DIAGNOSIS: PSYCHIC EPIDEMIC
by Paul Levy
To quote the great doctor of the soul C. G. Jung, “Indeed,it is becoming ever more obvious that it is not famine, not earthquakes, notmicrobes, not cancer but man himself who is man’s greatest danger to man, forthe simple reason that there is no adequate protection against psychicepidemics, which are infinitely more devastating than the worst of naturalcatastrophes. The supreme danger which threatens individuals as well as wholenations is a psychic danger.Reason has proved itself completely powerless, precisely because its argumentshave an effect only on the conscious mind and not on the unconscious. Thegreatest danger of all comes from the masses, in whom the effects of theunconscious pile up cumulatively and the reasonableness of the conscious mindis stifled. Every mass organization is a latent danger just as much as a heapof dynamite is. It lets loose effects which no man wants and no man can stop.It is therefore in the highest degree desirable that a knowledge of psychologyshould spread so that men can understand the source of the supreme dangers thatthreaten them. Not by arming to the teeth, each for itself, can the nationsdefend themselves in the long run from the frightful catastrophes of modern war.The heaping up of arms is itself a call to war. Rather must they recognizethose psychic conditions under which the unconscious [tsunami-like] bursts thedykes of consciousness and overwhelms it.”
The fundamental process underlying what is collectivelyplaying out on the world stage is psychic in nature. What is getting acted outpolitically, socially and economically is a manifestation or expression of whatis going on deep within the collective unconscious of humanity. It is becauseof this that Jung says, “We can no longer afford to underestimate theimportance of the psychic factorin world affairs.” [Emphasis added]
It is very dangerous when millions of people fall intotheir unconscious together and act it out en masse. Mass psychology, which is aherd phenomenon based on fear, then becomes the order of the day. When speakingabout Germany in the 1930’s, Jung sounded eerily prophetic when he said that it“…fell prey to mass psychology, though she is by no means the only nationthreatened by this dangerous germ.”
Because of our inherent suggestibility, we can easilyreinforce the unconscious parts of each other, as if we are mutuallyhypnotizing each other in a self-perpetuating feedback loop. For example, Bushand his supporters are co-dependently feeding into and supporting each other’sunconscious delusions. At a certain point we can’t separate the phenomenon ofGeorge Bush from his followers, as they are interconnected expressions of adeeper process. In their interplay, Bush, his followers and everyone who
By not seeing Bush’s madness and thereby falling under itsspell, Bush supporters unwittingly become agents through which the collectivepsychosis non-locally propagates itself. Like a higher-dimensional virus thatreproduces itself through our unconscious blind spots, a psychic epidemic isspreading itself through Bush, his supporters and everyone who
When we fall prey to conforming to mass psychology, ourunconsciousness makes us prone to potentially ignore and deny our individualperceptions and give away our power to others, which is the ‘group-think’characteristic of cults. We then become dis-associated from our ability todiscern between our inner fantasy-image of what we believe to be true, and thereality of what is actually happening, which is a sign of madness.
When we collectively fall into fear, we become easilymanipulated and controlled by leaders who themselves have fallen prey to thepower-drive of the shadow, as we mutually feed into and off of each other’sunconsciousness. Once emotions such as fear reach a certain pitch, to quoteJung, “...the possibility of reason’s having any effect ceases and its place istaken by slogans and chimerical wish-fantasies. This is to say, a sort of
A collective psychosis is a closed system, which is to saythat it is insular and not open to feedback from the ‘real’ world. Reflectionfrom others, instead of being looked at and integrated, is perverselymis-interpreted to support the agreed upon delusion that binds the collective psychosistogether. Anyone who challenges this shared reality is seen as a threat anddemonized. An impenetrable
To be of genuine benefit, we need to understand thedynamics that are at the root of this psychic epidemic. If we don’t understandthe psychic roots of our current world situation, we are doomed tounconsciously repeat it and endlessly re-create destruction. Recognizing thepsychic origin of what is playing out on the world stage is, in-and-of-itself,the very realization that the deeper, underlying psychic process is revealing tous.
THE UNCONSCIOUS IS COMING!
To quote Jung, “The great problem of our time is that wedon’t understand what is happening to the world. We are confronted with thedarkness of our soul, theunconscious.” [Emphasis added] It is as if our shadow, both personaland archetypal, has gripped us and is revealing itself to us as it plays itselfout through our unconscious. This is particularly dangerous because thisprocess is happening unconsciously. When we act out and give shape and form toour unconscious without being consciously aware of what we are doing, it isalways destructive.
Jung goes on to say, “This is an exceedingly dangeroustime and we are confronted with a problem which has never been known in theconscious history of man. You cannot compare it with the early times ofChristianity, because that movement did not come from the blood, but came fromabove, a light that shone forth. This is not a light but a darkness, the powersof darkness are coming up.” Instead of God incarnating in his light aspect, itis as if the powers of darkness are coming out of hiding in the shadows and areshowing themselves. It is as if the dark side of our nature, or we could evensay the shadow of God is revealing itself and incarnating itself through theunconscious of humanity.
Our species has been seizedby a more powerful energy that has taken us over and is acting itself outthrough our unconscious. Itis as if we are a species possessed.The Unconscious itself is incarnating and becoming visible as itdrafts people into its service so as to give shape and form to itself. We thenbecome the unwitting agents through which the Unconscious is literallymaterializing itself into full-bodied form.
What is getting acted out in the body politic is areflection and expression of what is happening deep within the collectiveunconscious of all of humanity. In other words, as if in a dream, the boundaryhas dissolved between the inner and outer. The inner process of the Unconscioushas spilled outside of ourselves, so to speak, and is expressing itself throughthe medium of the outside world. The Unconscious is non-local, which means itis not bound by time nor space. This is to say that the Unconscious ismulti-channeled and can express itself both inwardly and/or outwardly. TheUnconscious is revealing itself by synchronistically configuring events in theouter world so as to give shape and form to itself. What is happening in ourworld IS the Unconscious expressing and manifesting itself in, as and throughthe forms of our world.
We are living in a truly historic moment of time in whichthe inner is revealing itself to be the outer and visa versa, as theUnconscious births itself through us. The Unconscious is simultaneouslyrevealing itself to us as it acts itself out through us. As long as this deeperprocess continues to go unrecognized, however, it will continue to get actedout destructively.
The good news is that a deeper realization becomespotentially available to us at such unique moments of time. These times we areliving in are truly initiatory. When the Unconscious appears in full-bodiedform, it activates a deeper, unconscious process in all of us.
LIKE GERMANY IN THE 1930’s
The fundamental psychic process that underlies what isplaying out in our world today has certain striking similarities to what playedout in Germany in the 1930’s. Speaking back then, Jung could just as well betalking about the modern world when he says, “The struggle between light anddarkness has broken out everywhere. The rift runs through the whole globe, andthe fire that set Germany ablaze is smouldering and glowing wherever we look.The conflagration that broke out in Germany was the outcome of
The eternal mythic struggle between light and darkness,whose source is the psyche and whose arena is the world stage, not onlyunderlies what happened in Germany, but is at the bottom of what is beingcollectively acted out in the world today.What played out with the rise of fascism in Germany was themanifestation of an unrecognized deeper psychic process that, fractal-like, hasbeen endlessly recreating itself in a destructive way all throughout history.If we fail to recognize this underlying, universal, psychic process- be it inGermany in the 1930’s, or current day- the result is a destructive collectivepsychosis.
To quote Jung, “The phenomenon we have witnessed inGermany was nothing less than the first outbreak of epidemic insanity, an irruption of the unconsciousinto what seemed to be a tolerably well-ordered world. A whole nation, as wellas countless millions belonging to other nations, were swept into theblood-drenched madness of a war of extermination. No one knew what washappening to him, least of all the Germans, who allowed themselves to be drivento the slaughterhouse by their leading psychopaths like hypnotized sheep.” [Emphasis added] LikeGermany, we are in the midst of a collective psychosis. Volcano-like, theUnconscious has erupted into our world, and unrecognized, is wreaking havoc asit gets unwittingly acted out through us.We don’t want to unthinkingly follow our commander-in-chief andmimic the Germans, who to quote Jung, “…..follow a mediumistic Fuhrer [whichmeans leader] over the housetops with a sleep-walker’s assurance, only to landin the street with a broken back.”
WE ALL HAVE A GEORGE BUSH INSIDE OF US
We could say that George Bush, because he has literallybecome taken over by the Unconscious, is a livingembodiment or incarnation of the Unconscious in human form. In other words, Bushis a living, breathing symbol,in full-bodied form, of the state of being unconscious. To recognize that George Bush is a symbol
George Bush is a mirrored reflectionof the part of ourselves that is unconscious. The inner meaning of the word‘mirror’ is ‘shadow holder.’ Bush is the embodied reflection, or incarnation ofour own unconscious shadow in living, breathing color.
To quote Jung,“The future of mankind very much depends upon the recognition of theshadow.” This is to say that the future of humankind depends upon enough of usrecognizing the shadow that is being revealed to us through the figure ofGeorge Bush. Recognizing our shadow as it is reflected through Bush is the veryact that inoculates us from the negative effects of the collective psychosis.To quote Jung, “If we could see our shadow, we would be immune to any moral andmental infection.”
Recognizing that George Bush is a mirrored reflection ofour own unconscious shadow is to realize that the evil that we see George Bushacting out and being an instrument for is something that we too are capable of.To quote Jung, “Nobody is immune to a nationwide evil unless he is unshakably convinced of the danger of hisown character being tainted by the same evil.” [Emphasis added]Recognizing our potential,at any moment, to fall asleep and unwittingly become an agent of darkness is tobecome psychically immunized from falling prey to this malevolent bug.
Jung continues, “But the immunity of the nation dependsentirely upon the existence of a leading minority immune to the evil andcapable of combating the powerful suggestive effect.” In recognizing the shadowthat is being revealed as our own, we are able to connect with each other andcollaboratively put our collective lucidity together so as to creativelyembrace, express and transmute these shadow energies, benefiting the entirefield.
Recognizing our shadow as it is reflected back to usthrough the figure of George Bush is a very humbling experience. Horrifying asit is to contemplate, we all have a George Bush inside of us. Ultimately, weare not separate from George Bush. Compassion spontaneously arises from thisrealization.
To quote Jung, “So-called leaders are the
Just like Hitler was in Germany, Bush is an embodiedreflection of the madness deep within the collective American psyche. Bush hasliterally gotten dreamed up into incarnation to embody and reflect back to usthe state of our unconscious collective madness. To quote Jung, “A politicalsituation is the manifestation of a parallel psychological problem in millionsof individuals. This problem is largely unconscious(which makes it a particularly dangerous one!)” [Emphasis in original]
Anything we are not in conscious relationship withpossesses us from behind, beneath our conscious awareness, and acts itself outthrough us in a way that is destructive. To quote Jung, when the Unconscious isactivated and, “…not consciously understood, one is possessed byit and hence forced to its fatal goal [which is alwaysdestructive].” It is because of Bush’s position of power that our situation isso dangerous, for he is able to act out and give shape and form to theUnconscious on the world stage in a way that creates endless suffering anddevastation for the entire planet.
WE ARE A SPECIES GONE MAD
In the figure of George Bush we are collaborativelydreaming up someone to incarnate, embody and reflect this unconscious part ofourselves so that we can objectively see it. Our projecting out and dreaming upinto full-bodied materialization this asleep part of ourselves issimultaneously the very way we are integrating this unconscious aspect andbecoming conscious of it. From this point of view, George Bush is really agreat Bodhisattva, as someone hadto play this incredibly challenging and unpopular role.
Jung, in saying that Hitler, “…gripped the unconscious ofnormal people,” could have been talking about Bush in our current day. Bushhimself has been seized by the Unconscious, as if a deeper, more powerfulenergy is acting itself out through him. When we become seized, we momentarilyforfeit our humanity and develop a certain charm or charisma which has a gripping or enchantingeffect on others. Interestingly, to be seized is related to the word ‘rapture.’When a group like Bush and his supporters are collectively taken over by morepowerful unconscious forces, to quote Jung, “…delusions were abroad everywhere,and people began to believe the most absurd things [see rapture], just as thepossessed do.”
While getting dreamed up to embody the state ofbeing unconscious, George Bush simultaneously activates the Unconscious in thefield in a reciprocally co-arising feedback loop. Seeing the Unconscious as itexpresses itself through Bush triggers a corresponding, unconscious resonantfrequency in ourselves, as we are all interdependent and interconnected in thisnon-local universe of ours. This is to say that it is impossible to see theUnconscious, such as it is emanating from George Bush, and not have our ownunconscious activated.
Like Hitler did in Germany,Bush is ‘hooking’ something in the American unconscious that hehimself is an expression of. Because Bush himself is so asleep and under aspell, he has an unconscious ability to trigger other people’s unconscious andattract their projections. In a dark sort of way, his lack of awareness is thevery source of his hypnotic power over the collective psyche of his followers.He is a conduit through which the Unconscious transmits, propagates andincarnates itself.
Speaking of the danger of having the leader of a countrybe so asleep, Jung says, “The impressive thing about the German phenomenon isthat one man, who is obviously ‘possessed,’ has infected a whole nation to suchan extent that everything is set in motion and has started rolling on itscourse towards perdition.” It is as if the leader who is acting out hisunconscious is a megaphone that catalyzes the Unconscious in the field to sucha degree that it can potentially precipitate a mass catastrophe. Speaking ofthis danger of psychic contagion, Jung says, “Perhaps in a more enlightened eraa candidate for governmental office will have to have it certified by apsychiatric commission that he is not a bearer of psychic bacilli.”
If we try and relate to Bush and his supporters before wemetabolize what has gotten triggered in our unconscious, we will onlystrengthen the unconscious part of them (and ourselves) in a never-ending cyclethat just endlessly perpetuates the polarization in the field. If we becomepolarized against Bush and his supporters, we are then unwittingly feeding intoand supporting their polarized position. If we polarize against Bush and hissupporters, we are just as much in our unconscious as they are.
By
We don’t recognize our collective madness because not onlyis it so pervasive, but because it is so overwhelmingly obvious. All we have todo to see the madness of our species is to open our eyes and look at what weare doing to each other, to the environment which we depend on for oursurvival, and to ourselves. What more evidence of a collective psychosis do wepossibly need? We have become habituated to our collective madness, thinking ofit as ‘normal,’ which is in and of itself an expression of our madness.
What is happening in the outside world is related to, anda reflection of, what is going on inside of us. Do we really think that thestate of the world has nothing to do with us, that what is happening on theworld stage is not expressing something in ourselves? To believe that what isgoing on in the world today is not related to us is the dissociated fantasy ofa person gone mad. We cannot remove ourselves from the equation and becomeseparate from what is happening in the world, for we are the source of what isgoing on in the world. To experience ourselves as separate from the psychicepidemic that is happening ‘out there’ is itself an expression of our madness.
What is going on in the world is an externalization of ourown madness, which is being revealed to us through a world gone mad. We havecollaboratively dreamed up our madness into full-blown incarnation,collectively acting it out on the world stage so as to (potentially) becomeaware of, ultimately heal and thereby integrate this mad part of ourselves.
Until we realize that there is a collective psychosisgoing on, we are its unwitting instrument. We are then feeding into thecollective madness through the denial of our own madness, which is a simply madthing to do. The denial of our denial is truly maddening, which is to say thatour self-deception is a crazy-making activity, both for ourselves and forothers.
To realize that we have unwittingly been playing a part inthe creation of the collective psychosis is to realize that part of us IS mad.Paradoxically, the very realization of our madness is what re-connects us toour basic sanity. Realizing our complicity in the prevailing madnessinstantaneously snaps us out of the collective trance and enables us to be ofbenefit to others, who are recognized to be parts of ourselves which havefallen asleep.
A DEEPER, UNIFIED FIELD
The Unconscious pervades the entire field of humanconsciousness and it is expressing itself throughout the field in theinterdependent and co-related figures of Bush, his supporters, those who reactagainst Bush and those who recognizethat we’re all suffering from a form of collective madness. We are allinterconnected parts of a whole system or field, and we are picking up roles inthis deeper, unified process or field. We are not separate. This deeper,unified field which is in-forming and giving shape to events in our world isthe very thing that these events are reflecting back to us to recognize. Torecognize this is to instantaneously step out of unwittingly being aninstrument for feeding, supporting and creating destruction, and to become anagent of compassion who can be of genuine benefit to others
The collective psychosis that pervades our planet is afield phenomenon and needs to be contemplated as such. This means that thecollective psychosis needs to NOT be viewed through the lens of the separateself, which by its nature pathologizes individual people, who are seen to existseparately from the field. Instead of relating to any part of the field as anisolated entity, it’s important to contemplate the entire interdependent fieldas the ‘medium’ through which the collective psychosis is articulating itself.Yes, George Bush is mad, AND he is a reflection of the part of all of us thatis mad (see my article “The Madness of George W. Bush: A Reflection of ourCollective Psychosis,” at www.awakeninthedream.com). The reason why it is sohard for our culture to recognize Bush’s madness is because our culture itselfis mad. Bush’s madness is ourown.
The fact that the mental health community, which should beconcerned with psychic hygiene (both personal and collective), is not evenaddressing the issue of a collective psychosis is an expression that the mentalhealth community is itself embeddedin and hence, infected with the very psychic epidemic that it should bestudying. The fact that the underlying psychic roots of our current worldcrisis are not even part of our planetary dialogue is itself an expression ofthe pervasive unconsciousness inherent in the psychic epidemic.
To recognize that the collective psychosis that is runningrampant on our planet is a field phenomenon is to develop a more expansive,holistic vision in which we step out of the illusory identity which imaginesthat we are discrete entities who are separate from one another. Thisrealization of our interconnectedness expresses itself as compassion. Togetherwe are all collaboratively dreaming up what is happening. This is a mass shareddream in which we are all complicit.
As Jung writes, when we realize our complicity, “Such aman knows that whatever is wrong in the world is also in himself, and if heonly learns to deal with his own shadow, he has done something real for theworld. He has succeeded in shouldering at least an infinitesimal part of thegigantic, unsolved problems of our day."
The way to change our world is through the individual, oneperson at a time. Any one of us metabolizing the unconscious shadow as it getstriggered in our daily life instantaneously affects the entire universe, as weare not separate. As Jung points out, if the Unconscious is “…properly dealtwith in one place only, it is influenced as a whole, i.e., simultaneously andeverywhere.” Because of our interconnectedness, any one of us recognizing theunderlying psychic roots of the collective madness that is playing out on theworld stage affects the entire field and paves the way for collectiverealization.
The Unconscious, in its manifestation as a collectivepsychosis, is revealing to us that the key to resolving our world crisis liesin consciousness itself. Anyone of us realizing this might be the very grain of sand that tips the scalesfor all of humanity and precipitates a collective awakening of consciousnessthat has been unable to manifest until right now. Imagine that
PaulLevy is a spiritually-informed political activist. He can be reached at
© 2005 Paul Levy