From Vision To Folly In The American Soul

In From Vision to Folly in the American Soul Thomas Singer collates his investigations into soul both in its personal and collective manifestations. With selected essays from twenty years of writing about American politics in the context of contemporary cultural trends, the book as a whole depicts an ongoing exploration of the complex relationships between individual and collective psyche in which reality, illusion, vision, and folly get all mixed up in overlapping political, cultural and psychological conflicts. This text is a valuable resource for academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian ideas, politics, sociology, and American studies as well as for anyone interested in the current state of the US.

Vision, Reality and Complex brings together a rich selection of Thomas Singer’s scholarship on the development of the cultural complex theory and explores the relationship between vision, reality, and illusion in politics and psyche. The chapters in this book discuss the basic principles of the cultural complex theory in various national and international contexts that span the Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump eras. Each chapter grounds this theory in practical examples, such as race and healthcare in the United States, or in specific historical and international conflicts between groups, whether they be ethnic, racial, gender, local, national or global. With chapters on topics including mythology, leadership, individuation, revolution, war, and the soul, Singer’s work provides unique insights into contemporary culture, activism, and politics. This collection of essays demonstrates how the cultural complex theory applies in specific contexts while simultaneously having cross-cultural relevance through the reemergence of complexes throughout history. It is essential reading for academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian ideas, politics, sociology, and international studies, as well as for practicing and trainee analysts alike.

Winner of the Internationl Association for Jungian Studies (IAJS) Book Award for Best Applied Book 2021 Carl Jung angrily rejected the charge that he was an anti-Semite, yet controversies concerning his attitudes towards Jews, Zionism and the Nazi movement continue to this day. This book explores Jung’s ambivalent relationship to Judaism in light of his career-changing relationship and rupture with Sigmund Freud and takes an unflinching look at Jung’s publications, public pronouncements and private correspondence with Freud, James Kirsch and Erich Neumann from 1908 to 1960. Analyzing the religious and racial, Christian and Muslim, high-brow and low-brow varieties of anti-Semitism that were characteristic of Jung’s time and place, this book examines how Muslim anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism intensified following the Balfour Declaration (1917), fostering the resurgence of anti-Semitism on the Left since the fall of the Soviet Empire. It urges readers to be mindful of the new and growing threats to the safety and security of Jewish people posed by the resurgence of anti-Semitism around the world today. This book explores the history of the controversy concerning Jung’s anti-Semitism both before and after the publication of Lingering Shadows: Jungians, Freudians and Anti-Semitism (1991), and invites readers to reflect on the relationships between Judaism, Christianity and Zionism, and between psychoanalysis and analytical psychology, in new and challenging ways. It will be of considerable interest to psychoanalysts, historians and all those interested in the history of analytical psychology, anti-Semitism and interfaith dialogue.

This engaging new book uncovers the cultural context behind the peace symbol’s emergence, its growing significance in the 1960s, and its ongoing presence in today’s worldwide grassroots and nonviolent social action protests. Since its debut in 1958, the peace symbol has become a ubiquitous presence in broadcasted images of protest and resistance, yet most citizens are unaware of the symbol’s history or psychological evolution. It is a unique modern symbol in that it is at once an omnipresent and yet entirely unknown entity. This noteworthy text engages readers in fresh and thought-provoking ways around the interdependent relationships of peace and war, recognition and secrets, symbol and chaos, and action and inaction to name a few. In this book, Rivera-Clonch brings a depth psychological analysis to Post-World War II’s escalating nuclear tensions and rhetoric and links it to today’s increasing consciousness around social injustices and nonviolent activism. This is a timely and relevant interdisciplinary case study exploring the peace symbol through the dimensions of cultural secrets and psychological shadow, nuclearized storytelling and symbology, and grassroots nonviolent social action. A Depth Psychological Study of the Peace Symbol will be of interest to Jungian and depth psychologists, as well as students and scholars of peace studies and psychology.

This important new book introduces and discusses the underpinning of psychodynamic psychotherapy for torture survivors in a clinical setting and incorporates concepts from analytical psychology and other theoretical bases in order to provide readers with a deeper understanding of this complex trauma. Using the concepts of analytical psychology, relational psychoanalysis, and neuroscience, and relying on the theoretical basis of her book Torture, Psychoanalysis and Human Rights (Routledge, 2017), Luci focuses on three key clinical cases and illustrates the therapeutic paths that the therapeutic dyad explore and experiences in order to get out of the patient’s inner prison created or aggravated by the experience of torture. The book discusses the role of the therapist when working with torture survivors, the requirement of a slow and cautious approach when dealing with such trauma, and the importance of a careful and respectful consideration of issues of identity, politics, and culture. Featuring a useful guide, this book will be of great interest to mental health professionals, psychotherapists and students practicing in services that provide assistance to torture and war trauma survivors.

In From Vision to Folly in the American Soul Thomas Singer collates his investigations into soul both in its personal and collective manifestations. With selected essays from twenty years of writing about American politics in the context of contemporary cultural trends, the book as a whole depicts an ongoing exploration of the complex relationships between individual and collective psyche in which reality, illusion, vision, and folly get all mixed up in overlapping political, cultural and psychological conflicts. This text is a valuable resource for academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian ideas, politics, sociology, and American studies as well as for anyone interested in the current state of the US.

The United States is at a crossroads: Moving away from the stalemate of political polarization and culture wars requires reflection, critical thinking, and imagination. This book of collected essays brings together leaders in Jungian and archetypal psychology to forge this path by offering a comprehensive look at the American psyche. Re-Visioning the American Psyche examines the myths, images, and archetypal fantasies ingrained in the collective consciousness and unconscious in the United States. The volume tends to manifest symptoms in political institutions, social conflicts, and cultural movements. Using various interpretative processes—from psychoanalytic to literary and to participatory—it reflects on the meaning of democratic participation, the psychological cost of wars and violence, intergenerational trauma due to racism, the emotional dimensions of political polarization, deep-seated oppositional thinking in patriarchal structures, frailty of the American Dream, and more. With its rich scope, interdisciplinary scholarship, and critical engagement with historical and current affairs, this book will be of great interest to those in Jungian and depth psychology, as well as sociology, politics, cultural studies, and American studies. As a timely contribution with an international appeal, it will engage readers who are invested in better understanding psychology’s capacity to respond to social, cultural, and political realities.

Because we live in a broken, fallen world, the feeling of wanderer is easy to come by. And the broken world does not necessarily become easier for the one who becomes God’s child. You have probably had at least one season (if not multiple seasons) where you felt as a “wanderer”. You live and walk through life moment by moment, day by day, year by year and yet find that you’re not sure where you’re headed and feel like you carry your cross and struggle with life, alone. Yet all of this must find its end at the feet of the redeeming hope of God’s truth. For the Christian, this feeling is deeper because he knows that, despite the unknown and uncertain life and future that stretches before him, he is not really walking through life aimless, helpless and directionless but rather being led and guided by the unseen God; the Father in Heaven. I have written this book to share with any and all those who feel like they’re alone in their life and their walk after God. In my imperfect poetry and heart, I have sought to reflect and display this truth of God: That we have tangible hope (assurance) to have and hold in this life and keep us in our walk before Him. If you have seen the path before you as uncertain... If you have found yourself a lonely and struggling traveler through life... Or have felt yourself like a leaf being carried by an unseen wind... Then my book is for you. So grasp the Father’s tender hand and let Him lead you through the shadows and light of your life...through His valley of vision.