“The Way of What Is to Come”
Mary Y. Ayers
Jung Journal January 2, 2021 DOI: 10.1080/19342039.2021.1862576 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that the coronavirus pandemic presents an ethical wakeup call requiring patriarchal consciousness to undergo a sacrifice or ego death, and proposes Jung's three psychological shifts in individuation as a guide for individuals to transcend national exceptionalistic ego and seed collective transformation. |
Abstract
The “Maid of Desolation,” driven by matricidal heroic thinking, is flooding our collective consciousness by way of the coronavirus, an ethical wakeup call that holds not only unfathomable tragedy but also the possibility of transformation and rebirth. Shifting to another way of being requires that patriarchal consciousness undergo a sacrifice, an ego death. Jung makes three major psychological shifts in his process of individuation: this article offers a closer look at each turning point as a guide for how to submit to the death of our national exceptionalistic ego and shift into another way of being. If enough individuals have had that transformative experience within themselves, then they become seeds sown in the collective psyche, which can promote the unification of the collective psyche as a whole. If there was ever a time for humanity to “find salvation through a symbolic death,” it is now.