Jung was a pioneer in the field of archetypal psychology, and also lived in Germany during Hitler’s rise to power plus WWII. He identified the path to human maturity as ‘individuation’, wherein one struggles to reconcile the parts, ‘ego, shadow, superego, self’ toward a harmonic whole. About Hitler, he said that the man was empty of any vestige of these, and had been taken over by archtypal forces.
This is exactly Trump’s situation. We know that as a person he is almost infantile, at best a two-year old who doesn’t understand or care about guilt, honor, service, etc. Notice how he refers to himself in the third person? That’s what many small children do, and moreover, it involves displacing responsibility or guilt. But more important is the implication that no “child” is strong enough to assert itself to an active archetype. Not reason, not love, not hate, and certainly not our usual governmental processes. it’s a monstrous, primitive energy field, maybe generated by climate disruption and Covid, to name just two stressors. I’m reminded often these days of Tolkien choosing Frodo to be the ringbearer in his wonderful trilogy. The traits of being small but steady, being grounded in the humility and honor of an ordinary life, and above all, resisting the temptation for power or flash are excellent. Only a year ago I thought how simplistic it was for him to set up the opposites of good and evil so clearly, but now i have new respect for him; the force possessing Trump and his acolytes is absolute evil.
I’m not excusing Trump by making these points. Rather, we need to recognize what we’re up against. There’s a weird juxtaposition of opposites involved; his rants are typical of a child’s tantrum, and at the same time deadly threats from the force possessing him. Its magnetism makes him seem strong to other weak people. Finally news outlets are seeing this. How can we counter it? Our democracy isn’t perfect by any means, but supporting its guardrails (voting rights, the rule of law, equal rights and civil rights) is likely to help us. Readers thoughts are welcomed, and thanks for viewing!