    • Dennis P. Slattery Dennis P. Slattery (12)
    • Robert Bosnak Robert Bosnak (12)
    • Susan Mann Susan Mann (10)
    • Lans Smith Lans Smith (9)
    • Robert Moradi Robert Moradi (3)
    • Machiel Klerk Machiel Klerk (2)
    • Clare Johnson Clare Johnson (2)
    • Leslie Ellis Leslie Ellis (2)
    • Susan Schwartz Susan Schwartz (2)
    • Robert Wagonner Robert Waggoner (2)
    • Tina Stromsted Tina Stromsted (2)
    • Stephen Aizenstat Stephen Aizenstat (2)
    • Amanda Butler Amanda Butler (1)
    • Malidoma Somé Malidoma Somé (1)
    • Melanie Starr Costello Melanie Starr Costello (1)
    • Deirdre Barrett Deirdre Barrett (1)
    • Erica Lorentz (1)
    • Michael Meade Michael Meade (1)
    • Susan Tiberghien Susan M. Tiberghien (1)
    • Michael Conforti Michael Conforti (1)
    Featured Courses & Lectures
    • Catching Fire: Imagination, Creativity, Activism Catching Fire: Imagination, Creativity, Activism $20.00
    • Encounters with the Shadow Encounters with the Shadow: Introduction to Jungian Shadow Work $127.00
    • In conversation with Sonu Shamdasani In Conversation with... Sonu Shamdasani Free!
    • Longing to Belong Longing to Belong $14.75
    • Coming Home to the Body Coming Home to the Body $147.00
    • Demeter, Persephone, and the Alien(s) Cultural Body Demeter, Persephone, and the Alien(s) Cultural Body $17.50
    • Your One Wild and Precious Life Your One Wild and Precious Life $125.00
    • Synchronicity: an Emerging Vision to Guide Us Synchronicity: an Emerging Vision to Guide Us $20.00 $15.00

    Jung Platform - Psychological and Spiritual Perspectives

    Jung Platform is an online education space that offers multiple depth psychological and spiritual perspectives. Our courses and lectures explore the journey of life with the help of highly regarded teachers. We’re passionate about providing practical life-enhancing tools and the opportunity to connect with others on this path. So you can live your life colorfully.

    • location_on
      29 Layton Ave, Salt Lake City. UT. 84115
    • phone_android
      +1-801-656-8806
    • email
      [email protected]
    Store
    • Jungian
    • Dreams
    • Healing
    • Soulful Living
    • Lectures
    • Courses
    Account
    • My Account
    • Orders
    • Downloads
    • Cart
    Company
    • About Us
    • Articles
    • Faculty
    • Contact
    • Jungian Terms
    Customer Service
    • Contact
    • FAQ
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use

      Stay inspired.
      Get our magical updates.


      Secure Payment
      Pay by PayPalPay by Visa Credit Card Pay by Mastercard
      Join our Community
      © 2021 Jung Platform. All rights reserved.
      STAY CONNECTED!Subscribe to our mailing list and enjoy 15% off your first order!*

      *This discount offer applies to first-time email subscribers only. Discount not valid on other sale offers or promotions.

      Your email address

      Never see this message again.

      This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
      Privacy & Cookies Policy

      Privacy Overview

      This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
      Necessary
      Always Enabled

      Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

      Non-necessary

      Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

      SAVE & ACCEPT