Disappeared News

"In order for a real change to occur there has to be a deeply motivated population, and that means that the deep psyche has to be involved. It's there that the creative ideas come from, in very symbolic terms at first, just images. But they have a lot of energy in them and a lot of persuasiveness, and when people hear a visionary leader when it's time for one of these revolutionary changes, there is a sort of mass movement that sweeps through a population." --John Weir Perry 

I’ve been following events in Ferguson, Missouri closely because I think they have the potential to begin a badly needed process of change in this country.

Potential is one thing, but understanding how change takes place and perhaps working to push the process along (if that’s at all possible) is another. Mostly, one-off events are relegated to history, and the mythology is distorted by the storyteller to suit whatever political needs suit them.

So I turned to the best source for thinking on visionary psychology that I know of, the late psychiatrist John Weir Perry. I’m a great fan of his book The Far Side of Madness and met him in person one day in Oregon, at a lecture on interpreting children’s drawings, of all things.

I think the roadmap is in the pull-quote above. Now, whether there is such a leader in the wings or not, I don’t know, but the “deeply motivated population” may be in place.

So how to influence the process? Perhaps by finding, identifying, or even creating the visionary leader.

Hint to all you Jungians out there: perhaps this is your mission, if you care to accept it.

Permalink posted by Larry @ 8/19/2014 12:13:00 PM