[jamesn.]

Joanna, a very warm welcome back to the forums.
Joanna and Stephen, bishopme brings up what I think is an extremely important connection of the psyche as to the Jungian concept of projection and its’ ability to evoke or conjure up the “dark side” in human nature and to be influenced by and for political purposes. Indeed, the Star Wars concept of the “power of dark side” I think is an interesting metaphor which Joseph expounds on at length in: “The Power of Myth” as a perfect example. (There was an open disclaimer on this clip about learning to live within a system, so I hope there is no copyright conflict. But it makes the point extremely well concerning the psyche.) My apologies but I’m not familiar enough with the point Doro was bringing up to comment, so I’ll leave that up to everyone else.

For instance, the US political consciousness as to the use of “hatred” as a weapon for political purposes; or what Joseph might have called the demonizing aspect of the other side and its’ ability to conjure, evoke, manipulate, emotions for political ends and purposes has put so many people at risk of harm because they do or do not agree about something. The ability to turn a “thou into an it” and use it as a device to spread fear and uncertainty, or to turn ones’ idea of their neighbor into their opponent or even worse their enemy. It’s an age-old tactic used by clerics and politicians to drive a point of view, but with possible disastrous results as with yesterday’s “4th of July shooting” by a mentally disturbed or deranged young individual who has lost touch with reality as just one of many possible examples like that of school shootings and other public massacres.

Guns and violence as an expression of anger or paranoia are a deadly mix that this country is now trying to come to terms with; and getting both political sides to agree on how to solve it is proving an almost insurmountable task at the moment. And emotional projection of shadow contents onto another because of fear or some other anxiety driven emotion I think is a major social and political concern right now that we as individuals must learn how to recognize. In other words, I think this is more than just a “golden rule” issue but a major psychological concern countries across the planet are now having to confront. So: “lions, tigers, and bears, Oh my!” I think hits the nail right on the head, so to speak, as a huge social as well as individual concern right now.

It was hard enough to get people to wear masks during this last Covid pandemic surge; and it’s not over yet either as new variants continue to emerge. How people handle fear is one thing, but “projection” can take on many faces, and bishopme and your interest in this particular feature might open some interesting aspects to explore. Stephen or anyone else may also have some interesting thoughts about this to add as well.

Please forgive my rather clumsy attempt at description, but hopefully it will be enough to illustrate what I’m trying to get at.