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The Fate of America
September 20, 2002 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm PDT
The events of September 11 and the war on terrorism have focused our attention on America’s future in a renewed and pressing way. Given our extroverted orientation, much of our focus is on the “other,” on the enemy outside of us. However, our domestic and internal spiritual condition is also in need of serious attention, and is inextricably linked with our foreign policy. The same psychological attitudes influence both domestic and international (inner and outer) spheres. As Jung concluded in 1930, the central, archetypal force shaping American attitudes is a powerful “Heroic Ideal” or aspiration toward greatness. Today, this heroic ideal is in a state of upheaval. We are suffering, albeit unconsciously, from a heroic-identity crisis: What does it mean to be a heroic or great people? It is imperative to our future as a nation and civilization that we begin to examine this and to understand ourselves. This talk will focus on the archetypal underpinnings of our national character and their relevance to the events of our day and the future of America.
Related Workshop: Wrestling With Big Dreams
Michael Gellert, M.A., L.C.S.W., is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Santa Monica, California. He holds Master’s degrees in religious studies and social work. He studied with Marshall McLuhan at the University of Toronto, and undertook Zen training with the Zen master Koun Yamada in Japan. He has worked and traveled extensively in Asia. Formerly, he was Director of Training at the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles, a mental health consultant to the University of Southern California and Time, and manager of an employee assistance program for District Council 37, the labor union for employees of the City of New York. He was a humanities professor at Vanier College, Montreal, and taught religious studies at Hunter College of the City University of New York and psychology at the College of New Rochelle. He is the author of Modern Mysticism: Jung, Zen and the Still Good Hand of God and The Fate of America: An Inquiry into National Character.