Changemakers: A Jungian Perspective on Sibling Position and the Family Atmosphere [Reprint 2014 ed.] 9780415821797, 9781315754253, 9781138791855, 9781315762500

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of tables and figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 The family and the destiny of the individual
2 The Sumerian revolution (circa 3200 BC)
3 Political leadership and the sibling complex: a fated symmetry
4 The American presidents and the British prime ministers
5 The world cycle of creative change
6 The innate affects and the complex family emotions
7 The spirit chooses
8 Depth psychology and the world cycle of creative change
9 Jung’s synthesis
10 Epilogue – the family of nations
Bibliography
Name index
Subject index

Citation preview

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: JUNG

Volume 8

CHANGEMAKERS

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CHANGEMAKERS A Jungian perspective on sibling position and the family atmosphere

LOUIS H. STEWART

First published in 1992 This edition first published in 2015 by Routledge 27 Church Road, Hove BN3 2FA and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1992 Louis H. Stewart All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-0-415-82179-7 (Set) eISBN: 978-1-315-75425-3 (Set) ISBN: 978-1-138-79185-5 (Volume 8) eISBN: 978-1-315-76250-0 (Volume 8) Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

Changemakers

Changemakers reveals a startlin g new perspective on the fam ily as it focuses on the largely unconscious factors th at determ ine the use and abuse o f p o w er. Louis H . S tew art explores the m any aspects o f the fam ily, looking in p articu lar at the relatio n betw een b irth o rd er and political genius. H e takes up the four basic sibling positions, shows how each is related to a co rresponding style o f political leadership, review s the lite ra tu re on b irth o rd e r, and presents a study o f A m erican presidents and B ritish prim e m inisters o ver some tw o hundred years. S te w a rt describes a fourfold cycle o f creative change th at occurs in every field o f endeavour. It requires the co ntrib u tio n o f individuals o f genius w ho em body the view points in h erent in each o f the four basic sibling positions: the last b o rn is the rebel, finely tuned to the w inds o f change; the in term ed iate b orn is also frequ ently a rebel but, because o f the vantage point b etw een old er and younger, a m aster o f accom m oda­ tion and m ediation; the first b orn is the preserver, the e x te n d er and developer, the c a rrie r o f trad itio n ; and the only child is the synthesizer, the c a rrie r o f the opposites, being b o th first and last. S te w a rt’s e x p lo ratio n takes place in the c o n te x t o f depth psychology and leads him to develop a new hypothesis about the natu re and function o f the em otions, w hich he sees as m o tiv atin g and transform ational forces th at shape every kind o f hum an developm ent, creative and destructive alike. S te w a rt extends his study to look at the lives and fam ily background o f leaders w ho have been in the new s, including M ikhail G orbachev and Saddam Hussein. O f special in terest to psychotherapists, psycho­ logists, political scientists and sociologists, Changemakers w ill also have a w ide general appeal.

Louis H. Stewart is an analyst m em ber and form er President o f the C. G. Jung Institu te o f San Francisco. H e is Professor Em eritus o f Psychology, San Francisco State U n iv ersity , and is a C linical Professor o f M edical Psychology at the U n iv ersity o f C alifornia at San Francisco.

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Changemakers

A Jungian perspective on sibling position and the family atmosphere

Louis H. Stewart

London and New York

First published in 1992 by Routledge 11 N ew Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Sim ultaneously published in the U SA and Canada by Routledge a division o f R outledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc. 29 W est 35th Street, N ew York, N Y 10001 ® 1992 Louis H. Stewart T ypeset by W itw ell Ltd, Southport Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, Guildford and K in g’s Lynn All rights reserved. N o part o f this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, m echanical, or other means, now know n or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, w ithout permission in w riting from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library o f Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Stew art, Louis H. Changemakers: a Jungian perspective on sibling position and the fam ily atm osphere/Louis H. Stewart, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Birth order. 2. Social change— Psychological aspects. 3. Politicians— Psychology— Case studies. 4. Psychoanalysts— P sychology— Case studies. 5. Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav), 1875-1961. I. T itle. BF723.B5S74 1992 155.9'24— dc20 92-1050 CIP ISBN 0-415-07443-6 0 -415-07444-4 (pbk)

To Joan Marie Chodorow

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Contents

List o f tables and figures P reface A cknow ledgem ents

viii ix xi

Introduction

1

1 The fam ily and the destiny o f the individual

11

2

24

The Sumerian revolution (circa 3200

bc)

3 Political leadership and the sibling complex: a fated symmetry 4

37

The American presidents and the British prime ministers

60

5

The world cycle o f creative change

81

6

The innate affects and the complex fam ily emotions

92

7

The spirit chooses

101

8

Depth psychology and the world cycle o f creative change

115

Jung’s synthesis

146

Epilogue - the fam ily o f nations

161

B ibliography N am e index Subject index

188 199

9 10

201

Tables and figures

TABLES 4.1 Sibling position o f USA presidents (1789-1988)

62-3

4.2 B irth o rd e r (as son) o f p residential nom inees (1832-1920)

65

4.3 B irth o rd e r (as son) o f p residential nom inees during periods o f c o n fro n tatio n and accom m odation

68

4.4 Sibling position (as son o r d au g h ter) o f B ritish prim e m inisters (1783-1991) 6.1 T he innate affects

74-7 96

FIGURES 3.1 T ra d itio n a l genealogical diag ram

53

Preface

M y y ounger b ro th e r, m y only sibling, was born w hen I was six and a h a lf years o f age. I had p rep ared m y self for the event o f com ing dow n w ith the m easles, and had been restricted to the m urphy bed in the dining room w h ere the w in d o w shades w ere draw n. O n the day my b ro th e r was b ro u g h t hom e from the hospital I was w earing my red bandana around m y neck, had m y toy pistol on my belt and my u n c le’s m arine h at on m y head. M y m o th er and fath er cam e into the room . M y fath er (him self a firstb o rn ) was carry in g the baby. In a jo v ial voice he said, ‘This is y our b ro th er; see, he has no chin, he looks like a fish!’ I could only agree w ith m y father. C. G. Jung had a sim ilar reactio n to the b irth o f his only sibling w hen he w as nine years o f age. W h en his sister G ertru d e was born, M y fath er b ro u g h t me to m y m o th e r’s bedside, and she held out a little cre a tu re th at looked dreadfully disappointing: a red, shrunken face like an old m a n ’s, the eyes closed, and probably as blind as a young puppy, I thought. O n its back the thing had a few single long red hairs w hich w ere show n to me - had it been intended for a m onkey? I was shocked and did not know w h at to feel. (Jung 1961: 25) For m any years a fter the fateful day o f m y b ro th e r’s b irth , I did m y best to ignore and neglect him . H o w ev er, a fter I left hom e for college I began to undergo a conversion to m ore hum anitarian attitudes. W hen I retu rn ed , m y b ro th e r and I began a process o f rehabilitation w hich evolved into a lifelong friendship and collaboration in our closely related fields. I have no reason to d oubt th a t this indelible early m em ory reflects one o f the impluses to m y in terest in this subject. As I have been w ritin g this book, m any o th e r m em ories o f my childhood have floated

x

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up from the d ark w ell o f unconsciousness and have inform ed my u n derstanding o f the inescapable consequences o f fam ily life in its lasting im prints on children. O ne o f these o th e r m em ories is from m y early teenage years w hen I cam e across in the local lib rary a book en titled Satan Sanderson. All th at I rem em b er o f the book is a v ery d ram atic m om ent in the story w hen the h ero calls ou t in b itte r agony, ‘A m I m y b r o th e r’s k eep er!’ This age-old ‘tale o f tw o b ro th e rs ’ touched a deep chord in my unconscious. T he story leads back to the ancient biblical tale o f C ain and A bel. Y ahw eh accepted A b e l’s sacrifice, b u t rejected C a in ’s. A nd in a rage, C ain killed his b ro th e r A bel. This ancient biblical tale reveals the depth o f sibling riv alry o f the sons for the love o f the father. This is the c o n te x t o f this book: riv alry and h a tre d and love, the deep chords o f sibling relationships and the fam ily atm osphere. I hope I have been able to convey the significance o f these com plex fam ily situations and th eir im pact on the destiny o f the individual and the future o f society.

Acknowledgements

M y g reat ap p reciatio n is due to A ndrew Samuels for his early interest and support in seeing the m anuscript m ove tow ards publication. M y b ro th e r, D r C harles S tew art, took on the task o f reading the rough d rafts th ro u g h o u t, and p rovided me w ith m any clarifying suggestions, for w hich I am im m ensely grateful. M any friends and colleagues from the C. G. Jung In stitu te o f San Francisco co n trib u ted helpful com m ents d uring the progress o f the book: D octors Jam es Y andell, G eorge H ogel, N eil Russack, Paul K aufm an, W ayne D e tlo ff and others expressed lively in terest in the ideas o f the book and gave me a feeling o f support o ver the long haul. D r Joseph L. H enderson becam e in terested in the book at a critical m o m en t in relatio n to aspects o f his ow n w ritings on the cu ltu ral attitu d es, and helped to clarify m y related w ritings on the fam ily. M y ap p reciatio n also to D r G erold Post, Professor o f Political Psychology at G eorge W ash in g to n U niversity. His profile o f Saddam H ussein (Post 1990) as w ell as the additional background m aterial he m ade available has been invaluable. A bove all I am deeply grateful to m y beloved w ife, D r Joan C h o d o ro w for her constant support and assistance in every phase o f the w ritin g , editing and prom otion o f the book - all o f this at a tim e w hen she h e rse lf w as engaged in the publication o f h er o w n book, Dance Therapy and Depth Psychology-The Moving Imagination, published by R outledge. Portions o f some o f m y previously published papers are in terw oven th ro u g h o u t the book: ‘B irth O rd e r and Political L eadership’ in A Psychological Examination o f Political Leaders, © 1977 T he Free Press; ‘A ffect and A rch ety p e in A nalysis’ in Archetypal Processes in Psycho­ therapy , © 1987 C h iro n Publications; and ‘T he W o rld C ycle o f L eadership’ in the Journal o f Analytical Psychology (1991), 36, 449-59. I w a n t to express m y ap p reciatio n to the editors for publishing these parts o f m y study and for th eir editing.

xii

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A cknow ledgem ents are due to the publishers o f the follow ing w orks for perm ission to quote extensively: Memories, Dreams, Reflections by C. G. Jung, tran slated by R ichard and C lara W inston; translations co p y rig h t © 1961, 1962, 1963 by R andom H ouse, Inc; re p rin ted by perm ission o f Pantheon Books, a division o f R andom H ouse, Inc. E xcerpts from the Collected Works o f C. G. Jung, co p y rig h t © P rin ceto n U n iv ersity Press; re p rin te d by perm ission o f P rin ceto n U n iversity Press, P rin ceto n , N .J. E x cerp ts from Masks o f God: Primitive Mythology by J oseph C am pbell, co p y rig h t © 1959, 1969, renew ed 1987 by Joseph C am pbell; used by perm ission o f V iking Penguin, a division o f Penguin Books U SA , Inc.

Introduction

This book is an e x p lo ratio n o f the fated in te rtw in in g o f individual, fam ily and society. T he task is to unravel the tangled w eb o f kinship bonds w hich underlies the fam ily ’s influence on the individual, and determ ines its p ro jectio n on to the plane o f society. This requires an u n derstanding o f how the destiny o f the individual is influenced by the fam ily constellation, sibling position and the fam ily atm osphere. O nly then can w e begin to see how the in d iv idual’s fate affects society. Q uestions th at then arise are: H ow does change occur? W h a t is the process? This comes d ow n to the question o f w hy certain individuals are alw ays ahead o f the collective, and lead any new developm ent. H o w is a p articu lar individual ‘ch osen’ by the spirit o f change, so to speak, to em body a n ew developm ent th at is ‘in the a ir ’? Finally, how does the individual successfully express to the collective the essence o f the change w hich is in the w ings, and is already beginning to affect society? This ex p lo ratio n takes place in the c o n te x t o f depth psychology, p articu larly the psychological th eo ry o f C. G. Jung. In the end this ex p lo ratio n w ill lead to the exam ple o f depth psychology itse lf w hich em bodies one o f the g reatest changes taking place in society today; a change w hich E rich N eum ann (1969) has forecast is the hope for a ‘new e th ic ’ w hich m ay forestall the disheartening uprush o f evil in o u r times. It is ap p aren t th at J u n g ’s synthesis o f the theories o f Freud and A dler laid the g ro u n d w o rk for his la te r forays into the g reate r depths o f the psyche. Jung saw th at Freud and A dler in theory and practice had each taken up one o f the tw o cen tral dynam ics o f the psyche, the restless desires for love (Freud) and p o w er (A dler). M ore than th at though, he also understood th at th eir theories w ere p art and parcel o f w ho they w ere. This insight led to his th eo ry o f psychological types from w hich

2

Changemakers

he d rew the conclusion th at Freud was an e x tro v e rt and A dler an in tro v e rt; F re u d ’s th eo ry is focused on the o th er, the object, w hile A d le r’s th eo ry is focused on the subject, the ego. Jung says th at he u n d erto o k his ex p lo ra tio n o f psychological types in o rd er to understand his ow n p a rtic u la r bias. Since he considered him self an in tro v e rt it follow s then th at his theory should be focused on the subject, as it is, b u t not solely on the ego as he perceived A d le r’s th eory to be, b u t w ith a b ro a d e r synthetic perspective w hich seeks the foundation o f the psyche in the concept o f the Self, the cen trin g function and the to tality o f the personality. T he question w h ich arises is w hence comes Ju n g ’s synthetic pro p en ­ sity? F reu d ’s n atu ral b en t w as analytic and reductive; he sought to exp lain the present th ro u g h its origins. A dler on the o th er hand had a teleological inclination th at led him to explain the present th ro u g h its goals for the fu tu re. Ju n g also ado p ted a teleological perspective, b u t he did n o t reject the re tu rn to the origins, seeing it as necessary to the reco v ery o f undeveloped aspects o f the personality. T he dynam ic o f J u n g ’s analytical psychology rests on his th eory o f the tension b etw een the opposites as the source o f psychic energy. W e see then th at Ju n g ’s p a rtic u la r personal bias is n o t explained by his th eory o f psychological types. Ju n g is an in tro v e rt as is A dler, b u t his th eo ry is n ot a th eo ry o f the ego and its desire for p o w er. R ath er, as I have said, Ju n g ’s theory is a b ro ad synthetic e ffo rt w h ich contains the opposites, the theories o f love and p o w er. As Samuels has recen tly po in ted o u t in Jung and the Post-Jungians (1985) and his essays in The Plural Psyche (1989), there is a w ide diversity o f focus am ongst the various groups o f Jun g ian analysts around the w o rld . M o reo v er, to some e x te n t, p a rtic u la rly in London w h ere the Freudian and Jungian analysts ap p ear to live in a reasonable state o f coexistence, th ere is a g ro w in g in terch an g e am ongst the ‘schools’ o f dep th psycho­ logy. In a sim ilar vein, the In tern atio n al F ederation for Psychoanalytic E ducation (IFPE) includes analysts fro m the Freudian, A dlerian and Jungian schools. T he conclusions to be d ra w n from this cro ss-fertiliza­ tion depend in p a rt on w h e th e r one focuses on the diversity o r on the convergences th a t are also o ccu rrin g , and are perhaps on the increase. B ut no m a tte r w h ich p erspective one takes, the ferm en t is likely to p rove creativ e. As one im m ersed in this period o f change I cannot e x p e c t to have a p erspective th at stands outside this ferm ent. T h e re is nevertheless evidence from o th e r fields o f endeavour th at a cycle o f develo p m en t occurs w hich is essentially a dialogue over tim e b etw een d ifferen t points o f v iew . M o reo v er, this dialogue is seen by science

Introduction

3

historian Thom as S. Kuhn (1957) to arriv e periodically at a critical locus o f synthesis. W h a t em erges, then, is the realizatio n th at the developm ent from Freud and A dler to Ju n g is an exam ple o f K u h n ’s cycle o f creative developm ent in science w h ich arrives at a paradigm that for varying periods o f tim e stands as the accepted view o f things. This cycle is m ost clearly evident in the g reat tran sfo rm atio n o f the physical sciences w hich has taken place ov er the past several hundreds o f years. It began w ith C opernicus and his rev o lu tio n ary assertion that the ea rth m oved around the sun. It was follow ed by K e p le r’s discoveries o f the law s o f m ovem ent o f the planets in th eir orb its, and by G alileo ’s telescope and his look at the m oon, as w ell as his fu rth e r developm ent o f the laws o f m otion. T he concepts w ere developed fu rth e r by others, notably H uyghens w ith his understanding o f cen trifu g al-cen trip e ta l force. These ideas w ere disputed by D escartes and his follow ers, but finally all o f these efforts w ere b ro u g h t to g eth er in N e w to n ’s g reat synthesis w hich laid the g ro u n d w o rk for all o f the developm ents o f physics for m any years. This, I believe, is how J u n g ’s analytical psychology is to be view ed. Slow ly b u t surely it is being accepted as the paradigm o f our present u nderstanding o f dep th psychology. T he barriers set up by Freud b etw een psychoanalysis and Ju n g ’s th eo ry are breaking dow n as daring analysts like K ohut and W in n ic o tt in co rp o rate essential elem ents o f Ju n g ’s analytical psychology. J u n g ’s cen tral concept o f the Self appears ev ery w h ere in general psychology as w ell as depth psychology, albeit n o t alw ays y et th oroughly understood. Introversion and ex tro v ersio n have long since passed into com m on parlance, and the term archetype is rapidly becom ing a buzz w o rd for every kind o f ‘ty p ica l’ experience. It is m y b e lie f th at J u n g ’s analytical psychology represents one o f those m om ents o f synthesis. T his does not m ean th at depth psychology is now and fo rev er to rem ain in the m ould o f J u n g ’s synthesis. Surely another psychological C opernicus w ill appear, and m ay be am ong us now ; p aren th etically , this has already o ccu rred in physics w ith P lanck’s q uantum theory. T he view o f the individual and fam ily I am presenting here is thoro u g h ly pluralistic in the m an n er o f Jam es and Jung. It is also thoroughly stru ctu ral in the m anner o f P iaget, Levi-Strauss, and Jung. Pluralism and stru ctu ralism are by no m eans c o n trad icto ry w ays o f view in g the fam ily o r the psyche. J u n g ’s concept o f the em otionallytoned com plex is a p luralistic view o f the psyche, b ut it is also a stru ctu ral view . His concept o f psychological types is another exam ple.

4

Changemakers

H ere Ju n g speaks to the question th at is raised by any th eo ry o f psychological types: Is all psychological th eory purely relative to the o rig in ato r? T his book on types yielded the insight th at every ju d g m en t m ade by an individual is con d itio n ed by his p ersonality type and th a t every p oint o f view is necessarily relativ e. This raised the question o f unity w hich m ust com pensate this div ersity , and it led me d irectly to the C hinese concept o f T ao . . . It w as only after I had reached the cen tral p oint in m y thinking and in my researches, nam ely, the co ncept o f the self, th at I once m o re found m y w ay back to the w o rld . (Jung 1961: 207-8) Sam uels notes th at like Ju n g , H illm a n ’s position is pluralistic b u t th at H illm an eschew s the n otion o f stru ctu ralism . Samuels seeks to reco n ­ cile these positions by en larg in g the scope o f pluralism . In the final section o f his book, he asks the follow ing questions: ‘C an diversity be analyzed so as to reveal its special req u irem ents and guidelines? A nd can w e develop a vision o f d iv ersity th a t m akes a place for u n ity ?’ H e concludes th at w e m ust consider the m oral function o f psychological p luralism as it struggles to hold the tension b e tw e e n the O ne and the M any w ith o u t m aking them into ‘o p p o sites.’ Pluralism is engaged in the discovery o f tru th s ju s t as m onism is engaged in the discovery o f T ru th . The existence o f diverse theories about people complements the psychological diversity within a person. M y concern has been th at pluralism w ould not follow the logic o f co m p etitio n so fully th at an ideological p u rity leading to ty ran n y is the result, no r allow its em bracing o f diversity to d eg en erate into a farrag o o f seem ingly equal truths leading to ennui as m uch as chaos. I w ill stick m y neck out and say th at the telos o r goal o f pluralism is ‘re fo rm .’ By reform , I do n ot m ean som ething specially distinguished from revolution, as in ‘liberal re fo rm ’, b u t re fo rm as a p o rtm an teau term to include ren ew al, re b irth , spontaneous and w ell-planned evolutions, and im aginative p ro d u ctiv ity g enerally. R eform has its m oral conno­ tatio n and th at is delib erate. (Sam uels 1989: 230-1) T hese ideas resonate w ith m y o w n in te re st in the subject. In m y view , the m oral im agination is largely shaped by the archetypal em otion o f c o n tem p t/sh am e and the arch ety p al sym bolism o f alienation w ith its

Introduction

5

com pensatory im aginal pursuit o f U to p ian communitas. In my e x p e r­ ience the o th e r form s o f the archetypal im agination: the aesthetic, the sacred, and the philosophic, are likew ise ‘re fo rm a tiv e ’ in Sam uels’s b ro ad sense. T he sibling positions in the fam ily lead to a pluralism o f fam ily ‘w o rld v ie w s’. T he fam ily atm osphere leads to a pluralism o f fam ily ‘ancestral v ie w s’. T o illu strate the influence o f these pluralistic view s on the individual child I have used the im age o f the ‘en velope’ (S tew art 1976). This seem ed p articu larly fittin g w hen trying to describe w h at happens to the n e w -b o rn infant. For exam ple, along w ith o th e r factors, the nu m b er o f w hich has g reatly increased now th at sonic images o f the infan t in the w om b are possible, the parents know in advance not only the in fa n t’s ordinal position am ongst siblings, b u t the in fa n t’s gender as w ell. In this sense then an envelope o f exp ectations is slipped over the in fan t even b efore b irth so th at in some respects the p are n ts’ reactions to the infant m ay be skew ed in this w ay o r that. P articularly likely to have an effect in such skew ing, usually unconscious, is w h eth e r or not eith e r p aren t is o f the same sibling position. D. W . W in n ic o tt’s famous case o f The Piggle: an account o f the psychoanalytic treatment o f a little girl (1977) is an illu stratio n o f such a situation w hen a m o th er unconsciously recapitulates w ith h er child ren her o w n troubled sibling experience. P aren tal sym pathies and antipathies to w a rd one child o r another can o ften be traced to the paren tal sibling com plex. B ut w ith respect to the c h ild ’s developing sibling com plex, the g rea te r and m ore continuous effects are the result o f the ch ild ’s ongoing experiences w ith siblings, o r, if an only child, w ith o u t siblings. T he end result for each child in the fam ily is a ‘w o rld v ie w ’ th at is a d irec t consequence o f sibling position, and w hich presents unique expectations for each child in the fam ily. T he w ay in w h ich each child acquires a unique ‘ancestral v ie w ’ is som ew hat m ore com plicated and difficult to explain. It is the unconscious com plexes o f the parents w h ich carry the heaviest freight. T hese unlived aspects o f the p a re n ts’ lives spring in large p a rt from u n answ ered questions o f the ancestors w hich also reflect nascent changes in the Zeitgeist (the spirit o f the age). The ch ild ’s experience is likely to be an inexplicable influx o f h ig h ly-charged em otion carrying a num inous sym bol. T he ancient trib al peoples spoke o f this as a ‘seizu re’ by the spirit o r spirits, and Ju n g cam e to adopt this w ay o f speaking. In a m undane sense this is the question o f w h at it m ay be that determ ines an in d iv id u al’s in terests in w hich libido can be invested. W e n atu rally m ust take into account v ary in g degrees o f in h erited ability

6

Changemakers

and the like w hich m akes fo r a w ide range o f achievem ent and ex p ectatio n in any p a rtic u la r case. W h a t w e are particu larly in terested in here is the fact th at each child in a fam ily m ay be ‘called*, so to speak, by very d ifferen t ‘v o ices’, and w ith very differen t degrees o f num inosity. It is ra th e r the ex cep tio n th an the rule th at individuals o f g re a t genius spring from the same fam ily m ilieu. T he reasons for this are exceedingly difficu lt to kn o w w ith any degree o f certa in ty . Some clues are to be found, as w e m ig h t ex p ect, in genetics and in the p a rtic u la r relationship a child has w ith the parents. T he cen tral focus o f this book then is on the tw o p rim ary elem ents o f the fam ily, the fam ily co n stellatio n and the fam ily atm osphere, and how they affect the destiny o f the individual. As I have said above, these tw o fundam ental aspects o f the fam ily influence the individual in related , b u t unique w ays. In its constellation the fam ily is a tiny kinship group o f parents and ch ild ren - som etim es including e x te n d e d fam ily m em bers. Each child is d ependent - body and soul - on the p arents to sustain the fam ily as a temenos, a safe and secure haven fo r the n u rtu ran ce o f its potentials and the testing o f its abilities. From the m o m ent o f b irth each child is also im m ersed in the fam ily cru cib le, the alchem ical vessel in w hich the fiery heat o f fam ily relationships transform s the c h ild ’s innate archety p al em otional and instinctive inh eritance into a sensitive m a trix o f feelings and com plex fam ily em otions. Finally, as a m icrocosm o f society, the fam ily oversees the c h ild ’s in itiatio n into the m ores and the rites - the cu ltu ral values - o f the society. In these w ays the child gradually acquires, in tangible and intangible w ays, a unique, and y et universal view o f the w o rld and the Self, w hich reflects its place in the fam ily, and eventually in society. T h ro u g h its im m ersion in the fam ily atm osphere, the ghostly presence o f the ancestors tra n sm itte d by the parents th ro u g h th eir behav io u r, p ersonality and values, and especially th eir unconscious com plexes, the child acquires a specific v u ln erab ility to an influx o f the spirit w hose source lies in the u n an sw ered questions o f the ancestors, the unlived life o f the parents. T he n a tu re o f this influx o f the spirit determ ines the channel in w h ich the ch ild ’s fate w ill course. It is here th at J u n g ’s personal ex p erien ce o f the ‘d aem o n ’ o f c re ativ ity is m ost helpful to ou r understanding. In the course o f this ex p lo ra tio n it w ill, I believe, em erge th at these tw o aspects o f the fam ily, the sibling co n fig u ratio n and the fam ily atm osphere, are inclusive o f all the m ajo r influences o f the fam ily. This is so because they rep resen t, o r to say it m ore precisely, they are, the

Introduction

7

tw o dim ensions o f the fam ily tree, the kinship tree. A long its vertical dim ension w e are united w ith the spirit o f the ancestors; on its h o rizo n tal dim ension w e are in teg rated w ith the body social, the spirit o f the society w ithin w hich the fam ily is em bedded. T he tree is an o rien tin g symbol o f g re a t pow er. R ooted in the earth and rising to w ard the heavens it reaches o u t its branches in layer after layer o f g enerations. As the all-encom passing arch etypal symbol o f the fam ily it is the genealogical tree o f the heroes and the gods and goddesses, and as such is a rep resen tatio n o f the Self. T he history o f this book is roughly as follow s. E arly on I had been in terested in J u n g ’s original research w ith the fam ily constellation. W h en Ju n g took up his duties as a fledgling psychiatrist at the B urgholzli C linic in Z u rich in 1903, he w as assigned a research study o f the fam ily constellation. Jung w as deeply im pressed by some o f the findings o f this study, and he w e n t on to use the w o rd association test w ith m any o f his p atients w hile he w as at the clinic. This research was the basis for his th eo ry o f the feeling o r em o tionally-toned com plex. O ne o f the o th e r findings w hich g reatly intrigued Jung was the sim ilarity in the profiles o f w o rd associations am ong fam ily m em bers. This finding becam e a cornerstone o f his late r theory o f the fam ily atm osphere and its influence on the developm ent o f the child. By fam ily atm osphere he m ean t the influences stem m ing from the ch ar­ a c te r and b ehaviour o f the parents, and m ost particu larly the u nansw ered questions o f the ancestors w hich w ere expressed through unconscious com plexes. In essence these com plexes represent the unlived life o f the p arents, and they m ay also be representative o f a m ovem ent in the Zeitgeist. In his m em oirs, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Ju n g looks back on his o w n childhood from the perspective o f the fam ily influences: I feel very strongly th at I am u n d er the influence o f things or questions w hich w ere left incom plete and unansw ered by my parents and grandp aren ts and m ore distant ancestors. It often seems as if there w ere an im personal k arm a w ith in a fam ily, w hich is passed on from parents to children. It has alw ays seem ed to me th at I had to answ er questions w hich fate had posed to m y forefathers, and w hich had n o t yet been answ ered, o r as if I had to com plete, or perhaps continue, things w hich previous ages had left unfinished. C h ild ren react m uch less to w h a t grow n-ups say than to the im ponderables in the surrounding atm osphere. T he child unconsciously adapts h im self to them , and this produces in him

8

Changemakers co rrelatio n s o f a com pensatory n atu re. T he peculiar ‘relig io u s’ ideas th at cam e to m e in m y earliest childhood w ere spontaneous products w hich can be understo o d only as reactions to m y p arental en v iro n ­ m en t and to the sp irit o f the age. (Jung 1961: 90)

For all his in terest in the fam ily constellation, ho w ev er, Jung never com p leted the research to his o w n satisfaction. Like so m any o f his earliest discoveries, this subject w as th ru st aside by the g reat upheaval o f his c o n fro n tatio n w ith the unconscious in m idlife w hich tu rn ed his life about and d irected him in to n ew areas o f study. Y et he never lost sight o f the value o f his early w o rk . Late in his life, w hen he delivered an address on the occasion o f the founding o f the C. G. Jung Institute in Z u rich , he listed some o f the subjects he felt w a rra n te d fu rth er study. A m ongst those to w hich he gave high p rio rity for fu rth e r study w as the fam ily constellation. A ro u n d the same tim e th a t I discovered J u n g ’s studies o f the fam ily co n stellation, I also becam e acquain ted w ith A lfred A d le r’s w ork. A dler w as the first d ep th psychologist to recognize th at each sibling position in the fam ily c a rrie d im plications for the c h a rac ter and personality o f the child. His c h a ra c teriza tio n o f the differences b etw een children o f d ifferen t b irth o rd e r w ere based on his studies o f ch ild ren and adults in his clinical p ractice and in his w o rk in the schools o f V ienna w h ere he established the fo reru n ners o f our systems o f child guidance clinics. B ut A d le r’s in terest in this subject had a deeper origin in his o w n personal ex p erien ce as a child - the younger b ro th e r o f an ex em p lary old er b ro th e r. A d le r’s co n trib u tio n to the psychology o f the fam ily constellation cam e from his realizatio n th at his ow n experiences as a y o unger b ro th e r w ere in a c e rta in sense not at all unique; they could be show n to have ce rta in universal characteristics for all younger b ro th ers. In his studies o f b irth o rd e r A dler cited ancient B iblical stories and the classical G reek m yths as evidence o f the significance o f the effects o f sibling position in the fam ily, and the understanding possessed by earlier peoples. It w as here no doubt th at he first found co n firm atio n for his o w n co n v ictio n th at the second son is a rebel, w hich he him self d em o n strated w h en he proposed to F reu d ’s psycho­ analytic group in the early days o f psychoanalysis th at aggression was as im p o rta n t a m o tiv atin g drive as sex. This led eventually to his expulsion from the group and w as the spur to his creatio n o f his ow n school o f individual psychology. W ith these com p lem en tary view s o f Ju n g and A dler in m ind, I then

Introduction

9

engaged in some studies o f the fam ily constellation, focused p a rtic u ­ larly on the sibling position (S tew art 1961, 1962; Smelser and S tew art 1968). I began then to cast about for an ap propriate area o f study in w hich to fu rth e r test the ideas this research had stirred up. I found that political leadership offers an especially apt area for study (S tew art 1970, 1976, 1977b). T he individual leader stands at the interface o f fam ily and society - a creativ e am algam o f fam ily influences, the in d iv id u al’s o w n striving for p o w er, and the c o llec tiv e ’s equally strong desire to be led. In w h a t follow s I have elected to take the reader m ore o r less along the same course I m y self follow ed in the d evelopm ent o f m y perspec­ tive. C h a p te r 1, ‘T he fam ily and the destiny o f the in dividual’, explores b riefly the m any aspects o f the fam ily as temenos, alchem ical crucible, and m icrocosm o f society, and speculations are entertain ed about the fam ily ’s origins in preh isto ric tim es th rough the developm ent o f m arriag e proscriptions and the incest taboo. C h a p ter 2, ‘T he Sum erian rev o lu tio n ’, details the g reat tran sfo rm atio n o f fam ily and society w hich took place in Sum er around 3200 b c , th at is, some 5,200 years ago. In C h a p te r 3, ‘Political leadership and the sibling c o m p lex ’, I shall take up the four basic sibling positions in the fam ily and relate each position to a corresponding style o f political leadership. I close this ch ap ter w ith a discussion o f research m ethodology and a review o f the lite ra tu re on the sibling position - o ften refe rred to as b irth order. C h a p te r 4 presents a study o f the A m erican presidents and the B ritish prim e m inisters, covering a p eriod o f some tw o hundred years o f history. A consistent p a tte rn is found th at shows a congruence betw een the sibling positions o f the leaders and corresponding shifts in the social-political Zeitgeist. In C h a p te r 5, ‘T he w o rld cycle o f creative c h an g e’, I describe a fourfold creativ e process through w hich any and every g re a t innovation in any field o f endeavour appears to proceed. This creativ e cycle seems to require the contributions o f individuals o f genius w ho em body the v iew points in h eren t in each o f the sibling positions. C h a p te r 6, ‘T he innate affects and the com plex fam ily em o tio n s’, takes up the m o tiv atin g and transform ational forces th at shape every kind o f hum an d evelopm ent, creative and destructive. C h a p te r 7, ‘T he spirit chooses’, looks at how an individual is ‘chosen’, so to speak, by a jo in in g o f the spirit o f the ancestors and the spirit o f the tim es, to c arry fo rw a rd an idea o r task. C h a p ter 8, ‘D epth psychology and the w o rld cycle o f creativ e ch an g e’, explores the d evelopm ent o f depth psychology w ith p articu lar atte n tio n to the contrib u tio n s o f the four m ajo r pioneers: F irst-born son, Sigm und

10

Changemakers

Freud; second-born son, A lfred A dler; last-b o rn son, O tto Rank; and only son, C. G. Jung. In C h a p te r 9 I look at Ju n g ’s synthesis o f the stages o f psychotherapy and try to illu strate how his th eory is gradually becom ing recognized as the co n tem p o rary paradigm o r ex em p lar for d ep th psychology. C h a p te r 10, ‘T he fam ily o f n a tio n s’, is an epilogue th at explores questions reg ard in g the n atu re o f good and evil. I look at certain historical and co n te m p o ra ry events and com pare the lives o f some political leaders, w ith p a rtic u la r atte n tio n to sibling position and the fam ily atm osphere. This leads to a discussion o f the sources in the psyche o f dem ocracy and d ictato rsh ip . I close w ith the question: W h a t if anything can depth psychology co n trib u te to understand b e tte r the n atu re o f the spirit, and w h a t are the im plications for good o r for evil, dem ocracy o r d ictato rsh ip , in the w orld?

Chapter 1

The family and the destiny of the individual

For b e tte r o r for w orse, to g re a te r or lesser degree, an individual's destiny rests in the laps o f the gods and the m ilieu o f the fam ily. For the ancient G reeks this am ounted to the sense o f destiny evoked by the fated accident o f b irth , as w itness the m yth o f the fates: the three sisters, C lo th o , Lachesis and A tropos spinning out the linen thread o f our destiny from w hich w e are suspended at birth . U nderlying this m yth, R o b ert G raves th o u g h t he could d etect vestiges o f the ancient custom o f sw addling the n e w -b o rn infant in a linen band ‘on w hich his clan and fam ily m arks w ere em b ro id ered and thus assigned to him his destined place in so ciety ’ (G raves 1955: 204). It is no longer so, o f course, th at the clan d eterm ines our ‘destined place in so ciety ’, b ut depth psychology has revealed ju s t how im p o rtan t early childhood m ay be for the life o f the child. T he Zeitgeist as w ell as inherited factors play a role, y et even the c h ild ’s unique ‘fingerprint* o f inherited deo x y rib o ­ nucleic acid (D N A ) is d ependent for its realization upon the c h ild ’s co n tain m en t in a n u rtu rin g en v iro n m en t for a prolonged period follow ing birth . W h a te v e r the influence o f any such factors m ay be, they coalesce for every individual at the crossroads o f the fam ily. This is not to say th at the fam ily is the sole d eterm in an t o f the individual’s personality or destiny. N evertheless the fam ily is the temenos, o r alchem ical vessel w ith in w hich the n e w -b o rn c h ild ’s innate inherited potential is contained and first tested in relatio n to the w o rld and society, since in the beginning, for the infant and very young child, the fam ily is w o rld and society. T he far-reach in g consequences th at the fam ily fo re­ shadow s for the individual, and for society as w ell, can hardly be ex ag g erated . O u r m ost form ative years are spent in thrall to the m ysterious fam ily w hich ‘took us in ’ at b irth , and w hich is our en tree to society and the w o rld . T he rest o f o u r life is spent seeking to m ake our

12

Changemakers

peace w ith the m yth o f the ‘fa m ily ’ w hich w e have in ternalized in our bodies, in our m em ories, o u r com plexes and fantasies. T o m ove closer now to the cen tral them e o f these studies; to the fam ily in its m ediating function b etw een the innate arch ety p al affects o f the self and the m u ltip licity o f dem ands o f the w o rld . All in all the fam ily is a tangled w eb o f kinship bonds, an indescribable am algam o f feelings and em otions: lo ve-hate, dom inancesubm ission, jealo u sy -en v y , ad m iratio n -d islike, and so on. T he b e tte r p a rt o f life - psychotherapy and analysis as w ell - m ay be spent in treein g the kinship libido w hich has been invested in the fam ily and w hich now m anifests as w h a t m ay be called the em otio n ally -to n ed ‘kinship co m p lex es’. Jung describes the need for the w ith d raw a l o f this ‘kinship lib id o ’ from the fam ily o f origin, w hich can only be accom ­ plished ‘th ro u g h a w h o le -h e a rted ded icatio n to life ’: A ll the libido th at w as tied up in fam ily bonds m ust be w ith d ra w n from the n a rro w e r circle into the la rg e r one, because the psychic h ealth o f the adult individual, w ho in childhood w as a m ere p article rev o lv in g in a ro ta ry system , dem ands th at he should h im self b ecom e the cen tre o f a new system . T h a t such a step includes the solution, or at least some consid eratio n, o f the sexual problem is obvious enough, for unless this is done the unem ployed libido w ill inevitably rem ain fixed in the unconscious endogam ous relationship to the p arents and w ill seriously ham p er the in d iv id u al’s freedom . . . For if he allow s his libido to get stuck in a childish m ilieu, and does not free it for h ig h er purposes, he falls under the spell o f unconscious com pulsion. W h e re v e r he m ay be, the unconscious w ill then re c re ate the in fantile m ilieu by p ro jectin g his com plexes, thus rep ro d u cin g all o v er again, and in defiance o f his vital interests, th at sam e dependence and lack o f freedom , w hich fo rm erly c h a ra c te r­ ized his relations w ith his parents. His destiny no longer lies in his o w n hands: his . . . (fortunes and fates) fall from the stars. T he Stoics called this condition H eim arm en e, com pulsion by the stars, to w h ich every ‘u n re d e e m e d ’ soul is subject. (Jung 1956: 414-15) W e live out our lives b e tw e e n the tw o g re a t m ysteries o f b irth and d eath. As a child w e com e in to this w o rld from w ho know s w h at distant shore and a fte r the tim e allo tted to us by the fates pass on to an o th er distan t shore, o r re tu rn , perhaps, to the same one. M ythology m ay be und ersto o d as the unceasing hum an effo rt to understand and com e to grips w ith these tw o all-ab so rb in g m ysteries. First is the need

Family and destiny of individual

13

to recognize and foster the innate process o f psychological develop­ m ent. This is perhaps a m eaning o f P la to ’s adm onition th at w e m ust put back in o rd er the circuits o f the m ind th at w ere disrupted by birth: T he m otion akin to the divine p a rt in us are the thoughts and revolutions o f the universe; these, th erefo re, every m an should follow , and co rre c tin g those circuits in the head th at w ere deranged at b irth , by learning to know the harm onies and revolutions o f the w o rld , he should b rin g the in tellig en t p a rt, according to its pristine n atu re, into the likeness o f th at w hich intelligence discerns, and thereb y w in the fulfilm ent o f the best in life set by the gods before m ankind b o th for this present tim e and for the life to com e. (P lato n.d./1952: 354) T his is accom plished, again as Plato suggests, through a continuing effo rt to live life the w ay it is m ean t to be lived, in accord w ith the spiritual needs o f the hum an soul. C ollectiv ely these needs are m et by the rites and rituals o f in itiatio n and transform ation. All m ythologies accordingly are historical in the sense th at they go back to the ‘begin n in g s’, to ‘c re a tio n ’. U sually it is the w o rld and the cosmos th at is created first and in the earliest know n m ythologies, w o rld and cosmos are goddesses and gods. These gods and goddesses are then, them selves, ‘c re a tiv e ’. T hey have offspring w ho have offspring until at some point a solidification takes place and the latest generation becom es ‘th e ’ goddesses and gods, and ‘c re a tio n ’ ceases. These solidifications o f m ythologies are usually the point at w hich ‘religions’ have d ifferen tiated them selves from the creative stream o f m yth, as C assirer (1955: 239) suggests, and h en ceforth becom e dogm atic and in stitutionalized. O f p articu lar in terest is the w ay in w hich the developm ent o f m ythology is a reflectio n o f sim ilar developm ents in the consciousness o f hum an beings (N eum ann 1954, 1973). A t b irth the in fa n t’s conscious­ ness is b u t slightly developed; then b etw een one to three m onths o f age com es the first clear-ey ed smile o f recognition o f the m o th e r’s face and voice w hich is follow ed v ery rapidly by the first laughs o f recognition o f the self w hen observing rh y th m ic m ovem ent or m ost frequently itse lf m oving rhythm ically. T he n e x t m ajor shift in consciousness comes w hen the infant b etw een six to nine m onths o f age recognizes the p erm an en t existence o f the m o th er and fath er and the o th e r people and things around it. T he hallm ark o f this period is the gam e o f p eek-aboo, as w ell as th ro w in g toys and reco v erin g them , and the like. A t this

14

Changemakers

p oint the child has no t yet developed a truly conscious recognition o f itse lf as the source o f ‘th in g s’. W h a t is req uired for th at recognition is the separation o f consciousness and unconsciousness w hich occurs b e tw e e n fo u rteen and eighteen m onths o f age w hen the child becom es aw are o f being able to ‘p re te n d ’. V ery frequently this occurs in the daytim e w hen the child discovers its ‘sleep ritu a l’, th at is to say, the purely unconscious behaviours it has developed at bedtim e to ease the w ay into sleep. C om m on features o f the sleep ritual are thum b-sucking, rubb in g the silky edge o f a b lan k et b etw een the fingers, tw isting a stran d o f hair, or cuddling in a p a rtic u la r w ay w ith a stuffed anim al. T h e im p o rtan ce o f this increase in consciousness cannot be e x ag g er­ ated. In m ythological term s it m ay be co m pared to genesis, th at is, the stage o f the separation o f the w o rld p arents, heaven and earth. It is our earliest ex p erien ce o f self-reflectiv e consciousness. T o recap itu late, the infan t develops consciousness in predictable stages ju s t as it develops biologically. T hese universal developm ental stages are presum ably laid d o w n in the code o f D N A . B ut this is n ot to say th a t d evelopm ent is p urely innate w h e th e r it be biological o r psychological or spiritual. In all cases the ch ild ’s developm ent is an in te ra c tio n b etw een an innate in h eritan ce and the circum stances o f its life in the fam ily, society and the w o rld at large. O ne o f the influences o f the fam ily on the ch ild ’s developm ent is the com parison o f the infant w ith fam ily m em bers. These com parisons are freq u en tly along p artisan lines and reflect attitudes o f the parents w h ich are o ften at odds. For exam p le, one p aren t m ay say o f a child th a t it behaves ju st like its m o th er, o r fa th e r, o r gran d p aren t, w ith the in te n t o f casting aspersions on child and referen t. W illy -n illy , no m a tte r w h a t the a ttitu d es expressed, no m a tte r w h eth er expressed openly o r held in secret, p arents do indulge in com parisons w ith relatives. W h e th e r such com parisons hold positive or negative m ean­ ings, they alw ays com e from a m o re-o r-less conscious b e lie f th at h ered ity is som ething to be reckoned w ith . T he child g radually acquires a sense o f the fam ily th a t is b u ilt upon an am algam o f its o w n im pressions, the attitudes o f fam ily m em bers, and the ‘sto ries’ th at are told o f the ‘an cesto rs’. In large p a rt this is a fam ily m yth, p o rtions o f w hich have been passed dow n the generations; alm ost every fam ily can po in t to its skeleton in the closet, as w ell as its ‘n o b le ’ h eritag e, and a good deal o f tim e and energy are devoted by m any individuals to tracin g th eir ancestry. A know ledge o f o n e ’s ‘ro o ts ’ satisfies the need to keep in to u ch w ith the m ystery o f b irth ; the m ystery o f ou r presence and increase on this earth . Perhaps the g reatest

Family and destiny of individual

15

fear o f hum ans is to be left alone in the dark. K now ing about o n e ’s ancestry is a w ay o f tran sfo rm in g th at ultim ate fear into an unbroken hum an ladder, or b e tte r y et a tree, the fam ily tree o f hum ankind, to w h ich w e are all attached. By rem em bering its origins and history, the hum an race keeps in touch w ith the g reat m ystery o f c reatio n and honours its ancestors. This is also a w ay in w h ich the hum an soul is in-spirited. It is not enough to trace o n e ’s roots, for the m ystery o f the original creation rem ains. H ere is w h ere m ythology takes on its g reatest im portance. W h e re history ends, m ythology takes over. Thus the hum an fam ily tree reaches back to a tim e, the ‘dream tim e ’ in the w ords o f the A ustralian tribal societies, w hich is the realm o f the gods and goddess w ho live as im m ortals in ‘e te rn a l’ tim e. T h ro u g h o u t history this place and these tim es have tended to m ig rate to the heavens, and to the ‘holy m o u n ta in ’ w hich is the connection, the lightning rod, that safely conveys to hum ans the infinite pow ers o f the gods and goddesses. T he u ltim ate m ysteries o f b irth and d eath are the sources o f the rites o f passage. T he hum an fam ily is a m ysterious affair as w ell. Like all m am m als, hum ans are social creatu res for w hom intim ate, affectionate relationships are the norm . D epending upon the exigencies o f the ecological niche, this innate sociability has evolved in m any degrees o f co-operativeness, ranging from the ultim ate ‘groupiness’ o f the K alahari desert m eerkats to the relative ‘standoffishness’ o f the leopard. C are and n ourishm ent o f the young o f the species is a universal ch aracteristic o f m am m als no m a tte r w h a t the degree o f closeness o f group relationships m ay be. T he fam ily life o f elephants, and w olves, as w ell as m any o th e r species o f m am m als, is exem plary. These species usually live in packs o r groups o f one kind o r another; small societies in w h ich kin are spread thro u g h o u t. T h ere is apparently no system atic o rd erin g to the kinship relationships, b u t there is no question but that some kin relationships are sustained by these groups. This is clearly ap p aren t am ongst the chim panzees, o u r closest m am m alian cousins (G oodall 1990). W h en hum ans cam e to the o rd erin g o f tribal society through a system atic m anipulation o f kinship, they w ere building upon their innate social n atu re. It appears th at in the form ation o f the early p re ­ lite ra te societies, the tran sitio n from separate fam ilies or small bands to organized tribes and clans, w as ap p aren tly arriv ed at by a com prom ise in w hich some degree o f intim acy o f relationship am ong m em bers o f the im m ediate fam ily was sacrificed for an im proved relationship to o th e r fam ilies, th ro u g h the establishm ent o f m arriage alliances w hich

16

Changemakers

provided the basis for a co -o p erativ e social o rder. T he additional gains from this sacrifice w ere realized in the psychological realm o f soul and spirit; for in the process m en and w om en discovered a deeper sense o f them selves. Those early trib al peoples m ust have com e to recognize the adhesive p o w er o f kinship and cap italized upon it by devising pattern s o f p re fe rred , actually p roscribed, m arriag es b etw een specified kin. P er­ haps the earliest form o f these m arriag e p atterns was the sharing o f b ro th ers and sisters w ith each o th e r. This form m oved to the firstcousin m arriag e along the m atrilin eal line. A g reat advantage, presum ably, o f these m arriag e system s was the avoidance o f m ore in tim ate incestuous relationships w ith in a fam ily, w hile at the same tim e insuring the spread o f kin th ro u g h o u t the group and the in tro d u ctio n o f new blood. As gro u p size increased these m arriag e p attern s becam e increasingly com p licated leading to as m any as tw elve sections, rem nants o f w hich m ay still be seen in rural C hinese com m unities. For aeons o f tim e this w as the p refe rred m arriag e arran g em en t in early tribes and societies. It still continues in the trib al peoples o f A ustralia, N ew G uinea and o th er areas w hich have been isolated from the influences o f the industrialized w o rld (Jung 1945, 1946a; L ayard 1945; Fox 1967). A t first en tw in ed in this w eb o f kinship sections, the fam ily ov er tim e em erges as a m icrocosm th at is m ore separate from society - a tiny universe w ith in a larg er universe - held to g eth e r by the bonds o f kinship libido. R eflection on the fam ily as a social system leads to a deeper ap p reciatio n o f the fam ily ’s vital function in the m ediation o f past, present and fu tu re in the life o f the individual and in the life o f the com m unity. This m ediatin g function brings into sharper focus the m ythological form o f the genealogy o f the gods and heroes as an arch ety p al fam ily im age w hich in the unity o f its vertical and h o rizo n tal dim ensions sim ultaneously defines relationships w ith the ancestors and relationships am ong m em bers o f the im m ediate fam ily and the la rg e r society. O n the w hole J u n g ’s in terest, and th a t o f the m ajo rity o f Jungian analysts early on, g ra v ita te d to the arch etypal im ages underlying the fam ily roles o f m o th er, fa th e r and child. A m ong Jungians u ntil very recen tly , in terest in the fam ily as a social system has been scant. M o reo v er, at tim es w e seem to act as if the archetypes w ere capable o f an autonom ous existence w ith o u t need o f a m ediating en v ironm ent w hich constellates and supports in n er d evelopm ent. W e tend to lose sight o f the fact th a t the ritu al observance o f the rites o f passage is as

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17

im p o rtan t as are the archetypes o f the psyche from w hich those rituals m ay derive. N o t only Jungian analysts b u t depth psychology as a w hole has been slow to recognize the significance o f the fam ily as a co-o rd in ated to tality ; a com plex system o f relationships betw een parents and children, w hich m ediates b etw een the ch ild ’s innate, archetypal self, on the one hand, and society and the w o rld on the o ther. T h ere has long been a need for a Jungian perspective on the fam ily th at w ould encom pass the personal and archetypal figures o f m other, father, and divine child, and accom m odate as w ell, the stru ctu re and dynam ics o f the fam ily as a m icrocosm o f society. As w ith m any another unfinished aspect o f his analytical psychology, Jung put fo rth m any o f the elem ents o f such a perspective, albeit tucked aw ay in prefaces to books, in letters, or inserted into articles on related subjects Qung 1909, 1927/31, 1948, 1973, p. 525). N evertheless, he w as deeply interested in the fam ily as is evident in his v ery early research on the fam ily constellation, and his studies o f the em o tio n ally -to n ed com plexes th at arise in the family. In th at research his in terest also w as cap tu red by the sim ilar patterns o f w o rd associations am ong fam ily m em bers. This finding becam e a cornerstone o f his th eo ry th at the fam ily atm osphere influences the developm ent o f the child (Jung 1909). As I have said, there are tw o aspects o f the fam ily w hich are inseparably en tw in ed w ith all the o thers, but w hich nevertheless stand in a distinct relationship to each oth er. These are the ‘sibling p o sition’ and the ‘fam ily atm o sp h ere’. T he c h ild ’s sibling position is determ ined by the fated accident o f b irth . T he fam ily atm osphere is in large p art d eterm in ed by the p a re n ts’ behaviour, attitudes, values, and p articu ­ larly th eir unconscious com plexes w hich ca rry the unansw ered ques­ tions o f the ancestors. These tw o aspects o f the fam ily determ ine w h at m ay be called the ch ild ’s ‘sibling’ and ‘an c estra l’ com plexes. In turn they rep resen t the tw o dim ensions o f the fam ily tree, the horizontal w hich relates us to the body social, and the vertical w hich relates us to the ancestral spirit. In this reg ard it is fruitful to think o f the fam ily as a living organism . T h e m arriag e o f a m an and a w om an is the m arriage o f tw o families. T h e ir children are the fruits o f the tw o fam ily trees. It is easy to see w hy the fam ily is sym bolized by a tree, the fam ily tree - the tree o f life itself. As a living organism , the fam ily grow s as children arrive. Each child is b o rn into a d ifferen t fam ily. For the first child the fam ily is m o th er, fath er and me! For the second child the fam ily is m other, fath er, b ro th e r or sister and me!, and so on. T he fam ily constellation is

18

Changemakers

the basic stru c tu re of the fam ily. It is the tree itself. T he tw o parents are the ‘o ld e r’ g en eratio n , the ch ild ren are the ‘y o u n g e r’ generation. T he parents are the co n nection w ith the ‘an cien ts’, the ancestors. T he child ren are the ‘n e w ’ g en eratio n . From this little fantasy w e can see th at the fam ily constellation is in fact the living body o f the fam ily tree in its tw o dim ensions: the v ertical w h ich connects w ith the ancestors and the h o rizo n tal w h ich links w ith the ex ten d ed fam ily and society. T o recap itu late: in earliest p reh isto ric tim es the hum an additions to the n atu re o f fam ily w ere the fo rm alization o f relationships th ro u g h m arriag e and kinship taboos. All social species m ust find the m eans for m axim izing c o -o p eratio n th ro u g h controls on the tw o m ajor dynam ism s o f relationship, nam ely love and pow er. This is the purpose o f the b arn y ard pecking o rders and the dom inance and submission b ehaviours in o u r m am m alian ancestors w hich co ntrol m ating b e tw e en the sexes, as w ell as the h ierarch y o f leadership in the group. A nd it is a m ajor purpose o f the elab o rate kinship m arriage systems developed by o u r early hum an ancestors. In m any places in his w ritin g s, Jung draw s a tte n tio n to the significance o f love and p o w e r as the tw o elem ental, and polarized dynam ics o f the fam ily. O fte n it is in the co n tex t o f his efforts to place the theories o f Freud and A d ler in p ro p e r perspective. O ne o f his m ost in terestin g statem ents on this subject appears in Mysterium Coniunctionis at a p oint w h ere he is discussing the A elia-L aelia-C rispis inscription T he E nigm a o f B ologna - w h ich w as cited by alchem ists, b u t w hich appears to be as Ju n g puts it: sheer nonsense, a jo k e . . . b u t one th a t for centuries b rillian tly fulfilled its function as a fly p ap er for every conceivable p ro jectio n th at buzzed in the hum an m ind. It gave rise to a ‘cause c e le b re ,’ a reg u lar psychological ‘a ffa ir’ th a t lasted for the g re a te r p a rt o f tw o centuries and p roduced a spate o f com m entaries. (Jung 1963: 57) A t this p oint in his co m m en tary Ju n g refers to an in te rp re ta tio n o f this in scription by V eranius th a t strikes him as a fo reru n n er o f F reu d ’s sexual th eo ry o f the unconscious. In reference to this, Jung gives a capsule statem en t about the tw o d riv in g forces in life and the problem o f one-sidedness: N o w it is, as a m a tte r o f fact, tru e th a t ap a rt from the personal striving for p o w er, or superbia, love, in the sense o f concupiscentia, is the dynam ism th at m ost infallibly brings the unconscious to light.

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A nd if our au th o r was o f the type w hose besetting sin is concupiscence, he w ould n ever d ream th at there is any o th e r p ow er in heaven or e a rth th at could be the source o f his conflicts and confusions. A ccordingly, he w ill cling to his prejudice as if it w ere a universal theo ry , and the m ore w ro n g he is the m ore fanatically he w ill be convinced o f its tru th . B ut w h a t can love m ean to a m an w ith a hunger for pow er! T h at is w hy w e alw ays find tw o m ain causes o f psychic catastrophes: on the one hand a disappointm ent in love and on the o th er hand a th w a rtin g o f the striving for pow er. (Jung 1963: 86) J u n g ’s discussion o f kinship libido in the ‘psychology o f the tran sfer­ e n c e ’ sheds some fu rth e r light on this subject. In the c o n tex t o f a discussion o f the intercrossing o f anim a and animus projections in the transference, w hich Jung notes are foreshadow ed in the archetype o f a crossed m arriag e o r w h a t he speaks o f as the ‘m arriage q u a te rn ity ’, he defines kinship libido as follow s: Incest as an endogam ous relationship, is an expression o f the libido w h ich serves to hold the fam ily to g eth er. O ne could therefore define it as ‘kinship lib id o ’, a kind o f instinct w hich, like a sheep­ dog, keeps the fam ily group in tact. This form o f libido is the diam etrical opposite o f the exogam ous form . T he tw o form s to g eth er hold each o th e r in check: the endogam ous form tends to w a rd the sister and the exogam ous to w a rd some stranger. T he best com prom ise is th erefo re the first cousin. (Jung 1946a: 224) J u n g ’s w o rd in g can be im proved; first is the fact th at he is obviously speaking o f m ales. In some fam ilies th ere m ay be no sister and for the boy, the m o th er m ay w ell be the first resting-place o f the endogam ous kinship libido; for the d au g h ter it could be the b ro th e r o r the father. As w e see Ju n g states th at ‘Incest as an endogam ous relationship, is an expression o f the libido w h ich serves to hold the fam ily to g e th e r’. He goes on to suggest th at w e could th erefo re speak o f it as ‘kinship lib id o ’. T his bears some scrutiny. T he statem en t is som ew hat am biguous, perhaps purposely so. It identifies ‘kinship lib id o ’ as the psychic energy th a t holds the fam ily to g eth er, and suggests th at incest is an endogam ous expression o f this ‘k in sh ip ’. Does he m ean by this th at incest, defined as sexual relationships w ith fam ily m em bers th at are forbidden, is one o f the possible consequences o f the close fam ily

20

Changemakers

kinship ties? If so, this w ould be a sim ple and straig h tfo rw a rd use o f the term incest. As for the exogam ous libido, it does n o t, o f course, o rd in arily com e to rest on a ‘s tra n g e r’. As ch ild ren m ove out into the w id e r social w o rld , the libido - J u n g ’s exogam ous libido - is natu rally invested in others - friends and lovers - w h o are n o t m em bers o f the fam ily o f origin. W h e n th ere is close c o n ta c t w ith the exten d ed fam ily, this exogam ous libido, p a rtic u la rly durin g the adolescent period o f developing sexuality, m ost n atu ra lly and frequently com es to rest w ith a first cousin. This is the u n d erly in g psychological dynam ic th at m ade the ‘cross-co u sin ’ m arriag e system o f the tribal peoples so binding. This first-cousin m arriag e has persisted into m o dern tim es as b o th a n a tu ra l m arriag e choice, o ften c re a tin g ‘id e a l’ m arriages, as in D a rw in ’s case, o r as once w as quite com m on in the h e re d itary m onarchies, and am ong the a risto cratic classes, as a m eans o f acquiring alliances for the purposes o f p o w er and the accu m u latio n o f w ealth w ith in the fam ily. This com prom ise o f the first-co u sin m arriage is a prim itive m arriag e p a tte rn . It derives from sister-ex ch an g e m arriages w hich co n stitu te one o f the earliest form s o f social org an ization. A ccording to H o w itt, w hom Ju n g quotes: ‘It is upon the division o f the w hole com m unity into tw o exogam ous in te rm a rry in g classes th at the w hole social stru c tu re is b u ilt u p ’ (H o w itt, in Jung 1946a: 225). These ‘m o ieties’ show them selves in the layout o f settlem ents as w ell as in m any strange custom s. A t cerem onies, for instance, the tw o m oieties are strictly seg reg ated and n eith er m ay trespass on the o th e r ’s te rrito ry . (Jung 1946a: 225-6) These tw o halves o f the society are, nevertheless, connected by a ritual in terd ep en d en ce w h ich involves such activities as breeding and fa tte n ­ ing anim als by one side for the o th e r, and so on. T he nam es given to the tw o m oieties, such as east and w est, w a te r and land, rep resent an an tith etical feeling and thus, acco rd in g to Jung, expressed an endopsychic antithesis: T he antithesis can be fo rm u lated as the m asculine ego versus the fem inine ‘o th e r ,’ i.e. conscious versus unconscious personified as anim a. T he p rim ary sp littin g o f the psyche into conscious and unconscious seems to be the cause o f the division w ith in the trib e and settlem en t. It is a division founded on fact b ut not consciously recognized as such. (Jung 1946a: 226)

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In actual practice this social split leads to a fourfold division o f the tribe and settlem ent w hich, o rig in atin g in a m atrilineal division into tw o, w hich is then crossed by a patrilin eal division, thus separates the en tire population into m arriag e classes. E very m an belongs to his fa th e r’s patrilin eal m oiety, and can only take a w ife from his m o th e r’s m atrilin eal m oiety. T o avoid the possibility o f incest, he m arries his m o th e r’s b ro th e r’s d au g h ter and gives his sister to his w ife ’s b ro th er. It w as this kind o f social o rd e r th at requ ired th at the B iblical Jacob be sent to a d istant land to his m o th e r’s b ro th e r Laban in o rd er to find a w ife. T h ere he fell in love w ith his first cousin Rachel and w o rked seven years for the prom ise o f h er hand in m arriage. In this system the son is req u ired to m arry his m o th e r’s b ro th e r’s daughter. This is the cross-cousin m arriag e (Jung 1946a: 226-7). This sociological d evelopm ent carried im m ense consequences for cu ltu ral developm ent. John Layard, on the basis o f his anthropological studies, sees in the endogam ous tendency a genuine instinct w hich, if denied realizatio n in the flesh, w ill realize itself in the appropriate realm o f the spirit. T he social o r m anifest purpose o f the incest taboo is to enlarge the social h orizon . . . Its la te n t o r spiritual purpose is to enlarge the spiritual horizo n by developing the idea th at there is after all a sphere in w hich the p rim ary desire m ay be satisfied, nam ely the divine sphere o f the gods to g e th e r w ith th at o f their sem i-divine co u n terp arts, the cu ltu re heroes. (L ayard 1945: 284) In ‘T he stru ctu re and dynam ics o f the s e lf in Axon, Jung speaks to these questions in the co n te x t o f psychotherapy. H e suggests th at the G nostic quaternio w hich he is in co rp o ratin g into his m odel o f the Self, ‘took a form th at derives from the prim itive cross-cousin m arriage, nam ely, the m arriag e q u a te rn io ’. H o w ev er, w ith the fu rth e r differen tiatio n o f m arriag e classes into a six-, eig h t-, or tw elve-class system, the original cross-cousin m arriag e becam e obsolete, and this, according to Jung, led to a change in the m arriag e relationship. T h at is to say, an anim a-an im u s p rojection takes place. This m odification brings w ith it a g reat cu ltural advance, for the very fact o f p ro jectio n points to a constellation o f the unconscious in the h u sb an d -w ife relationship, w hich m eans th at the m arriag e has becom e psychologically com plicated. It is no longer a state o f m ere biological and social coexistence, b u t is beginning to tu rn into a

22

Changemakers conscious relationship . . . T he cause o f the activation o f the unconscious th at goes hand in hand w ith this developm ent is the regression o f the endogamous tendency - the ‘kinship libido} - which can no longer find adequate satisfaction owing to the increasing strangeness o f the marriage partner [m y italics]. (Jung 1951a: 242-3)

T o sum m arize briefly: T his situation o f the ‘increasing strangeness o f the m arriag e p a rtn e r’, is the psychic arena w ith in w hich husband and w ife today seek to find an accom m odation w hich gives a sufficiently satisfactory eq u ilib ratio n o f the needs o f each. As w e have seen, societies have sought to con tain the forces in h eren t in this situation by the a rra n g e m en t o f m arriages and by the codification o f the rights o f m en and w om en. For aeons these systems w ere m ore o r less adequate as the stability o f trib al societies suggests. O ne o f the aims o f these early m arriag e system s w as to d istrib u te p o w er th ro u g h o u t the society by establishing alliances th ro u g h m arriag e proscriptions. This was en fo rced by the incest taboo w h ich defined kinship sections for the society and p roscribed those into w hich an individual could o r could n o t m arry . T hese form s o f m arriag e can be found in the still-ex istin g trib al societies, b u t they have long since been given up in the c o n tem p o rary societies o f the industrialized countries. T o day in the w estern w o rld w e live w ith a situation in w hich relationships w ith the e x ten d ed fam ily in any form are less and less o f a reality. T his results in a co n c e n tra tio n o f kinship libido w ith in the nuclear fam ily. Inevitably this w ill produce a g re a te r intensity in the strivings for love and p o w e r w ith in the fam ily. It is this situation th a t has pro d u ced the catastrophes Ju n g m entions above, and, coupled w ith the collapse o f religious solutions and cu ltu ral education in general, has led to the develo p m en t o f psychotherapy. P articu larly relev an t to this ex am in atio n o f the results o f excessive co n c e n tra tio n o f kinship libido in the nuclear fam ily, is the develop­ m en t o f d ep th psychology. Freud discovered th a t incest w as at the core o f m any o f the problem s th a t his w om en patients, and some m en presented. C h ild ren w e re left in the care o f unreliable nursem aids, teachers and priests, and n o t in freq u en tly fathers, and occasionally m others, w ho e ro ticized and b ru ta liz e d the children. Freud and Jung w ere them selves exposed to this kind o f m isconduct by tru sted caretak ers. This w as a m ajo r aspect o f the d em o ralizatio n th ro u g h o u t society, p a rtic u la rly in the w e ste rn w o rld , w hich led to d epth psychology, and these w e re the first findings o f the n ew ly-developing

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field o f psychotherapy. T o be sure, these discoveries w ere tem porarily sw ept under the rug, b u t they have now resurfaced and becom e a reality th at is m ore evident every day. W e shall retu rn to these issues in la te r chapters in w hich depth psychology is discussed in detail. First an ex p lo ratio n o f the g reat change in the w o rld w hich prepared the w ay for our present situation. It is evident th at som ething happened a long tim e ago w hich irrevocably changed the ancient system o f kinship sections. For aeons o f tim e our ancient ancestors lived in the social o rd er w e have described above in w hich fam ily and society w ere w oven to g eth er in an alm ost seamless w eb o f kinship ties. B ut som etim e around 3200 b c , in the fertile delta lands b etw een the T igris and E uphrates rivers, the m ysterious people w ho cam e to be called the Sum erians altered th at w ay o f life for ever. W ith in a few hundred years all o f the fundam ental elem ents o f civilization as w e know it today w ere created.

Chapter 2

The Sumerian revolution (circa 3200 bc)

‘W e all know the conven tio n , surely !’ w rites Joseph C am pbell in the in tro d u c tio n to volum e one o f his The Masks o f God. It is a p rim ary , spontaneous device o f childhood, a m agical device, by w h ich the w o rld can be tran sfo rm ed from banality to m agic in a trice. A nd its in ev itab ility in childhood is one o f those universal ch aracteristics o f m an th a t unite us in one fam ily. It is a prim ary d atu m , consequently, o f the science o f m yth w hich is concerned precisely w ith the phenom enon o f self-induced belief. (C am pbell 1959: 22) This ‘co n v en tio n ’ appears in the play o f childhood as ‘p rete n d ’, o r ‘m akeb eliev e’, the earliest form o f w h at w ill becom e the highly-differentiated function o f creative im agination. B ut w h at is it that potentiates the im agination? In the ex trem e instance, as w ith Jung, it is the question o f w h a t it m ay be th at can stir the soul o f a child in such a w ay that a w hole lifetim e m ay be devoted to understanding it and giving expression to it. Frobenius gives an exam ple o f a ‘p o ten tiation o f the im agination’ in a 4y ear-o ld girl w ho is trying to get h er fa th e r’s attention w hile he w rites at his desk. T he fath er gives the little girl three used m atches to play w ith and she begins to enact the fairy tale o f H ansel, G retel, and the W itch . Suddenly the child shrieks in te rro r. T he fath er jum ps. ‘W h a t is it? W h a t has hap p en ed ?’ T h e little girl com es running to him , show ing ev ery sign o f g re a t frig h t. ‘D addy, D a d d y ,’ she cries, ‘take the w itch aw ay! I c a n ’t touch the w itc h any m o re !’ (Frobenius, in C am pbell 1959: 22) In ex p lan atio n o f w h a t ensued in the c h ild ’s play, Frobenius m akes the follow ing o bservation about the in te rw o v e n relationship o f the im agi­ n atio n and the em otions.

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25

An eru p tio n o f em otion is ch aracteristic o f the spontaneous shift o f an idea from the level o f the sentim ents (Gemut) to that o f sensual consciousness (sinnliches Bewusstsein). F u rtherm ore, the appearance o f such an eru p tio n obviously m eans th at a certain spiritual process has reached a conclusion. T he m atch is n o t a w itch; nor was it a w itc h for the child at the beginning o f the gam e. T he process, th erefo re, rests on the fact th a t the m atch has become a w itch on the level o f the sentim ents and the conclusion o f the process coincides w ith the tran sfer o f this idea to the plane o f consciousness. T he observation o f the process escapes the test o f conscious thought, since it enters consciousness only a fte r o r at the m om ent o f com pletion. H ow ever, inasm uch as the idea is, it m ust have become. T he process is creative, in the highest sense o f the w o rd ; for, as w e have seen, in a little girl a m atch can becom e a w itch . (Frobenius, in C am pbell 1959: 22-3) T he questions raised by this c h ild ’s play and Frobenius’ explanation touch upon the m ost pro fo u n d m ysteries o f life: the source o f creativ ity and the origins o f cu ltu re. T he elem ents th a t appear in this exam ple are the c h ild ’s spontaneous ‘m ak e-b eliev e’ play, and the subsequent eru p ­ tion o f a prim al em o tio n and a universal cultural im age. B ut there rem ains to be considered the fundam ental experience o f play itself w h ich is th at i t ’s fun. H ere C am pbell turns to H u izin g a’s Homo Ludens: A Study o f the Play Element in Culture (1950). As J. H uizinga has poin ted o u t in his brillian t study o f the play elem ent in cu ltu re, the w hole point, at the beginning, is the fun o f play, n o t the ra p tu re o f seizure. ‘In all the w ild im aginings o f m ythology a fanciful spirit is p la y in g ,’ he w rites, ‘on the bord er-lin e b etw een je st and e a rn e s t.’ ‘B y considering the w hole sphere o f so-called prim itive cu lture as a p la y -sp h e re ,’ H uizinga then suggests in conclusion, ‘w e pave the w ay to a m ore d ire c t and m ore general understanding o f its p eculiarities than any m eticulous psychological or sociological analysis w o u ld a llo w .’ A nd I w ould concur w h o leheartedly w ith this ju d g em en t, only adding th a t w e should ex ten d the consideration to the en tire field o f o u r p resent subject. (C am pbell 1959: 23) It can n o t be con tested b u t th a t the spirit o f play is fundam ental to the developm ent o f cu ltu re; n o r can it be denied th at th ere is an elem ent o f the play spirit in even the m ost elevated form s o f cu ltu ral expression.

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N evertheless, it is also in contestable th at play and the cultural form s are not identical. Play has a life o f its o w n th a t is continuous from earliest childhood on, b o th in spontaneous playfulness and in the playing o f games. In co n trast, the cu ltural form s (a rt, religion, philosophy, society) dem and m ore than play; each gives expression to a specific dom ain o f the spirit. T hey are n o t ‘ju s t’ for fun, as is play. An ex p lan atio n o f the d evelopm ent o f cu ltu re o u t o f the play spirit requires som ething o th e r than play itself, and this is the arch etypal im agination, o r so I believe. A nd to understand the archetypal im agination it is necessary to u n d erstan d the em otions. T he startling shift in the behaviour o f the little girl described above is precisely w h at is still to be understood. A t first she played happily, im agining the fam iliar fairy tale o f Hansel and G retel and acting it out w ith the three m atches. Suddenly she was th ro w n into a state o f te rro r. T he w itch w as no longer ‘m ak e-b eliev e’; she had becom e all too ‘re a l’ and ‘aliv e’. ‘This vivid, convincing exam ple o f a ch ild ’s seizure by a w itch w hile in the act o f p lay ’, observes C am pbell, ‘m ay be taken to represent an intense degree o f the daem onic m ythological ex p erien ce’ (ibid.: 23). A nd w h a t is the daem onic m ythological experience? A ccording to R udolph O tto it is ro o ted in daem onic d read, a p rim itive te rro r, w hich is the p recu rso r to religious aw e. Seeking to clarify the quintessential elem en t o f the religious ex p erien ce, O tto adopted a new term , ‘num in o u s’, to designate the irred u cib le aspect o f the ‘h o ly ’. It is w o rth w h ile . . . to find a w o rd to stand for . . . this ‘e x tr a ’ in the m eaning o f ‘h o ly ’ above and beyond the m eaning o f goodness. By m eans o f a special te rm w e shall the b e tte r be able, first, to keep the m eaning clearly a p a rt and distinct, and second, to apprehend and classify connectedly w h a te v e r subordinate form s o r stages o f develo p m en t it m ay show . For this purpose I adopt a w o rd coined from the Latin numen. Omen has given us ‘om inous’, and th ere is no reason w hy from num en w e should n ot sim ilarly form a w o rd ‘n u m in o u s’. I shall speak, then, o f a unique ‘num inous’ categ o ry o f value and o f a d efinitely ‘n u m in o u s’ state o f m ind, w hich is alw ays found w h e re v e r the categ o ry is applied. This m ental state is p erfectly sui generis and irred u cib le to any o th er; and th erefo re, like every absolutely p rim ary and elem en tary datum , w hile it adm its o f being discussed, it cannot be strictly defined . . . Its n atu re is such th a t it grips o r stirs the hum an m ind w ith this and th at d eterm in ate affective state. (O tto 1923: 6 -7 , 12)

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A ccording to O tto these ‘d eterm in ate affective states’ are aspects o f the Mysterium Tremendum. T he elem ents o f aw fulness, o v erp o w erin g ­ ness (‘m ajestas’), and energy or urgency derive from an analysis o f the term Tremendum. T he additional elem ents o f the Mysterium Tremendum derive from an analysis o f the term Mysterium. The first o f these elem ents is the ‘w holly o th e r ’, the second is the elem ent o f fascina­ tion. All o f these elem ents o f the Mysterium Tremendum hold a significant place in the to ta lity o f the experience, but w hen it com es to tracin g the evolution o f the experien ce O tto finds the starting p oint to lie in ‘daem onic d re a d ’ w hich is the antecedent to ‘religious d re a d ’ (or ‘a w e ’). Its an teced en t stage is ‘daem onic d re a d ’ (cf. the h o rro r o f Pan) w ith its queer perversion, a sort o f abortive offshoot, the ‘dread o f ghosts’. It first began to stir in the feeling o f ‘som ething un can n y ’, ‘e e rie ’, or ‘w e ird ’. It is this feeling w hich, em erging in the m ind o f prim eval m an, form s the sta rtin g -p o in t for the entire religious developm ent in history. ‘D aem o n s’ and ‘gods’ alike spring from this ro o t, and all the products o f ‘m ythological a p p erce p tio n ’ o r ‘fan tasy ’ are nothing b u t d ifferen t m odes in w hich it has been objectified. A nd all ostensible explanations o f the origin o f religion in term s o f anim ism o r m agic o r folk-psychology are doom ed from the outset to w an d er astray and miss the real goal o f th eir inquiry, unless they recognize this fact o f ou r n atu re - prim ary, unique, underivable from anything else - to be the basic factor and the basic impulse u nderlying the en tire process o f religious evolution. (O tto 1923: 14-15) Seeking his o w n d ifferen tiatio n b etw een play and m yth, C am pbell turns in the last analysis to Im m anuel K ant and his efforts to explain the inescapable fact th at the hum an reason m ust think about final things even though they cannot be substantiated by reason. K ant concludes th at such thinking can proceed only by w ay o f analogy. C am pbell quotes K ant as follow s: ‘T he p ro p er expression for our fallible m ode o f conception w ould be: th at w e im agine the w o rld as if its being and inner c h a ra c ter w ere deriv ed from a suprem e m in d ’ (K ant, in C am pbell 1959: 28). ‘Such a highly played gam e o f “ as if*” , suggests C am pbell, ‘frees ou r m ind and spirit on the one hand, from the presum ption o f theology, w hich pretends to k now the law s o f G od, and, on the o th er, from the bondage o f reason, w hose law s do not apply beyond the horizons o f hum an e x p e rie n c e ’ (ibid.).

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C am pbell goes on to rhapsodize on the p o w er o f play from the p erspective o f ‘secular m an (Homo sapiens)9. E n ter the ‘play sphere o f the festiv al’, he says, ‘acquiescing in a gam e o f belief, w h ere fun, jo y , and ra p tu re rule in ascending series’. T hus w e rem ove ourselves fro m the lim itations o f ‘the law s o f life in tim e and space-econom ics, politics, and even m o ra lity ’. A nd then all is ‘re -c re ate d by th at re tu rn to paradise b efore the Fall, b efo re the know ledge o f good and evil, rig h t and w ro n g , tru e and false, b e lie f and disbelief*. T he goal is to b rin g the ‘spirit o f m an the play er (Homo ludens) back into life ’. By playing again as children w e shall find th a t the ‘spontaneous im pulse o f the sp irit to identify itse lf w ith som ething o th e r than itse lf for the sheer delig h t o f play, transu b stan tiates the w o rld in w hich, actually, after all, things are n o t quite as real o r p erm an en t, te rrib le , im p o rta n t, o r logical as they seem ’ (C am pbell 1959: 28-9). W h e n he com es to describe the Sum erian developm ent, C am pbell utilizes F robenius’ ideas as an ex p lan atio n o f the w ay in w hich this new civ ilizatio n sprang into being. H e notes first th at there m ust have been a long p erio d o f ‘m eticulous, carefu lly checked and re-ch eck ed o b serv atio n s’, to establish th at th ere w e re , besides the sun and m oon, five o th e r visible o r b arely visible heavenly spheres (to w it, M ercu ry , Venus, M ars, Ju p ite r, and S aturn) w h ich m oved in established courses . . . along the w ays follow ed by the sun and m oon, am ong the fixed stars. (C am pbell 1959: 146) T hen and then only could arise w h at C am pbell refers to as ‘the alm ost insane, playful, yet potentially terrib le notion that the laws governing the m ovem ents o f the seven heavenly spheres should in some m ystical w ay be the same as those governing the life and thought o f m en on e a rth ’. From the careful observations and the w ildly im aginative vision o f the heavenly spheres as corresponding in ‘some m ystical w a y ’, w ith the laws governing ‘the life o f m en on e a rth ’, there follow ed a detailed w orking out o f the relationship b etw een the entire city and each o f its inhabitants: T he king was the cen ter, as a hum an rep resentative o f the p o w e r m ade celestially m anifest e ith e r in the sun or in the m oon, according to the focus o f the local cult; the w alled city w as organized a rc h ite c tu ra lly in the design o f a q u a rte re d circle (like the circles designed on the ceram ic w a re o f the period ju st preceding), cen tered around the pivotal sanctum o f the palace o r zig g u rat (as the ceram ic designs aro u n d the cross, ro sette, o r sw astika); and th ere w as a

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m ath em atically stru ctu red calendar to regulate the seasons o f the c ity ’s life according to the passages o f the sun and m oon am ong the stars - as w ell as a highly developed system o f liturgical arts, including m usic, the a rt ren d erin g audible to hum an ears the w o rld o rd erin g h arm ony o f the celestial spheres. (C am pbell 1959: 146-7) It is im p o rtan t to note th a t in C am p b ell’s a tte m p t to explain this developm ent, play is n o t sufficient. P rio r to play is curiosity; it took years o f m eticulous o bservation, ‘carefully checked and re-c h e ck e d ’. O nce the facts about the m ovem ents o f the planets and the sun and m oon had been recognized, this new info rm ation could be subm itted to the play o f im agination, from w h ich sprang ‘the alm ost insane, playful, y et poten tially te rrib le notio n th at the law s governing the m ovem ents o f the seven heavenly spheres should in some m ystical w ay be the same as those governing the life and th o u g h t o f m en on e a r th ’. In his efforts to explain fu rth e r this ‘life-inspiring m onad th at p recip itated the im age o f m a n ’s destiny as an organ o f the living cosm os’, C am pbell suggests th at the psychological need to b rin g the parts o f a large and socially d ifferen tiated settled co m m unity, com prising a num ber o f new ly developed social classes (priests, kings, m erchants, and peasants), into an o rd erly relationship to each o th er, and sim ultaneously to suggest the play th ro u g h all o f a higher, all-suffusing, all-inform ing, energizing principle - this p rofoundly felt psychological as w ell as sociological req u irem en t m ust have been fulfilled w ith the recogni­ tion, some tim e in the fo u rth m illennium B .C ., o f the ord erly ro unddance o f the five visible planets and the sun and m oon through the constellations o f the zodiac. This celestial o rd er then becam e the m odel for m ankind in the building o f an earth ly o rd e r o f co ordi­ n ated w ills - a m odel for b o th kings and philosophers, inasm uch as it seem ed to show fo rth the supporting law n ot only o f the universe b u t o f every p article w ith in it. (C am pbell 1959: 149) C am pbell notes, It w as at this m o m en t in hum an destiny th at the a rt o f w ritin g first appeared in the w o rld and . . . also the w heel appeared. A nd w e have evidence o f the d evelopm ent o f the tw o num erical systems still norm ally em ployed th ro u g h o u t the civilized w o rld , the decim al and the sexagesim al; . . . T h ree hu n d red and sixty degrees, then as now ,

30

Changemakers represen ted the circu m feren ce o f a circle - the cycle o f the horizon - w hile three h u n d red and sixty days, plus five, m arked the m easurem ent o f the circle o f the year, the cycle o f tim e.

T he five in te rc a la ted days ‘rep resen t a sacred opening th ro u g h w hich sp iritual energy flow ed into the round o f the tem poral universe from the p lerom a o f e te rn ity ’. A cco rd in g to C am pbell, the zig g u rat w as also ‘c h a ra c teriz e d by the n u m b er five; for the four sides o f the to w er, o rie n te d to the points o f the com pass, cam e to g eth er at the sum m it, the fifth point, and it w as th ere th a t the energy o f the heaven m et the e a r th ’ (1959: 147-8). C am pbell goes on to say th at This early Sum erian tem ple to w e r w ith the h ieratically organized little city surrounding it w h ere everyone played his role according to the rules o f a celestially inspired divine gam e, supplied the m odel o f paradise th at w e find, centu ries later, in the H indu-B uddhist im agery o f the w o rld m ou n tain , Sum eru, w hose je w e le d slopes, facing the four directions, peopled on the w est by sacred serpents, on the south by gnom es, on the n o rth by e a rth giants, and on the east by divine m usicians, rose from the m id -p o in t o f the e a rth as the v ertical axis o f the egg-shaped universe, and bore on its q u ad ran g u lar sum m it the p alatial m ansions o f the deathless gods, w hose to w e re d city w as k n o w n as A m aravati, ‘T he T o w n Im m ortal. (C am pbell 1959: 148) In C a m p b e ll’s v iew , the Sum erian m odel w as w idely dissem inated. W e see it in the G reek O lym pus and the A ztec tem ples o f the sun, as w ell as D a n te ’s holy m ountain o f P u rg a to ry w ith the earth ly paradise at its sum m it. From the earliest tim es, hum ans have ex p lo red the w o rld by land and by sea. Even the early n eo lith ic cultures com m unicated w ith each o th e r, trad ed and exch an g ed ideas: T he form and co ncept o f the C ity o f G od conceived as a ‘m esocosm ’ (an earth ly im itatio n o f the celestial o rd e r o f the m acrocosm ) w h ich em erg ed on the threshold o f h isto ry circa 3200 B .C ., at precisely th a t geographical point w h ere the rivers T igris and E uphrates reach the Persian G ulf, w as dissem inated eastw ard and w e stw a rd along the w ays already blazed by the e a rlie r neolithic. T he w o nderful lifeo rgan izin g assem blage o f ideas and principles - including those o f kingship, w ritin g , m ath em atics, and calendrical astronom y reached the N ile, to inspire the civ ilization o f the First D ynasty

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o f E gypt, circa 2800 B .C .; it spread to C rete on the one hand, and on the o th er, to the valley o f the Indus, circa 2600 B .C .; to Shang C hina, circa 1600 B .C .; and, according to at least one high au th o rity , D r. R o b ert H ein e-G eld ern , from C hina across the Pacific, d uring the prosperous seafaring period o f the late C hou D ynasty, b etw een the seventh and fo u rth centuries B .C ., to Peru and M iddle A m erica. (C am pbell 1959: 148) If the foregoing facts o f dissem ination be true, and C am pbell is confident th at they are, then it is safe to say, th at ‘w ith o u t exagge­ ratio n . . . all the high civilizations o f the w o rld are to be thought o f as the limbs o f one g re a t tree, w hose ro o t is in h eav en ’ (1959: 149). T h at ‘m ythological r o o t’ is ‘the life-inspiring m onad th at p recip itated the im age o f m a n ’s destiny as an organ o f the living cosm os’ (ibid.). A n o th er w ay o f saying this is: H um an com m unity is governed by the same h igher law or principle th at orders the cosmos. C am pbell notes th at the ‘E gyptian term for this universal o rd e r was M a ’at; in India it is D harm a; and in C hina, T a o ’ (ibid.). W h a t then is the m eaning o f all the m yths and rituals th at have developed out o f this idea th at th ere is a universal o rder? C am pbell suggests th at the m yths and rituals are its stru ctu rin g agents, functioning to brin g the hum an o rd e r into accord w ith the celestial. ‘T h y w ill be done on e a rth , as it is in h ea v en .’ T he m yths and rites co n stitu te a m esocosm - a m ediating, m iddle cosmos, through w hich the m icrocosm o f the individual is b ro u g h t into relation to the m acrocosm o f the all. A nd this m esocosm is the en tire c o n tex t o f the body social, w hich is thus a kind o f living poem , hym n, o r icon o f m ud and reeds, and o f flesh and blood, and o f dream s, fashioned into the a rt form o f the h ieratic city state. Life on e arth is to m irro r, as nearly p erfectly as is possible in hum an bodies, the alm ost hidden yet now discovered - o rd e r o f the p ageant o f the spheres. (C am pbell 1959: 150) W ith this conception o f the ‘m esocosm , the m iddle, sociological cosmos o f the C ity ’ (C am pbell 1951: 155), th at is to say, ‘the en tire c o n te x t o f the body social’ (1959: 150), w hich has been shaped by ‘the pageant o f the spheres’ (ibid.), and the idea th at the ‘p atterns o f this m esocosm are w h a t . . . have shaped the soul’ (1951: 155), w e have reached the nub o f this study. T he basic question is: W h a t are the p attern s o f this m esocosm , the social body, and how in fact do they

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shape the individual soul? T o answ er this question it is necessary to begin w ith the fam ily, for the p attern s o f the body social are tran sm itted to the individual in the alchem ical vessel o f the fam ily. In o rd e r for the fam ily to tran sm it the p attern s o f the body social, it is necessary for the fam ily to be a m icrocosm o f society. W e do n ot have sufficient h istorical data to say for sure how the fam ily functioned in Sum erian tim es, although e v ery th in g suggests th at it m ust have been p a tte rn e d in the same w ay as the ‘p ageant o f the spheres’ (C am pbell 1959: 150), th at is, in a h ierarch ical m odel. N o r can w e w ith c erta in ty d eterm in e the n atu re o f the fam ily in ancient G reece, nevertheless w e have good reason to believe th a t G reece d rew on the Sum erian m odel. A m ajo r aspect o f these changes w as a new pantheon o f the gods and goddesses w hich w as stru c tu re d as a h ierarch al fam ily. In his Origins o f Greek Religion, B. C . D ie tric h d raw s p a rtic u lar a tte n tio n to the develo p m en t o f the h ierarch ical fam ily am ong gods and hum ans: T w o im p o rta n t features o f the M esopotam ian P antheon are firstly the in te g ra tio n o f the city gods w ith th eir chthonic v eg etatio n o rig in into a hierarch ical fam ily system , and secondly the fact th a t the divine ‘fam ily ’ reflected the o rg an izatio n o f the hum an society in the city. B oth features w ere destined to recu r in the fo rm atio n o f the G reek O lym pian fam ily. (D ietric h 1974: 31) W h a te v e r the m eans by w h ich this w as achieved, the final result o f the new o rd e rin g o f society in Sum er w as to free up individual in itiativ e and creativ ity . N o o th e r ex p lan atio n can be found for the explosion o f c re a tiv ity th at w ith in a few h u n d red years produced all o f the basic elem ents o f cu ltu re and civ ilizatio n as w e know it today. T h a t this c re a tiv ity had som ething to do w ith the new vision o f the fam ily w hich appeared at this tim e in the pan th eo n o f the gods and goddesses, and w hich was m irro re d by a sim ilar develo p m ent in the hum an fam ily, seems highly probable, p a rtic u la rly in view o f the fact th at the n e x t m ajor explosion in c re a tiv ity took place in G reece some hundreds o f years follow ing the Sum erian p erio d w hen, as D ietrich points out, the p antheon o f gods and goddesses w as again stru ctu red along sim ilar lines. A m ajor featu re o f the n ew pan th eon and the new fam ily th at em erg ed in Sum er, is the im p o rtan ce given to the sacred m arriag e as an hieros gamos. T he life-g en eratin g union o f heaven and e a rth was expressed in the form o f the first tem ples. In its earliest stage, the z ig g u ra t is a m ound b u ilt o f su n -d ried m ud bricks. In the cen tre and at the highest point, the energy o f e a rth and heaven are d ra w n to g eth er.

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T he ritual m arriag e m ay have been ‘enacted there by a divine queen and her spouse’ (C am pbell 1959: 146). This early tem ple is described as: a little height, artificially constru cted , supporting a chapel for the ritual o f the w o rld -g e n e ra tin g union o f the e arth goddess w ith a god o f the sky . . . T he queen o r princess o f each city was in these earliest days id entified w ith the goddess, and the king, her spouse w ith the god. (C am pbell 1951: 150) T he hum an m arriag e as an in carn atio n o f the sacred ritual concen trated a new p o w er in the parents. B efore Sum er, as in tribes th a t still exist today, p o w er was spread m ore w idely th ro u g h o u t the society through the com plex n e tw o rk o f kinship ties.1 B ut in Sum er, the fam ily took on the h ierarchical features o f the pantheon. As a result o f these changes, the individual citizen w as created - to be sure, at first as a m ere servant to the gods, but, nevertheless, w ith certain privileges and rights assured by the gods th ro u g h th eir civil authorities, the king and his councillors. As w e know in G reece these rights and privileges o f the citizen w ere considerably increased as was creativ ity in the arts, science, philosophy - in fact in every field o f endeavour. N ow the arg u m en t being m ade is th at the changes in the pantheon o f the gods and goddesses and the sim ilar stru ctu rin g o f the fam ily freed up the creativ e spirit to focus on the w o rld and the self in a new w ay. This new w ay led to the discovery th at the individual hum an being is the conduit o f the spirit in all its creativ e form s. B ut the creatio n o f the individual citizen is n o t the only elem ent o f the change in pantheon and fam ily. T h ere is also the hierarch ical stru ctu re w hich in the Sum erian pantheon begins w ith the separation o f the w o rld parents, heaven and e arth , and leads to the generations o f the gods and goddesses. Follow ing is a b rie f sum m ary by S. N. K ram er o f the ‘cosm ogonic o r creation concepts o f the S um erians’: 1. First w as the primeval sea. N o th in g is said o f its origin or its b irth , and it is no t unlikely th at the Sum erians conceived it as having existed eternally. 2. T he primeval sea b eg o t the cosmic mountain consisting o f heaven and e a rth united. 3. C onceived as gods in hum an form , A n (heaven) was the m ale and Ki (earth ) was the fem ale. From th eir union was b eg o tten the air-god Enlil. 4. Enlil, the air-g o d separated heaven from earth , and w hile his father

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Changemakers An c a rrie d o ff heaven, Enlil h im self c arried o ff his m o th er Ki, the earth . T he union o f Enlil and his m o th er Ki - in historical tim es she is perhaps to be id entified w ith the goddess called variously N inm ah, ‘g re a t q u e e n ’; N inhursag, ‘queen o f the (cosm ic) m o u n ta in ’; N intu, ‘queen w ho gives b ir th ’ - set the stage for the o rg an izatio n o f the universe, the creatio n o f m an, and the establishm ent o f civilization. (K ram er 1961: 40-1)

In H e sio d ’s codificatio n o f G reek m yth o lo g y the origins are sim ilar. In the beginning M o th er E a rth em erg ed from chaos and bore h er son U ranus. T h en U ranus fath ered the T itans upon M o th er E arth. Thus w as the co ntinuing g en eratio n o f the gods and o f hum ans set in m otion. O th e r early creatio n m yths begin w ith a single c reatu re w ho is e ith e r divided into m ale and fem ale, o r w ho creates the opposite sex o ut o f h im /h erself. In all these m yths o f origins the separation o f the fem inine and m asculine principles is the source o f all fu rth e r creativ ity . This id en tificatio n o f the fem inine and m asculine principles as the life-fo rce w hich p erm eates the universe is the g re a t discovery w hich suffused hum an cre a tiv ity . T hus the significance o f its eventual form alization in the dialectical opposites o f Eros and Logos, and the Y in and Y ang o f the T ao. B ut here again w e m ust look to a fu rth e r d ifferen tiatio n w hich takes place in the new p antheon and the n ew fam ily. Sibling position becom es im p o rta n t in a new w ay. T he h ierarch ical fam ily stru c tu re now derives from the parents as in carnations o f the m asculine and fem inine principles. T h e ir union produces offspring, w hose o rd e r o f b irth now takes on a m eaning stem m ing from the a u th o rity o f e ith e r the m asculine or the fem inine spirit. T hence cam e the discovery th at th ere are qualities o f c h a ra c te r and perso n ality in h eren t in the stru c tu re and dynam ics o f the fam ily. B ut even m ore significant than th a t discovery is one w hich is y et scarcely p erceived, nam ely, th a t these in h eren t potentials o f the fam ily for shaping the destiny o f the individual also lead to the shaping o f the w o rld in w ays w h ich m anifest as a fourfo ld cycle o f c rea tiv ity th at has its origins in the fam ily co n stellation. A nd this too has its c o u n te rp a rt in the realm o f the gods and goddesses. I shall be taking up the fourfold cycle o f c re ativ ity in g re a te r depth la te r on. B ut for the m o m en t I shall conclude this discussion w ith a cau tio n ary note reg ard in g some o f the o th e r consequences o f the Sum erian rev o lu tio n . C am pbell is certain ly ju stified in his enthusiasm o v er the g re a t achievem ents o f the Sum erians and the m ythological

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them es w hich united them and then spread to oth er regions ot the w o rld , influencing sim ilar, albeit cu ltu rally -ad ap ted , developm ents. This is the positive side. T he d ark side o f the rise o f the hieratic city state, and then the g reat civilizations, is the increasing cen tralizatio n o f p o w er supported by arm am ents and w arfare. N o t long after the Sum erian revolu tio n the m ighty w a r gods m ade th eir appearance in the m ythological pantheons. T he b rie f respite o f ‘d e m o c ra tic ’ principles w hich arose in G reece w as follow ed by A le x a n d e r’s em pire. The h istory o f hum an relationships as far back as w e can determ ine, has been one o f v arying degrees o f com ity being established w ithin the group, or trib e, or clan, and so on, bu t w hich did not ex ten d to the ‘a lie n ’, th at is to say, anyone o f an o th er group o r trib e, or clan, and so on. Such trib al, ethnic, and religious intolerance still exists today th ro u g h o u t the w o rld . T he trag ic w ars w hich have com e to encompass all nations have m ade us all too aw are o f the potential for total d estru ctio n w hich w e face. As w e continue w ith this study it w ill be im p o rtan t to keep in m ind th a t the c re a tiv ity th a t w as unleashed in the Sum erian revolution has led to b o th positive and n egative creations; or perhaps, to put it d ifferen tly , the hum an uses o f such creatio n have been b o th positive and negative. T he atom ic bom b is o u r m ost salient exam ple. W e now have the means for to tal d estru ctio n o f everyone on this planet. A nd it is w e w ho unleash the w eapons. T h ere is yet another dim ension to this issue. In the Second W o rld W a r, w e saw how a le a d e r’s identification w ith an archaic form o f an arch ety p e can w reak such havoc, and ignite such fear, th at w e ourselves in the end felt obliged to create atom ic w eapons. Since th at tim e, the atom ic w eapons possessed by the U n ited States and Russia have seem ingly m aintained peace. B ut now th at uneasy peace is evap o ratin g , and the possibility o f a true peace in E urope is em erging. For a single m om ent durin g the m eeting o f M ikhail G orbachev and R onald R eagan at R eykjavik there apparently w as the o p p o rtu n ity for the tw o leaders to agree to elim inate all nuclear w eapons. It seems th at only the in terv en tio n o f the hardline conserva­ tive m em bers o f President R eag an ’s p a rty prevented th at possibility. Subsequently the tw o m en achieved a lim ited degree o f success in elim inating some n uclear w arheads. M eanw hile dem ocracy is b reak in g out all over Europe. T he question posed for us is w h e th e r th ere is a scarcely discernible process w hich has slow ly, oh so slow ly, been pushing us to w a rd a new revolution beyond the one at Sum er, a rev o lu tio n w h ich m ust o f necessity unite the w hole

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w o rld into a com m unity w hose new fo rm is as yet unknow n. If th a t is to occu r it w o u ld seem to dem and y et an o th er change in the individual, the fam ily, and society. W e shall re tu rn to these issues in C h a p te r 10. For now w e shall ex p lo re fu rth e r the in te rtw in in g o f individual, fam ily and society as it is m anifest in political leadership.

NOTE 1 Before Sumer, as in tribes that still exist today, pow er was spread more w idely throughout the society through the com plex netw ork o f kinship ties. For exam ple, the male head o f a fam ily was not the natural father o f the children, but was more likely to be the m other’s brother, the uncle o f the children. The natural father o f the children was then in turn the male authority to his sister’s children, or even some m ore distant female relation. This spread alliances o f pow er throughout the tribe, rather than keeping pow er focused w ithin the nuclear fam ily.

Chapter 3

Political leadership and the sibling complex A fated symmetry

BACKGROUND W e tu rn now to m y study o f political leadership. L ittle did I know w h en I u n d erto o k the study th at I w o u ld w illy-nilly be sw ept into the m aelstrom o f U SA and B ritish history. I found m yself reading biographies and autobiographies o f all the leading presidents and prim e m inisters, and m any o f the lesser ones as w ell; and reliving w ith the particip an ts the g re a t and the m in o r w ars and rebellions, along w ith the peaceful interludes. A lw ays there was the thrust o f expansion o f the English, then the travail o f the b irth o f a new nation, and again the w e stw a rd course o f expansion on the A m erican co n ti­ nent, and so on and on. For m e, this has been an ex tra o rd in ary ex p erien ce w hich has re tu rn e d fo urfold and m ore a deepened ap p reciatio n o f the struggle o f hum anity, in all its follies and defeats, and occasional trium phs, to realize some ideal o f a U topian com ­ m unity. This was an early a tte m p t to understan d the fateful in tertw in in g o f individual, fam ily and society. A t the com pletion o f the study I was startled to realize th at, so far as I could determ ine, not a single U nited States presidential candidate, no r a B ritish candidate for prim e m inis­ te r, past or present, has a ttrib u te d his or her success or failure in an electio n to sibling position in the fam ily. Y et the selection o f presidents and prim e m inisters provides convincing evidence that, in m any cases, sibling position is a critical factor. In a m ajo rity o f elections it turns out th at by the tim e the p a rty prim aries are ov er and the tw o, or som etim es th ree, principal candidates are know n, they tu rn out to be o f the same o r v ery closely related ordinal positions. It is as if things are ‘a rra n g e d ’ in some unknow n, or at least unconscious w ay, so th at the state o f the nation and the ordinal position o f the final candidates, or, the candidate

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w ho is finally elected, have an affinity for each o th e r and - to p ut it m ore strongly - appear to be destined for each other. W h en these results first b egan to em erge from m y p relim in ary observations o f the c u rre n t U n ite d States presidential elections I w as cautiously curious. C ould this be some ab e rra tio n o f A m erican politics at this p a rtic u la r tim e? T o satisfy m y curiosity I finally u n d erto o k this study o f sufficient size - all o f the presidents o f the U n ited States and all o f the prim e m inisters o f G re a t B ritain; and covering a long enough span o f history - over 200 years. T he best w ay I k now to ap p ro ach the topic is to describe some o f the events th a t early on teased m e into this study. For exam ple, in the sum m er o f 1960 as the U SA presidential election loom ed on the horizo n , the D em o crat conven tio n , in a close decision, chose Jo h n F. K ennedy as th eir standard b e a re r, w hile the R epublicans n o m inated c u rre n t p resident D w ig h t E ise n h o w e r’s v ice-president, R ichard M . N ix o n . N e ith e r candidate had m uch o f a rep u tatio n at the tim e. K ennedy struggled w ith the handicap o f being C atholic, and N ix o n w as still som ew hat tain ted by an illegal slush fund w hich had nearly lost him the v ice-presidency. In fact, the public show ed so little in terest in e ith e r candidate, th at, by the tim e o f the election, bum per stickers ap peared saying ‘K n e ith e r-K n o rr’. As it tu rned o ut the election w as the closest ever held, and the final results w e re n ot know n until afte r the electo ral college had m et to settle disputed votes. W h a t p articu larly caught m y in terest in the election w as th a t the fam ily constellations o f the tw o candidates w ere very sim ilar. B oth K ennedy and N ix o n w ere second sons in fam ilies w ith four sons, and in b o th fam ilies the eldest son w as deceased. This piqued m y curiosity. I th en learn ed th a t the v ice-p resid en tial running m ates, Lyndon Johnson and E arl W a rre n , w e re b o th first-b o rn sons. N a tu ra lly a single instance o f such close m atch in g b e tw e en presidential and v icep residential candidates could n o t be considered p ro o f o f anything; it m ig h t be p ure coincidence. B u t it w as a hint, and I took the h int seriously. In the presidential elections th a t follow ed, I cam e to see th a t the m atch in g o f sibling positions am ong candidates is m ore than a coincidence. As a b rie f o v erv iew : Johnson and G o ld w ater (1964) w ere b o th first-b o rn s; N ix o n and H u m p h rey (1968) w ere b o th younger sons; N ix o n and M cG overn (1972) w e re b o th second-borns; C a rte r and Ford (1976) are b o th first-b o rn s. T he ex c e p tio n to this tre n d (1980) involved last b o rn R eagan vs first-b o rn C a rte r. T he 1984 election retu rn e d to a m atch in g o f sibling positions: M ondale and R eagan are b o th second

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39

sons. A gain in 1988, the candidates Bush and D ukakis are both second sons. A lthough it m ay at first be difficult to understand the significance o f these sibling facts in view o f the issues o f the cam paigns and m any apparen tly sharp differences o f ideology, it is nevertheless true th at m ore o ften than not, the p residential candidates have a com m on hum an bond; they b o th know w h a t it is like to be first-borns (or second-borns, and so on) in a fam ily. B ack in 1960, I w o n d ered w h e th e r the close election results m ight have been in p a rt due to the sim ilar fam ily constellations o f K ennedy and N ixon. B ut I soon learned th a t there are landslide elections as w ell as close elections b etw een candidates o f the same sibling position. For exam ple, in 1964 th ere w as a landslide election in favour o f first-b o rn Johnson w ho w as running against first-b o rn G oldw ater. So the question is n o t w h e th e r the election is w o n by a w ide o r n arro w m argin. R ather, the question is: W h a t is the reason for the surprising sym m etry reg ard in g sibling positions? I concluded th at there m ust be an under­ standable psychological principle th at underlies these patterns. O ne question led to another: Is th ere a readiness in the candidates w hich corresponds to a p a rtic u la r social-political situation at the tim e o f a p articu lar election? In o th e r w ords, are the candidates o f a p articu lar sibling co n fig u ratio n ‘destined* (in some psychological m ea­ ning o f th at term ) to strive for leadership, and to achieve it w hen the ‘signs’ are rig h t, so to speak? T his brings to m ind th at old argum ent o f historians and political scientists as to w h eth e r the tim es m ake the individual, o r the individual m akes the tim es. I propose th at the ‘in d iv id u al’ and the ‘tim es’ are sim ply tw o perspectives on the same facts: the individual and the tim es effect each o th er in w ays th at are deeply entw ined. For some tim e I p ondered w h a t it m ight be about the sibling positions th a t could account for the m atching o f candidates. F urther, I w o n d ered w h a t th at m ig h t m ean about the n atu re o f elections. W h a t d eterm ines a c a n d id a te ’s prospects? If th ere is a reason w hy bo th candidates in an election tend to be from the same sibling position, w h a t m ig h t it be? W h a t could be accom plished by having tw o candidates o f the same position in th eir fam ilies? It occu rred to me then th a t it m ust be, first o f all, some com pletely unconscious m o tivating facto r w hich w ould be m ore o r less identical for each candidate. F u rth erm o re, this m o tiv atin g fa c to r m ust derive from the position in the fam ily constellation. T he ‘n u c le a r’ fam ily constellatio n is com posed o f m o th er, father, and

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children. O th e r m em bers o f the ‘e x te n d e d ’ fam ily m ay also live in the hom e, g ran d p aren ts, aunts, cousins, and they m ay need to be considered in individual cases. T he term s ‘sibling p o sitio n ,’ and ‘sibling configu­ r a tio n ’ are interch an g eab le; b o th include various factors such as ordinal position, age spacing and gen d er o f the children. T he en tire fam ily constellatio n contains key facto rs th a t d eterm in e the conditions under w h ich a candidate o f a p a rtic u la r position in a p a rtic u lar fam ily constellatio n is likely to be n o m in ated to run for the presidency, and also w hy the m atch in g o f sibling positions am ong candidates m ay take place. As I have said, it m ust be ce rta in constant and com pletely unconscious factors related to the fam ily constellation, and especially the sibling position th a t accounts for the m atching o f candidates, as w ell as for the election o f a candidate. B u t having said th at, it becom es a p p aren t th at some kind o f m atch in g m ust occur as w ell w ith some co n stan t features o f the social-political situation w hich acts as a m ag n et, shall w e say, to d ra w p a rtic u la r candidates into the political aren a in a p a rtic u la r electio n y ear. N o w w h at could th at be? A nd h ow w o u ld it co rrespond w ith the c a n d id a te ’s sibling position? O bviously th ere m ust be some constant features in the fam ily and in the society th a t fit to g e th e r in a significant w ay and it w ould appear th a t these features m ust be socio-political in n atu re. This suggests th a t the solution m ust lie in understan d in g the fam ily as a m icrocosm o f the society. Let us n ow tu rn to the im agination, and let us assume th at the fam ily, in principle, is to a g re a te r o r lesser e x te n t a m icrocosm o f the society in w h ich it is em bedded. It is n o t too difficult to com e up w ith exam ples w h ere this appears on the surface to be true. I am thinking, fo r exam ple, h ow for centuries the ruling fam ilies in G re at B ritain w e re larg ely o f the u p p er class and stru c tu re d in a strictly p atriarch al m odel w hich w as in accord w ith the m onarchical and parliam en tary system o f B ritish govern m en t. A nd in A m erica, too, th ere has been a c o terie o f old guard fam ilies w h ich have co n trib u ted m ore than th eir share to A m erican p o litical life. Let us then continue ou r im aginative ex ercise and for the m o m en t assume th a t such an im bedding o f fam ilies in a society can and does occur. N o w com es the m ore d ifficu lt p art. H o w do features o f the fam ily actu ally m irro r the essential socio-political elem ents o f the society? T h e follow ing answ er to th a t question is speculative and m ay require a te m p o ra ry suspension o f disbelief.

Political leadership and the sibling complex

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THE FOUR SIBLING POSITIONS T o begin, let us think o f the ‘n u c le a r’ fam ily as a social system m ade up o f tw o generations, the parents and the children, and let us take the ch ild ’s eye view o f this social system . First im agine th at the ‘ch ild ’s eye v ie w ’ is th at o f an only child. From this perspective ‘so ciety ’, th a t is to say the fam ily, is m ade up o f tw o g row n-ups w ho represent the previous g en eratio n and one child w ho represents the present gene­ ration. In o th e r w ords, the only child in this im aginary scenario represents the sole, and to tal constituency o f the cu rre n t society. A nd so far as the infant o r young child is concerned this fam ily-society is, fo r a considerable p eriod the w hole ‘w o rld ’. This first ‘w o rld ’ is intern alized , so to speak, by the child. O nly gradually does the ch ild ’s ‘fam ily-society-w orld* expand to include the o u te r w o rld o f society. This expansion o f the ch ild ’s w o rld is alw ays a process o f assim ilation o f the o u ter w o rld to the ‘fam ilyw o rld ’ w h ich was the first to be assim ilated. T he end result o f developm ent for the child is an ‘inner world*, p artly unconscious and p artly conscious, w h ich is a lay ered in teg ratio n o f the stages o f developm ent from infancy to adulthood. O f course this process o f assim ilation is n o t a pure and sim ple sw allow ing w hole o f eith er the w o rld o f the fam ily or the g re a te r o u te r w o rld o f society. A co m plem entary process o f developm ent sees to it th at the child in teracts w ith its w o rld and develops in the process an adaptive sense o f itse lf in the w o rld . T he final resu ltan t ‘w o rld ’ th at is internalized is a p ro d u ct o f the d ialectic o f assim ilation and accom m odation. This dialectical process is best u n derstood as involving the innate arch ety p al-affectiv e dynam ism s o f p lay /im ag in atio n (as assim ilation) and c u rio sity /e x p lo ra tio n (as accom m odation). Im agination and cu r­ iosity can be u n derstood as the p ro to ty p ical form s o f the evolved cosm ogonic principles o f E ros and Logos, understood in their broadest sense as relatedness and discrim ination. T his, obviously, is b u t the b riefest psychological explanation o f the process w h ereb y the child develops a ‘c o re ’ inner w o rld w hich m irro rs the fam ily social system , and w h ich is then gradually expanded to include the o u te r w o rld th ro u g h subsequent assim ilations. It w ill, h o w ev er, suffice for o u r p resent purpose w hich is to present a prelim in ary d escription o f the c h ild ’s eye view o f its inner ‘fam ilysocial’ w o rld . T he follow ing descriptions are to show th at each sibling position involves a unique ex p erien ce for the child.

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The only child T he only child ex periences itse lf as the sole m em ber, and to ta lity o f the ‘n e w ’ g eneration. In the fam ily as a social system this ‘n e w ’ gen eratio n is a single-m em ber social system , if such can be im agined. M o reover, the only child experiences the parents as an ‘o ld e r’ g eneration w hose total a tte n tio n goes to th eir only child, the ‘n e w ’ generation. T he foregoing describes an ex p erien ce w hich is unique to the only child. It is n o t shared by the first-b o rn w ith siblings, the interm ed iate children, or the last-born.

The first-born child T h e first-b o rn child begins life w ith the same ex perience as the only child, and rem ains an only child for a p eriod o f tim e w hich can v ary b e tw e e n about 11 m onths to several years. T h ere com es a tim e, h o w ev er, w hen a sibling is b o rn and the only child is transform ed into a first-b o rn w ith a sibling. T his m eans, in term s o f the fam ily as a social system , th at for some p eriod o f tim e the child has ex p erien ced the fam ily in the same fashion as does the only child. It is the sole m em ber o f a ‘n e w ’ g en eratio n and it is the sole recipient o f the a tten tio n o f the ‘o ld e r’ generation. B ut all this changes w ith the b irth o f a sibling. T he firs t-b o rn ’s social w o rld now suddenly and inexplicably expands to becom e a tw o -m e m b e r sibling g en eratio n , and the a tten tio n o f the ‘o ld e r’ g en eratio n m ust now be shared w ith the sibling. In addition the b irth o f a sibling introduces the ex p erien ce o f there being older and yo u n g er m em bers o f the ‘n e w ’ g en eratio n . Thus it is th at the first-b o rn child has an ex p erien ce th a t is uniquely d ifferen t from the only child, the in term ed iate child and the la st-b o rn child.

The intermediate child T h e in term ed iate child is b o rn into a w o rld w hich already contains one o r m ore m em bers o f the y o u n g er g en eratio n. A nd for a period o f tim e the in term ed iate child is the youngest in the fam ily. This m eans th at the in term ed iate child first experien ces the social w o rld o f the fam ily as one in w hich the ‘n e w ’ g en eratio n is com p leted by its b irth . B ut then, like the first-b o rn child, the in te rm e d ia te ch ild ’s view o f the social w o rld o f the fam ily is tran sfo rm ed by the b irth o f y et an o th er sibling; now it is in term ed iate b e tw e e n m em bers o f the ‘n e w ’ gen eratio n w ho are older and youn g er than itself. Ju st so, a unique ex perience is c reated

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for the in term ed iate child w hich is n o t shared by the only, first-b o rn or last-b o rn child.

The last-born child T he last-b o rn child is the one w ho com pletes the ‘n e w ’ generation o f the fam ily, and rem ains the youngest m em ber forever. T he la st-b o rn ’s experien ce o f the social w o rld o f the fam ily is th at one or m ore m em bers o f the ‘n e w ’ g en eratio n are already present; the atten tio n o f the m em bers o f the ‘o ld e r’ g en eratio n m ust alw ays be shared. M ore­ over, as the last-b o rn child it is and it rem ains, the youngest o f the ‘n e w ’ g eneration. T he last-b o rn child thus has its ow n unique e x p e r­ ience o f the fam ily social w o rld w h ich is not shared by the only child, first-b o rn or in term ed iate born. This com pletes the b rie f im aginative fo rm ulation o f early childhood experiences o f the four unique sibling positions. I cannot em phasize enough th at it is the unique, y et universal aspect, o f each o f these sibling experiences w hich accounts for the m atching o f political candidates w ith one an o th er in any election, and their m atch w ith the state o f affairs in the society at large. T he correlations w e shall present could not have o ccu rred if such unique experiences o f each o f the fam ily sibling positions did n o t exist.

THE FAMILY ATMOSPHERE N o w , having o u tlined the four sibling positions, it is necessary to e x p lo re the o th e r dim ension o f the fam ily, the fam ily atm osphere. It is the fam ily atm osphere th at is responsible for the psychological dynam ics leading to a p a rtic u la r individual being ‘chosen’ by the spirit, so to speak, to becom e the p a rtic u la r leader at a specific m om ent in history. Moses w as called by Y ahw eh from the burning bush; Joan o f A rc w as guided by her angels; and G andhi listened to the voice o f the people. Seizure by the spirit does n o t im ply th at the resultant developm ent w ill m anifest as good or evil, as histo ry w ell illustrates. G andhi, for exam ple, was seized by the sp irit w ith the aim o f taking back his native land from the rule o f the B ritish, and giving to his people th eir rights and privileges as citizens o f a sovereign state. H e created a non-violent rev o lu tio n w hich in the end achieved his aim. H itle r, too, was presum ably seized by the spirit w ith the aim o f taking back his divided hom eland from the allied countries th at had defeated the G erm ans in

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the First W o rld W a r, and giving his people th eir rights and privileges. H itle r c reated a violent revo lu tio n w ith a com m itm ent to his notion o f a U to p ian society; a society th at w o u ld b reed a perfect race o f blond, b lu e-ey ed heroes and heroines; rid itse lf o f all those w ho w ere Jew ish, or w eak, disabled and unfit; and th en im pose its rule on the rest o f the w orld. W h a t m akes the difference b e tw e e n a H itle r and a G andhi, b o th o f w h o m w ere youn g er sons engaged in revolution? H ere w e m ust look to the fam ily atm osphere, th a t indescribable am algam c rea te d by the behav io u r, values, cu ltu ral develo p m ent, and (perhaps m ost significantly) the unconscious p aren tal com plexes w hich c arry the unan sw ered questions o f the ancestors, and rep resent the unlived lives o f the parents. It is to these influences o f the fam ily th at w e should look for the d ifference b e tw e e n a H itle r and a G andhi, o r so I believe. I shall take up this them e la te r on.

MYTHIC ORIGINS In the o ntogeny o f the individual, the o rd er o f b irth is a ‘p rim o rd ia l’ event, so to speak. It is k n ow n to the parents before b irth and is slipped o v er the n e w -b o rn infant like an invisible envelope. Inescapably, w e are received into this w o rld n o t ju s t as a boy o r girl infant, b u t as a first-b o rn , a second-born, and so on, boy o r girl. W h a t significance this a priori quality has for individual dev elo p m ent is still little know n, b ut w e cannot d oubt th at sibling position has been o f the greatest significance to society from tim e im m em orial. T he m yth and ritual o f all peoples as w ell as the law s o f in h eritan ce and o f royal succession e v ery w h ere reveal its pervasive presence. W e are n o t y et in a position to say w h e th e r this is an ex pression o f purely social and political expedience, as some conten d (G raves 1955), o r w h e th er (as I suspect) it has deep er roots in the reco g n itio n o f an underlying psychological situation. B ut regardless o f the conclusion, the aura o f m ystery w hich surrounds b irth itse lf ex tends to encom pass sibling position. It w as this b irth aspect o f the vast reserv oir o f fam ily rom ance found in m yths and legend w h ich first cap tu re d the a tte n tio n o f psycho­ logists. R an k ’s The M yth o f the Birth o f the Hero, originally published in 1909, stands as a landm ark o f this early interest. In trig u ed by the unusual set o f circum stances th a t surro u n d ed the b irth o f the hero in m any cultures, R ank isolated a c h a ra c teristic p a tte rn o f features, am ong w hich w ere the h e ro ’s v irg in b irth , dual p arenthood, and ab andonm ent a fte r b irth . S ubsequent study by o th e r investigators have

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confirm ed and ex ten d ed R a n k ’s basic findings (Jung 1956; K erenyi 1959; S later 1968). In one o f the m ost system atic exam inations o f the h ero m yth, Raglan (1956) identified some tw e n ty -tw o elem ents w hich clustered around the three universal rites o f passage: b irth , initiation, and death. O u r in terest is lim ited here to the clu ster o f features surrounding the b irth o f the hero. A re -e x a m in atio n o f the m ythological sources indicates th at, in actu ality , genealogical and fam ily inform ation about the hero falls into tw o basic p attern s. O ne o f these, like the ‘b e g a t’ sections o f the B ible, is clearly intended as a m eans for affirm ing the h e ro ’s divine origins and establishing rights to the inheritance o f privilege and po w er. T he second p a tte rn furnishes details o f the fam ily, even to such specificity at tim es as the age spacing o f siblings. The universal features o f the h e ro ’s b irth , w hich fall for the m ost part into the first p a tte rn , m ay be in te rp re te d as a symbol appropriate to the h e ro ’s divine fate. A t the hum an level, this corresponds to the sense o f destiny evoked by the fated accident o f b irth. If the universal features o f the h ero m yth have to do w ith the h e ro ’s divine inspiration and his call to destiny, the variable details o f setting and fam ily serve m ainly to define the h e ro ’s task and his fitness to accom plish it. W ith this w e are in a position to suggest th at the hero o f m y th and the h eroic leader coalesce in a com m on psychological reality. T h a t is to say, the ancient legend o f Moses and the contem porary legend o f M ahatm a G andhi, show each as a lib erato r o f his oppressed people. In this sense, Moses and G andhi are identical psychological types. If w e pursue this exam ple for a m om ent, m any obvious parallels spring to m ind. Homo religiosus is applicable to both; but beyond that, th eir lives ex h ib it a m ysteriously successful blend o f religion and politics for w hich E rikson (1969) has coined the apt phrase ‘religious a ctu alism ’. It w o u ld be easy to m ultiply parallels and a m ore thorough analysis o f com m on elem ents in the lives o f Moses and G andhi w ould be an illum inating study. B ut for the m om ent I shall lim it m yself to m entioning one additional elem ent o f sim ilarity, the one m ost p ertin en t to this research, th at is, sibling position. Each is a last-born and has a n e x t older b ro th e r and an o lder sister. This little excursion into m ythology in search o f the cultural significance o f sibling position has now b ro u g h t us close to our thesis. It also serves to rem ind us o f the elem ental dilem m a o f hum an existence, suspended as w e are b etw een tw o realm s o f being, the m ythological vision and the everyday w o rld . T his rem in der prepares us for thinking about findings I shall p resent in the n e x t ch ap ter w hich urgently

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suggest th at the careers o f such w o rld -re n o w n e d leaders as Lincoln, R oosevelt, and C h u rch ill, to m en tio n a few , w ould be b ut footnotes to the pages o f histo ry w ere it no t for a fateful concatenation o f events in w hich a m atch in g o f sibling position and the political Zeitgeist are essential elem ents. A critical fa c to r is the in d iv id u al’s sense o f m ission w hich, coupled w ith a co m p lem en tary response from others, leads to success. In effect, w e shall be considering the question th at E rikson has e x p lo red so deeply in Gandhi’s Truth: W h y c e rta in m en o f genius can do no less than take upon them selves an ev o lu tio n ary and ex isten tial curse shared by all, and w hy o th er m en w ill be only too eag er to ascribe to such a m an a god-given greatness surpassing th a t o f all others? (Erikson 1969: 129)

THE POLITICS OF BIRTH ORDER N ow for a closer look at the ev eryday w o rld o f the fam ily w h ere the roots o f political leadership are to be found for a G andhi as surely as for the leader o f lesser statu re. Fam ily life th ro u g h its m ajor functions o f c u ltu ral transm ission and the n u rtu ra n c e o f children ensures th a t every child is equipped w ith a m icrocosm ic vision o f society w hile at the same tim e being pro v id ed w ith a relativ ely -sh eltered arena for the testing o f life ’s practical skills. P arents are the prim e agents o f all this and, as w e w ell know from personal ex p erience and the findings o f d ep th psychology, th e ir c h a ra c te r and p ersonality, the values they cherish, and the quality o f th eir personal relationship ca rry critical significance for a c h ild ’s developm ent. P aren tal influences alone are n o t sufficient to account for the im pact th at sibling position in the fam ily m ay have on developm ent. U n d e rly ­ ing and in term in g lin g w ith these p aren tal influences at all levels o f the c h ild ’s conscious and unconscious ex p erien ce lies the filterin g envelope o f sibling position. This is an o n -g o in g system o f rein fo rcem en t w hich is b u ilt into the v ery stru c tu re o f the fam ily itself, and w hich resides in the sim ple fact o f age differences b e tw e e n siblings. From this basic elem en t o f the fam ily, a w hole host o f consequences m ay be seen to flow . First am ong such consequences are the purely ex isten tial p rio rities w hich are so indelibly im p rin ted on o u r m em ory by the ritual observance o f b irthdays. Far g re a te r in im portance, though, are the cum ulative effects o f the daily ebb and flow o f fam ily life w hich faces

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children tim e after tim e a fter tim e w ith the often painful aw areness o f ju st w here it is they stand w ith th eir siblings in the hierarchies, for exam ple, o f size and stren g th , o f m obility, o f privilege, and o f know ledge and ex p erien ce w hich exist simply because o f age differ­ ences and, in tu rn , by v irtu e o f the o rd e r o f th eir b irth. N eed w e look fu rth er? T he d eep -flo w in g cu rren ts o f em o tion im plicit in these sibling relationships are surely w h a t m ake sib lin g -p osition-related experiences so binding and so freig h ted w ith far-reach in g consequences. Just listen to this recital by 10-year-olds o f the tactics they em ploy to g et a sibling to do w h a t they w ant: ‘I b eat him up, hit him , boss him , spook him , b elt him , exclude h im ’, or ‘I get m ad, shout and yell, cry, pout, sulk, ask o th e r kids for help, th re a te n to tell M om and D a d ’ (see S utton-S m ith and R osenberg 1970). So elem ental and universal are these responses th at no one need be told th at the participants are older and younger b ro th ers and sisters, nor need anyone be in doubt that the h ig h -p o w e r tactics are those o f the o ld er siblings. This is the litany o f sibling rivalry. W e m ay deplore, m oralize, excuse, and point to oth er kinds o f behaviour, bu t it is im possible to deny th at this is often how it is w ith b ro th ers and sisters. If w e now p erm it ourselves the v agrant th o u g h t th at M ahatm a G andhi was once ju st such a b ro th e r am ong b ro th ers and sisters, w e com e ab ru p tly face to face w ith the near im possibility o f com prehending the tran sform ation th at takes place from childhood to sainthood. B ut to re tu rn to o u r litany o f sibling rivalry, are not these the raw m aterials o f p o w er politics? It requires no g reat leap o f im agination to perceive in adult political leaders the same kinds o f behaviour: Lyndon Johnson, a first-b o rn son, in the C ap ito l cloakroom ‘tw isting arm s’; R ichard N ixon, a second-born son, angry, pouting, crying on tele­ vision; John Foster D ulles, a first-b o rn son, ex p lo itin g atom ic brinkm anship; o r D w ig h t E isenhow er, a th ird -b o rn son, holding N ixon at a rm ’s length. Is this no t the tru e state o f political affairs?

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP A N D THE SIBLING COMPLEX W ith this background w e are now in a position to discuss m ore specific hypotheses. B riefly stated, m y m ajo r thesis is th at sibling position provides the basis for a psychological typology com prising four principal types and a n um ber o f m in o r variants. T he basic types co rrespond to the four sibling situations: the only, first-b o rn , in term ed iate born , and last-b o rn child. Each has an absolutely unique b it o f experience. T he only child n ev er know s w h at it is like to have

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siblings; the first-b o rn begins life as an only child and then experiences the b irth o f a sibling; the in te rm e d ia te -b o rn begins life as a last-b o rn and then ex periences the b irth o f a sibling; and the last-b o rn is alw ays last and n ever ex periences the b irth o f a sibling. These types have m any variations w h ich are a functio n o f fam ily size, sex o f siblings, age spacing, and o th e r personal and fam ily factors. Age spacing m ay be o f p a rtic u la r im p o rtan ce in d eterm in in g o n e ’s essential typology based on ex periences d u rin g the c h ild ’s fo rm ativ e years. Each psychological type arises in a p artic u la r fam ily constellation. For exam ple, there is a first­ born m ale type w ith sisters only and a first-b o rn m ale type w ith b ro th ers only, and so on. It is obvious th at the num ber o f possible com binations o f ordinal position, sex o f sibling, and fam ily size is large b u t finite. N o tw o ch ildren in a fam ily have quite the same experience. Each, from his o r h er o w n individual sibling perspective, in teriorizes - to use L ain g ’s concep t - a p a rtic u la r ‘fa m ily ’ ex p erience. B irth o rd e r is one o f the stru ctu ral elem ents o f such in te rio riz e d ‘fam ilies’/ M o reover, it is an a priori position in the in d iv id u a l’s o ntogeny th at places sibling position at the cen tre o f the process o f id en tity form ation. W ith respect now specifically to leadership, the b urden o f the arg u m en t is th a t w ith in the fam ily each sibling position prom otes a unique view o f society and provides a unique experience in dealing w ith p o w e r and au th o rity . This view o f society and the acquired leadership skills are norm ally refined in the peer play group, and then becom e the re p e rto ire o f adu lt p o litical behaviour. From this perspec­ tive, the fam ily ’s role in the d ev elo p m en t o f political ex p ectations and b eh av io u r is as a m icrocosm o f society: T he p rim ary g roup (w h a t one m ig h t call the political system o f the fam ily) influences the ex p ectatio n s o f the individual w ith re g ard to au th o rity in the la rg e r political system . W ith in the p rim ary group, the individual receives train in g for roles th a t he w ill play w ith in the society. T his train in g consists in b o th the teaching o f certain standards o f b ehaviour th a t can be applied to la ter situations, and, perhaps m ore significantly, the playing o f roles in the fam ily and o th e r p rim ary groups th a t are sim ilar to roles la te r to be played in the political o r econom ic system . (V erba 1961: 31) T o sum m arize so far, th ere should be four basic styles o f leadership corresp o n d in g to the four sibling ex periences - the only, first-b o rn ,

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in term ed iate, and last-b o rn child. M oreo v er, ‘successful leadership . . . rests on a laten t congruence b etw een the psychic needs o f the leader and social needs o f the fo llo w e rs’ (R ustow 1970: 23), and as a result, th ere should o f necessity be four m ajo r situations o f the body politic w hich cry out for the leader o f ap p ro p riate sibling position. These situations are respectively: (1) the b reak d o w n o f social institutions, for exam ple, the 1930s D epression; (2) expansion a n d /o r co nfrontation, for exam ple, early years o f the U n ite d States; (3) retren ch m en t and realignm ent o f dom estic and foreign com m itm ents, for exam ple, the 1950s; and (4) rebellion and rev o lt, for exam ple, the C ivil W a r. T he exercise o f fittin g this em p irically -d erived m atching o f leader­ ship styles and social crises to b irth o rd er hypotheses is obviously com plex. For its suggestive value, I offer the follow ing exam ple o f the p ath w ay my speculations have follow ed. Let us begin w ith the notion th at leadership styles and social crises m ay be m irro r im ages, so to speak, o f childhood sibling experiences. T ake, for exam ple, the only child. If w e assume th at from the ch ild ’s eye view o f the fam ily the parents represen t past society and the children represent present society, it follow s th at o f all the b irth o rd er positions the only child, being the sole heir o f past society and the sole m em ber o f present society, w ould on b o th counts be the best able to identify w ith society as a to tality . Thus in a crisis involving the collapse o f vital social functions w h ere the essential task o f leadership is to unite all the people in a genuinely co -o p erativ e effo rt o f reg en eratio n , it w ould presum ably be the only child w ho is m ost likely to succeed. Pursuing this line o f tho u g h t w ith the o th er sibling experiences I arriv e at the follow ing for the first-b o rn . As first heir o f past society and first citizen o f an expanding society all the m em bers o f w hich are o f lo w er rank than him self o r herself, the first-b o rn w ould be uniquely in touch w ith the dem ands o f an expanding society w hile also in h eritin g responsibility for w eak er m em bers. This experience p re­ pares him o r h er presum ably for effective leadership in times o f te rrito ria l expansion and c o n fro n ta tio n .3 T he in term ed iate-b o rn shares w ith the first-b o rn the ex p erien ce o f an expanding society, although in o th e r respects his or her situation is quite different. For exam ple, in term ed iate-b o rn s find them selves in the m idst o f a society w ith h ig h er-ran k in g classes on one side and lo w er-ran k in g classes on the o th er, a position w hich appears to m axim ize opportunities for diverse relationships w hile at the same tim e dem anding adeptness at m ediation and accom m odation. T his ex p erien ce, it w ould seem, w ould incline the in te rm e d ia te -b o rn to leadership skills th at involve a rb itratio n and the

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realig n m en t o f p o w er. Finally, w ith the last-born, society has com ­ pleted its g ro w th and all classes are obviously o f higher rank than the low ly last-b o rn . Just so, w e m ay im agine, is created the n atu ral cham pion o f the oppressed and the lead er o f choice in tim es o f rebellion and rev o lt. (It should be n o ted th a t in te rm e d ia te-b o rn children w ere once last-borns. As w e shall see, they m ay under p a rticu la r circu m ­ stances, becom e the leaders in rebellion o r revolt.)

METHODOLOGY A N D REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE W ith respect to the kind o f e x p lo ra to ry research presented here and in the follow ing chapters, it is essential to keep constantly in m ind the lim itations placed upon the g en eralizatio n o f results by any failure to m eet various req u irem en ts o f m ethodology. I have m ade every effo rt to o b tain the com plete basic fam ily constellation w h en ev er possible. This has been achieved in all b u t a few instances for ou r p rim ary subjects, U SA presidents and English prim e m inisters. It w ill also becom e obvious as the results are discussed th a t some o f the im plications o f this research cannot be pursued w ith the data at hand. I have at tim es iden tified fam ily constellations w h ich appear to stim ulate c h a ra c te r­ istic types o f psychological develo p m en t only to find m yself unable to do m o re than speculate because o f the lim itations o f the data. Because o f these lim itations, w h en ev er results are presented I have trie d to m ake clear the fram e o f referen ce, w h a t the data are, and h o w com plete they are, so th a t o th ers m ay be enabled to d ra w th eir o w n conclusions. C o m p letely satisfactory d ata fo r this kind o f research is difficult to obtain. Ellis, w hile p re p a rin g his A Study o f British Genius (1926), w as p robably the first to en co u n ter the fru strations im posed by incom plete, unsystem atic, and am biguous biog rap h ical facts. N o t one to suffer in silence, Ellis for m any years used his n o t inconsiderable influence to convince ed itors o f the value o f accu rate facts about the origins and fam ily life o f em in en t individuals. H e eventually achieved lim ited success w ith the B ritish Dictionary o f National Biography (Stephen and Lee 1885-1900) (perhaps also in d ire c tly w ith the Dictionary o f American Biography), w h ich began to supply w ith increasing reg u la rity b o th sibling position o f child ren , and sibling position o f sons o r daughters (fo r exam ple, second-born child, only son). This, o f course, is only a beginning and is far sho rt o f w h a t w o u ld be desired, nam ely, ordinal positions, sex o f siblings, b irth dates, and dates o f death w ith indications o f early d eath fo r at least tw o generations.

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Still, all is n o t lost. T hough the fru stratio n level rem ains high, there are ju s t enough usable facts p rovided w ith a reasonable degree o f accuracy to m ake the use o f basic biographical source books w o rth ­ w hile, p articu larly for prelim in ary explorations. F ortunately, these general source books can often be supplem ented by individual b io g ra­ phies. W ith biographies it is a pleasure to rep o rt the situation is d efinitely im proved and im proving. T h ere is clear evidence o f the im pact o f depth psychology. E arly childhood experiences w hich fifty years ago w ere releg ated to a few pages o r even paragraphs now com m and respectable atte n tio n , and a genuine effo rt is m ade by m any b iographers to in teg rate the events o f childhood w ith late r life. N evertheless, the accum ulation o f any sizeable sample o f accurate and relativ ely com plete fam ily constellation data on public and h istorical figures rem ains tim e-consum ing. As m ay be expected, the present study suffers to some e x te n t from the vagaries o f the b iographi­ cal sources ju s t described, p articu larly the d e arth o f inform ation about age-spacing b etw een siblings. This w ill be m ade clear w henever it is felt these deficiencies m ay seriously affect the results. T he p rim ary sources o f the biographical data used in these studies w ere J. N . K a n e ’s (1959) Facts About the Presidents (FA T P), the Dictionary o f American Biography (D A B ), the B ritish Dictionary o f National Biography (D N B ), the jo u rn a l Current Biography (C B ), and some hundred o r m ore individual biographies. In an effo rt to ensure accuracy in the fam ily data, one o r m ore individual biographies w ere consulted w henever possible for each o f the presidents and prim e m inisters. This procedure w as also follow ed w ith the o th e r political leaders re ferred to in the research. In cases w h ere biographies w ere n ot available, and in the few instances w h ere biographies w ere in disagreem ent, the D N B , D A B or C B w ere relied upon. In these studies, the sibling position o f the political leader is d eterm in ed p rim arily by the fam ily constellation o f the children w ho survived b irth and w ho lived w ith one an other for any significant po rtio n o f th eir early childhood. I have settled m ore or less a rb itrarily on the period from b irth to at least five years o f age by w hich tim e m any researchers suggest the nucleus o f c h aracter form ation has been established. It w ill occasionally occu r th at there is some discrepancy b etw een the sibling positions re p o rte d here and those found in biographical source books w hich, as m entioned, often include stillbirths and deaths in infancy. In ad dition to the d eath o f a sibling, fu rth er com plications involve age-spacing, as w ell as half-siblings and o th e r issues related to the ex ten d ed fam ily.

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M ethodology B efore p roceeding fu rth e r, som e questions o f nom enclature and m eth ­ odology need to be clarified. For exam p le, there are at least three basic definitions o f sibling position (see Jones 1933). O ne is pregnancy ord er. For research in w h ich pregn an cy o rd e r is ap p ro p riate data, it is often n o t im p erativ e th a t fu ll-te rm infants be born. A second definition is based upon the actual b irth s o c c u rrin g b u t m ay include stillbirths and deaths early in infancy. (This is the ordinal position frequently rep o rte d in general b iographical sources.) In the th ird definition in terest centres p rim arily upon the children w h o survive b irth and w ho live w ith one an o th er for a significant p o rtio n o f th eir form ative years. T he last o f these definitions is w h a t I w ill use. O ne w ay to com e to grips w ith com plications o f the fam ily constellation is to m ake use o f a trad itio n al genealogical diagram . In Figure 3.1, the sons and dau g h ters in a fam ily are listed in the b o tto m ro w in the o rd e r o f th eir b irth fro m left to right. A m ore com plete d iag ram w o u ld include b irth dates b en eath each child, to indicate the essential elem ent o f age-spacing b e tw e e n siblings. In the ro w ju s t above the sons and d aughters are th eir parents. T he parents are likew ise rep resen ted in o rd e r o f b irth am ong th eir siblings. A nd above the p arents are th eir parents (the g ran d p aren ts o f those at the b o tto m ). G enerations could be added ad infinitum, all the w ay back to the original pro g en ito rs. In its to ta lity , this genealogical c h a rt w ould co nstitute the m ost com prehensive definition o f the te rm ‘fam ily c o n stellatio n ’. For m ost research purposes I w o u ld be m o re than delighted if it w ere possible to ob tain data for th ree generatio n s o f a fam ily, th at is, the b o tto m three row s o f the d iag ram .4 In actual fact, and certainly w ith respect to historical and public figures, the d ata from general biographical sources is often lim ited to the b o tto m ro w , the basic elem ents o f w hich are o rdinal position, sex o f siblings and, in the best o f circum stances, the relativ e ages o f siblings. A lth o u g h w e have spent m ore tim e than m ay seem w a rra n te d in this discussion o f relativ ely sim ple, even self-evident facts, it is precisely ov er such issues th at m uch research in this area has com e to grief. T hese basic m ethodological req u irem en ts w e re fo rm ulated by Jones (1933) m any years ago, b u t they have been m o re honoured in the b reach than in the observance. A m ajo r reason fo r this neglect o f such elem en tary considerations is the co m p lex ity th ey introduce. As one disillusioned in v estig ato r (Schooler 1972: 174) fran k ly adm its, ‘if, in o rd er to be

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M i ll I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

o o • v v v o ▼o v v • O o V V T O O O

v • o v

o ▼v v o

O V ▼o V o

Figure 3.1 Traditional genealogical diagram Note: Circles stand for females, triangles for males. The blacked-in figures represent the individual in question (bottom row), his parents (middle row), and grandparents (top row).

fru itfu l, the study o f b irth o rd e r necessitates dealing w ith the com plex­ ities o f such variables as sex o f siblings and fam ily density, o r o f collecting d ata on h a rd -to -d e fin e co n tro l groups, it loses m uch o f its a p p e a l’. A lthough S ch o o ler’s reassertion o f m ethodological strictures is w elcom e, the very selective n atu re o f the review and the apparent lack o f acquaintance w ith a significant body o f e arlier lite ra tu re m akes the o th e r conclusions less tenable.

R eview o f the literature For m any years the psychology o f sibling position in the fam ily co nstellation - com m only re fe rred to as b irth o rd e r - has been a very p erp lex ed subject. This is p a rtly because on the surface the variable seems so sim ple and stra ig h tfo rw a rd . O ne need only com pare a num ber o f only children w ith first-b o rn ch ild ren on any ch aracteristic one m ay choose and obtain a result, positive or negative. A nd this is w h at innum erable researchers did in the 1920s (S utton-S m ith and R osenberg 1970: 152). T he ch aracteristic th a t m any o f them focused on w as the presum ed handicap und er w h ich the only child w as supposed to

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o p erate. T h e ir ex p e c ta tio n w as th a t only children w ould be found to suffer from m ore psychological sym ptom s than o th e r children. T he results w ere anything b u t conclusive, and w hen these co n trad icto ry studies began to accum ulate at an am azing rate the academ ic establish­ m en t stepped in and d eclared the subject a n o n entity, a w aste o f tim e. T hese p ronouncem ents had th e ir desired effect, at least tem p o rarily , and the q u an tity o f b irth o rd e r studies declined m arkedly. A few co m m itted researchers, h o w ev er, pursued the subject w ith diligence and w ith a b ro ad er perspective. These findings are rev iew ed in the th o ro u g h and w ell-in fo rm ed analysis o f the to tal body o f b irth o rd e r research up to 1968 to be found in the The Sibling (S u tto n -S m ith and R osenberg 1970). O ne o f the significant co n trib u tio n s m ade in this w o rk is the d em onstration o f consistent findings by a p ersistent gro u p o f investigators - K och (1958), Lasko (1954), Levy (1937), Sears (1951), to m ention a few - w ho w ere n o t d e te rre d by the difficulties and com plexities o f the subject m a tter. I have adopted, and adapted, for use here the system o f signs proposed by S u tto n -S m ith and R osenberg (1970: 17) for sim plifying reference to fam ily constellations.5 In the post-S econd W o rld W a r years b irth o rd e r research e x p e r­ ienced a renaissance th a t fostered a prolo n g ed pursuit o f the w ill o ’ the w isp n otion th at first-b o rn s are m ore likely than others to scale the h eights o f em inence. T he crite rio n o f achievem ent used in m ost o f these studies w as college atten d an ce, and the results seem ed overw helm ingly to support the hypothesis. In the end though, these studies served m ainly to show th a t psychologists are as vulnerable to the m yth o f the b irth o f the h ero as anyone else. T he origin o f this hypothesis goes back at least as far as the n in eteen th c en tu ry w h en Sir Francis G alton published a study w hich p u rp o rte d to prove th at the first-b o rn sons o f the B ritish upper class achieved h ig h er positions in g o v ern m en t and society than did th eir yo u n g er siblings (1869). D espite the obvious defects o f G a lto n ’s study w h ich took no account o f the prev ailin g patriarch al privileges o f in h eritan ce, this idea spaw ned a rash o f o th e r studies seeking to substantiate his findings. A n o th er E nglishm an, H avelock Ellis (b e tte r k n o w n for his p ioneering studies in hum an sexuality), conducted a study o f w h a t he called British Genius (1926). Ellis chose a thousand subjects from the Dictionary o f National Biography. U sing a num ber o f c rite ria to establish th eir superio r level o f achievem ent, he com pared his subjects on several variables including fam ily origin and b irth o rd er. H is results w ith reg ard to b irth o rd e r again seem ed to support the then

Political leadership and the sibling complex

55

prevailing view th at first-b o rn s o u tstrip p ed o th er children in achieve­ m ent. A re-ex am in atio n o f E llis’s and o th e r early studies (S tew art 1961) revealed th at they do n o t prove w h a t they contend. Some are riddled w ith erro rs, o thers do n o t co n tro l for such factors as fam ily size, use biased samples, and so on. A lth o u g h th ere m ay be some association betw een b irth o rd er and vo catio n (for exam ple, in such hierarchical professions as the m ilitary and the church, younger sons tend to shine, w hereas in the law , first-b o rn and only sons are slightly m ore likely to attain em inence), all professions considered, there is little, if any evidence to support a b e lie f in the g re a te r frequency o f em inence o r achievem ent in first-borns. H arris (1964) reaches sim ilar conclusions on slightly d ifferen t grounds. A subsequent study (Sm elser and S tew art 1968), using a sample o f subjects d raw n from the longitudinal research o f the In stitute o f H um an D evelopm ent, U niversity o f C alifornia at B erkeley, gave no support to the hypothesis th at first-borns achieve m ore education than others. H o w ev er, the issue refuses to go aw ay. A recen t study o f 113,000 people re p o rte d in Science by D r Ju d ith Blake (1989), show ed once again th at the o rd e r o f b irth m ade no difference in h ow far the subjects w e n t in school o r how intelligent they w ere. ‘W h a t m a tte rs ’, said D r B lake, is how large a fam ily one com es from . W h a t had seem ed to be b irth o rd er effects w ere artifacts. T he real effects w ere due to p a ren ts’ characteristics - the lo w e r social class and the less educated the parents, the b igger the fam ily. (B lake, in G olem an 1990: 9) A study by C ecile E rnst and Jules A ngst (1983) appears to have reached conclusions sim ilar to D r B lak e’s. E rnst and A ngst attem p ted to review all o f the e x ta n t research on b irth o rd e r b etw een 1946 and 1980. T hey also conducted a study in 1971 o f ‘a rep resentative sample o f 6,315 19y ear-o ld [Swiss] m ales and [a slightly less representative sample of] 1,381 2 0 -year-old [Swiss] fem ales’ (p. 246). In both their survey o f the w o rld lite ra tu re and th eir o w n study, the authors found largely negative results w ith respect to the effects o f sibling position on p ersonality and behaviour. T h e ir final conclusions w ere that: B irth o rd er and sibship size do n o t have a strong im pact on personality. T he p resent investigation points instead to a broken hom e, an unfriendly educational style, and a p rem ature disruption o f relations w ith parents as concom itants o f neuroticism , and to higher

56

Changemakers incom e and social class (w ith all assets im plied) and an undisturbed hom e as co ncom itants o f h ig h er achievem ent. Beside these influences, details o f socialization seem to shrink to insignificance. (E rnst and A ngst 1983: 284)

Posing the question in the w ay they have, E rnst and A ngst have proved once again th at sibling position does n o t p re d ict e ith er psychopathology o r high achievem ent. T he authors also seem to suffer from a m is­ co n cep tio n about the ex p ectatio n s fo r research on the sibling position. T h ey state in th eir preface: ‘E v erybody agrees th at b irth o rd er differences m ust arise from d ifferen tial socialization by the p a re n ts’ (ibid.: x). B u t everyone does n o t agree th a t b irth o rd e r differences are ro o te d in d ifferen t tre a tm e n t by the p arents. E rnst and A ngst seem to ignore the fact th at siblings in te ra c t w ith and have an effect upon each o th er. W ith reg ard to p olitical leadership, E rnst and A ngst neglected im p o rta n t studies, and in te rp re te d findings in a rb itra ry w ays. For ex am p le, an early study w h ich I re p o rte d in 1970 to the annual m eeting o f the A m erican Psychological A ssociation w as cited, b u t only a single and m in o r aspect o f the study w as m entioned. T h e ir evaluation o f the study did n o t address the cen tral a rg u m en t th at b irth o rd er is related to the likelihood o f an individual being elected president under certa in specified social-political conditions. M y m ore extensive re p o rt on this subject, published a few years la te r as a ch ap ter in A Psychological Examination o f Political Leaders (1977b), w as n o t included in th eir survey. O n ly one o th e r study is re p o rte d on the subject o f sibling position and political leadership: W a g n e r and S chubert (1977) review ed the b irth o rd e r o f the USA presidents b u t no hypotheses w ere exam ined th at co n cern ed the relationship o f sibling position and style o f leadership, o r the like. O n the basis o f a careful read in g o f th e ir review o f the lite ra tu re and th e ir o w n study o f Swiss subjects, I m ust conclude th a t E rnst and A ngst have done b o th a service and a disservice to our understanding o f the fam ily constellation and its influences on the destiny o f the individual. T he positive aspect o f th eir study is th e ir overall finding th at th ere is no evidence for the assum ption th a t b irth o rd e r is d irectly related to eith er high achievem ent o r psychopathology. T he issues o f achievem ent and patho lo g y have plagued the study o f b irth o rd er from the very beginning. T he conclusions o f E rnst and A ngst, as w ell as those o f B lake, m ay help to set these issues to rest. T he negative aspect o f th eir study is the failure to u n d erstan d the effects o f the fam ily constellation

Political leadership and the sibling complex

57

and sibling position per se on style o f life and w o rld -v iew . T h eir ow n study does n o t a tte m p t to assess such factors. Thus in a w ay, they have tried to th ro w o u t the baby w ith the b ath w ate r. As far as I can d eterm in e, the study I am presenting in this book is the only one o f its kind. A n o th er study, h o w ev er, w hich appears to have some bearin g on m y w o rk , w as re p o rte d to the A m erican A cadem y for the A dvancem ent o f Science in F ebruary 1990. T he au th o r o f the paper, D r Frank Sullow ay, is a historian o f science, a visiting scholar at the M assachusetts Institute o f T echnology. His study has been under w ay for the past n ineteen years. It includes his analysis o f 2,784 participants in tw e n ty -e ig h t o f the m ajo r scientific controversies over the last 400 years. T he a u th o r’s conclusions are th at a d isproportionately high p ercen tag e o f la te r-b o rn scientists supported m ost o f the theories th at challenged accepted beliefs. D aniel G olem an describes S ullow ay’s research in the science section o f The New York Times: O f the 28 scientific revolutions, 23 w ere led by la ter borns. A nd in those w ith a firstb o rn as the leader - Einstein and N ew to n for exam ple - th eir p ro m in en t allies w ere for the m ost p a rt la ter borns. (G olem an 1990: 9) Sullow ay is re p o rte d to be finding sim ilar results in a new study o f the same b irth o rd e r effect am ong ‘social reform ers in historical m ove­ m ents like the ab olition o f slavery, civil rights, union organizing and w o m e n ’s rig h ts’ (ibid.). S u llo w ay ’s rationale for his findings is that: ‘As the eldest, firstborns id entify m ore closely w ith parents and through them , w ith o th e r au th o rities . . . A nd they play the role o f parental surrogate to la te r children. T hey end up m ore conform ing, con­ scientious and conventional than la te r siblings’ (ibid). O n the o th er hand, he said ‘la te r siblings tend to rebel against the first-b o rn ’s a u th o rity ’ (ibid.). In support o f his study, Sullow ay points to one o f the few positive findings o f the E rnst and A ngst study: th at is, first-borns are m ore accepting o f p aren tal a u th o rity and identify m ore w ith p aren tal values than do those b o rn later. L aterborns generally favor scientific innovation, w hereas firstborns, w ho identify m ore closely w ith parents and au th o rity , typically oppose them . In m icrocosm , then, the childhood fam ily constellation fosters the same divisive psychological forces th at la ter determ ine, in adulthood, the battlelines o f rev o lu tio n ary thought. (Sullow ay n.d.: 22) S ullo w ay ’s findings agree w ith m y o w n w ith respect to the fact th at all

58

Changemakers

new advances in any field w h atso ev er are likely to be in itiated by a youn g er son o r d au g h ter (S te w a rt 1961, 1962, 1970, 1976, 1977b, 1988). B ut in m y v iew , Sullow ay m ay be som ew hat m islead by his m ethod o f inquiry. H e ap p aren tly m ixes supp o rters o f a th eory w ith innovators, and hence obscures the w o rld cycle o f creativ e change w hich I intend to show corresponds w ith K u h n ’s cycle o f scientific discovery. Sullow ay does n o t seem to recognize the need to separate the original innovators from oth ers, no r does he separate only children and only so n s/d au g h ters from o th e r first-b o rn s w ith siblings o f the same sex. For exam ple, in S u llo w ay ’s study, E instein and N e w to n are first-borns; w hereas E instein is an only son w ith a yo unger sister, and N e w to n is essentially an only child. T hus he appears to miss the synthetic role o f the only child and only so n /d a u g h te r, as w ell as the m ediating role th at the in te rm e d ia te -b o rn plays in b rin g in g innovative ideas to fruition. In concluding this survey o f the lite ra tu re I should like to com pare b riefly the early co n trib u tio n s o f A d ler and Jung. B oth w e re interested in the fam ily constellation b u t from d ifferen t perspectives. Jung (1909) show ed th a t ch ildren o ften tend to be identified w ith the fam ily atm osphere c reated by th eir p aren ts.7 A dler focused on the ch ild ’s sibling position, to show c h a ra c teristic differences in personality b e tw e e n children in the same fam ily (A dler 1956: 376-83). B etw een them , they covered the tw o fundam ental dim ensions o f the fam ily, th a t is, fam ily atm osphere (Jung) and sibling position (A dler). As w e shall see, the differences b e tw e e n Ju n g and A dler in th eir in terest in, and in te rp re ta tio n o f the fam ily, can perhaps in p a rt be traced to th eir o w n sibling positions and sibling com plexes. Jung w as an only child (M1F) for nine years and then a sister w as born , w hile A dler was the second child, second son (M M 2F[m ]FM M ). From this survey o f the lite ra tu re it can be concluded th a t psy­ chop ath o lo g y , e x c e p t for genetic and catastro p h ic influences, is a consequence o f the atm osphere o f the fam ily determ in ed by the unlived life o f the parents and th eir ancestral com plexes. T he c h a ra cter, b eh av io u r, values and o th e r qualities o f the parents appear to be critical factors. T he lite ra tu re is less defin itiv e on the significance o f the c h ild ’s sibling position in the fam ily. Some o f the early studies, review ed by S u tto n -S m ith and R osenberg in The Sibling, established the im portance o f the subject. S u llo w ay ’s study is a w elcom e co n trib u tio n . B ut on the w h o le, little research has atten d ed to the subject w ith sufficient care and w ith adequate hypotheses to specify the p aram eters o f each sibling position and its im plications fo r the individual, fam ily and society. T hese lacunae I seek to address.

Political leadership and the sibling complex

59

NOTES 1 Follow ing Cassirer, Jung, and others, myth is a meaningful product o f our sym bol-producing psyche. Its universal features sym bolize stages in the psychological developm ent o f humans. The myriad variations o f myth reflect social, philosophical, artistic, and religious aspects o f the culture w ithin w hich it originates. 2 Although the concept o f the interiorized ‘fam ily’ was developed through studies o f schizophrenic fam ilies, it provides a useful w ay o f thinking about the internalization dynamics o f any fam ily. Laing’s definition follow s (single inverted commas are used to make clear that it is the internalized fam ily that is in question): The fam ily here discussed is the family o f origin transformed by internalization, partitioning, and other operations, into the ‘fam ily’ and mapped back onto the fam ily and elsew here. (Laing 1972: 3) 3 Much o f w hat has been said here regarding the first-born child is applicable to first-born sons - first male heirs in a m ale-dom inated society. H ow ever, as larger samples o f all o f the critical fam ily constellations becom e available, w e should be able to differentiate more clearly the specific aspects o f leadership w hich distinguish first-born children from first-born sons (w ith older sisters) and first-born daughters (w ith older brothers). 4 W e know very little yet about the effects o f parents’ expectations as a function o f their ow n sibling position on the developm ent o f children. There are many suggestive exam ples o f the apparent preference for, or rejection of, a particular child w hich may be related to birth order, for exam ple, the elder and younger Pitts w ho w ere both second sons; the singular education o f John Stuart M ill by his father James, both o f w hom w ere first-borns; younger son N eville C ham berlain’s rejection by his first-born father; and first-born Joseph K ennedy’s high hopes for his first-born, Joseph, Jr. 5 M refers to brother; F, to sister. The order o f sequence from left to right is the order o f siblings in the fam ily from oldest to youngest. The individual under consideration is printed in bold type and w ith a number after M or F. That number represents that person’s sibling position in the family. Significant variations based on age-spacing, or gender (for exam ple, only son, only daughter) w ill be described in the text. W hen age-spacing is unusually w ide, it may also be indicated w ith square brackets around the number o f years b etw een siblings, for exam ple, (M1[14]MF). W hen the death o f a sibling is taken up in the text, it may be indicated w ith square brackets around [m] or [f]. 6 N ew ton had three younger h alf siblings, but he is essentially an only child. H e never knew is father. His m other left him soon after birth; he was raised as an only child by his grandmother. W hen he was 11 years old, he w ent to live w ith his m other and got to know his h alf siblings. 7 Jung used W u n d t’s w ord association methods in his study o f the family constellation.

Chapter 4

The American presidents and the British prime ministers

In this ch ap ter I p resent findings fro m m y study o f A m erican presidents and B ritish prim e m inisters co v erin g a p eriod o f nearly 200 years. W e shall discuss first the A m erican presidents, startin g w ith the election o f G eorge W ash in g to n in 1789. W e shall then look at the B ritish prim e m inisters, startin g w ith W illia m P itt the Y ounger in 1783. T he tw o groups o f leaders serve, o f course, as cross-validation for each. In the n a rra tiv e o f the ch ap ter the cycles o f sibling position are show n o v er tim e. From this d ata w e gain a useful v antage point for our purposes.

THE AM ERICAN PRESIDENTS T ab le 4.1 shows the A m erican presidents in the o rd e r o f th eir election (1789-1988). Each electio n is considered separately. For ex am ple, G eorge W ash in g to n was elected for tw o term s, w hile John A dam s w as elected for only one term , and so on. W h a t w e are interested in h ere is the cyclical altern atio n in the sibling positions o f the presidents, and w h e th e r o r n o t this is c o rre la te d w ith m eaningful variations in the political Zeitgeist.

Sibling position and political Zeitgeist This leads to the cen tral research question, the relationships b e tw ee n sibling position and p o litical Zeitgeist. A chronological look at the sibling positions o f the presidents in T able 4.1 shows th a t the d istrib u ­ tion is n o t random w ith respect to electio n periods. Presidents o f the sam e o r sim ilar sibling positions follow each o th e r in close succession fo r v ary in g periods o f tim e. In o rd e r to get a closer view o f a segm ent o f T able 4.1, w e shall look at the first tw e n ty elections, divided into tw o parts o f ten elections each, w h ich is reflected in the sibling position

American presidents; British prime ministers 61 o f the leaders and the types o f political situations covered. B etw een the elections o f 1789 and 1824 (th irty -fiv e years) there w ere five presidents w h o w ere first-b o rn sons and one president w ho was a younger son; w hereas b etw een the elections o f 1828 and 1864 (th irty -six years) there w e re five presidents w ho w ere yo u n g er sons, tw o first-b o rn sons and one only son. T he n e x t question is w h e th e r o r n o t this cyclical altern atio n in the sibling positions o f the presidents is c o rre lated w ith m eaningful variatio n s in the political Zeitgeist. A com parison o f the tw o eras 1789— 1824 and 1828-64 suggests th at this is so. In the 1789-1824 era the new ly-established g o v ern m en t o f the U n ited States was prim arily engaged in expanding and consolidating its boundaries and asserting its sovereignty. H ere are some o f the o utstanding political events and issues o f those days (L anger 1948): 1791-4, Indian w ars leading to e x ­ pansion w estw ard ; 1794, J a y ’s tre a ty leading to evacuation o f b o rd er posts by the English; 1795, P in ck n ey ’s tre a ty n egotiated w ith Spain to establish southern boundaries and rights to navigation on the M is­ sissippi; 1791-9, the X Y Z affair and n ear w a r w ith France; 1801, M arines sent to T rip o li to p rev en t pirating; 1802, O hio becom es the seventeenth state; 1803, Louisiana Purchase; 1804-6, the Lewis and C lark expedition; 1806-7, the C hesapeake A ffair w ith A m erican shipping th reaten ed by England; 1810, rise o f the W a r P arty and g ro w in g dem and for w a r w ith E ngland and conquest o f C anada; 1812— 14, w a r w ith England; 1815, Jackson w ins b attle o f N ew O rleans; 1817— 18, Sem inole W a r w ith Jackson invading Florida and the consequent tre a ty w ith Spain and acquisition o f Florida; 1819-24, Suprem e C o u rt decisions supporting cen tralizatio n o f p o w er in the Federal g overn­ m ent; 1820, the M issouri C om prom ise and admission to statehood o f Louisiana, Indiana, M ississippi, Illinois and A labam a; 1823, the M onroe D o ctrin e. In sharp co n trast, the p eriod follow ing the election o f A ndrew Jackson in 1828 w as, w ith th ree notable exceptions, a tim e prim arily dev o ted to dom estic accom m odations. T he issues o f the day w ere in larg e p a rt m o n etary and p o litical, w ith the dispute over slavery gaining in ascendance (L anger 1948): by 1829, w h ite m ale suffrage established in all the states; 1829, the W o rk in g M a n ’s P arty organized; 1830, the M orm on C h u rch founded; 1831, W illiam Lloyd G arrison established the Liberator, a n ew spaper advocating unconditional abolition o f slavery; 1830-4, Jack so n ’s policy o f relo catin g Indians w est o f the Mississippi; 1832, the U SA B ank contro v ersy; 1838, the U nderg ro u n d R ailroad; 1838-9, C ongress adopts gag resolutions against anti-slavery

62

Changemakers

Table 4.1 Sibling position of USA presidents* (1789-1988) Election years 1789 1793 1796 1800 1804 1808 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940

Last- M iddle born son son G>

Firstborn son

O nly son

O nly child

Elected presidents

G. W A S H IN G T O N G. W A S H IN G T O N p J. A D AM S () T. JEFFERSO N C) T. JEFFERSO N C) J. M A D IS O N C) J. M A D ISO N () J. M O N R O E C) J. M O N R O E _____ 4h J. Q. A D A M S ---------------" _________________ A. JACKSON ______________________A. JACKSON ____________________________ M. VAN BUREN W. H. HA R R ISO N J. KNOX POLK G Z. TAYLOR F. PIERCE d J. B U C H A N A N A. LIN C O LN A. LIN C O LN U. S. G R A N T U. S. G R A N T 0 ------- " R. B. HAYES J. A. G ARFIELD p G. CLEVELAND B. HA RRISO N () () G. CLEVELAND W. M C K IN LEY () W. M C K IN LEY d T. RO O SEVELT > > W. H. TA FT Q< p W. W ILSO N W. W ILSO N c) W. G. H A R D IN G dL C. C O O L ID G E H. HO O VER 0 = Z p F. D. RO O SEVELT F. D. RO O SEVELT C) F. D. RO O SEVELT db

American presidents; British prime ministers

63

Table 4.1 Continued Election Last- Middle years born son son 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988

Firstborn son ^

G C) d G

d ------------(L

)

— -

O nly son

O nly child

____© "

Elected presidents

F. D. RO O SEVELT H. TR U M A N D. EISENHO W ER D. EISENHOW ER J. F. KENNEDY L. B. JO H N S O N R. N IXO N R. NIXO N J. CARTER R. REAGAN R. REAGAN G. BUSH

*See Note 1 on p. 79.

petitions; 1850, the C om prom ise o f 1850 m aking C alifornia a free state b u t leaving o th e r te rrito rie s undecided; 1850, C lay to n -B u lw er T re a ty w ith respect to B ritish en croachm ents in L atin A m erica; 1853, the G adsden Purchase; 1853, railro ad b e tw e e n N ew Y ork and C hicago; 1854, K ansas-N ebraska A ct repealing the M issouri C om prom ise allo w ­ ing hom esteaders to decide for o r against slavery; 1854, trade tre a ty w ith Japan; 1854, O sten d M anifesto, w a rn in g Spain o f U SA in terest in C uba; 1854, the K n o w -N o th in g and R epublican parties appear. T he p receding b rie f sum m ary o f the era from 1828-54 does n ot include P resident P o lk ’s term o f office from 1844-8. It is clear th at this p eriod stands o u t in bold re lie f from the p receding period. T o tu rn now to the electio n o f Polk in 1844, the single o v errid in g issue o f the electio n was the o u tc ry fo r an n ex atio n o f T exas and O regon; ‘54-40 o r F ig h t’ becam e a p opular cam paign slogan o f the D em o cratic P arty. Polk, as it tu rn ed out, w as the first ‘d ark h o rse ’ candidate to be n o m inated by a m ajo r political p arty , his nom ination hinging on support o f an expansionist position in the annexation controversy. Im m ediately follow ing his electio n he set out w ith a w ill to acquire, in addition to T exas, b o th N ew M ex ico and C alifornia. In this he was successful, although n o t w ith o u t p rovoking a w a r w ith M exico. Also d urin g his term in office, Polk n eg o tiated w ith England for the acquisition o f O reg o n , o ffered to buy C uba from Spain, and obtained a

64

Changemakers

Latin A m erican tre a ty th at gave the U SA rights o f passage across the isthm us o f Panam a for a fu tu re railro ad o r canal. A t the end o f his fo u ry ear te rm he claim ed, n o t im m odestly, th a t the acquisition o f C alifo rn ia and N e w M exico, the settlem en t o f the O re g o n boun d ary and the an n ex atio n o f T exas, ex ten d in g to the Rio G ran d e, are results w h ich , com bined, are o f g re a te r consequence and w ill add m ore to the stre n g th and w ea lth o f the nation than any w h ich have preceded th em since the adoption o f the constitution. (Polk, in W h itn e y 1967:105) From this brief, although fairly rep resen tativ e review , it is evident th at periods o f te rrito ria l expansion a n d /o r co n fro n tatio n , leading at tim es to w a r, o ccu rred far m ore freq u en tly , in fact alm ost exclusively, w hen the presidents in office w e re first-b o rn in th eir fam ilies, o r first-b o rn sons, th a t is John Adams (M 1M M ), T hom as Jefferson (FFM3FFFFM), Jam es M adison (M 1M M FM FFM M M ), Jam es M onroe (M 1M M M F), and Jam es K nox Polk (M 1FFM M M FFM M ); w hereas, during tim es w hen a tte n tio n focused m ore on in tern al affairs and m ediation involving treaties, and the like, the presidents w e re y ounger sons, th a t is, A n d rew Jackson (M M M 3), M artin V an B uren (M FM FFM 6M M ), W illia m H e n ry H arriso n (FFM FM FM 7), Z ach ary T a y lo r (M M M 3M FM M FF),' and Franklin Pierce (FM FM FM M 7FM ). T o sum m arize at this point, w e can see in the above data evidence for a relationship b etw een the p o litical Zeitgeist and the sibling position o f the presidents. A n u n d erstan d in g o f this relationship is as y et confined to a distinction b e tw e e n periods o f expansive nationalism often leading to w a r, and o th e r periods devoted m ore to intern al readjustm ents o f a p o litical-social n a tu re , the fo rm er having first-b o rn and only sons as presidents, the la tte r having younger sons as presidents. F u rth er on w e shall iden tify o th e r aspects o f this c o rrelatio n b etw e en Zeitgeist and sibling position. For the m o m ent, ho w ev er, let us consider some o f the im plications o f these findings w ith respect to the political process. T he critical questions are w h ere and w hen such selections are m ade and by w hom ? In a tte m p tin g to answ er these questions, I noted th at sim ilar sibling positions w ere found in sam ples o f b o th elected and defeated presidential candidates. T his result suggests th at the selection process takes place at the national conventions or even earlier. T o learn m ore ab o u t the selection process, sibling position data w ere obtained for a sam ple o f nom inees for the presidency at national conventions during the perio d from 1832 to 1920. This sam ple represents nearly all o f

American presidents; British prime ministers

65

Table 4.2 Birth order (as son) of presidential nominees (18321920) All nominees Birth order (as son) Only son First-born son Younger son Total

Num ber

Percentage

Presidential candidates Num ber

Percentage

21 44 74

15 32 53

5 16 25

11 35 54

139

100

46

100

the leading co ntenders in each election. T hose for w hom biographical d ata w ere n o t available fall m ainly in to the categ o ry o f ‘favourite sons’ w h o w e re n o m in ated fo r h o n o ra ry reasons. As m ay be seen from T able 4.2, th ere is v e ry little differen ce b e tw ee n the sibling position o f all the leading conten d ers (th a t is, all nom inees) versus the sibling position o f those w h o w e re finally selected (th at is, presidential candidates). This sam ple suggests th a t in m any elections, in fact m ore often than not, the v o te r has v ery little choice at all reg arding sibling position since b o th candidates tend to be m atched. For exam ple, in a com parison o f the elections fro m 1828 (w h en the public first began to have a d irec t im pact on the elections) to 1 9 5 6 ,1 found n in eteen elections in w hich the m ajo r candidates w e re o f m atch ed sibling position in co n trast to th irte e n elections in w h ich the m ajo r candidates w ere n o t m atched. In the p eriod 1960 to 1988, I found seven elections in w hich the m ajor candidates w ere o f m atch ed sibling position in co n trast to one election in w h ich the m ajo r candidates w e re n o t m atched. B ut m ore significant than the predom inance o f m atch ed sibling positions am ong presidential candidates is the hypothesis th at the sibling position o f the president and the political Zeitgeist v ary co n co rd an tly . T h ere w ould inevitably be some elections in w h ich the p resid en t-elect is o f a d ifferen t sibling position than the incum bent. A good exam ple o f this state o f affairs is the electio n o f 1828 w h en A n d rew Jackson, a th ird -b o rn son (M M M 3) (w ith w hose electio n it has ap p ro p riately been rem arked the flood gates o f d em ocracy w e re opened) d efeated Jo h n Q uincy A dam s, a first­ b o rn son (FM 2FM M ). As w e have seen, Ja c k so n ’s election m arked the end o f an u n b ro k en succession o f first-b o rn sons covering a span o f

66

Changemakers

tw e n ty -e ig h t years and in au g u rated a p eriod o f sim ilar length dom i­ n ated by second-and th ird -b o rn sons. A n o th er exam ple o f an unm istak­ able shift in b o th the sibling position o f a president and the Zeitgeist w as the electio n o f first-b o rn Polk in 1844. A m ore recen t shift occured in 1980 w h en last-b o rn R eagan w o n the election over first-b o rn C a rte r w ho w as the incum bent. T he m atching o f candidates m ay also be considered in term s o f o th er aspects o f the fam ily constellations such as fam ily size, ratio o f b ro th e rs and sisters, and the ordinal position and sex o f siblings ju s t surrounding the subject. All these w ays o f m atch in g show a considerable degree o f concordance. From the foregoing it is ap p aren t th a t w e have plunged into the tru ly d ifficu lt question o f h ow and w h ere in the electoral process the c o rre la tio n b etw een political Zeitgeist and the p resid en t’s sibling posi­ tion is achieved. Som etim es th a t decision is m ade by the voters; m ore o ften than no t, h o w ev er, it is m ade som ew here else p rio r to election day. Some fu rth e r un d erstan d in g o f this issue m ay be provided by a closer look at w h a t actually occurs in critical election periods. Let us begin w ith one o f the m ost m em orable conventions in this c o u n try ’s h isto ry , the R epublican con v en tio n o f 1860. R oseboom , in his A History o f Presidential Elections has c a p tu red a no t uncom m on reactio n to th at convention: T o the believers in the hand o f P rovidence in A m erican history, the C hicago nom ination m ust afford an am azing exam ple o f its m y ster­ ious w ay. M idnight conferences o f liq u o r-stim u lated politicians, deals for jobs, local leaders pulling w ires to save th eir state tickets, p e tty m alice, and personal jealousies - a strange com pound and the m an o f destiny em erges. (R oseboom 1957: 180) B efore proceeding, let us re tu rn briefly to our historical survey o f the period from 1828 to 1860 to refresh ou r m em ory as to the political clim ate. W h a t is o f highest in terest, o f course, are the signs o f a continual escalation o f the dispute o v er slavery. A signal event w as the establishm ent in 1831, by W illia m Lloyd G arrison, o f the Liberator, w ith its ed ito rial policy ad vocating the uncon d itional abolition o f slavery. In short o rd er follow ed the U n d e rg ro u n d R ailroad o f 1838, the rules o f C ongress against anti-slav ery petitions in 1838-9, the 1850 C o m ­ prom ise, the K ansas-N ebraska A ct o f 1854, the D re d Scott decision o f 1857", and in 1859 John B ro w n ’s fam ous raid on H a rp e r’s F erry3. This

American presidents; British prime ministers

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then w as the political clim ate in w hich the R epublican delegates convened in C hicago in 1860. W h en the convention opened, Sew ard w as the leading contender, w ith A braham Lincoln a close second. E arlier in the y ear Sew ard had been far and aw ay the fav o u rite, b u t in the m onths ju st before the convention L incoln’s star had risen rapidly, largely as a consequence o f his fam ous C o o p er U n io n speech. In the final analysis, h o w ever, m ost observers agree (R oseboom 1957; K ing 1960) th at the w h irlw in d cam paign conducted at the convention by L incoln’s m anager, W illiam W in te r D avid, m ust be given a fair share o f the cred it for toppling Sew ard and sw inging the convention to Lincoln. For our purposes it should be noted th at, o f all the leading nom inees at the convention, Lincoln alone w as an only son (FM2); Sew ard was a th ird son, w ith the o th e r p o ten tial candidates likew ise being younger sons. A n o th er facto r to be considered in L incoln’s selection by the R epublican delegates is the fact th at he had originally gained national fam e in his debates w ith Stephen D ouglas w hich Lincoln was generally conceded to have w on (although he subsequently lost the Illinois S enatorial race). M o reo v er, D ouglas, w ho had long been actively seeking the D em o cratic P arty n om ination, seem ed assured o f success in 1860. Such, o f course, tu rn ed o u t to be the case, although not w ith o u t some slight hitches. W h e n the D em o cratic P arty convened in the south, the delegates becam e deadlocked in the selection o f a candidate and split into tw o factions, one o f w hich m et in B altim ore and nom inated D ouglas, w hile the o th e r rem ained in the South and n om inated John C abell B reck en rid g e. Like Lincoln, (FM2), bo th D ouglas (FM2) and B reck en rid g e (M1FFF) w ere only sons; as w e see, D ouglas w as o f e x actly the same sibling position as Lincoln, both having a single old er sister. T hus, in th at decisive election year in w hich the n ation anxiously faced the th re a t o f secession, the slate o f presidential candidates p resented to the e lecto rate m ade certain th at, no m a tte r w h a t p arty w on the election, the presidency w ould be held by a m an w ho w as an only son. From the above w e m ight d ra w the conclusion th at there is an increased p ro p o rtio n o f candidates o f the ap p ro p riate sibling position in critical elections. Such a tren d is clearly evident in the data o f T able 4.3, w h ere the p ercen tag e o f first-b o rn and only-son candidates is com pared w ith the percen tag e o f y ounger-son candidates for the five elections p receding and including the C ivil W a r (1852-68) and the First W o rld W a r (1904-20), and for a sim ilar n um ber o f elections ju st p rio r to these crisis periods, nam ely, 1832-48 and 1884-1900. These data

68

Changem akers

Table 4.3 Birth order (as son) of presidential nominees during periods of confrontation and accom modation Birth order (as son)

Periods o f confrontation Periods o f accom m odation 1852-68 1904-20 1832-48 1884-00 N % N % N % N %

Only or first­ born son 26 Younger 21 son Total-

47

55 45

29 15

66 34

7 25

22 78

14 25

36 64

100

44

100

32

100

39

100

suggest th a t the selection o f a can d id ate o f a sibling position co n co rd an t w ith the tem p er o f the tim e is statistically m ore probable (X 2 = 7.43, p < .01 fo r com parison o f the C ivil W a r crisis and less c ritica l periods; A = 6.30, p < .05 fo r com parison o f the First W o rld W a r crisis and less critical periods) ju s t on the basis o f the g re a te r availability o f a p p ro p ria te candidates. It could be arg u ed th a t th ere m ust o ccu r at some stage in the political process a m utual responsiveness b e tw e e n candidates o f the ap p ro p ria te sibling position and some segm ent o f the p o p u lation to account for the results w h ich w e find. H en ce, one w o u ld e x p e ct to en co u n ter in critical elections candidates o f the a p p ro p riate sibling position in co n ten tio n fo r som e p erio d o f tim e b efo re the election. Such w as the case in 1860. Lincoln and D ouglas, as w e k n o w , had been rivals. In 1850, they co n tested for the U SA Senate in Illinois. T h e ir w id ely -p u b licized debates p ro p elled them b o th to n atio n al a tte n tio n . John C abell B reck ­ enridge had also attain ed n atio n al expo sure in 1856 as the v icepresid en tial running m ate o f B uchanan. In concluding this discussion o f the election o f 1860, it should be n o ted th a t in the C ivil W a r an ex am ple o f a th ird type o f political Zeitgeist and leadership style has been id en tified. This type o f political situ atio n involves a th re a te n e d b re a k d o w n in m ajo r functions o f society due e ith e r to u n resolved tensions am ong d iv erg e n t factions as in the C ivil W a r or, as w e shall see la te r on, th ro u g h a failure to m eet fundam en tal social needs. A m ong U SA presidents the co rre la ted sibling position fo r this p o litical situ atio n appears to be the only son o r only child .4

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Discussion So far w e have id entified th ree types o f political Zeitgeist, each im plying a p a rtic u la r type o f leadership. T he first type is ch aracterized by expansive te rrito ria l aim s a n d /o r con fro n tations w hich frequently lead to m ilitary conflict; the second m ay also lead to m ilitary conflict, b u t it has tended to be m ore dom estically o rien te d ,5 preoccupied w ith adjustm ents o f p o w er am ong d ifferen t factions such as business, labour, political parties; and the th ird involves a th reaten ed b reakdow n o f m ajo r functions o f a society due eith e r to unresolved tensions am ong d iv erg en t factions o r th ro u g h a failure to m eet fundam ental social needs. As w e have seen, the leaders are in the first case first-borns, in the second case y o unger sons, and in the th ird case only sons o r only children. T h ere is one type o f p olitical situation w hich m ay be clearly distinguished from the th ree already identified. I refer, o f course, to revolution. It is obvious w hy this study has so far failed to tu rn up rev o lu tio n ary leaders, since it has been confined to governm ents w hich have been able to m aintain n ational unity. T he situation in the data so far w hich approached rev o lu tio n w as the A m erican C ivil W a r. In the original analysis I approached th a t struggle from the standpoint o f the federal governm ent. If w e n ow tu rn ou r a tte n tio n to the C onfederacy w e find a d ifferen t type o f leadership. T he president chosen by the rebellious southern states was Jefferson D avis, a long-tim e advocate in the USA Senate o f the rights o f the individual states to resolve for them selves such dom estic issues as slavery. Davis was a last-b o rn son, the youngest o f ten children (M M M FM FFFFM 10). Is this a c h a ra c ter­ istic sibling position fo r rev o lu tio n ary leaders? A survey shows th at in m any cases they are last-b o rn child ren , e.g. Sun Y at-Sen (M M M 3), G andhi (M FM M 4), B oliv ar (FFM M 4). O th ers such as Lenin (FM M 3FFM ), C astro (FM M 3M F), G aribaldi (M M 2M M F), H o C hi M inh (FM M 3M ), A quino (M FFF4M F) and Joan o f A rc (M M FF4M ) although not last-borns, are yo u n g er sons o r younger daughters. It is d ifficult to d eterm in e w h e th e r the A m erican and French revolutions fit this p a tte rn . O ne reason is th at in neith er o f these cases did one person em erge early on as the single undisputed leader. H o w ev er, in A m erica it was certain ly Samuel Adam s (a younger son) in the N ew E ngland colonies w h o o rganized the Sons o f Liberty, w ho inspired the initial acts o f rebellion, and w ho w as instrum ental in organizing the C o n tin en tal C ongress, and w ho presided at its m eetings. A nd o f course G eorge W ash in g to n (M M FM 4FM M F) becam e the

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Changemakers

com m anding g eneral o f the arm y. In the southern colonies, it w as P atrick H en ry (M M2FFFFFF) w ho first gave clear expression to the cry fo r lib e r ty / In France, the original revo lu tio n ary im pulse was ev en tu ally co -o p ted in a m ilita ry coup led by N apoleon (M M 2M FM FFM ), the m ost fam ous g eneral o f the revolution. As w e see, each o f these leaders w as a y o u n g er son. T he id en tificatio n o f this fo u rth type o f political Zeitgeist poses some in terestin g questions. W ith respect to sibling position, the leadership type in rev o lu tio n o ften seems to be the same as in the dom esticallyorie n te d political situation. C an these be the same m en and w om en? A t first th at seems unlikely, since a m ajo r distinguishing feature o f rev o lu tio n is aggression and usually arm ed conflict, w hereas a hallm ark o f the d o m estically -o rien ted era seems to be the absence o f co n fro n ­ ta tio n and m ilitary engagem ents. B ut perhaps w e are overlooking m ore im p o rta n t ch aracteristics o f re v o lu tio n ary periods. First, it m ay n ot be tru e th at rev o lu tio n im plies m ilitary engagem ent. G andhi, for one, has d em o n strated the possibility th a t a resolute, one-sided refusal to reso rt to arm s m ay have rev o lu tio n ary effects. Also w e should note th at Jefferso n D avis, the p re-re v o lu tio n a ry leader, w as m erely one am ong m any advocates o f change. If w e exam ine the lives o f rev o lu tio n ary leaders b efore th eir em ergence as prim e m overs in a revolution, w e no te th at they have engaged for m any years in advocacy o f the causes they support. It is p rim arily the n a tu re o f the governm ent under w hich such rev o lu tio n ary leaders live w h ich d eterm ines the e x te n t to w hich they are free to hold office and to seek change th ro u g h the establish­ m ent. T hus, up until the tim e at w h ich it is no longer possible for a dialogue to continue b e tw e e n d iv e rg e n t factions, there is probably no m ark ed distin ctio n b e tw e e n advocates and p o tential revolutionaries (c f G ipson 1962). Issues like the foregoing, w h ich w e have b arely touched upon, m ake us aw are o f the m any p erp lex in g questions raised by these findings. For exam p le, w hile w e have cleared aw ay some o f the underbrush, w e have still left largely u n to u ch ed such basic problem s as ju st how the selective m atch in g o f sibling position and Zeitgeist m ay occur at various levels o f the electo ral process, quite w ith o u t any aw areness on the p a rt o f the p articip an ts o f the facts w e have investigated here. B efore pushing fu rth e r into these d ifficu lt questions, I co m pared these findings to a sim ilar investigation o f the B ritish p o litical system. It should be evident to the read er by no w th a t in o u r discussion o f the A m erican data, w e re c a p itu la ted history at tim es. This p ro cedure seem ed desirable in o rd e r to revive acquaintance w ith some o f the events o f political

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71

h istory, p articu larly w ith the transitions from one period to another. T he analysis o f B ritish prim e m inisters w ill include less o f a guided tour o f B ritish history. H o w e v e r, in view o f the unique characteristics o f the B ritish m ode o f go v ern m en t, such an analysis illum inates the interactio n s am ong p olitical leaders d uring periods o f transition.

THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTERS T he choice o f the B ritish political system as a source o f validating data w as n atu ral on several counts. T he B ritish prim e m inister is a close analogue to the USA president. H e o r she is the leader o f h is/h e r political party ; he o r she is the head o f governm ent and, like the A m erican president, is given the responsibility for form ing a cabinet. Second, although the B ritish and A m erican electoral processes differ in im p o rta n t details, they b o th require popular election o f th eir heads o f g overnm ent. T he prim e m inister is not, as is the president, elected d irectly by all the people. H o w ev er, in a general election, the prim e m inister is k n ow n th ro u g h o u t the co u n try and is the spokesperson for h is/h e r p a rty ’s platfo rm . In earlier years the choice o f prim e m inister d epended upon a n um ber o f factors. A t one tim e the m onarch had the p o w er to actively in terv en e in the selection, as did the H ouse o f Lords. B ut, now adays, although the m onarch nom inally requests the prim e m inister to form a g o v ern m en t, th ere is no question b u t th at the leader o f a political p a rty w ill o rd in arily becom e prim e m inister w hen that p arty has a m ajo rity in the H ouse o f C om m ons. T he H ouse o f Lords no longer has a say in the m a tte r nor can a m em ber o f the H ouse o f Lords becom e prim e m inister (c f M ath io t 1967). A com parison o f the relativ e pow ers and responsibilities o f the B ritish prim e m in ister and the A m erican president shows th at they are very sim ilar. H istorically, the office o f president and the office o f prim e m inister have g radually acquired g re a te r and g rea te r pow ers. If there is anything th at students o f go v ern m ent agree about, it is the increasing co n cen tratio n o f p o w er in the hands o f the USA president and the B ritish prim e m inister (see, for exam ple, B erkeley 1968). M ost students o f B ritish govern m en t also agree th at the first true prim e m inister w as R o b ert W alpole. As B erkeley puts it: ‘W alpole v irtu ally c reated the office o f prim e m inister and m ade possible the evolution o f the m odern system o f m inisterial responsibility’ (1968: 21). H o w ev er, follow ing W a lp o le ’s th irty -y e a r tenure as prim e m inister, th ere w as a p erio d o f some th irty -tw o years in w hich no fu rth e r progress w as m ade in the develo p m en t o f the office o f prim e m inister,

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Changemakers

p rim arily because o f in tern al p a rty division and the fact th at G eorge III had no in ten tio n o f allo w in g a u th o rity to pass into the hands o f his m inisters. A cco rd in g to B erkeley, n o t until W illiam P itt the Y ounger becam e prim e m in ister in 1783 w as th ere any fu rth e r substantial dev elo p m en t in the pow ers o f the office. In view o f this, as w ell as the less accu rate d ata available in the e a rlie r years, the principal em phasis in this c h a p ter w ill be the tim e b e tw e e n 1783 and 1963 o r, in o th e r w ords, fro m P rim e M in ister W illiam P itt the Y ounger to Prim e M inister M acm illan. T able 4.4, h o w ev er, covers the years up to 1991.

Results T he com parisons ov er tim e presen ted in T able 4.4 show th a t like A m erican presidents, prim e m inisters o f the same o r clo sely -related sibling positions (th a t is, first-b o rn sons and only sons as c o n trasted w ith y o u n g er sons) follow each o th e r into office for c ertain periods o f tim e. N a tu ra lly , due to the n a tu re o f the B ritish political system , m inisters are replaced m ore freq u en tly than are U SA presidents. B asically, the shifts fro m one prim e m in ister to an other follow the sam e p attern s as for the A m erican presidents. For exam ple the th ird b o rn son W a lp o le ’s reign o f ‘peace, ease and fre ed o m ’ (B ingham 1920) led on th ro u g h a succession o f second-born sons to end finally w ith a first-b o rn son durin g the storm y p erio d o f the A m erican revolution. A sim ilar sequence o f m inisters is seen d u ring the period o f the French R evo lu tio n and the subsequent w ars w ith N apoleon and First and Second W o rld W ars. W ith respect to the c o rre la tio n b etw een sibling positions o f B ritish prim e m inisters and the political Zeitgeist, periods o f B ritish history have been classified in term s o f the four types o f political Zeitgeist previously identified , using as c rite ria the presence o r absence o f w a r o r peace fo r types one and tw o respectively, severe econom ic depression and th reaten ed b re ak d o w n o f im p o rta n t social functions for type th ree, and open, p rolonged civil con flict for type four. T he w o rst in tern atio n al crises faced by the B ritish b e tw ee n 1783 and 1963 w e re the N apoleonic W a rs (p a rtic u la rly 1806-15) and the First and Second W o rld W ars. O th e r less serious conflicts w ere the W a r o f 1812, the C rim ean W a r o f 1854, the Indian M utiny o f 1857, the A fghan and Z ulu W a rs o f 1874-80, and the B o er W a r o f 1899-1902. T he less critical periods w h ich w ere devo ted exten siv ely to in tern al affairs w ere 1784— 1801, 1828-52, 1868-74, 1880-95, 1905-14, and 1945-63. These con­ stitu te types one and tw o . T ype th ree is rep resented by the period

American presidents; British prime ministers

73

1924-37 w h ich included the long period o fla b o u r unrestculm inating in the G eneral Strike o f 1925 and the severe econom ic stress o f the w o rld ­ w ide depression. T he struggle for Indian independence led by G andhi (M FM M 4) m ay be considered rep resen tative o f type four. T he prim e m inisters in the crisis periods w ere Liverpool (M l[14 years]M F),7 P alm erston (M1FMF)*, D israeli (FM 2M M ), Salisbury (M FFM 4M ), Lloyd G eorge (FM 2M ) and C hurchill (M 1M ). A m ong these six prim e m inisters th ere w ere five first-b o rn sons o f w hom th ree w ere also first-b o rn children. D u rin g the periods o f disengage­ m en t and m ediation, w e find P itt (FM FM 4M ), W ellin g to n (M M FM 4M M ), M elbourne (M M 2M M F), G rey (M 1M M M M F), Peel (FFM 3M M FFM M M F), Russell (M M M 3M M M M M M M FFF), G ladstone (M M M FM 5F), Salisbury (M FFM 4M ), R osebery (FFM 3M ), C am pbellB annerm an (FM FM 4), A squith (M M 2FF), A ttlee (M M FFFM M 7M ), C hurchill (M 1M ), Eden (FM M M 4M ), and M acm illan (M M M 3). E leven o f these fifteen prim e m inisters w ere younger sons. U sing a Fisher ex act p ro b ab ility test, a com parison o f first-b o rn sons w ith y ounger sons in crisis and less critical periods is statistically significant at the .05 level, confirm ing the sim ilar finding in the sample o f USA presidents. T ype three prim e m inisters or those leading the co u ntry th ro u g h periods o f severe econom ic depression w ere only children, B aldw in (M l) and M acD onald (M l). T ype four, the revolutionary leader is rep resen ted by G andhi (M FM M 4) w ho is not, o f course, a prim e m inister. (W e could also refer back to the C ivil W a r o f 1642 w h en K ing C harles I was deposed and an early a ttem p t at parliam en­ ta ry go v ern m en t was institu ted . T he leader o f th at revolution was O liv er C ro m w ell, a y ounger son.) As I suggested earlier, the w orkings o f the B ritish political system provide an o p p o rtu n ity to observe m ore d irectly the forces at w o rk w h ich determ in e shifts in political p o w er from one sibling position to anoth er. In this reg ard , Lord B e a v e rb ro o k ’s Politicians and the War (1926) furnishes us w ith an in sid er’s account o f H e rb e rt H enry A sq u ith ’s early First W o rld W a r m inistry and its tran sfo rm ation to a coalition m inistry und er D avid Lloyd G eorge. A squith, as C am p b ell-B an n erm an ’s first lieu ten an t, in h erited the m in istry at C am p b ell-B an n erm an ’s death in 1908. In 1914 w a r broke out, and a year later, A squith was forced to reco n stru ct the m inistry on a coalition basis. B ut this did n ot relieve the gro w in g tensions ov er the cond u ct o f the w a r, eith er in the C abinet or in the H ouse o f C om m ons. T hese tensions becam e focused around tw o C ab in et m em bers, first W in sto n C hurchill (M 1M ) and then Lloyd G eorge (FM 2M ). T he p roblem th at A squith (MM2FF) found w ith each

1825

1815

1805~

1795

1783 1785

o

o

O

O

Time line Last-born

o o

o o o O o o o o o o o

O

Middle

O

o

o o

O

First-born

O

Only

o o

0 0 0 0

o

O O

Only ch.

1830-34. GREY (M1MMMMB*

1827, CA N N IN G (only son); G ODERICH (last son) 1828-30. W ELLIN G TO N (M M FM 4M M )

1801-4, A D D IN G TO N (M1 & younger brothers) 1804-6, W. P ITT (FMFM4M ) 1806-7, GRENVILLE (MMM3FFFFF) 1807-9, PORTLAND (M1FFM) 1809-12, PERCEVAL (MMMFFMM7FFFFFF) 1812-27, LIVERPOOL (M1T14 YEARSIMF)

1783-1801. W. PITT (FMFM4M)

Years in office & sibling position

Table 4.4 Sibling position (as son or daughter) of British prim e ministers (1783-1991)

1885

1875

1865

1855

1845

1935

o O o o o

o O o

O O O O

o o

o

o

O

o

o o O

oo o oo o o O o o o o

o o o

o ________ o o

1885, SALISBURY (MFFM4M) 1886, G LADSTO NE 1886-92, SALISBURY

1880-85, GLADSTONE (MM MFM5F)

1874-80. DISRAELI (FM2MM)

1865, RUSSELL (M M M 3M M M M M M M FFF)* 1866-68. DERBY (M1M M FFFF)* 1868. DISRAELI; 1868-74. G LADSTO NE (MM MFM5F)

1855-58. PALMERSTON (M1FMF)* 1858. DISRAELI (FM2MM) 1859-65. PALMERSTON (M1FMF)*

DERBY (M1MMFFFF); 1852-5, Aberdeen (M 1M M M M F)*

1846-52. RUSSELL (M M M 3M M M M M M M FFF)*

1841-46, PEEL (FFM 3MM FFM M MF)

1834. MELBOURNE: PEEL________ 1835-41. MELBOURNE (MM 2M MF)

1935

1925

1915

1905

1896

------------

O

o

o

o o O o o o

o

Time line Last-born

Table 4.4 Continued

cI cI O c>

O cI

Middle

O

O

o o o

o o o

o

First-born

Only

0 0

o

0 oo 0 0 O

Only ch.

1935-37, BALDW IN (M1) 1937-40, CHAM BERLAIN (FMM3FFF) 1940-45. C H URC HILL (M1M)

1929-35, M ACDONALD (M1)

1922. LAW (M M M M 4F) 1923-24, BALDW IN (M1) 1924, MACDONALD; 1924-29, BALDW IN

1916-22, LLOYD G EORGE (FM2M)

1905-08. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN (FMFM4) 1908-16. ASQ U ITH (MM2FF)

1902-05, BALFOUR (FFM 3MFMM M)

1892-94. G LAD STO NE (MM MFM5F) 1894, ROSEBERY (FFM3M) 1895-1902. SALISBURY (MFFM4M)

Years in office & sibling position

Last-born

time line

Middle

First-born

o O o o

o

o o o

Only

Only ch.

1990- MAJOR (MFM 3)*

1979-90, THATCHER (FF2)

1974-76, W ILSO N (FM2) 1976-79, CALLAGHAN (FM2)

o o 0

1970-74, HEATH (M1M)

0 0 0 0

1963-64. H O M E (M1FMFM) 1964-70. W ILSO N (FM2)

1955-57. EDEN (FMM M 4M) 1957-63. MACMILLAN (M M M 3)

1951-55, C H URC HILL (M1M)

1945-51, ATTLEE (MM FFFM M 7M)

* An asterisk indicates that the order of brothers (M) and sisters (F) is in question.

1985

1989-90 1991

O O O O o o O O o

o O o o O oo o

1975

1965

1955

1945

o o O

78

Changemakers

o f these m en w as the same; they w e re aggressive, im patient, am bitious fo r p o w er, and in terested in pressing the w a r e ffo rt m ore vigorously. A squith m anaged to th ru st the young C h u rch ill o ut o f the C ab in et, b u t Lloyd G eorge soon gained ascendancy and in 1916 becam e prim e m inister. H ere is B e a v e rb ro o k ’s acco u n t o f how th at occurred: People have som etim es talked and w ritte n as though his [A sq u ith ’s] d ow nfall in D ecem b er 1916 w as a sudden, inexplicable catastrophe o r only to be ex p lain ed as the result o f a secret in trig u e hastily eng in eered by unscrupulous rivals. N o th in g could be fu rth e r from the tru th . E ver since the spring o f 1915 the P rem ier had been engaged in knocking the props o u t from under him fself], o r in w atch in g them fall w ith o u t rep lacin g them . . . W h y did n o t A squith sim ply take up Lloyd G eorge and m ake him his ex ecu tiv e arm w hile retain in g the titu la r au th o rity ? In this sum m er, the answ er to the question is a sim ple one. A squith w ould n ot p rom ote Lloyd G eorge for the same reason th at he had com e to distrust C h u rch ill, even to the po in t o f p e rm ittin g his dismissal the y ear b efo re. A squith w as the man o f peace in the war - these m inisters o f nervous action fre tte d his v ery soul. H e did n ot w an t them about him - alw ays bustling and h u rry in g and driving. This tendency o f his seems to have increased as the w a r w e n t on. (B eaverbrook 1926: 23) In this graphic d escription w e can see p o rtray ed at the personal level the struggle b etw een second-born son A squith (M M 2 F F ) and first-b o rn sons C h u rch ill (M 1 M ) and Lloyd G eorge (F M 2 M ) over the v ery issue w h ich o u r hypothesis w ould p red ict, the conduct o f a w ar. O bviously, C h u rc h ill’s tim e cam e la te r in the Second W o rld W a r w hen the B ritish g o v ern m en t once again backed into w a r under the leadership o f a second-born son, N eville C h am b erlain (F M M 3F F F ), only to sw itch alm ost im m ediately to C h u rc h ill’s leadership as hostilities broke o ut and E ngland itself was th reaten ed . C h u rc h ill’s history is also illu strativ e o f the issue w e raised m uch ea rlie r co ncerning the role the individual plays in effectu atin g his ow n destiny. W e re it n o t for the Second W o rld W a r, C h urchill w ould m ost p robably be rem em b ered today as a politician o f g reat prom ise w ho n ev er quite realized his p o te n tia l.8 M o re than likely, political pundits w o u ld be ex plaining his failure as due in p art, to the difficult traits in his p ersonality such as o v erb earin g am bition, ego cen tricity , and aggressiveness. Such criticism s w o u ld n ot be w ide o f the m ark. H o w e v e r, once C h u rc h ill’s star had risen, it w ould be these very same

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79

traits w hich w ould stand him in good stead. T hen he was praised for his indom itable w ill, his bulldog courage, and his fierce vengeance. C h u rc h ill’s m ercu rial political c a reer actually spanned some sixty years, m any o f w h ich w ere spent in and out o f the governm ent, sw itching back and fo rth b etw een political parties, often at odds w ith the leadership. For the te n -y e a r period ju s t p rio r to the Second W o rld W a r he w as d elib erately kept out o f the C abinet, isolated, often ignored, a o ne-m an political p arty un to him self. T h ro u g h o u t this p eriod o f his splendid isolation, C hu rch ill was view ed as a Jerem iah, th u n d erin g his dire prophecies o f death and destruction, lam enting E n g lan d ’s lack o f preparedness. O f course, as the w ar clouds g athered b e tw e e n 1936 and 1939, his prophecies began to be heard, and, alm ost m iraculously, w hen w a r struck he becam e, at the age o f 65 the only choice to lead E ngland th ro u g h the years o f h er g reatest crisis (c f T ay lo r 1952).

NOTES 1 Both Zachary Taylor and W illiam H enry Harrison died in office and w ere succeeded by vice-presidents T yler and Fillmore. Our data do not include T yler and Fillmore nor the other tw o vice-presidents, Andrew Johnson and Chester A. Arthur, w ho succeeded to office on the death o f a president but w ho w ere not subsequently elected president themselves. In more recent years, Gerald Ford was appointed to the presidency but was not subsequently elected. 2 Dred Scott was a slave w ho sued for his freedom on the grounds that he had at one time lived in a free state. A lthough a low er court supported his petition, it was reversed by a higher court; in 1857 the Supreme Court took the position that as a slave, he was not a citizen and therefore did not have the right to sue. A major effect o f the Dred Scott decision was that slaves w ho escaped to the north had no legal protection against slave catchers. 3 John B row n was a passionate abolitionist w ho did everything he could to help fugitive slaves escape to the north. In 1859 he captured the US arsenal at H arper’s Ferry, but in the battle that follow ed he was taken prisoner, convicted o f treason and was hanged. He inspired a glorious legend. Even today, people sing: ‘J°hn B ro w n ’s body lies a mouldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching o n .’ 4 The election o f Franklin D elano R oosevelt (M l) during the Depression in 1932 is the other exam ple o f this category. Although there have been a number o f only sons, (ex. Lincoln) R oosevelt was the first and, up to 1990, the sole only child to be elected president. 5 A lthough interm ediate-born presidents have generally been engaged w ith the m ediation o f dom estic factions, there is ever-increasing need for mediation and accom m odation on an international level. D om estic issues are now com pletely interw oven w ith such w ider concerns as arbitration o f

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Changemakers

differences among nations as w ell as the building o f various partnerships and coalitions. W ith the U nited N ations, the developm ent toward a U nited Europe, and an em erging vision o f the w orld as a ‘global v illa g e’, concerns that used to be lim ited to the dom estic realm now seem to include the larger ‘family o f nations’. An exam ple o f this is suggested by reports o f George Bush’s frequent use o f the telephone to keep in touch w ith various w orld leaders. 6 G eorge W ashington (MMFM4FMMF) probably belongs here also, although his revolutionary role was alw ays overshadow ed by his unquestioned position as com m anding general o f the army. 7 Liverpool was fourteen years older than his younger brother w hich implies that he was as much an only child as a first-born child. But this fact only increased his fitness for leadership at this tim e, since as a consequence o f the long-draw n-out crisis o f the N apoleonic W ars, England faced near paralysis o f its civil functions. 8 T w o other leaders m entioned earlier in this regard w ere Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D . R oosevelt. Both w ere relative failures until their great opportunity arrived. Lincoln for the better part o f his career was a relatively obscure law yer and politician. D efeated for the US Senate in 1858, he was unexpectedly elected president tw o years later, just as the C ivil W ar erupted. R oosevelt as a vice-presidential candidate in 1924 suffered a disastrous defeat. N ot long afterwards he contracted polio and his political career seem ed over. H ow ever, only a few years later, during the depths o f the Depression, he was elected president.

Chapter 5

The world cycle of creative change

A t this point w e cross a threshold. It is essential th at w e now engage the study o f political leadership at a n ew level o f discourse. So far it has b een show n th at individual, fam ily and society are entw ined in ways w hich find expression in the sibling positions o f political leaders. T h ro u g h m ore than 200 years o f history in tw o nations, the U SA and G re a t B ritain, a consistent p a tte rn has been traced w hich shows a congruence b etw een leaders w ho are o f p articu lar sibling positions and co rresponding shifts in the social-political Zeitgeist. This process has gone on, and goes on at this v ery tim e. It seems to occur w ith o u t any aw areness on the p a rt o f the particip an ts, and, o f course, w ith o u t any no tio n o f the significance o f the sibling position in the determ in atio n o f leadership qualities. A t the tim e I concluded m y original study o f leaders, this in itse lf seem ed to me to be e x trao rd in a ry . It still does. A t the same tim e, h o w ev er, I becam e aw are o f a niggling question: is this round o f presidents and prim e m inisters ju st th at, a great m e rry -g o round th at revolves etern ally thro u g h the same old problem s o f the socio-political situation, and the vagaries o f the Zeitgeist? A fter some p eriod o f not know ing I realized th at the answ er to this question lay in the deeper and far m ore com plex question o f change itself, creative change. W h a t appears at first to be a m e rry -g o -ro u n d , is from this new perspective, a spiral. I shall now take up w h at I have com e to speak o f as the ‘w o rld cycle o f creativ e c h a n g e ’.

A FOURFOLD CREATIVE CYCLE By the w o rld cycle o f creativ e change I m ean a fourfold creative process th ro u g h w h ich any and every g re a t innovation in any field o f endeavour appears to proceed. T his fourfold creative process is in itiated by a youn g er son o r d au g h ter, frequently a last-born son or

82

Changemakers

d au g h ter. T he idea proposed by the y o u n ger son or dau g h ter is then taken up, e x p lo red and its dim ensions taken, by one or m ore first-b o rn sons o r daughters. Follow ing, and o ften o verlapping w ith the foregoing stage, is th at o f the w o rk o f in term ed iate-b o rn s, w ho usually produce a fu rth e r d evelopm ent from the orig in al idea w hich tends to w a rd a m ed iatio n o f the o riginal idea and a firs t-b o rn ’s extension o f th a t idea, o r an o th er develo p m en t based upon the w o rk o f a first-b o rn . T he last stage is th at o f the only child, o r only son o r dau g h ter, w ho produces a final synthesis o f the original idea, w ith the first-b o rn ’s extension o f the idea. This final synthesis also in co rp o rates the co n trib u tio n o f the in te rm e d ia te -b o rn . D ynam ically the cycle begins w ith an individual w ho breaks w ith trad itio n ; the c u rre n t view o f things is in e rro r; the em p ero r w ears no clothes. B asically it is a cry o f freed o m from co n strain t, a new w o rld v iew is acclaim ed, be it political-so cial, religious, philosophic-scientific, o r aesthetic. T he m easure o f this n ew w o rld is then taken by one o r tw o e x p erts in the field, w ho affirm and ex ten d the idea. Soon co n tro v ersy arises and the m ediators and accom m odaters w restle w ith the issues and reach some kind o f te m p o ra ry accom m odation. In the process d iv erg en t view s are clarified. T h en an individual appears w ho has a grasp o f the w hole situation and w ho creates a synthesis o f the essential elem ents - the n ew w o rld is n ow a reality. This does n ot lead to im m ediate acceptance. For some tim e the synthesis is tested and criticized , b u t sooner o r la te r it becom es acknow ledged as the accepted w o rld -v ie w for th at tim e. In the course o f m y e x p lo ratio n it soon becam e ap p aren t th a t this cycle o f c re a tiv ity takes place in every field o f endeavour. Before p roceeding fu rth e r, I w ish to m ake it unm istakably clear th at this is n o t an a tte m p t to ex p lain c re a tiv ity per se. C re a tiv ity involves a m ysterious in terw eav in g o f conscious and unconscious factors. Its u ltim ate source is at p resent beyond hum an com prehension, and perhaps w ill alw ays rem ain so. As Ju n g puts it in describing his o w n ex p erien ce, c re a tiv ity seizes upon an individual like a daem on, and has its w ay w ith the in d iv id u al’s life. I have had m uch tro u b le g ettin g along w ith m y ideas. T h ere w as a daem on in m e, and in the end its presence p roved decisive. It o v e rp o w e re d m e . . . I w as in the grip o f the daem on. I could never stop at anything once a ttain ed . I had to hasten on, to catch up w ith m y vision. (Jung 1961: 356)

World cycle of creative change

83

W h a t w e are discussing at the m om ent, then, is the form th at creativ ity takes in an individual, and, the relationship o f the individual’s c o n trib u ­ tion to the cycle o f creativ e change in the w o rld at large.

T H E A M E R IC A N R E V O L U T I O N T ak e, for exam ple, the founding o f the A m erican republic. A surpris­ ingly large n um ber o f o u tstanding individuals em erged in the early rev o lu tio n ary phase - Samuel A dam s (second-born son), John Adams (M 1M M ), T hom as Jefferson (FFM3FFFFM), G eorge W ashington (M M FM 4FM M F), B enjam in Franklin (FM FM FM M FM FM M M 13FF), T o m Paine (M l) - to m ention the m ost p re-em inent. This group o f leaders v ery closely represents individuals o f each o f the basic sibling positions. Is this ju s t coincidence? I think not. In w h a t follow s I hope to show th at this is to be ex p ected in any and every field o f endeavour. T he unfolding o f creativ e change in all its m anifold aspects appears to req u ire the co n trib u tio n s o f individuals o f genius w ho em body the v iew points in h eren t in the four basic sibling positions. T he underlying causality, I have suggested, m ust lie in the unique w o rld -v iew s th at are in h eren t in each o f the sibling positions: T he last born is the rebel, the d o u b ter, the iconoclast, finely tuned to the w inds o f change; the in te rm e d ia te -b o rn is also freq u en tly a rebel b u t because o f the vantage p o in t b etw een old er and younger, a m aster o f accom m odation and m ediation; the first-b o rn is the p reserv er, the e x ten d e r and developer, the c a rrie r o f trad itio n ; and the only child is the synthesizer, the c a rrie r o f the opposites being b o th first and last. (T he only son o r daughter share in the characteristics o f the only child, m ore so as the age-spacing b e tw e e n siblings increases.) B u t this confluence o f ideas does n o t alone account for creative change. T h ere is an o th er fundam ental o rd erin g facto r in h eren t in the cycle o f creativ ity . This o th e r facto r only becom es ap p aren t w hen w e take the long v iew o f history. T u rn in g again to the early revolutionary p erio d in A m erica w ith this h istorical perspective in m ind, w e find th at it w as y o unger son, Sam uel A dam s, w ho set the revolution in m otion. G radually he d rew o thers into the process; his cousin John Adam s early on, and o thers soon jo in e d him . O v e r a period o f years o f constant planning, o f goading re lu c ta n t p articip an ts, and unflagging persistence, Sam uel A dam s fo rged a sp irited group o f rebels, T he Sons o f L iberty; he inspired the initial acts o f rebellion; pressed for the first C o ntinental C ongress and so on. In the southern colonies his co u n te rp art was P atrick H en ry (MM2FFFFFF) w h o fired the rev o lt w ith his passionate

84

Changemakers

cry for freedom : ‘G ive m e lib e rty o r give me d e ath !’ As in this case o f the A m erican rev o lu tio n , it w ill becom e clear as w e p ro ceed th at the cycle o f creativ e change appears invariably to be given its o riginal im petus by an individual w h o is a younger child, m ost freq u en tly a second son o r d a u g h ter, o ften a last-born. These are the original ‘c h an g e-m ak ers’ w h o set the cycle in m otion. In G reek m yth o lo g y they are such as H erm es (FM M 2) stealing cattle from his eld er b ro th e r A pollo, and b a rte rin g w ith his new invention the lyre w h en caught; and the young Zeus (FFFM M M 6)1 killing his fath er and releasing his siblings; and y o u n g er son D ionysus, in tro d u cin g revolu­ tio n ary religious ideas; and the tita n P rom etheus (M M 2M ) w ho stole fire from the gods and gave it to hum ans. O ne and all these gods and heroes are rebels. It is startlin g to realize th a t am ongst hum ans these original ‘change­ m akers ’ m ay set in m o tio n a cycle o f developm ent th at requires hundreds o f years for its realizatio n .2 M o reo v er, this cycle ord in arily com es to fru itio n th ro u g h the cu m u lativ e innovations o f d ifferen t types o f ‘c h an g e-m ak ers’, those w h o rep resen t the o th e r three basic sibling positions: the first-b o rn , in te rm e d ia te -b o rn and the only child, or only so n /d a u g h te r. T he C o p ern ican rev o lu tio n is an e x tra o rd in a ry case in point.

TH E CO PERNICAN CYCLE In a sem inal article published in Science, T hom as S. K uhn (1962) outlined a th eo ry o f the stru ctu re o f scientific revolutions. H e has subsequently revised and en larg ed the scope o f his original ideas in a num ber o f publications. T he essence o f his arg u m en t is th at the progress o f scientific th eo ry is in p ractice far d iffe re n t from the w ay it is o ften p resen ted a fte r the fact. C e n tra l to his argum ent is the concept o f p arad ig m o r ex em p lar, w h ich represents the m o re-or-less ag reed -u p o n v iew o f any specific scientific p ro b lem at any p articu la r tim e. K u h n ’s p rim e exam ple is the C o p ern ican rev o lu tio n th at o v e rth re w the previous Ptolem aic parad ig m o f the cosmos and set in m otion a succession o f developm ents by K ep ler, G alileo, H uygens, D escartes, B orelli, and others. T he culm in atio n o f the C o pernican rev o lu tio n w as a n ew synthesis w o rk ed o u t by N e w to n ,3 w hich subsequently becam e the n ew paradigm , the accep ted v iew o f physics, until it w as challenged by n ew developm ents in rela tiv ity and in quantum m echanics by E instein, Planck and others. T he setting for such a rev o lu tio n is, according to K uhn, a state o f

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85

g ro w in g crisis w hich m ay be seen as a loss o f faith in the adequacy o f the c u rre n tly -a cc e p te d parad ig m atic theory. This is precisely the state o f affairs w ith respect to the Ptolem aic th eory w hen C opernicus was m oved to publish his n ew theory. A n honest appraisal o f co n tem p o rary astronom y, says C opernicus, shows th at the e a rth -c e n te re d approach to the problem o f the planets is hopeless. T he trad itio n al techniques o f Ptolem aic astron­ om y have n o t and w ill n o t solve th at problem ; instead they have produced a M onster; th ere m ust, he concludes, be a fundam ental e rro r in the basic concepts o f trad itio n al p lanetary astronom y. For the first tim e a technically co m p eten t astronom er had rejected the tim e-h o n o red scientific tra d itio n for reasons internal to his science, and this professional aw areness o f technical fallacy inaugurated the C o p ern ican R evolution. (K uhn 1957: 139) C opernicus had discovered for h im self th a t the P tolem aic system w as riddled w ith e rro rs o f p red ictio n and w as incapable o f determ ining the len g th o f the seasonal year. H e fu rth e r discovered th at by his calculations these difficulties could be o vercom e although the resulting cosm ology w ould result in a surprising alteratio n in our conception o f the place and m ovem ent o f the planet earth . This was the revolutionary no tio n contained in his proposals w hich he w ell understood and w hich p ro m p ted him to a le rt his readers p articu larly the Pope in the very first sentence o f the p re fa to ry le tte r th at he p refixed to the De Revolutionibus. I m ay w ell presum e, m ost H oly F ather, th at certain people, as soon as they h ear th a t . . . I ascribe m ovem ent to the earth ly globe, w ill cry o u t th at, holding such view s, I should at once be hissed o ff the stage. (C opernicus, in K uhn 1957: 137) C opernicus w as a cautious m an w ho put o ff publication o f his book; it appeared w h en he w as on his d eath -b ed . W h en his ideas did becom e available, there w as n eith er w idespread acceptance nor rapid change. Instead, a process o f d evelopm ent and co n troversy ensued. T he stages o f this process are th o ro u g h ly d ocum ented in the w orks o f K uhn (1957), K oyre (1965) and others. W h a t em erges from these historical studies is a v iew o f scientific change w h ich is at odds w ith the te x tb o o k m odel th a t know ledge is accum ulated th ro u g h an ord erly acceptance o f the b e tte r solution. In K u h n ’s term s it is m ore like a revolution th at leads to

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Changemakers

the d evelopm ent o f opposing camps w hich fight for their view s and in the process produce the elem ents o f an em erging solution w hich is finally accom plished th ro u g h a m ajo r synthesis such as N e w to n ’s. T he synthesis does n o t achieve im m ediate acceptance, b u t in tu rn is sub m itted to testing and questioning until finally it becom es the new , ‘accepted v ie w ’. W ith o u t a d oubt K u h n ’s view o f the cyclical process o f the C o p ern ican rev o lu tio n is very like the cycle o f creative change th a t I have discussed above. It rem ains to be seen, ho w ev er, if the sibling positions o f the key figures fit the cycle. T he cycle began w ith lastb o rn C o pernicus (M FFM 4) and his rev o lu tio n ary assertion th a t the e a rth m oves around the sun. It w as follow ed by first-b o rn K epler (M 1M FM ) and his discoveries o f the law s o f m ovem ent o f the planets in th e ir orb its, and by first-b o rn G alileo (M 1M M FFF) w ith his telescope and his look at the m oon, as w ell as his fu rth er studies o f the law s o f m otio n . T he concepts w e re developed fu rth e r by others, notably in te rm e d ia te -b o rn H uygens (M M 2M M F) w ith his understanding o f the in terlo ck ed id en tity o f cen trifu g a l-ce n trip e tal force. These ideas w ere disputed by last-b o rn D escartes (M FM 3) and his follow ers, b u t finally all o f these efforts w ere b ro u g h t to g e th e r in only child N e w to n ’s (Ml) g re a t synthesis w hich laid the g ro u n d w o rk for all o f the developm ents o f physics for m any years. (I should n ote here th at K uhn, o f course, w as n o t aw are o f the im plications o f sibling position for the cycle o f creativ e change.)

TO W A R D ‘FREEDOM A N D JUSTICE FOR ALL’ W h a t conclusions can w e d ra w from this discussion o f the C o p ernican revolution? It seems to co n firm o u r ex p ectations, b u t science and politics are w orlds ap art. Should w e e x p e c t to find a sim ilar cycle o f creativ e change in the study o f p o litical leaders? W h a t are the c rite ria against w h ich change is m easured? Science is an endeavour th at seems to have an o b jective and definable cycle o f creativ ity . It is m o tiv ated by the ideal o f the true, and its c rite ria are defined as the correspondence o f th eo ry w ith reality. Leaving aside fo r the m om ent philosophical quarrels about the defin itio n o f reality ; in science, th eo ry m ust co rresp o n d w ith observ atio n and m easurem ent. In co n trast to science, w h a t are the c rite ria against w hich change in the socio-political w o rld can be evaluated? W h a t are the goals o f society as reflected by p o litical leaders? Progress in the socio-political sphere is presum ably m o tiv ated by the ideal o f the good, the U to p ian

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com m unity, m easured as an increase in the rights o f the individual fostered by a govern m en t th at attem p ts to m axim ize the equilibration o f freedom and co -o p eratio n . T he free and responsible citizen is an ideal to w a rd w hich enlightened and fo rw ard -lo o k in g m em bers o f society strive. Looking back now o v er the history o f the U nited States w ith these thoughts in m ind, w e see th at the road to w ard a society w hich can g overn itself in accord w ith the principles o f freedom and ju stice for all appears to be a long and rocky one. T he U nited States cam e into being th ro u g h a rev o lu tio n w h ich espoused high principles and w hich sought to em body those principles in a new form o f constitutional govern­ m ent. T he C o n stitu tio n and the Bill o f Rights are docum ents o f unusual q u ality w h ich im m ensely im proved the situation o f the ordinary citizen, even though unresolved issues still rem ained. T he subsequent tw o h u ndred and some years have w itnessed the struggle o f fallible hum ans as they have sought to realize the high principles em bodied in those docum ents. T he question then is w h eth e r w e can discern a cycle o f creativ e change o r not? T he findings o f the political leadership study (see C hapters 3 and 4) o ffer a clue in the altern atin g cycles o f leaders. For exam ple, in the early years o f the new republic th ere w as a period o f some fo rty years (1789-1828), beginning w ith the election o f G eorge W ashington, d u rin g w h ich the g re a t m ajo rity o f the presidents w ere first-b o rn sons. T his sequence w as follow ed by a period o f near equal length (1828-64), in au g u rated by the election o f A n d rew Jackson, in w hich the presidents w e re prim arily a m ix tu re o f in te rm e d ia te -b o rn o r last-b o rn sons. T he clim ax o f this p eriod w as the election o f only son A braham Lincoln, and the o u tb reak o f C ivil W a r in 1860 (see T able 4.1). This total progression covers sev en ty -tw o years. W h a t was going on during these tw o periods? T he first period b etw een 1789 and 1828 reflects efforts to consolidate the results o f the rev o lu tio n and to deal w ith a grow ing sense o f nationalism . T he presidents elected in this period w ere, in o rd er o f election: G eorge W ash in g to n (M M FM 4FM M F), John Adams (M 1M M ), T hom as Jefferson (FFM3FFFFM), Jam es M adison (M 1M M FM FFM M M ), Jam es M onroe (M 1M M M F) and John Q uincy Adams (FM 2FM M ). T h ree o f these presidents w ere first-borns in their fam ilies; T hom as Jefferson and Jo h n Q uincy Adam s are bo th first-b o rn sons. T he election o f last-b o rn A n d rew Jackson (M M M 3) in 1828 bro u g h t a d ram atic change o f a n ear rev o lu tio n ary n ature. W ith his election it

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was aptly observed th at the floodgates o f d em ocracy w ere flung open. T he interests o f the people and the leadership sw ung to in tern al affairs, to m o n etary issues, and expansion w e stw a rd . T he presidents d uring the years 1828-56 w ere p red o m in an tly in te rm e d iate-b o rn and last-born: Jackson (M M M 3), V an B uren (M FM FFM 6M M ), H arrison (FFMF M FM 7), T a y lo r (M M M 3M FM M FF) and Pierce (FM FM FM M 7FM ). T h ere w as one ex cep tio n to this tre n d w hen the expansion to the w est led to dem ands for the an n ex atio n o f T exas and O regon. T o accom plish this m ission first-b o rn Polk (M 1FFM M M FFM M ) was elected in 1844. D u rin g this perio d the issue o f slavery becam e an all absorbing source o f co n ten tio n in C ongress and th ro u g h o u t society. T he election o f A b rah am Lincoln (FM2) in 1860 and the o u tb reak o f the C ivil W a r faced the republic w ith its g reatest conflict since the revolution. W o u ld the co u n try hold to g e th e r as ‘one u n io n ’, or w ould it split into tw o separate nations? L in co ln ’s strong, com passionate leadership, and his unshaken co nviction th a t the ‘u n io n ’ m ust survive, w ere m ajor factors in the outcom e o f th a t struggle. T he slaves w ere freed and slavery w as abolished. It w o u ld appear th a t only son L incoln’s role in holding the union to g e th e r represents the stage o f synthesis. Let us look at an o th er develo p m en t before w e discuss fu rth e r th at question. T ake, for exam ple, the depression o f the late 1920s and the 1930s. T h a t g re a t convulsion in the A m erican society b ro u g h t only child Franklin D elano R oosevelt (M l) to the presidency and led to fundam ental changes in the relationship b etw een the federal g o v ern ­ m en t and the people. T he social secu rity legislation is perhaps the sym bol o f w h a t those changes rep resen ted , nam ely a shift to w ards a n ew sense o f responsibility for the w elfare o f the people by the C ongress and the president. B ut the depression was n o t the deeper cause o f th at change; it w as only the catalyst th at put into action ideas th at had been stirrin g for some tim e. W e m ight look back to the ad m in istratio n o f A n d rew Jackson (M M M 3) for one o f the e arlie r signs o f the need for change in m o n etary policy and a tten tio n to the econom ic needs o f the stru g g lin g individual. This co u n try is rig h t now on the v erge o f an o th er o f those convulsions as the plight o f the poor and the hom eless becom es increasingly apparent. T he solutions have n o t y et been found to the problem s th a t w ere only p artially dealt w ith durin g the 1930s. D oes the foregoing v ery b rie f rev iew o f the sequence o f historical events corresp o n d w ith the cycle o f leaders o f the e x p ected sibling positions? I believe the an sw er is, yes. T o recap itu late: T he rev o lu tio n w as set in m otion th ro u g h the

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C o p ern ican -lik e rev o lt inspired above all by younger son Samuel Adam s (second-born son), and by P atrick H enry (MM2FFFFFF). These original ‘change-m akers* w ere follow ed by the K eplerian-G alilean co n firm atio n and extension o f first-b o rn sons: John Adam s (M 1M M ), T hom as Jefferson (FFM3FFFFM), Jam es M adison (M 1M M FM FFM M M ) and Jam es M onroe (M 1M M M F), w ho consolidated and ex tended the principles and the boundaries o f the new republic. T hen cam e a period o f H u y g en ian -D escartean m ediation and dissent o f in term ediate-borns and last-borns: A n d rew Jackson (M M M 3), M artin V an B uren (M FM FFM 6M M ), W illiam H en ry H arrison (FFMFMFM 7), Z achary T ay lo r (M M M 3M FM M FF) and Franklin Pierce (FM FM FM M 7FM ), w h o struggled w ith m any in tern al social issues, b ut w ho could n ot resolve the conflict o v er slavery - the A chilles heel o f the original revolution. T he southern states rebelled and a ttem p ted to secede from the union u nder the leadership o f Jefferson Davis (MMMFMFFFFM10). O n ly son Lincoln (FM 2), p resident d uring this divisive crisis can be seen to have c reated the N e w to n ian synthesis w hich held the union to g eth er. Subsequent history reveals sim ilar trends. T he USA gradually becam e a w o rld p o w er u nder first-b o rn sons T heodore R oosevelt (FM 2M F) and W o o d ro w W ilson (FFFM 3M), and sought to influence w o rld policy. N eg lected , h o w ev er, w as the dom estic situation. T he Russian rev o lu tio n o f 1917 b ro u g h t Lenin to po w er and m ilitant com m unism began to w o rry E urope, p articu larly w hen it becam e a p p aren t th at the econom ies o f all the m ajor pow ers o f Europe as w ell as the USA w ere seriously eroding. In the U SA , the First W o rld W a r w as follow ed by a series o f w h a t m ight be called caretak er presidents: H ard in g (M 1FFFM FM F), C oolidge (M 1F), and, as the w o rld econom ic situation w orsened, H o o v er (M M 2F), w ho was elected president, largely on the basis o f his success in aiding the b a ttle -to rn countries o f E urope a fte r the First W o rld W a r. H o w ev er, H o o v e r’s conservative policies only w orsened conditions in the U SA . By the end o f his period in office the co u n try w as in the throes o f the w orst depression it had ever ex perienced. R oosevelt (M l) w as elected in 1932 and rem ained in office until his death in 1944. His vigorous attack on the dom estic problem s, his openness to new solutions, and his ex p erim ental approach began slow ly to tu rn around the w idespread despair thro u g h o u t the cou n try . It was no d oubt R o o sev elt’s ebullient personality and his reaching out to the w hole co u n try th ro ugh use o f the radio th at b olstered confidence as m uch as any o f the changes he sought to m ake. In this reg ard th ere can be little d oubt th at his expression o f such

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confidence in the face o f his o w n sad loss o f the use o f his legs through poliom yelitis w as also an inspiration. In any case he m anaged to m ain tain a balance b e tw e e n the opposing elem ents o f the political spectrum and to achieve a considerable degree o f synthesis o f the d iv erg en t points o f view w hich set the course for the co u n try until very recently. T he social security legislation can be seen as a hallm ark o f his presidency. From this b rie f retro sp ectiv e view o f cru cial elem ents o f the history o f the U n ited States it seems th at th ere is evidence o f a spiral m ovem ent o f events w hich has g radually im proved the law s th at supp o rt the rights and the w elfare o f the individual citizen. This is equally tru e in B ritain and some o th e r countries as w ell. T he recen t collapse o f com m unist d ictato rsh ip in the Soviet U nion and the tu rn to w a rd dem ocracy o f the satellite countries o f Poland, East G erm any, C zechoslovakia, H u n g ary and R om ania is fu rth e r evidence o f a w o rld ­ w ide struggle for freedom o f th o u g h t and the p ro tec tio n o f hum an rights. In o th e r co untries such as Iran, Iraq, Syria and others, m uch less has been accom plished. Y et in South A frica an e x tra o rd in a ry e ffo rt is b eing m ade to dism antle a p arth eid and c reate a d em ocratic society. T h e d eep-lying spiritual principle w h ich m otivates this cycle o f change is the ideal o f the good, o f a U to p ian com m unity ro o ted in a com m on m o rality . It is also evident, h o w ev er, th a t the fu ture o f this high ideal is pro b lem atical. W e can conclude th a t the cen tral dynam ic o f the cycle o f creativ e change as it is m anifest in political leadership is the underlying struggle for hum an rights in the face o f oppression. T he free and responsible citizen is an ideal to w a rd w h ich enlig h tened and fo rw ard -lo o k in g m em bers o f society strive. O pposed to this striving is co n tem p t for the alien, and co n tem p t for alien gods. As far back as H o m e r’s Iliad, w a r has been cast as a struggle b e tw e e n opposing gods. N o doubt, the affect co n tem p t w ill continue to fuel divisiveness and w arfare until the hum an race can com e to g e th e r as one w o rld -w id e com m unity. W h e th e r this goal can be reached b efo re w e destroy ourselves w ith our atom ic arsenal, rem ains to be seen. T h e th underbolts o f Zeus are now in hum an hands. A lthough w e are discussing a c reativ e cycle o f developm ent, I am n o t suggesting th at progress is inev itab le, p artic u larly in the a lte rn a tio n o f p olitical crises. T h ere is no c e rta in ty th a t the good w ill o f enough individuals w ill prevail at any m o m en t in history. O n the w hole, h isto ry is a discouraging sto ry o f sm all successes and large failures. N evertheless, it is possible to discern th a t the hum an spirit rem ains

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w edded to the ideal o f a U to p ian com m unity w ith freedom and ju stice for all. T he spirit w orks its w ay w ith individuals w ho are seized by that ideal. Equally true is the fact th at o thers are called to an opposing view w hich is based in co n tem p t for the ‘alie n ’, and ‘alien ’ view s, and w hich stresses hierarchical principles o f the su periority o f one nation or people, and hence privileges and rights d eterm ined by d ictatorial leadership.

NOTES 1 Zeus, the last-born, was spirited away by his mother to protect him from his father Chronos w ho had sw allow ed all the other children. Zeus eventually killed Chronos and his siblings w ere de-gorged, or rather reborn. Zeus now became the first-born, follow ed by his siblings in the reverse order o f their original birth (M1MMFFF). Thi s is the patriarchal first-born Zeus that w e m eet in Homer. 2 This may not be any different from the cycle o f change at the m ythical level. A fter all a clear evolution is apparent in the Greek pantheon toward the ascendency o f only son A pollo. 3 N ew ton had three younger half-siblings, but he is essentially an only child. He never knew his father. His m other left him soon after birth; he was raised as an only child by his grandmother. W hen he was 11 years old, he w ent to live w ith his mother and got to know his half-siblings.

Chapter 6

The innate affects and the complex family emotions

In the p reced in g chapters, I have show n how the w o rld cycle o f creativ e change advances n ew ideas th ro u g h individuals o f g reat talen t w ho are o f the basic sibling positions. Y et to be ex p lo red are the m o tiv atin g forces th at u nderlie the in d iv id u al’s co m m itm en t to such efforts. T his requires an u n d erstan d in g o f the em otions and an u n d erstan d in g o f the arch ety p al im agination. T he task is to show how the c h ild ’s h erita g e o f innate instincts and em otions is tran sfo rm ed in the crucible o f fam ily relationships into an am azingly com plex and sensitive m a trix o f feelin g -to n ed com plexes and the subtleties o f the hum an fam ily em otions. It could be said th at sibling riv alry is p a rt o f w h at m akes the cycle o f c re a tiv ity go. N o t riv alry b e tw e e n the siblings o f one fam ily b u t the p ro jectio n o f th a t riv alry on to the plane o f society. C opernicus put h im self in riv alry w ith those w ho supported P to le m y ’s th eo ry w hen he d eclared th a t the p resent state o f astronom y had c rea te d a m onster. D id K epler then p u t him self in riv alry w ith C opernicus? It w ould seem so since K epler seeks to give an adequate ex p lan atio n to ideas th at C opernicus had only roughly sketched out. A nd G alileo too? Presum a­ bly. A recen t book on the discovery o f D N A p o rtray s the riv alry o f W a tso n and C ric k w ith o thers, all h o t on the trail o f the elusive D N A (W atso n 1968). W e see a sim ilar riv alry in the h istory o f the search for the fu ndam ental particles o f m a tte r (R iordan 1987). W ith o u t doubt th ere is riv alry am ongst scientists. In depth psychology the same situation holds tru e. T he question then is: W h a t gives sibling riv alry its energy? T he an sw er is to be found in the em otions.

THE N A TU R E OF THE EMOTIONS O f first im p o rtan ce is the n atu ral division in the hum an em otions

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b etw een the universal, in h erited affects o f the collective unconscious, and the ‘com plex fam ily em o tio n s’ (S te w art 1988) o f the personal unconscious w h ich are also universally know n, yet are not innate. Jealousy and envy are prim e exam ples o f the com plex fam ily em otions. Jealousy and envy assume such im portance in the fam ily because they are the shadow aspects o f the tw o polar dynam ics o f the fam ily; the desire for love and the w ish for pow er. As Jung puts it: N o w it is, as a m a tte r o f fact, tru e th at ap art from the personal striving for p o w er, o r superbia, love, in the sense o f concupiscentia, is the dynam ism th a t m ost infallibly brings the unconscious to light. . . B ut w h a t can love m ean to a m an w ith a hunger for pow er! T h at is w h y w e alw ays find tw o m ain causes o f psychic catastrophes: on the one hand a disappointm ent in love and on the o th er hand a th w a rtin g o f the striving fo r pow er. (Jung 1963: 86) In his book The Expression o f the Emotions in Man and Animals, D arw in (1872) w as the first to m ake a d istinction b etw een the innate em otions and the complex em otions. A lthough he uses m any synonym s and o th er term s th at describe w ide ranges o f em otional intensity and a v ariety o f expressive actions, as w ell as o th e r subtle variations, D a rw in ’s study is p rim arily focused on the fundam ental em otions: jo y , grief, anger, fear, disgust, sham e, surprise, w hich are innate and inh erited and shared in large p a rt w ith o u r m am m alian predecessors. Each has a prototypical form o f expressive behaviour. For exam ple, the facial expression and bodily action o f a griev in g person is im m ediately recognized by hum ans ev ery w h ere. In addition to these innate em otions, D a rw in identified a num ber o f o th e r em otions th a t are w ell know n to people all over the w o rld , but lack a consistent o r p ro to ty p ical form o f expression. In co n trast to the fundam ental, innate em otions, he called these ‘com plex em o tio n s’. C om p lex em otions cannot be ‘re a d ’ by facial expression o r bodily action alone, ra th e r w e are guided by our general o r intuitive know ledge o f the situation, the presence o f o th er persons o r tell-tale objects. D a rw in ’s list o f com plex em otions includes jealousy, envy, avarice, revenge, suspicion, d eceit, slyness, guilt, vanity, conceit, am bition, pride, hum ility, and so on. ‘It is d o u b tfu l’, he says, ‘w h eth e r the g re a te r n u m b er o f the above com plex states o f m ind are revealed by any fixed expression, sufficiently d istinct to be described or d e lin e a te d ’ (D a rw in 1872: 261).

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A fte r D a rw in , the c o n trib u tio n o f Silvan T om kins has had the g reatest influence on co n tem p o rary studies o f the individual em otions. A com prehensive, th o ro u g h ly researched w o rk by Tom kins, en titled Affect Imagery Consciousness (1962, 1963) played a pivotal role in the c u rre n t ren ew al o f affect studies. Since then, a series o f cross-cultural and developm ental studies by E km an, Izard, T ro tte r, E ibl-E ibesfeldt and oth ers have con firm ed D a rw in ’s early observations. T h e re has been b u t one m ajo r addition: In 1962, Silvan T om kins identified the single innate em o tio n th a t D a rw in had overlo o k ed, th a t is, interest, w ith its range o f in ten sity from in te re st to ex citem en t. As has been rep o rte d fro m personal observations, and has recen tly been confirm ed by studies o f the physiological changes d u rin g the b irth ex p erien ce, the infant n o rm ally com es o u t o f the b irth canal w id e-ey ed and a lert, already show ing in te re st in its en v iro n m en t (L ag ercrantz and Slotkin 1986). In his G. Stanley H all lectu re at the 1988 conference o f the A m erican P sychological A ssociation in A tlan ta, C aro ll Izard presented an o v erv iew o f research to date on the stru c tu re and function o f em otions in hum an d evelopm ent. His rev iew confirm s and reaffirm s the ex isten ce o f the follow ing innate affects. T hese are: jo y , in terest, surprise, sadness (grief), fear, anger, co n tem p t (disgust), and shame (shyness) (Izard in D en to n 1988:16). From a Jungian perspective these are the innate affects o f the collective unconscious. It m ay be helpful to keep in m ind th a t ev ery innate affect is described by m any d iffe re n t w ords th a t express a continuum o f intensity. For exam ple, the lo w e r intensities o f fear are u n ce rta in ty , uneasiness, apprehension, an x iety . T he h ig h er o r e x tre m e intensities o f fear are panic, te rro r. G rie f ranges fro m m ild distress th ro u g h sadness, to the e x tre m e o f anguish. Shame ranges fro m shyness and em barrassm ent to the e x tre m e o f h u m iliation. C o n te m p t ranges from m ild an tipathy, to disdain, to dislike, to the e x tre m e o f disgust. B oth sham e and co n tem p t are stim u lated by rejection; to g e th e r they com prise a b i-p o lar affect (Lynd 1958). W h e th e r w e ex p erien ce shame o r co n tem p t is determ in ed by the d ire c tio n o f the rejectio n to w a rd o n eself (sham e) o r to w a rd the o th e r (co n tem p t). It is likely th a t co n tem p t and sham e have evolved out o f the prim al affective reflex disgust, w h ich is present in m am m als from b irth . O ne o f m y co n trib u tio n s to this field has been to recognize th at these in h erited affects are the found atio n o f the prim al S elf and the libido, and th a t the com plex fam ily em otions, as w ell as feelings, and o th e r functions o f the psyche develop o u t o f the innate affects, o r have evolved fro m them . T he fo u rfo ld affects o f ex isten tial crisis (grief,

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fear, anger, c o n tem p t/sh am e) are stru ctu red around a fifth innate affect, startle, th at has a cen trin g function. These affects com prise a mandala at the base o f the prim o rd ial Self. T hey appear to have evolved as a kind o f self-p ro tectiv e system . In addition to survival, these affects sensitize the psyche to the fundam ental existential and spiritual crises o f life, nam ely: loss o f a loved one (grief); the unknown (fear); threat to autonomy (anger); rejection (co n tem p t/sh am e); and the unexpected (startle). T he rem aining tw o affects, jo y and in terest, are a pair o f opposites th at flow into ev ery aspect o f life as the tw in stream s o f the libido. T hese affects m ay be recognized as the ro o t o f the dynam ics th at Jung speaks o f as m ythical consciousness, personified in alchem y as Luna, and, logos consciousness, personified as Sol. T he innate affects jo y and in terest, energize respectively the dynam ism s p lay /im ag in atio n and c u rio sity /e x p lo ra tio n , and u ltim ately are culturally evolved as the syzygy, anim a and anim us: Eros and Logos. W h en the affects o f the libido (joy and in terest) eru p t in th eir ex tre m e intensity as ecstasy and ex citem en t, they m ay p o ten tiate the archetypal im agination in the cu ltu ral form o f a vo catio n in its original m eaning as a ‘c allin g ’. As a c o -o rd in ated to ta lity and in th eir relations w ith each o th er, the innate affects are the foundation o f the collective unconscious (S tew art 1985, 1987b). Ju n g has re fe rred to them as the ‘inborn archetype w hich is universally h u m a n ’ (Jung 1975: 537). In T able 6.1 I show the seven innate affects, each w ith its ow n range o f intensity. I also include the stim ulus, th at is, the typical life situation th a t stirs a p a rtic u la r em otion. T o recapitulate: the fundam ental em otions jo y , in terest, surprise, grief, fear, anger, disgust (c o n te m p t/ sham e), are innate sources o f energy and p atterns o f expressive b ehaviour th a t o rig in ate in the depths o f the prim ordial unconscious. B y co n trast, the com plex em otions such as love, hate, jealousy, envy, greed, ad m iratio n , generosity and the like, are constellated sim ply, and solely, because th ere is a fam ily. It is only th ro u g h the relationships b etw een ch ildren and parents, and siblings w ith each o th er th a t the com plex em otions com e into being. A t b o tto m , o f course, they derive from the innate affects. T hey o rd in arily acquire th e ir unique qualities th ro u g h m ix tu res and m odulations o f the innate affects through relationships w ith m o th er, fath er and siblings.

THE COMPLEX FAMILY EMOTIONS This leads to the c ritical question: H o w are the innate affects transform ed in to the sensitive n e tw o rk o f feelings and com plex fam ily

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Table 6.1 The innate affects Affect

Range o f intensity

Life stimulus

Joy Interest

(Enjoym ent - Joy - Ecstasy) Relationship to the fam iliar (Attention - Interest Novelty Excitement) Grief (Distress - Sadness Loss Anguish) Fear (Apprehension - Fright The unknown Terror) Anger (Irritation - Frustration Restriction o f autonom y Rage) C ontem pt/ (Disdain - Dislike - Disgust) Rejection (toward other) Shame (Shyness - Embarrassment Rejection (toward self) - Humiliation) Startle (Surprise - Astonishment The unexpected Startle)

em otions? T he first y ear o f life sees the co n stellation o f all o f the innate affects in the in fa n t’s daily ex p e rie n c e, no m a tte r how a tte n tiv e and n u rtu rin g the m o th e r and fa th e r m ay be. B u t it is the em pathic responsiveness o f the ‘good e n o u g h ’ p a re n t th a t provides the m o d u lat­ ing effects w h ich m ake the eru p tio n s o f the innate affects bearable and co ntainable. T h ro u g h the in fa n t’s o w n play and curiosity, m irro re d by the p a re n t’s responsive playfulness and a tte n tiv e interest, the innate affects are co n tin u ally m o d u lated and tran sform ed. These tran sfo rm ed affects m ake up the ‘arch ety p al co m p le x es’ o f the collective unconscious. It m ust be rem em b ered th a t d u rin g this first y ear o f life w h en these earliest tran sfo rm atio n s are tak ing place, the infant is living in a w o rld o f relativ e unconsciousness. Its consciousness progresses fro m the U ro b o ric stage (N eu m an n 1973, 1990: 3) ju st follow ing b irth , to a reco g n itio n o f the p a re n t as m ark ed by the first clear-ey ed smile, fo llo w ed by a laughing re co g n itio n o f S elf (th ro u g h the sheer ex h ila­ ra tio n o f self-in itiated m o v em en t), and th en to the m ore evolved stages o f the reco g n itio n o f the o th e r as ex istin g in absence, th at is to say, the p eek -a-b o o stage, and finally, ju s t b eyond the first b irth d ay , the consciousness o f ‘p re te n d ’ and the d ev elo p m ent o f im agination and the sym bol. T his m eans th a t for th a t first y ear o f developm ent, the stru ctu res o f the unconscious com plexes are in archaic form s, n o t easily accessible to la te r ego consciousness. T he fo reg o in g is a capsule v iew o f h o w the innate affects are

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m odulated and tran sfo rm ed th ro u g h fam ily interactions. T h eir d evelopm ent is also shaped th ro u g h the fam ily stru ctu re. By fam ily stru ctu re I refer here p rim arily to the fam ily constellation and the sibling config u ratio n w hich determ in e certain relationships th at inevi­ tably lead to each child developing, quite unconsciously, an individual w o rld -v ie w and tendencies to specific em otional com plexes. For exam ple, the response o f a first-b o rn to the b irth o f a sibling is often, in varying degrees, one o f diso rien tatio n and tentative or strong rejection. Jealousy is ou r w o rd for the resu ltan t com plex fam ily em otion that develops. B asically w h a t the child experiences is the startlin g presence o f an u n w an ted in tru d e r, and a realizatio n o f the m o th e r’s perceived b etray al o f love. N o w w h a t o f the second child w ho is born into a w o rld w hich already includes an older sibling? From the beginning, as I have said, m ost youn g er children are received by the older sibling w ith disapproval o f vary in g degrees o f intensity. A t its w o rst this takes the form o f physical attacks on the younger child. B ut if the atm osphere o f the fam ily is accepting, em pathic and understanding, the relationship b etw een the siblings m ay becom e relatively peaceful, and love and adm iratio n m ay prevail. In any case, the younger sibling soon recognizes the discrepancy in p o w er and privilege b etw een him or h erself and the old er sibling, and attem p ts to benefit th rough im itation, or accelerated efforts to gain p o w er and privilege for him self or herself, o r by try in g to w rest them from the older sibling often through guile and theft. T he com plex fam ily em otion th at results is envy. If w e now consider the situation o f the older and younger sibling as tim e passes, it is evident th at each no doubt is in ternalized as the shadow for the oth er. In a sense, jealo u sy and envy express tw o perspectives on the central dynam ic o f fam ily life, nam ely the tension w hich inevitably arises betw een desires for love and po w er. E veryone know s from personal ex perience w h at jealo u sy and envy are like. Prim al jealousy is about love and suspected b etray al, it is the resultant o f a th re e -p a rty relationship. It is constellated w hen w e feel displaced in the affections o f another: W e are enraged w h en som eone takes w h at, in our eyes, belongs to us, as w itness C ain and A bel. In this etern al tale o f tw o b ro th ers, Y ahw eh p re fe rred the o ffering o f Abel. In a jealous rage, C ain killed his youn g er b ro th e r. B ut C a in ’s em otion w as not simply rage. W h en jealo u s, w e are also aw are o f the fact th at w e have loved the one w ho now b etrays o u r love. Classic situations in the fam ily w hich can lead to a jealousy com plex are the b irth o f a sibling, and the rivalry o f a boy w ith the fath er ov er the m o th er, o r the g irl’s rivalry

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w ith the m o th er o v er the fath er, the fam ous O edipus and E lectra com plexes. But w h a t about envy? In a sense envy is the m irro r im age o f jealousy; it is the em otion w e ex p erien ce w h en w e desire w h at som eone else has. It is a tw o -p a rty relationship and it has to do w ith p o w er. T he p o larity o f envy and jealo u sy is b rillian tly p o rtra y ed in S hakespeare’s play O th ello th ro u g h the en tw in ed roles o f Iago and O thello. Iago is envious o f O th e llo ’s prestige and p o w er, and he sets about unseating O th ello by arousing O th e llo ’s jealousy. E nvy is about p o w er denied; jealousy is about love b etray ed . T he classic fam ily situation w h ich can lead to an envy com plex is the relationship o f a yo u n g er sibling to an older one, as in the fam ous tales o f H erm es and A pollo, o f Jacob and Esau, o r the relationship o f the son or d au g h ter to the fath er or the m o ther. C h ild ren b o rn into a fam ily th a t already contains older siblings are m ost susceptible to envy. A lfred A d ler w as one o f those, and in his th eo ry he puts feelings o f in fe rio rity in a prim e aetiological position. M elanie K lein w as an o th er, the youngest o f four children. As w e know , she w as consum ed w ith envy and d eterm in ed n ot to let h erself be overlooked: I w as very keen to get some a tte n tio n and to be m ore im p o rtan t than the old er ones. (K lein, in G rosskurth 1987: 13) K le in ’s b io g rap h er points o u t th a t in letters to m o th e r and sister, M elanie was clearly ill disposed to h e r eldest sister E m ilie. T he au th o r sums up: W h y did M elanie adopt such an in tran sig en tly ju d g m en ta l a ttitu d e to w a rd h er sister, unless she envied E m ilie for seem ing to have the fulfilled em otional life th a t she h e rse lf craved, as w ell as - in the face o f all h er troubles - a c e rta in serenity? M ore fundam entally, she still retain ed the envy o f a pow erless baby sister. M elanie K lein w as an em bodim ent o f h er o w n la te r theories: the w o rld is n ot an o b jective reality , b u t a phantasm ag o ria peopled w ith o u r o w n fears and desires. (G rosskurth 1987: 62) It can h ardly be an accident th a t the theories o f late r-b o rn s A dler and K lein are ro o ted in in fe rio rity and envy, w hereas first-b o rn F reu d ’s th eo ry is one o f jealo u sy . H o w serious a m a tte r envy o r jealo u sy is for an individual is

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d eterm in ed by m any factors. It is im p o rtan t to acknow ledge th at all the com plex fam ily em otions are ‘n o rm a l’ experiences. Everyone is envious and jealous to some ex ten t. E m otions becom e deep-seated com plexes only w hen, as Jung puts it in term s o f his ow n experience, the individual is strongly influenced by u nansw ered questions o f the ancestors passed on th ro u g h the fam ily atm osphere. T h ere are, o f course, a m yriad o f o th e r fam ily em otions as hum an e x p erien ce and the pages o f a thesaurus show. T he m any term s express finer and finer differen tiatio n s o f the basic inh erited em otions. T he co m p lex ity and subtlety o f the hum an em otional capacity is e x tra ­ o rd in ary . T he num ber o f d istinct em otions th at are traceable to the dynam ic relationships o f fam ily life, h o w ev er, is also lim ited. This lim ited n um ber m ay have m any fine degrees o f expression. M ost o f the em otions w e ex p erien ce are in fact v arying degrees o f intensity o f the innate affects, as w ell as th eir m any co-m inglings.

THE ARCHETYPAL IM AGINATION B uilding on Ju n g ’s view th at the affects are the prim al source o f energy, value, im agery and n ew consciousness, I have developed a hypothesis th at con trib u tes to a com prehensive theory o f the stru ctu re o f the psyche (S te w a rt 1985, 1986, 1987a, 1987b, 1987c). It involves specific innate affects as the prim al source o f specific higher functions. W h en the innate affects o f ex isten tial crisis (grief, fear, anger, co n tem p t/sh am e) eru p t, they p o ten tiate the archetypal im agination. Each affect is the prim al source o f a p a rtic u lar im aginative form . For exam ple, w hen aw akened by an u n ex p ected sound in the m iddle o f the night, w e o rd in arily startle, and then m ay begin to fluctuate betw een fear and in terest, as w e strain to hear m ore. T he im age-producing function o f the psyche (th a t is, the im agination) attem pts to create m eaning th ro u g h spontaneous fantasies. H ere w e see the ongoing, intrinsic relationship o f affect and im age. T he images th at play through the m ind o ffer infinite possibilities as to the origin o f the sound th at aw oke us. Is it friend or foe? O u r fantasies m ay play back and fo rth betw een spouse, child, pet, dishw asher; to w ild anim al, b u rglar, in tru d e r, alien. If the source o f the sound rem ains u nknow n, the fear grow s. B odily innervations (dry m outh, h e a rt pounding, and so on), expressive physical actions (trem b lin g , gasping, and so on), and escalating fantasies can lead to panic. W h e th e r raised in a form al religious tra d itio n , o r no t, at such a m om ent w e ’re likely to quiver and quake as

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all atte n tio n is d ra w n to a d esperate en counter w ith the dreaded unknow n. T he archetypal im agination is an innate function th at shapes the d evelopm ent o f the affects from th eir source (the prim al self) to w a rd th eir goal (the realized self). W ith respect to the prim al self, the affects o f existen tial crisis m anifest as experiences o f the im ages o f p re ­ creatio n : the abyss o f fear, the void o f sadness, the chaos o f rage, the alienation o f co n te m p t/sh a m e , and the to tal disorientation and darkness o f startle. W ith respect to the realized self, these affects evoke com ­ pensatory im ages th at express the highest aspirations o f the hum an spirit: the sacred, the b eau tifu l, the tru e, the good and w holeness. H ere w e see im ages th at plum b the heights and depths o f hum an ex p erience. O u t o f the abyss o f fear, the arch ety p al im agination produces im ages th at u ltim ately d raw us in to the rituals o f pray er and w orship. This develo p m en t has evolved th ro u g h daem onic dread to w a rd a sense o f aw e and the holy. O u t o f the void o f grief’ the archetypal im agination produces visions o f the lost loved one(s); the em ptiness o f the void evokes m em ories o f the beloved in life - im ages o f the b eauty and bo u n ty o f n atu re. T he Aids q u ilt (m ade to com m em orate Aids victim s) shows this process so clearly; it is at once an expression o f universal g rie f - and a m em orial o f te rrib le beauty. O u t o f the m uddled, tum ultuous chaos o f anger, the arch ety p al im agination produces com ­ p ensatory im ages o f the cosm os, the o rd erin g principle o f reason. From the alienation o f contempt /shame, the arch etypal im agination produces co m pensatory im ages o f relationship, u ltim ately ‘U to p ian com m un ita s’. Finally, from the dark unconsciousness and disorientation o f startle, the arch ety p al im agination produces the cen trin g process, o rien ta tio n , selfreflectiv e consciousness and the im age o f w holeness. H ere w e see how the mandala o f the arch ety p al im ag in atio n evolves out o f the prim al Self to w a rd the expressive cu ltu ra l attitudes: the religious, the aesthetic, the philosophic, the social, and the penultim ate: self-reflective con­ sciousness o f w holeness. This discussion o f the highly -ev o lv ed form s o f the archetypal im agination leads to the n e x t ch ap ter: ‘T he spirit chooses’.

Chapter 7

The spirit chooses

In C h a p te r 5 I discussed the w o rld cycle o f creative change through w h ich new ideas are advanced in a dialectical process involving individuals o f the four basic sibling positions o f the fam ily. In C h ap ter 6 w e ex p lo red the em otions th at are the energic source o f the cycle, and distinguished b etw een the innate em otions o f the collective unconscious and the ‘com plex fam ily emotions* o f w hich the ‘sibling com plexes * are exam ples. This ch ap ter is focused on the innate em otions w hich are the energic source o f choice by the spirit. T he ‘ch o ice’ o f an individual to c a rry fo rw a rd an idea, or a task, such as th at o f political leadership (or, o f course, in any field o f endeavour, art, religion, science o r society), depends in p a rt on a concatenation o f the individual's sibling position in the fam ily and the specifics o f the social-political situation. B u t m o re is req u ired for the ‘c h o ice ’ o f a particular leader in a specific political situation than ju st the m atch o f sibling position and political Zeitgeist. T he question is then: W h a t is th a t ‘m o re? ’

M O SES From tim e im m em orial the answ er to th at question has been referred to the ‘sp irit’. T he heroic m an o r w om an w ho takes on a task is said to have been ‘c a lle d ’. As w e k now , Moses (FM M 3) was called by Y ahw eh from the b urning bush. In th at co n fro n tatio n Y ahw eh distinguished b etw een Moses and his eld er b ro th e r A aron. For w hen Moses sought to decline the in v itatio n because he w as n o t eloquent o f speech, Y ahw eh proposed th at A aron could speak for him . W h y did n o t Y ahw eh simply ‘c a ll’ A aron ra th e r than M oses, since A aron ap parently could speak eloquently? T he reason is to be found presum ably in Y a h w e h ’s discernm ent o f ‘s p irit’. T h a t is to say, Y ahw eh recognized in Moses a ‘n a tu ra l’ rev o lu tio n ary leader, and the ‘soon to b ec o m e’ spiritual leader

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o f the Israelites, Y a h w e h ’s ‘cho sen ’ people. In our term s th a t w ould m ean recognition, first, th a t M oses’ sibling position was th at o f a lastborn , and second, th at he w ould m ake h im self accessible to the ruthless dem ands o f the ‘s p irit’. N ow w e are left w ith the question: h ow does a particular leader o f the ap p ro p riate sibling position com e to dedicate him o r h e rse lf to prep aratio n for the role fo r w h ich a ‘c a ll’ w ill com e? N o t every lastb o rn w ould aspire to the task th a t Moses took on, and n o t ev ery lastbo rn w ould be up to the task. A t first Moses did n ot feel th at he w as up to the task, b u t he rallied and did assume the role assigned to him . W h y w as this? O bviously he had little choice. H e could n ot deny Y ahw eh. But w h a t does th at m ean psychologically? Moses m ust have com e to recognize his o w n fitness for the task, ju s t as w e find is true in the lives o f c o n tem p o rary leaders in sim ilar situations as, for exam ple, C h u r­ chill, G andhi and W alesa. M oses knew th at he had a strong co m m it­ m en t to freedom - he had been banned fro m E gypt because he killed a slav e-o w n er w h o w as abusing his slave. M o reover, at b irth he had been saved by his m o th e r and eld er sister from the P h ara o h ’s com m and to kill all m ale babies b o rn to the Jew s. H e had been adopted by the P h a ra o h ’s d au g h ter, and raised in the P h a rao h ’s palace. H e had, then, a dual id en tity , and knew from the inside the w ays in w hich the P haraoh dealt w ith p o w er. H e w as p rep ared to contend w ith the Pharaoh, w ith the help, o f course, o f Y ahw eh.

JOAN OF ARC Perhaps the m ost e x tra o rd in a ry exam ple o f being chosen by the spirit is the history o f Jo an o f A rc (M M FF4M ). A young peasant girl fro m the provinces o f France, she knew at the age o f 13 th at France could be saved from h er enem ies only th ro u g h the cro w n in g o f the dauphin as K ing. By 17 to 18 years o f age she had accom plished that. A t 19 she had been b u rn ed at the stake for heresy. It is no w o n d er th at the historian D unham speaks in h yperbole w h en he approaches this subject: T he n ew w o rld w hich, five centuries la ter, w e still live in and have n o t y et b u ilt arriv ed w ith m o re flam e and m ystery than w o u ld atten d a collision o f com ets o r sudden p ertu rb atio n s am ong the stars. For the w hole new w o rld , the m o d ern w o rld , ex isted in concept, in the m ind o f an illite ra te , teen -ag e peasant girl, w ho, in the y ear 1429, knew , though no one else k n ew , w h a t w as necessary to be know n. (D unham 1963: 240)

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A nd w e too m ay m arvel. Im agine, as if w e could, how thunderstruck the b ro th ers and sisters o f Joan m ust have been w hen she revealed to them the com m ands o f h er voices: Saints M ichael, C ath erin e and M arg aret. For the w estern w o rld , Jo an is unquestionably a historical p aradigm o f the coalescence o f the heroine o f m yth and the heroic leader. J o a n ’s inspiration cam e to h er th ro ugh the voices o f her saints, w ho called h er the M aid o f O rleans, d au g h ter o f God. A ny lurking doubts w e m ay have th at a sense o f destiny eru p tin g in the rig h t person at the rig h t tim e can m ove m ountains and sw eep masses o f people along in its w ake are quickly dispelled as w e contem plate the to w erin g figure o f Jo an o f A rc.

SPIRIT A N D INSPIRATION A nd here w e ask again: W h a t is th at e x tra som ething th at comes from the gods? C an it be anything o th e r than an indefinable elem ent o f the ‘s p irit’ w hich has its w ay w ith the individual th rough w h at w e m ay call in spiration - a special degree o f insight, daring, passion, courage and the like? L ater on I shall discuss this fu rth er in relation to the innate existen tial affects o f the collective unconscious w hich are the ultim ate source o f the dynam ics and energy and transm ission o f the ‘sp irit’. Follow ing Jung now , w e m ay say th at it is a special attu n em en t to the spirit o f the ancestors and the spirit o f the tim es w hich accounts for the leader w h o is ‘p re p a re d ’ at the p a rtic u lar m om ent w hich calls for his o r h er abilities. A nd this, as Ju n g says, is a special access to the energy o f the life source, th ro u g h the archetypes o f the collective unconscious. T he energy u nderlying conscious psychic life is p re -e x iste n t to it and th erefo re at first unconscious. As it approaches consciousness it first appears p ro jected in figures like m ana,[1] gods, daem ons, etc., w hose num en seems to be the vital source o f energy, and in point o f fact is so as long as these supern atu ral figures are accepted. B ut as these fade and lose th eir force, the ego - th at is, the em pirical m an seems to com e into possession o f this source o f energy, and does so in the fullest m eaning o f this am biguous statem ent: on the one hand he seeks to seize this energy, to possess it, and even im agines th at he does possess it; and on the o th e r hand he is possessed by it. (Jung 1961: 346-7) Speaking fu rth e r o f the n a tu re o f possession, Jung clarifies th at ‘no

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conscious w ill can ever replace the life in stin c t’. ‘This in stin c t’, he says, ‘com es to us from w ith in , as a com pulsion o r w ill or co m m an d ’. It has from ‘tim e im m e m o ria l’ been given the nam e o f a ‘personal d a e m o n ’ and this, Jung says, aptly expresses ‘the psychological situ a tio n ’. H e concludes th a t ‘if, by em ploying the co ncept o f the arch ety p e, w e a tte m p t to define a little m ore closely the point at w hich the daem on grips us, w e have n o t abolished anything, only approached closer to the source o f life ’ (Jung 1961: 349).

JUNG ON THE M EANING OF THE SPIRIT In several essays Ju n g ex p lo re d the various m eanings given to the term sp irit and sought to relate these m eanings to his conception o f the unconscious. In his v iew the sp irit m oves us from the unconscious; it is a phenom enon o f unconscious contents o f a collective n a tu re w hich becom e d om inant forces in the life o f an individual. Jung also speaks o f the phenom enology o f the spirit, th at is, the im age/ideas th ro u g h w hich it becom es available to consciousness. These are the archetypes o f the collective unconscious w h ich im press them selves upon the soul and thus becom e the guiding principles o f an individual life. B u t th at life is not an expression o f th at individual, b u t ra th e r an expression o f the spirit w hich dom inates the individual. As w e follow J u n g ’s d eveloping th o u g h t it becom es ap p aren t th a t the cen tral concepts o f his analytical psychology all coalesce around the co ncept o f spirit: the archetypes, the affects, the self, active im agina­ tion, the coniunctio. A nd alw ays the spirit is paired w ith its opposite, m a tte r. In one o f his early papers on the subject o f ‘sp irit’, Jung (1926) posed the question: D o w e really know the m eaning o f ‘s p irit’ and ‘life ’? H e w as quick to ad m it th a t he knew ‘as little w h a t “ s p irit” m ay be in itse lf as . . . w h a t “ life ” is’ (1926: 320). This did n o t, o f course, hin d er his efforts to find a ‘real basis for sp irit - and n ot at the expense o f life ’ (ibid.). H e first satisfied h im self th a t he knew life only th ro u g h its quintessence the ‘living b o d y ’. T h en he concluded th a t ‘s p irit’ is ‘the quintessence o f the life o f the m in d ’ (ibid.: 326). From this perspective he saw th at ‘S p irit’ exists in the same translim inal realm as ‘living b e in g ,’ th at is, in the same m isty state o f indistinguishableness. T he doubt as to w h e th e r m ind and body m ay n o t u ltim ately prove to be the same thing also applies to the ap p a re n t co n trast b e tw e en ‘sp irit’ and ‘living b e in g .’ T h ey too are p robably the same thing.

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(Jung 1926: 326-7) Jung then com pares the concepts o f ‘G o d ’ and ‘sp irit’. S pirit, like G od, denotes an object o f psychic experience w hich cannot be p roved to ex ist in the ex te rn a l w o rld and cannot be u n derstood ratio n ally . This is the m eaning o f the w o rd ‘sp irit’ if w e use it in its best sense. (Jung 1926: 329) E x p lo rin g the etym ology and com m on usage o f the te rm ‘sp irit’, he points to the close connection w ith the affects: P sychologically w e w ould say: every affect tends to becom e an autonom ous com p lex , to b reak aw ay from the hierarch y o f con­ sciousness and, i f possible, to d rag the ego after it. N o w onder, then, th at the p rim itiv e m ind sees in this the activity o f a strange invisible being, a spirit. S pirit in this case is the reflection o f an autonom ous affect, w h ich is w hy the ancients, v ery ap p ro p riately , called the spirits im agines, ‘im ag es.’ (Jung 1926: 330) T he spirit is also ex p erien ced as a kind o f attitu d e, o r fram e o f mind: M ost attitudes are based, consciously o r unconsciously, on some kind o f maxim, w h ich often has the ch a ra c ter o f a proverb. . . Those sayings o r ideals th at store up the richest experience o f life and the deepest reflectio n constitu te w h a t w e call ‘sp irit’ in the best sense o f the w ord. W h en a ruling principle o f this kind attains absolute m astery w e speak o f the life u nder its guidance as ‘ruled by the s p irit,’ o r as a ‘spiritual life .’ T he m ore absolute and com pelling the ruling idea, the m ore it has the n atu re o f an autonom ous com plex th at confronts the ego-consciousness as an unshakable fact. (Jung 1926: 331-2) All o f J u n g ’s exam ples include the em otions: O nly u nder the stress o f an em otion can the idea, o r w h atev er the ruling principle m ay be, becom e an autonom ous com plex; w ith o u t this the idea rem ains a co ncept subservient to the a rb itra ry opinions o f the conscious m ind, a m ere intellectu al co u n ter w ith no com pell­ ing p o w er behind it. (Jung 1926: 332 H e notes fu rth e r th a t ‘you cannot, so to speak, will to be spiritual. . . It

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is far m ore a m a tte r o f fate w h a t principle w ill rule our a ttitu d e ’ (ibid.: 332). Ju n g concludes from this th at ‘because the problem w e are concerned w ith h ere, nam ely the life-ru lin g p o w er o f the spirit, is connected w ith processes outside ego-consciousness’ (ibid.: 334), then it is necessary to e n te rta in the idea o f a h ig h er consciousness. Jung is quick to adm it, h o w ev er, th at it m ay not necessarily be ‘h ig h e r’ consciousness: P er­ haps, he says, ‘w id e r ’ is a b e tte r w ay to describe it. C onsciousness is n o t ‘necessarily higher in the in tellectu al or m oral sense. T h ere are m any spirits, b o th light and dark . Spirit is n ot absolute . . . it needs com pleting and p erfectin g th ro u g h life ’ (ibid.: 336). Sum m ing up, Jung states th at O nly a life lived in a ce rta in spirit is w o rth living. . . Life is a touchstone for the tru th o f the spirit. Spirit th at drags a m an aw ay from life, seeking fu lfilm ent only in itself, is a False spirit - though the m an too is to blam e, since he can choose w h e th e r he w ill give h im self up to this sp irit o r not. Life and spirit are tw o pow ers o r necessities b e tw e e n w h ich m an is placed. Spirit gives m eaning to his life, and the possibility o f its g reatest developm ent. B ut life is essential to spirit, since its tru th is n o th ing if it cannot live. (Jung 1926: 337) W e can see p refig u red in these early form ulations some o f the basic issues w hich preoccupied Ju n g th ro u g h o u t the la tte r h a lf o f his life, nam ely, the relationship o f arch ety p al im age to the ‘a rc h e ty p e ’, the relationship o f arch ety p e to ‘in stin c t’, and a precise definition o f arch ety p e. In one o f his last form ulations (1947), late in life, he considers the same issues in term s o f the spectrum o f light. By this tim e Ju n g had com e to u n d erstan d the archetypes as an expression o f the spirit. Ju n g creates a visual im age to help us im agine the differen t qualities o f ‘in stin c t’, ‘instinctual im a g e ’, and the ‘a rc h e ty p e ’ itself. H e visualizes the dynam ism o f instin ct as being suited to the ‘in fra -re d p a r t’ o f the spectru m o f colour. T he instinctual image, h o w ev er, belongs ‘in the u ltra -v io le t p a r t’. T his is because the colour v io let is a p p ro p riate for the arch ety p e in view o f its ‘m y stic ’ o r ‘p aradoxical q u a lity ’. Jung then explains fu rth e r th a t the n a tu re o f an archetype is irrep resen tab le, although it m ay be k n o w n by certain m anifestations. T he arch ety p e as such is a psychoid fa c to r th at belongs, as it w e re, to the invisible, u ltra -v io le t end o f the psychic spectrum . It does n ot appear, in itself, to be capable o f reaching consciousness. W e m ust

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constantly b ear in m ind th at w h at w e m ean by an ‘arc h e ty p e ’ is in itself irrep resen tab le, b u t has effects w hich m ake visualizations o f it possible, nam ely, the arch ety p al im ages and ideas. (Jung 1947: 213) Ju n g com pares his u n derstanding o f the archetype to the situation in physics w h ere the sm allest particles are also irrepresentable, b ut ju st like the archetypes, ‘have effects from the n atu re o f w h ic h ’ a m odel can be built. M oreover, Jung considers th at ‘it is not only possible but fairly probable, even, th at psyche and m a tte r are tw o d ifferent aspects o f one and the same th in g ’. C o n tin u in g in this vein Jung suggests that Just as the ‘psychic in fra -re d ,’ the biological instinctual psyche, gradually passes o ver into the physiology o f the organism and thus m erges w ith its chem ical and physical conditions, so the ‘psychic u ltra -v io le t,’ the arch ety p e, describes a field w hich exhibits none o f the peculiarities o f the physiological and yet, in the last analysis, can no longer be reg ard ed as psychic, although it m anifests itself psychically. B ut physiological processes behave in the same w ay, w ith o u t on th at account being d eclared psychic. . . W e m ust apply this arg u m en t logically to the archetypes as w ell. Since th eir essential being is unconscious to us, and still they are experienced as spontaneous agencies, there is probably no altern ativ e now b ut to describe th eir n atu re, in accordance w ith th eir chiefest effect, as ‘sp irit,’ in the sense w hich I a ttem p ted to m ake plain in m y paper ‘T he Phenom enology o f the Spirit in F airytales.’ If so, the position o f the archetype w ould be located beyond the psychic sphere, analogous to the position o f physiological instinct, w hich is im m ediately ro o ted in the stu ff o f the organism and, w ith its psychoid n atu re, form s the b ridge to m a tte r in general. (Jung 1947: 215-16) T o sum m arize: It is clear from the beginning th at Jung thought o f spirit and m a tte r as opposites w hich nevertheless represent tw o aspects o f a com m on factor. As his thinking ab o u t the unconscious, p articularly the archetypes, developed he cam e to see the spirit as the sym bolic expression o f in stinct, and th at was precisely the m eaning he gave to the archetypal im ag e/id ea. H o w ev er, the em otions w ere from the beginning u n derstood as the energic facto r w hich d eterm ined the ‘c h a rg e ’ and the ‘num inous effe c ts’ o f the archetype. This im plied then th at the em otions give expression to the archetypal im age/sym bol spirit. In addition, w hen he spoke o f the phenom enology o f the im ag e/

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sym bols th at rep resen t the spirit, he tu rn ed to the concept o f the cen tral org an izin g arch ety p e o f the collective unconscious, the self, rep resen ted in dream s and fairy -tales as the figure o f the W ise O ld M a n /W o m a n .

SPIRIT A N D NATURE: JU N G ’S SEIZURE Ju n g early on said to anyone w ho asked th at he w a n ted to be a philologist like his fath er, b u t he really m eant to be an archaeologist. A rchaeological studies w o u ld have cost a g rea t deal o f m oney and w o u ld have req u ired his going aw ay to a distant university. As it w as, his fath er had to g et a scholarship for him to atten d the U n iversity o f Basel. His decision to study m edicine w as a com prom ise. H e says it o c c u rre d to him th at his p atern al g ra n d fa th e r had been a d o cto r, and he kn ew he could m ake a good living as a d o cto r. All the tim e, though, he was plagued by thoughts o f the psyche and o f spiritualism and seances and all those stories he had h eard as a boy. His choice o f psychiatry cam e about quite by chance it w o u ld seem. Ju n g found un iv ersity life im m ensely stim ulating and he p a rticip ate d w ith enthusiasm in student discussions covering a w ide spectrum o f topics; m edical, philosophical and theological. B ut he quickly dis­ co v ered th at although ‘science opened the door to enorm ous quantities o f know ledge, it p rovided genuine insights very sparingly, and these in the m ain w ere o f a specialized n a tu re ’ (1961: 98). His philosophical read in g had convinced him th a t the psyche w as the im m ediate cause o f this dilem m a. ‘W ith o u t the psyche th ere w ould be n e ith e r know ledge n o r insight. Y et n o th in g w as ev er said ab o ut the psyche’ (ibid.). Ju n g ’s p uzzlem en t o ver the role o f the psyche w as given a new em phasis d u rin g his second sem ester at the university. H e discovered a book on ‘spiritualistic p h en o m en a’. In these w ritin g s he found co n firm atio n o f the au th e n tic ity o f the stories he had h eard as a boy: T he m aterial, w ith o u t a dou b t, w as authentic. B ut the g reat question o f w h e th e r these stories w ere physically tru e w as n o t an sw ered to m y satisfaction. N evertheless, it could be established th at at all tim es and all o v er the w o rld the same stories had been re p o rte d again and again. T h ere m ust be some reason for this, and it could n o t possibly have been the p redom inance o f the same religious conceptions e v ery w h ere, fo r th a t w as obviously not the case. R ath er it m ust be co nnected w ith the objectiv e behaviour o f the hum an psyche. B ut w ith re g a rd to this card in al question - the objective

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natu re o f the psyche - I could find out absolutely nothing, excep t w h a t the philosophers said. (Jung 1961: 99) In his typical fashion Ju n g im m ersed him self in the lite ra tu re o f spiritualism . H e notes th at his ‘m o th e r’s N o. 2 [personality] sym path­ ized w h o le-h earted ly . . . b u t everyone else I knew was distinctly disco u rag in g ’. It was as if, he says . . . ‘I had pushed to the brink o f the w o rld ; w h a t w as o f bu rn in g in terest to me was null and void for others, and even a cause for d re a d ’ (Jung 1961: 100). It is b u t a small step from this enthusiasm , w hich w as shared by his m o th er, to Ju n g ’s in terest in the ‘sp iritu a l’ seances being held by a fem ale cousin, to w hich his m o th er had d irected him , and from w hich cam e the m aterial for his g rad u atio n thesis. Y et all during this tim e he w as to rn by the feelings engendered in him o f being different. This, as he says ‘. . . eventually b ro u g h t back all the old doubts, in feriority feelings, and depressions - a vicious circle I was resolved to break at all costs. N o longer w ould I stand outside the w o rld , enjoying the dubious rep u tatio n o f a fre a k ’ (ibid). W ith this resolve Jung devoted him self to his course o f study in m edicine. D u rin g his m edical train in g Jung was introduced to psychiatry but found it o f little interest: T hough I had atten d ed p sychiatric lectures and clinics, the c u rren t in stru cto r in psychiatry w as no t ex actly stim ulating, and w hen I recalled the effects w hich the ex p erien ce o f asylums had had on my fath er, this was n o t calculated to prepossess me in favour o f psychiatry. In p rep arin g m yself for the state exam ination, th erefore, the tex tb o o k on psychiatry w as the last I attacked. I expected nothing o f it, and I still rem em b er th at as I opened the book by K rafft-E b in g the th o u g h t cam e to me ‘W ell, now le t’s see w h a t a psychiatrist has to say for h im self.’ T he lectures and clinical dem onstrations had n o t m ade the slightest im pression on me. I could not rem em ber a single one o f the cases I had seen in the clinic, but only m y b oredom and disgust. I began w ith the preface, intending to find out how a psychiatrist intro d u ced his subject or, indeed, ju stified his reason for existing at all. By w ay o f excuse for this high and m ighty attitu d e I m ust m ake it clear th at in the m edical w o rld at th at tim e psychiatry w as quite generally held in con tem p t. N o one really knew anything about it, and there was no psychology w hich regarded m an as a w hole and included his pathological variations in the total picture. T he d ire cto r

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w as locked up in the same in stitu tio n w ith his patients, and the in stitu tio n w as equally cu t off, isolated on the outskirts o f the city like an ancient lazaret w ith its lepers. N o one liked looking in th at d irectio n . T he d octors kn ew alm ost as little as the laym an and th e re fo re shared his feelings. M ental disease was a hopeless and fatal affair w h ich cast its shadow ov er p sychiatry as w ell. T he psychia­ trist w as a strange figure in those days, as I was soon to learn from personal exp erien ce. (Jung 1961: 108) As he co ntinued to read, Ju n g suddenly saw the possibility o f a resolu tio n o f his o w n in n er co nflict. H e cam e across the statem en t by K ra fft-E b in g th at the psychoses w ere ‘diseases o f the p erso n ality ’. A t th a t m om ent, in a state o f e x a lta tio n , his vo cation w as revealed to him: M y e x c ite m e n t was intense, for it had becom e clear to m e, in a flash o f illum ination, th a t fo r m e the only possible goal w as psychiatry. H ere alone the tw o cu rre n ts o f m y in terest could flow to g eth er and in a u n ited stream dig th e ir o w n bed. H ere was the em pirical field com m on to biological and sp iritual facts, w hich I had ev ery w h ere sought and n o w h ere found. H ere at last w as the place w h ere the collision o f n atu re and spirit becam e a reality. (Jung 1961: 108-9) J u n g ’s e x c ite m e n t eru p ted at the m o m ent w hen he read th at the ‘psychoses are diseases o f p e rso n a lity ’, th a t is to say, they have some psychological m eaning. W as he thin k in g o f his fath er at this m om ent? O r w as he also thinking o f h im self and his ex p erience since he w as a boy o f having tw o personalities th a t he had nam ed ‘N u m b er O n e ’ and ‘N u m b er T w o ’? U n til this m o m en t, his interests had d ra w n him in d iffe re n t directions: ‘Science m et to a v ery large e x te n t, the needs o f N o. 1 personality, w hereas the hum ane o r historical studies provided beneficial in stru ctio n for N o. 2 ’ (Jung 1961: 72). W e all kn o w w h a t the ex p erien ce o f ex c ite m en t is like. B ut w h a t is its role in the psyche? In te re st-E x c ite m e n t is an archetypal affect o f the libido. It signals a discovery, som ething novel has been recognized w h ich has connected w ith an arch ety p al sym bol in the collective unconscious. T he story o f A rchim edes running into the stree t shouting ‘E u rek a!’ com es to m ind. W h a t w o u ld the archetypal sym bol o f ex c ite m e n t be? T he b rillia n t lig h t o f insight, illum ination: In this instance n a tu re and sp irit u n ited in the study o f psychiatry: H ere w as the em pirical field com m on to biological and spiritual

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facts. . . H ere at last w as the place w h ere the collision o f n ature and spirit becam e a reality. M y vio len t reaction set in w hen K rafftEbing spoke o f the ‘subjective c h a ra c te r’ o f psychiatric textbooks. So, I thought, the te x tb o o k is in p a rt the subjective confession o f the author. W ith his specific prejudice, w ith the to ta lity o f his being, he stands behind the o b jectiv ity o f his experiences and responds to the ‘disease o f the p erso n ality ’ w ith the w hole o f his ow n personality. . . I saw th at once again I had obviously got m yself into a side alley w h ere no one could o r w ould follow me. B ut I knew - and nothing and nobody could have d eflected m e from my purpose - th at my decision stood, and th a t it w as fate. It was as though tw o rivers had united and in one gran d to rre n t w e re b earing me inexorably to w ard distant goals. This confident feeling th at I was a ‘united double n a tu re ’ carried me as if on a m agical w ave through the exam ination, in w hich I cam e out at the top. (Jung 1961: 109) T he intensity o f Ju n g ’s em otional reactio n can only be understood as a seizure by an archety p al im ag e/id ea. B ut w h at is th at im age/idea? T he things he notes as specifically im p o rta n t are: the subjective natu re o f psychiatry; the confluence o f his tw o interests - the biological and spiritual, in the em pirical field o f p sychiatry - the place o f the collision o f n atu re and spirit; and finally th a t he w as now a ‘united double n a tu re ’. C learly the im ages d epict a synthesis o f the biological and spiritual th ro u g h the study o f the em pirical field o f psychiatry, and this synthesis gives Jung a sense o f u n itin g his tw o personalties, N o. 1 (w ho w as grounded in the facts o f the w o rld the w ay it is) and N o. 2 (w ho existed outside o f tim e in a m ythic, im aginative realm ). As I have said elsew here, the pull to w a rd synthesis is ch aracteristic o f the only child. T he co n ten t o f J u n g ’s synthesis can be seen in p a rt as a confluence o f the ancestral h eritag e o f his tw o grandfathers, the m atern al was spiritual, the p atern al w as biological. Ju n g ’s m aternal gran d fath er, Samuel P reisw erk , w as a clergym an w ho lived m uch o f his life surrounded by spirits; he scheduled tim e each w eek in his study for a conversation w ith the sp irit o f his deceased first w ife. As a girl J u n g ’s m o th er Em ilie used to sit behind h er fa th e r’s chair w hen he w ro te his serm ons so th at he w ould n o t be disturbed by spirits. Ju n g ’s p atern al g ran d fath er studied m edicine and becam e a protege o f the g reat n atu ralist H um boldt. H e jo in e d the m edical faculty o f the U niv ersity o f Basel, enlarged it, and eventually becam e recto r. Late in his life he devo ted m uch tim e to a hom e for re ta rd ed children. T he

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constellating facto r o f J u n g ’s seizure m ay w ell have been his fa th e r’s dilem m a as a clergym an w h o suffered from a loss o f faith. T he result fo r p sychiatry is th at in Ju n g the genius w as found w ho w ould artic u la te the purpose and goal o f this new ly -em erg in g field o f psychology - the pro b lem o f m o d ern m en and w om en in search o f th e ir o w n souls. Jung spent the b e tte r p a rt o f his professional life seeking answ ers to these questions. H e encourages us to see his en tire childhood and his student years as p re p a ra tio n fo r his life and the developm ent o f his th eo ry o f A n alytical Psychology. T his is clear in w h at he says late in his life re fe rrin g to the occasion in the w in te r o f 1955-6 w hen at the age o f 80 he chiselled the nam es o f his p atern al ancestors on stone tablets and ensconced th em in the c o u rty a rd o f the T o w e r at B ollingen: W h e n I w as w o rk in g on the stone tablets, I becam e aw are o f the fateful links b e tw e e n m e and m y ancestors. I feel very strongly th a t I am u n d er the influence o f things o r questions w hich w ere le ft incom plete and un an sw ered by m y parents and grandparents and m ore distan t ancestors. It o ften seems as if there w e re an im personal karm a w ith in a fam ily, w h ich is passed on from parents to children. It has alw ays seem ed to m e th a t I had to answ er questions w h ich fate had posed to m y fo refath ers, and w h ich had n ot y et been answ ered, o r as if I had to com p lete, o r perhaps continue, things w hich previous ages had left unfinished. It is d ifficult to d eterm ine w h e th e r these questions are m ore o f a personal or m ore o f a general (collective) n atu re. It seems to m e th a t the la tte r is the case. A collective problem , if n o t recognized as such, alw ays appears as a personal problem , and in individual cases m ay give the im pression th a t som ething is o u t o f o rd e r in the realm o f the personal psyche. T he personal sphere is indeed d isturbed, b u t such disturbances need n o t be p rim ary ; they m ay w ell be secondary, the consequence o f an in supportable change in the social atm osphere. T he cause o f distu rb an ce is, th erefo re, n o t to be sought in the personal su rro u n d ­ ings, b u t ra th e r in the collectiv e situation. (Jung 1961: 233-4) T he fo rm th a t J u n g ’s ancestral h erita g e to o k in his early life w as in p a rt an id en tificatio n w ith G o e th e ’s Faust, an id en tification w hich w as facilitated by the fam ily m y th th a t J u n g ’s p aternal g ra n d fa th er had been an illeg itim ate son o f G o e th e ’s. So deeply did Jung ex p erience this id en tificatio n th a t in his y o u th he v o w ed to atone for Faust’s m u rd er o f

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the w ise, loving couple Philem on and Baucis. A ttesting to his vow is an inscription Jung placed o ver the gate to the T o w er: ‘Philemonis Sacrum Fausti Poenitentia’ (Shrine o f Philem on - R epentance o f Faust) Qung 1961: 235). ‘Faust struck a chord in m e ’, Ju n g says, ‘and pierced me through in a w ay th at I could n o t b u t reg ard as personal. M ost o f all, it aw akened in m e the problem o f opposites, o f good and evil, o f m ind and m a tte r, o f lig h t and darkness* (ibid.). Ju n g saw his ow n ‘inner contradictions . . . in d ram atized form*. In G o e th e ’s Faust, ‘the inept, purblind philoso­ p h e r’ encounters ‘his sinister shadow , M ephistopheles’. ‘I was d irectly s tru c k ’, Ju n g says, ‘and recognized th at this w as m y fate. H ence, all the crises o f the dram a affected m e personally; at one point I had passionately to agree, at an o th er to o p p o se.’ L ater on Jung cam e to see th a t his ow n w o rk w as ‘consciously linked . . . to w h at Faust had passed over: respect for the etern al rights o f m an, recognition o f “ the a n c ie n t,” and the co n tin u ity o f cu ltu re and intellectual h isto ry ’ Qung 1961: 235). Looking back on his life Jung cam e to see ju st how m uch his childhood experiences had, as he says, anticip ated fu tu re events, and paved the w ay for m odes o f adap­ tatio n to m y fa th e r’s religious collapse as w ell as the shattering revelatio n o f the w o rld as w e see it today - a revelation w hich had n o t taken shape from one day to the the n ex t, b u t had cast its shadow s long in advance. (ibid.: 91). Ju n g reached the conclusion th at though w e have a personal life w e are nevertheless at the same tim e ‘the victim s and prom oters o f a collective sp irit w hose years are counted in c e n tu rie s’. Thus he concludes th at W e can w ell think all o u r lives long th at w e are follow ing our ow n noses, and m ay nev er discover th a t w e are, for the m ost part, supernum eraries on the stage o f the w o rld theatre. These are factors w hich, although w e do not know them , nevertheless influence our lives, the m ore so if they are unconscious. Thus at least a p a rt o f our being lives in the centuries - th a t p a rt w hich, for m y private use, I have designated ‘N o. 2 .’ T h a t it is no t an individual curiosity is proved by the religion o f the W est, w hich expressly applies itself to this in n er m an and for tw o thousand years has earnestly tried to b rin g him to the know ledge o f ou r surface consciousness w ith its

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personalistic preoccupations: ‘Non foras ire, in interiore homine habitat veritas' (G o n o t outside; tru th dw ells in the inner m an). (Jung 1961: 91)

NOTE 1 ‘M ana’ is a M elanesian w ord for extraordinarily pow erful psychic energy that is projected on to (and em anates from) all kinds o f things, natural and supernatural.

Chapter 8

Depth psychology and the world cycle of creative change

In this ch ap ter I seek to show th at the histo ry o f depth psychology is an exam ple o f the cycle o f creativ ity . T h a t d ep th psychology is having an effect on society far beyond any ex p ectatio n s held in the period p rio r to the First W o rld W a r is obvious. It is w o rth recalling th at at the same tim e th at the w o rld w as slipping into the horro rs o f the First W o rld W a r, d epth psychology per se w as ju st com ing into being. T here can be little dou b t th a t dep th psychology represents one o f the g reat changes taking place in the w o rld today. W h en the blow s to the hum an ego are listed they begin w ith C opernicus and his statem ent th at the e arth is not the cen tre o f the cosmos. T h en com es D a rw in and his statem ent th at hum ans have evolved from anim als. Freud is given cred it for the third b lo w , nam ely, th at the conscious ego is n o t in charge o f its ow n house. A t this ju n c tu re , then, I shall try to show how the w o rld cycle o f change w hich led to dep th psychology found expression in the theories o f the pioneers Freud, A dler, R ank and Jung. In clarification o f this cycle it w ill be helpful to rev iew the underlying m eaning o f change itself, in w h atev er field o f endeavour it m ay occur. This w ill lead to an ex p lan atio n w hich draw s on J u n g ’s synthesis o f the d iv ergent theories o f Freud and A dler, as w ell as his theory o f the individuation process th at fosters the developm ent o f w holeness in the individual. In this w e shall be d irected to the ongoing, innate d ialectical relationship o f the em otions o f jo y and in terest, w ith th eir dynam ism s play /im ag in atio n and cu rio sity /e x p lo ra tio n , and th eir evolution to w ard relatedness and d iscrim ination, and u ltim ately the principles o f Eros and Logos. In addition w e shall exam ine the form s o f the fourfold archetypal im agination o f the S elf as it evolves o u t o f the prim ordial depths to w a rd the u ltim ate values o f hum an culture: the sacred, the beautiful, the tru e and the g o o d /m o ra l. In the m ost fundam ental sense, these are the four form s o f the spirit. T he evolu tio n and developm ent o f each is

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en erg ized by a crisis affect; as the affect in terw eaves w ith im agination and curiosity, the ex p erien ce is expressed and transform ed th ro u g h a sym bolic cu ltu ral a ttitu d e . C h o d o ro w shows how this is an inevitable p a rt o f n orm al developm ent: All child ren , if given the slightest o p p o rtu n ity , w ill express th eir fantasies th ro u g h dance and song and paintings and draw ings and clay and d ram atic play (aesth etic im agination). Sim ilarly, all chil­ d ren have fantasies ab o u t the U n k n o w n , the w o rld o f angels, ghosts, spirits and th in g s -th a t-g o -b u m p -in -th e -n ig h t - even infants have sleep rituals, w ordless, self-co m fo rtin g , rep etitiv e actions, so sim ilar to prayers, to ease the tran sitio n from the day w o rld to sleep (religious im agination). E very child asks endless questions and w onders about and im agines possible answ ers, as he o r she seeks a ratio n al ex p lan atio n o f the o rd e r o f the universe (philosophic im agination). A nd every child has to grapple w ith feelings about being included o r ex cluded, and has fantasies about how to get along w ith oth ers (social, ethical, m o ral im agination). A ch ild ’s potential to develop all o f the cu ltu ral form s is innate. T he rest o f the story has to do w ith genetic v ariatio n s and the question o f w h e th e r the c h ild ’s en v iro n m en t w ill foster or inh ibit cu ltural developm ent in g eneral a n d /o r the d ev elo p m en t o f a p a rticu la r form . B ut the p o w erfu l em otions th a t are the source o f artistic expression, religious ritu al, p h ilo so p h ic/scien tific inquiry and social re latio n ­ ships are innate. (C h o d o ro w 1991: 86) As a developing th eo ry o f the hum an psyche in its d estructive and healing p o tentials, d ep th psychology is u n derstandably going th ro u g h an evolu tio n sim ilar to th at o f o th e r fields o f endeavour. Its develop­ m en t d em onstrates the same tran sfo rm ativ e cycle o f c rea tiv ity as does physics, o r any o th e r field. H o w e v e r, dep th psychology itse lf is about the very processes w h ich underlie this evolution. T he basic te n et o f d ep th psychology, ‘kn o w thy S e lf, d irects a tte n tio n to the individual. T o know thy self, h o w ev er, one m ust becom e conscious o f b o th the inner and the o u te r m anifestations o f the self, and, o f the relationship b etw een them . This im plies a need to know ou r h eritage, th ro u g h the sp irit o f the ancestors, the Zeitgeist, and the present env iro n m en t o f fam ily and society. B oth Ju n g and N eum ann have observed th at it is the sensitive, creativ e, o ften tro u b led individuals w ho are attu n ed to the developing

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spirit o f the tim es long b efore it is know n to society as a w hole. As N eum ann puts it: T he fu tu re o f the collective lives in the present o f the individual, hard pressed as he is by his problem s - w hich can, in fact, be reg ard ed as the organs o f this collective. T he sensitive, psychically d isturbed and creativ e people are alw ays the forerunners. T h eir enhanced perm eab ility by the contents o f the collective unconscious, the deep layer w h ich d eterm ines the history o f happenings in the g roup, m akes them receptive to em erging new contents o f w hich the collective is n o t y et aw are. B ut these are also the people for w hom problem s becom e insistent in th eir personal lives a hundred years o r m ore b efore the collective has w oken up to th eir existence. (N eum ann 1969: 30) Freud, A dler, R ank and Jung, the m ost creative o f the pioneers o f depth psychology, w ere ju s t such individuals. T h e ir ow n w orks reveal this, as do the articles and biographies th at have been w ritte n about them . The source o f th eir c re a tiv ity and th eir w oundedness, can, in retro sp ect, be discerned in th eir early childhood experiences. This is m ost clearly d ocum ented in the case o f Jung. In Memories, Dreams, Reflections w e see th at from m id-life on Jung was engaged in com ing to term s w ith the experiences o f his childhood and la te r life, and in transform ing them into the substance o f his th eo ry and p ractice o f analytical psychology. It has taken m e v irtu ally fo rty -fiv e years to distill w ith in the vessel o f m y scientific w o rk the things I ex p erienced and w ro te dow n at th a t tim e. As a young m an m y goal had been to accom plish som ething in m y science. B ut then, I h it upon this stream o f lava, and the h eat o f its fires reshaped m y life. T h at w as the prim al stu ff w hich com pelled m e to w o rk upon it, and m y w orks are a m ore or less successful endeavor to in co rp o rate this incandescent m a tte r into the co n tem p o rary p ictu re o f the w o rld. T he years w hen I was pursuing m y inner im ages w ere the m ost im p o rtan t in m y life - in them ev ery th in g essential w as decided. It all began then; the late r details are only supplem ents and clarifications o f the m aterial th at b u rst fo rth from the unconscious, and at first sw am ped me. It was the prima materia for a life tim e ’s w o rk . Qung 1961: 199) Ju n g is speaking o f the fateful p erio d in his life th at had its beginnings in the d isruption o f his relationship w ith Freud w hen he w as 37 years o f age. T he b reak w ith Freud left him in a d isturbing state o f disorien­

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tation. N o th in g he could do - in te rp re tin g his dream s, rev iew in g his early m em ories - relieved his distress. As a last reso rt he subm itted to the unconscious and w a ite d for w h a t m ig h t arise. W h a t cam e up w as a m em ory o f him self w hen he w as 10 o r 11 years o f age ‘playing passionately w ith building b lo ck s’. H e recalled how he b u ilt ‘little houses and castles using bo ttles to form the sides o f gates and v a u lts’. T o J u n g ’s astonishm ent this m em o ry c a rrie d a g reat deal o f em otion. ‘T he small boy is still a ro u n d ’, he says, ‘and possesses a creative life w hich I lack. B ut how can I m ake m y w ay to it? ’ It seem ed im possible th a t as a g ro w n m an he could b rid g e the distance to his childhood. Y et he realized th at to re-establish c o n ta c t w ith th at period he w ould have to ‘take up once m ore th at c h ild ’s life w ith his childish gam es’: T his m om ent w as a tu rn in g po in t in m y fate, b ut I gave in only after endless resistances and w ith a sense o f resignation. For it w as a painfully hum iliating ex p erien ce to realize th at there was n o thing to be done ex cep t play childish games. (Jung 1961: 173-4) Jung took up playing again as a child on the shore o f Lake Z urich. This playing led him do w n the p ath o f m em o ry to the recovery o f the m ost frig h ten in g and significant dream o f his early childhood. T his d ream w hich had hau n ted his childhood, had for long been forg o tten . R ecovering this d ream put him on the course to the developm ent o f his m eth o d o f active im agination and his th eo ry o f analytical psychology. I shall take this up again fu rth e r on in the discussion o f Ju n g ’s synthesis (C h a p te r 9). For now it suffices to n ote th at Jung developed his m ethod ou t o f his o w n need to cope w ith the affects and im ages th at alm ost engulfed him . This can be seen to be tru e o f Freud, A dler and R ank as w ell. In the practice o f dep th psychology m uch has been m ade o f the them e o f the ‘w o unded h e a le r’. T he them e appears to have its origins in the ancient tales o f A sclepius, the early G reek god o f m edicine. A sclepius learned about healing fro m his teacher, the cen tau r, C h iron. P a rt hum an, p a rt anim al instinct, C h iro n suffers from an incurable w ound. Thus the teach er o f the arch etypal physician is at once w o unded and p reoccupied w ith questions about healing (K erenyi 1947: 83). T h e healer is found in all societies, from the m ost ancient tribal groups to the m ost m o d ern nations. In the earliest societies the h ealer (as sham an o r m edicine m a n /w o m a n ), dealt w ith bo th physical and psychological illness, and this co n tin u ed to be the role o f the m edical d o cto r for m any centuries. P sycho th erapy per se is a very recen t

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developm ent. Jung suggests the beginnings o f psychotherapy lie in the R eform ation, w hen the priest no longer m ediated b etw een G od and suffering hum ans, and confession w as no longer offered as surcease for the tro u b led soul. It is the failure o f relationship to o n eself and to others th at is at the core o f all need fo r psychotherapy. T his is the basic reason w hy psychotherapists have been found necessary for psychological healing. Freud and Jung b o th cam e to realize th a t a depth psychologist should u n dergo analysis. T h ey them selves had a need for a psychotherapist. Freud was the first to ex p erien ce this w h en he found in his friend Fliess a confidant w ith w hom he could conduct his ow n self-analysis. Freud w as J u n g ’s first th erap ist, and they analysed each o th e r’s dream s. D u rin g J u n g ’s fu rth e r self-analysis a fte r his break w ith Freud, he appears to have had T oni W o lff as com panion and no doubt, muse. W e do n o t know if A dler had som eone w ho served as therapist for him. H e certain ly studied Freud very thoroughly. H o w ev er, A d le r’s theory has little to say about the unconscious; perhaps this is a consequence o f his n o t having had som eone w ith w h o m to explore the transference experien ce. It is possible th at R ank w as analysed by Freud. W e tu rn now to a b rie f rev iew o f d ep th psychology. T he history o f d ep th psychology provides an unusual o p p o rtu n ity to understand b e tte r the fourfold cycle o f creativ e change. First, w e find th at the theories o f the pioneers o f depth psychology reflect the personalities o f their authors. Second, w e find th at the sequence o f developm ent o f the general th eo ry o f d ep th psychology passes through stages representing the unique contrib u tio n s o f each o f the pioneers. T h ird , this sequence follow s the p a tte rn o f the fourfold cycle o f creativ ity I discussed in C h a p te r 5. T he cycle is in itiated by a younger son o r daughter (M esm er, consolidated in the school o f C h arco t); tested and extended by a first-b o rn son o r d au g h ter (Freud); and m odified and adapted by in te rm e d ia te -b o rn sons or daughters (A dler). It m ay be disputed by last-borns o r y ounger sons o r d aughters (R ank) - and perhaps others as w ell, before it is finally b ro u g h t to a synthesis by an only child, or only so n /d a u g h te r (Jung). In ov erv iew it is ap p aren t th at the w orks o f the g reat pioneers o f d ep th psychology reveal a com plexly in terw o v en fabric o f conceptions in w hich the unique genius o f each is revealed through the psychologi­ cal view points in h eren t in the four basic sibling positions: first-b o rn son, Sigm und Freud (M l[m ]FFFFFM ); second son, A lfred A dler (M M 2F[m ]FM M ); last son, O tto R ank (M [f]M 2); and only son, C arl G ustav Ju n g (M1F). O f course dep th psychology had early precursors,

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as Ju n g points o u t in the follow ing b rie f accounting o f the stages o f d evelopm ent th a t the idea o f the unconscious passed through: Freud is b o rn e along by a p a rtic u la r c u rre n t o f thought w hich can be traced back to the R efo rm atio n . G radually it freed itse lf from innum erable veils and disguises, and it is now tu rn in g into the kind o f psychology w h ich N ietzsche foresaw w ith prophetic insight - the discovery o f the psyche as a n ew fact. Some day w e shall be able to see by w h a t to rtu o u s paths m o d ern psychology has m ade its w ay from the dingy lab o rato ries o f the alchem ists, via m esm erism and m agnetism (K ern er, E nnem oser, E schim ayer, B aader, Pasavant, and o thers), to the philosophical anticipations o f Schopenhauer, C arus, and von H artm an n ; and h o w , from the native soil o f everyday ex p erien ce in L iebeault and, still earlier, in Q uim by (the spiritual fath er o f C h ristian Science), it finally reached Freud th ro u g h the teachings o f the French hypnotists. T his c u rre n t o f ideas flow ed to g e th e r from m any obscure sources, gaining rapidly in stren g th in the n in eteen th cen tu ry and w in n in g m any adherents, am ongst w hom Freud is n o t an isolated figure. Qung 1930: 324-5) D ep th psychology per se appears to have em erged w ith younger son M esm er, and his co ncept o f anim al m agnetism . G radually it w as tran sfo rm ed in the w ays Ju n g m entions above until it w as taken up by the French hypnotists, C h a rc o t and Ja n e t in p articu lar, and the th eo ry o f ab reactio n developed. H ypnosis and ab reaction d em o nstrated th at the ego was n o t fully in co n tro l o f its o w n house. B re u e r’s fam ous case o f A nna O . seem ed to con firm the th eo ry o f abreaction. Freud, w ho had o riginally been im pressed by C h a rc o t’s o ff-th e -c u ff rem arks on the role o f sexuality in the etio lo g y o f neurosis w as now seized by the findings o f B reu er (M 1M ) w ith his fam ous patien t A nna O . In no tim e at all Freud developed the ‘psychic telesco p e’. His d ire ct e x p lo ra tio n o f the unconscious th ro u g h the in te rp re ta tio n o f dream s, the technique o f free association and the revival o f personal history in the transference c arried as g re a t a shock value then, as had G alileo ’s ex p lo ratio n o f the m oon w ith the n ew ly -in v en ted telescope some tw o centuries earlier. Ju st as m any sceptics at first refused to look at F reud’s (M l[m ]FFFFFM ) m oonscape o f the unconscious as refused to look through G alileo ’s (M 1M M FFF)1 telescope at the m oon in the heavens. A dler rebelled at w h a t he saw as the lim itations o f F reu d ’s view s; his o w n ex p erien ce w as d ifferen t. A nd w h en Freud refused to accept his c o n trib u tio n s, and forced him to leave the V ienna group, A dler form ed

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his ow n society and developed a co h eren t theory o f individual psychology. O n the w hole he seem ed to p ro fit from his rem oval from the Freudian circle. R ank w as a typical last-b o rn rebel w ho eventually disputed and disavow ed the theories o f Freud, A dler and Jung. His co n trib u tio n to the n o n -d irectiv e psychological m ovem ent and to the d evelopm ent o f the a rt psychotherapies m ay be seen as his C opernican step. In the early years Jung, too, w as a disciple. H e was trained and analysed by the m aster, had in co rp o rated m uch o f F reud’s thought and based his early practice o f psychotherapy on F reud’s concepts. T o be sure, he w as also critical o f some aspects o f F reud’s theory, p articularly his concept o f libido as the sex drive. For several years he saw no need to push these differences; he did n o t y et have a theory o f his ow n. B ut w hen he and Freud ab ru p tly ended th eir collaboration, Jung found h im self d isoriented and w ith o u t any firm footing. It took him a num ber o f years to w o rk his w ay th ro u g h his ow n self-analysis to a solid th eo retical and p ractical basis for his w ork. G radually his theory evolved into a synthesis and tran sfo rm atio n , built on the w o rk o f both Freud and A dler. H e cited R an k ’s early w ritings and m ay have follow ed his developing thought. T h e full im pact o f the synthesis o f d ep th psychology achieved by Jung w ith the affects as the foundation o f the psyche, his concept o f the arch ety p e and his understanding o f the process o f individuation is yet to be realized. T he foregoing is a very b rie f sketch o f stages in the evolution o f d ep th psychology from younger son M esm er to only son Jung. In the follow ing section I shall give substance to this sum m ary by seeking to show how Freud, A dler, Rank and Ju n g approached depth psychology from the unique v iew points they acquired in th eir families and from the cu ltu re around them .

THE EARLY MEMORIES OF FREUD, ADLER, RANK A N D JUNG T he first approach to the uniqueness o f each o f these pioneers is th ro u g h th eir o w n early m em ories. E arly m em ories are those m yster­ ious bits o f a past life w h ich float up from the vast abyss o f tim e in b rie f vignettes w hich are like icons. W e im m ediately recognize ourselves even though w e m ay n o t be able to p en etrate back to any o th er m em o ry o f th a t tim e, w hich fo r som e excep tional individuals m ay have been as early as the first y ear o f life. These vignettes usually do not b rin g w ith them a cluster o f o th e r m em ories. T hey are vivid but

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isolated recollections o f a tim e th a t w e have little personal know ledge o f at all. Y et they are convincingly real. T he focus here is on ‘w h a t is re m e m b e red ’ by an individual, and this specificity is significant. For H illm an, the specificity is due to th e ir archetypal nature: T he memorability o f specific im ages - the little neighbor girl in a y ellow sunsuit digging to C h in a on the July beach, the lost bloodied to o th in the p arty cake - th a t precisely these im ages, and these im ages precisely, have been selected, re triev e d , recounted tells th at th e ir vital stu ff is arch ety p ally m em orable. M em ory infuses im ages w ith m em o rab ility , m aking the im ages m ore ‘re a l’ to us by adding to them the sense o f the tim e past, giving them historical reality. B ut the h istorical reality is only a co v er for soul significance, only a w ay o f adap tin g the arch ety p al sense o f m ystery and im portance to a consciousness engrossed in historical facts. If the im age d oesn’t com e as history, w e m ig h t n o t take it for real. (H illm an 1983: 41) It is difficu lt to know w h a t H illm an is try in g to convey by his w illingness to m ake m em o ry sound like the guardian o f our sense o f reality . N o th in g could be m o re tru e , a loss o f m em ory is a loss o f id en tity . Thus it is th at ev ery individual w ith a sense o f id en tity w ill have specific m em ories o f w h a t m ay be called an ‘a rc h e ty p a l’ n atu re. T he very early m em ories o f childhood p articu larly c arry the num inous q uality o f arch ety p al significance. It w as ju st for this reason th a t Jung, in the throes o f the unshakeable m alaise w h ich o v erto o k him follow ing the b itte r b reak w ith Freud, rev iew ed all the details o f his childhood m em ories, tw ice, in search o f any clues th a t m ight suggest he w as having a m ental b reak d o w n (Jung 1961: 173). E arly m em ories rep resen t c ritical events in w h a t m ight be called the c h ild ’s m yth. E arly m em ories also reveal details o f the developing sibling com plex. Each child en ters the fam ily at a specific point in the fa m ily ’s cycle; fo r each child th ere is a ‘b asic’ fam ily w hich is its startin g point in life. Let us begin w ith Sigm und Freud, w hose fam ily constellation w as a com p licated one, and w ho has left a series o f early m em ories w h ich w ere o f g re a t significance to him . W h e n Freud w as b o rn his m o th er, A m alia, w as in h er early tw enties. His fath er, Jakob, w as in his forties. Y oung Sigm und w as his m o th e r’s first child. Jakob had tw o sons from an e a rlie r m arriag e: E m anuel was in his mid-20s; Philipp w as a y ear o r tw o y o u n g er, perhaps 22 o r 23. E m anuel w as m a rrie d and had tw o child ren , a son (John) about a y ear older than Freud, and a d a u g h te r ab o u t his age. E m anuel and his fam ily lived three

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or four blocks aw ay. Philipp, w ho was not m arried, lived across the street (V itz 1988).

Sigmund Freud F irst-born children are likely to be sensitized to jealousy w hen they are ‘d e th ro n e d ’, to use A d le r’s apt term , by the b irth o f a sibling. M any o f the ‘fam ous’ child cases re p o rte d in the depth psychology lite ratu re have been first-b o rn children: L ittle H ans (Freud 1909), Ju n g ’s daughter A gathle Qung 1910), D ibs (A xline 1964), the Piggle (W in n ico tt 1977), and so on. Freud w as his m o th e r’s first-b o rn child. His earliest m em ory is in response to his y o unger b ro th e r Julius w ho was born w hen Freud w as 1 y ear and 5 m onths o f age, and w ho died w hen Freud w as not quite 2: I w elcom ed m y . . . y ounger b ro th e r (w ho died w ith in a few m onths) w ith ill w ishes and real infantile jealousy . . . his death left the germ o f guilt in m e. (Freud 1954: 219) O f course, for F reu d ’s jealo u sy com plex to have becom e so im p o rtan t an elem ent o f his psychology it is necessary to assume th at the fam ily atm osphere fostered it. For m ost o f the first three years o f his life, perhaps from as early as one m onth, it is v ery likely th at a ‘n a n n y ’, a C zech w om an, called Resi (T heresa) took care o f him (V itz 1988: 1216). D u rin g those early years o f his life Freud had to cope w ith a com plicated fam ily situation. As w e see, he experienced jealous rage, loss and hum iliation at being replaced by an other baby, and then, in addition, his ow n rem orse and his m o th e r’s m ourning w hen the infant died. His m o th er was alm ost im m ediately p regnant w ith his sister A nna. Julius died in A pril 1858; A nna was b orn the last day o f th a t year, 31 D ecem b er, 1858. A m alia suffered an o th er m ajor loss during this same period. H er youn g er b ro th e r Julius (after w hom her baby had been nam ed), died on 15 M arch, 1858, ju st one m onth before the baby died. It appears th at perhaps as early as a m onth to a few m onths after his b irth F reu d ’s nanny becam e a substitute m o th er to w hom he becam e closely attached. Even so closely as to suggest to him self w hen reflectin g on his ow n life, and to o thers w ho have studied the details o f his early life, th at she w as in essence his p rim ary m o th er (V itz 1988: 3 30). W h en he w as about 3, she w as accused o f stealing, was p ere m p to r­ ily dismissed, re p o rte d to the police and im prisoned. T he loss Freud

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ex p erien ced w h en she w as dism issed w as as g re at o r g re a te r than the original sense o f ab andonm ent by his m o th e r w hen she gave b irth to Julius, as w itness the follow ing. In a le tte r to Fliess, Freud w ro te: M y ‘p rim ary o rig in a to r’ (o f neurosis) w as an ugly, elderly b u t clever w o m an w ho told m e a g re a t deal about G od and hell, and gave m e a high opinion o f m y o w n capacities. . . If . . . I succeed in resolving m y hy steria I shall have to thank the m em ory o f the old w om an w ho provided m e at such an early age w ith the m eans o f living and surviving. (V itz 1988: 8) A sho rt tim e la te r Freud w ro te to Fliess again on the same them e. I asked m y m o th e r w h e th e r she rem em b ered m y nurse. ‘O f c o u rse ,’ she said, ‘an elderly w o m an , v ery shrew d indeed. She w as alw ays taking you to church [in alle K irche - in all the churches; F reiberg, though sm all, had at least th ree C ath o lic churches.] W h en you cam e hom e you used to p reach, and tell us all about h ow G od [der liebe G o tt - the loving G od] co n d u cted His affa irs.’ A t the tim e I w as in bed w hen A nna was being b o rn she tu rn ed o ut to be a thief, and all the shiny K reu tzers and Z ehners and toys th at had been given to you w e re found am ong h er things. Y o u r b ro th e r Philipp w e n t h im self to fetch the policem an, and she g o t ten m onths. [G erm an from the orig in al le tte r] (V itz 1988: 14) R elated to the th re a t o f abandonm ent th a t Freud m ust have felt is the follow ing m em o ry and reflections on it, re p o rte d by Freud: I f the w o m an disappeared so suddenly . . . some im pression o f the ev en t m ust have been left inside m e. W h e re is it now ? T hen a scene o ccu rred to m e w h ich for the last tw e n ty -n in e years had been tu rn in g up fro m tim e to tim e in m y conscious m em ory w ith o u t m y u nd erstan d in g it. I w as cry in g m y h e a rt out, because m y m o th er w as n o w h ere to be found. M y b ro th e r Philipp . . . opened a cupboard for m e, and w h en I found m y m o th e r w as n ot there e ith e r I cried still m o re, until she cam e aro u n d the d o o r, looking slim and beautiful. W h a t can th a t m ean? W h y should m y b ro th e r open the cu pboard for me w h en he kn ew th a t m y m o th e r w as n o t inside it and th at opening it th e re fo re could n o t quiet me? N o w I suddenly understand. I m ust have begged him to open the cupboard. W h e n I could n o t find m y m o th er, I feared she m ust have vanished, like m y nurse n o t long

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before. I m ust have h eard th at the old w om an had been locked, or ra th e r ‘boxed* up. (V itz 1988: 22) V itz and o thers have d ra w n atte n tio n to the interest Freud show ed in the them e o f the tw o m others, as w itness his articles on L eonardo and M oses, and, o f course his in terest in the O edipus dram a. Freud was suspiciously o bservant o f his m o th er from early on as the m em ory reveals. His n e x t m ost m oving and d isturbing childhood m em ory o ccu rred around the same tim e at the age o f 3. W h ile on a train jo u rn e y w ith his m o th er from his original hom e to a new hom e in an o th er city he rep o rts having seen his m o th er in the nude. This experience carried such a num inous and fo rbidding charge th at w hen he w ro te o f it as an adult, w hen he w as some 40 years o f age, he could nam e it only in a dead language, Latin. T o add an o th er tw ist to the com plications o f F reu d ’s first three years o f life, it has been suggested th at F reu d ’s m o th er A m alia and his adult h a lf-b ro th e r Philipp w e re sexually involved around the tim e th a t the nanny w as discharged. A lthough the evidence is circum stantial, it is highly suggestive, and has been accepted as probable by some (V itz 1988: 39-45). W h e th e r literally tru e o r w h e th er in the air, this w ould have added to the early sexualization o f F reu d ’s fantasy life. F reud’s associations to the m em o ry o f Philipp and the cupboard led him to suspect th at his m o th er had been p reg n ant again and had delivered an o th er baby, for she ap peared in the dream slim and youthful in appearance. H e also felt th at Philipp w as im plicated in this in some w ay, as he had been in the disappearance o f F reu d ’s C atholic nanny ju st a short w hile before. T his tim e in F reu d ’s life corresponded w ith the b irth o f his sister A nna, w h o m he is said n ever to have liked. In these m em ories o f F re u d ’s early years, there can be little question b u t th at the seeds o f a sibling jealo u sy com plex w ere planted as early as 17 m onths o f age w hen his b ro th e r Julius w as b orn, and, m oreover, th at this com plex was fostered and co m plicated by the subsequent death o f his b ro th e r Julius, and the b irth a few m onths late r o f an other sibling. T he seeds o f an o th er com plex o f loss w ere planted during this same p eriod as a consequence o f the com plications o f his ‘tw o m o th ers’, A m alia and Resi. H e first ex p erien ced loss w ith A m alia w hen she tu rn ed him o ver to Resi, and then perhaps an even m ore disturbing loss w hen Resi, w ho by then had becom e his ‘p rim a ry ’ m o ther, suddenly disappeared w hen he w as about 3 years o f age. T he norm al d evelopm ental stage o f the O edipus com plex was also com plicated by

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the puzzling question o f ju s t w ho his fath er w as, Philipp, o r his biological fa th e r w h o in age could have been his gran d fath er. A nd perhaps Philipp w as actu ally involved w ith A m alia in a sexual relationship. W ith all this possible stim ulus to fantasy, and w ith babies ap pearing reg u larly , eig h t in all o v er a p eriod o f ten years, and F re u d ’s num inous ex p erien ce o f seeing his m o th e r naked on the train trip to Leipzig, it is safe to say th a t sex w as in the air. In this light, F reu d ’s la te r p reo ccu p atio n w ith sex and the prim al scene in his th eo ry o f psychoanalysis seems a n o t im probable outcom e. T o add to this conclusion is the recen t evidence th a t Jakob Freud sexually m olested his children. C e rta in portions o f letters th a t w ere long k ep t a secret, speak d irectly to the issue. In a le tte r to W ilh elm Fliess d ated 21 S eptem ber 1897, Sigm und Freud review s some o f the sym ptom s o f hysteria, and notes th a t his o w n fath e r was responsible for the hy steria o f his b ro th e rs and sisters. As w e know , in the early stages o f psychoanalysis Freud traced the origins o f hysteria to the sexual seduction and abuse o f children. U n fo rtu n a te ly , m y o w n fath er w as one o f these perv erts and is responsible for the hy steria o f m y b ro th e r (all o f w hose sym ptom s are identifications) and those o f several y o unger sisters. (Freud 1985: 230-1) In an o th er le tte r to Fliess, Freud points again to his fa th e r’s perversion. T hen the surprise th a t in all cases, th e father, n o t excluding m y ow n, had to be accused o f being perverse. (Freud 1985: 264) V itz (1988) does n o t accept the im plication th at Jakob m olested young Sigm und. ‘F re u d ’s com m ents about his fath er p rim arily im plicate Jakob w ith respect to F reu d ’s siblings, n o t h im s e lf (V itz 1988: 132). D raw in g from num erous sources, V itz turns his a tte n tio n instead to the nanny as a possible source o f F reu d ’s childhood sexual ‘sed u ctio n ’. V itz quotes fro m a le tte r Freud w ro te to Fliess as follow s: ‘She w as m y instructress in sexual m a tte rs, and chided m e for being clum sy’ (ibid.). V itz goes on to say th at the ‘sh e’ in this le tte r has been assum ed to be F reu d ’s nanny, b u t he also suggests th at it m ig h t have been a servant girl. In the end, a fte r rev iew in g all the evidence, V itz says: I conclude . . . th a t Freud as a child w as e ro ticized by his nanny o r by some o th e r fem ale servant, and th a t his h alf-n ep h ew John also p robably co n trib u te d to this; the seductions set up a kind o f

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com pulsive m astu rb atio n com bined w ith sexual fantasies. The childhood ero tic behavior w as also severely challenged by a strong castratio n th re a t, rein fo rced by the nanny b ut u ltim ately traceable to F reu d ’s fath er. (V itz 1988: 141) H ere w e see the personal origins o f F reu d ’s theory o f sexuality, in w hich libido and incest are in tricately in tertw in ed . Freud originally understood incest in the conventional sense as sexual relationships b etw een m em bers o f the im m ediate fam ily. W h en his w om en patients told him th at th eir fathers or older b ro th ers had taken sexual liberties w ith them as ch ildren and adolescents, Freud reasoned th at this was the trau m atic source o f th eir n eu ro tic sym ptom s. Later, as w e know , he w as persuaded by indignant fathers w ho denied such behaviour, th at it w as a m istake to believe these stories. Freud then recanted and proposed instead th a t his patients w ere telling him th eir childhood fantasies. Thus, the O edipus com plex becam e the cornerstone o f his th eo ry o f neurosis. This decision turns ou t to have been a double-edged sw ord. O n the one hand there w as an ap p aren t psychological gain in this shift from trau m a as literal ex p erien ce to trau m a as a function o f fantasy; it focused atten tio n on the role o f fantasy in the psychic life o f the individual. B ut th ere w as an u n fo rtu n ate legacy from this w ay o f thinking. It haunts us still today in the to rtu re d lives o f children w ho are sexually abused by fam ily m em bers, b u t w hose stories are often not believed and are dismissed as the fantasies o f the ch ild ’s ‘n o rm a l’ libidinous and seductive n atu re (Russell 1986). It w ould appear th at m uch o f the psychological trau m a suffered by children and young adults results from this incestuous ru p tu re o f the fam ily temenos and the intense hum iliation it engenders. As M asson (1984) has show n, Freud was rig h t in the first place to believe w h a t his patients told him . Incest in fam ilies w as com m on in F reu d ’s tim e as it is today. T hen as now , it tends to rem ain a sham eful secret, publicly unacknow ledged.

Alfred Adler For a la te r-b o rn it is often the em otional im pact o f the older sibling or siblings w ho live in the hom e th at is reflected in early m em ories. A d le r’s earliest m em ory w as of: sitting on a bench bandaged up on account o f rickets, w ith m y healthy elder b ro th e r sitting opposite me. H e could run, ju m p , and

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m ove about quite effortlessly, w hile for me m ovem ent o f any sort was a strain and an effo rt. E veryone w e n t to g rea t pains to help m e, and m y m o th e r and fath er did all th a t w as in th e ir p o w er to do. A t the tim e o f this reco llectio n I m ust have been about tw o years old. (A dler, in B o ttom e 1957: 30-1) T he core o f this m em ory is the sense o f in fe rio rity engendered by his illness. O ne can recognize in this m em ory the seed o f his la te r p reo ccu p atio n w ith ‘org an in fe rio rity ’. L ater m em ories and com m ents refer to the tw o - o r th re e -y e a r-o ld e r b ro th e r as the successful, co m p eten t one and to h im self as the envious one suffering from sickliness and feelings o f in ferio rity . A n o th er m em o ry w h en he w as 3 years o f age im pressed him w ith the idea th a t he ‘m ust in the fu tu re ju d g e m ankind n o t by th eir spoken w ords and sentim ents, b u t by th eir a c tio n s’. T he m em ory w as o f a tim e w hen he and his old er b ro th e r w ere left alone for a few days in the care o f a governess. W h en his parents cam e back he m et them as he w as singing a street song: T he song w as about a w o m an w h o ex p lained th at she c o u ld n ’t eat chicken because she w as so h u rt by the killing o f h er little hen. A t this, the singer asks how she can have such a soft h e a rt w hen she thinks n o th in g o f th ro w in g a flo w er po t at h er h u sband’s head. M y fath er at once decided to dismiss the governess, concluding quite rig h tly th a t she had taken m e to m usical shows in the evenings. In spite o f the fact th at he w as pleased at m y singing, he looked at w h a t lay behind it; looked d eep er, som ething I also learned to do. B ut I, too, w as deep er, in th a t I realized th a t I m ust in the fu ture ju d g e m ankind n o t by th eir spoken w ords and sentim ents, b u t by th eir actions. O nce the song had put this into m y head, the idea rem ained fo rev er and g re w stro n g er and stronger. (A dler, in B o tto m e 1957: 11) A youn g er b ro th e r w as b o rn w h en A d ler w as 4 years o f age and he suffered the usual feelings at losing the full atte n tio n and care he had received because o f his sickliness. I w as n early four years old. M y yo u n g er b ro th e r had been born. I rem em b er him only v ery slightly, b u t his d eath rem ains firm ly fixed in m y m ind. B efore he w as b o rn , th ere can be no doubt th at I w as reared and w atch ed w ith the g reatest solicitude on account o f m y sickliness. I am sure th a t I m ust have been fo rced to put up w ith a g re a t deal less o f the a tte n tio n w h en m y younger b ro th e r w as born. I

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have a vague idea th at I took this ap p arent loss o f atten tio n on the part o f my m o th er very m uch to h eart. B ut it did n o t affect me in reg ard to m y fath er, w ho was ou t all day w o rking and to w hom I becam e deeply attach ed . As I found ou t late r, I w ro n g ed m y m o th er in feeling th at she d eprived m e o f h er affection. T h ro u g h o u t h er life she loved all h er children w ith the same degree o f w arm th and affection. (A dler, in B ottom e 1957: 9-10) O ne thing to be n o ted about this m em ory is th at it sounds as if the b ro th e r w ho died w as the n e x t-b o rn child, b u t this w as n o t the case. A sister was b o rn w h en A dler w as 1 y ear and 8 m onths o f age. H e reports no m em ory related to h er b irth or h er im pact on his life. T he b irth o f a sister probably c arried less sense o f displacem ent in a p atriarchal fam ily. It is o f in terest to note th at A dler, like Freud, experienced the d eath o f a y ounger b ro th e r in early childhood. A t the tim e o f the death o f his younger b ro th e r, Freud w as 1 y ear and 7 m onths o f age. A dler w as slightly o ver 4 years o f age w hen his b ro th e r died. D eath w as an early and p ro m in en t ex p erience for A dler, n ot only on account o f the death o f his y o unger b ro th e r, b u t in his ow n experience. R eferrin g to this fact w h en he w ro te his m em ories dow n as an adult, A dler speaks o f his reactio n in ra th e r distant term s: M y early realizatio n o f the fact o f death - a fact w hich I grasped sensibly and w holesom ely, no t m orbidly; n ot regarding death as an insurm ountable m enace for a child - w as increased w hen I had pneum onia at the age o f five, and the d o cto r, w ho had suddenly been called in, told m y fath er th at there was no point in going to the trouble o f looking a fte r m e, as th ere w as no hope o f m y living. A t once a frightful te rro r cam e o ver m e, and a few days later, w hen I was w ell, I decided d efinitely to becom e a do cto r so th at I should have a b e tte r defense against the d anger o f death and w eapons to com bat it su perior to m y d o c to r’s . . . A fter th at the d eterm ination to becom e a d o cto r n ever left me. I never could p icture m yself taking up any o th e r profession. Even the fascinating lure o f art, despite the fact th at I had considerable abilities in various form s o f m usic, w as n o t enough to tu rn m e from m y chosen path, and I persisted although m any com plex difficulties lay betw een me and m y goal. (A dler, in B ottom e 1957: 11-12) D espite the easy w ay in w h ich A dler appears to have d ealt w ith his fear

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o f d eath it c a rrie d m ore lasting significance as he reveals in the follow ing discussion: In the jo y o v er m y reco v ery , th ere w as talk for a long tim e about the m o rtal d an g er in w hich I w as supposed to have been. From th a t tim e on I recall alw ays thinking o f m y self in the fu tu re as a physician. T his m eans th a t I had set a goal from w h ich I could ex p ect an end to m y childlike distress, m y fear o f death. C learly , I ex p ected m ore from the o ccupation o f m y choice than it could accom plish: T he overco m in g o f death and o f the fear o f death is som ething I should n o t have e x p ected from hum an, b u t only from divine accom plish­ m ents. R eality, h o w ev er, dem ands action, and so I was forced to m odify m y goal by changing the conscious form o f the guiding fiction until it ap peared to satisfy reality. So I cam e to choose the o ccupation o f physician in o rd e r to o vercom e death and the fear o f d eath. (A dler 1956: 199) B ut the fear o f death did n o t disappear so easily. In an o th er m em ory A dler describes his daily fear o f passing o v er a cem etery on the w ay to school w hen he w as 5. T he pivotal m o m en t though, is w hen he becom es a w are o f his p erceived in fe rio rity and decides to do som ething about it. T he idea o f being less courageous than the others is at once p roblem and solution. I rem em b er th at the path to the school led over a cem etery. I w as frig h ten ed ev ery tim e and was exceedingly put o u t at beholding the o th e r child ren pass the cem etery w ith o u t paying the least atte n tio n to it, w hile ev ery step I took w as accom panied by a feeling o f fear and h o rro r. A p a rt from the e x tre m e d iscom fort occasioned by this fear I w as also annoyed at the idea o f being less courageous than the others. O ne day I m ade up m y m ind to put an end to this fear o f d eath. A gain, I decided upon a tre a tm e n t o f hardening. I stayed at some distance behind the o thers, placed m y schoolbag on the ground near the w all o f the cem etery and ran across it a dozen tim es, until I felt th at I had m astered the fear. (A dler 1959: 179-80) C uriously enough, at the age o f 35 A d ler w as told by a childhood school chum th at th ere had n ever been a cem etery on the w ay to th eir school. M em ory, o r rem em b ered fantasy, it w as real enough for the boy to rem em b er into his adult life. A nd even as a physician A dler found it difficu lt to to le ra te death:

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A dler gave up his general m edical p ractice a fte r the death o f several o f his diabetic patients. Pow erless to forestall these p a tien ts’ deaths in the days b efore the discovery o f insulin, A dler w as overw helm ed by his old enem y. (M onte 1977: 313) T h ere are obvious differences in the early m em ories o f Freud and A dler. A d ler is b o rn into a fam ily w h ere an o th er child had recently been born . His earliest m em o ry is a com parison o f him self and his elder b ro th e r. Feelings o f in fe rio rity - sham e - and envy are evoked. These are co rn ersto n e em otions o f A d le r’s th eo ry o f individual psychology. T he o th e r significant em otion is fear, no d oubt te rro r, at the age o f 5, w hen the insensitive d o c to r p roclaim ed his im m inent and inevitable death. O ne can see th at A d le r’s childhood decision to becom e a do cto r reflects an o th er ten et o f his th eo ry o f individual psychology, nam ely, w h a t he called the ‘style o f life ’ w h ich w as determ in ed by conscious decisions to achieve goals m ade w ith an ‘as i f state o f m ind. His conscious decision to m aster his fear o f the cem etery (ra th e r than be less courageous than others) is an earlier exam ple o f this.

Otto Rank R ank also co n stru cted a th eo ry o f d epth psychology, although later than the others. For various reasons it h asn’t received as w idespread a tte n tio n as the theories o f Freud, A dler and Jung. T h ro u g h o u t the tim e o f his association w ith Freud, Rank w as highly creative and productive. A fter Freud excluded A dler and Jung, Rank becam e his m ost intim ate confidant, and was considered by Freud to be his h eir apparent. R an k ’s The M yth o f the Birth o f the Hero (1909) u ndoubtedly had an influence on Jung w ho cites it in ‘Symbols o f tra n sfo rm a tio n ’ (1956). In a le tte r to Freud, Jung responds w ith praise for R an k ’s initial w o rk w hich Freud had sent him (Freud and Jung 1974: 32). In subsequent letters Jung rem arks positively on R a n k ’s o th er con trib utions. R an k ’s m ost w id e'y know n publication is A rt and Artist w hich he revised several tim es over the years. A very early version o f this book was R an k ’s en tree to F reu d ’s circle. U n fo rtu n a te ly b iographical in fo rm ation about R an k ’s early childhood is v ery scant. It com es alm ost en tirely from a jo u rn a l he kept for a few years as a young adult. R ank w as the youngest o f three children. H e had an ex em p lary eld er b ro th e r and a sister w ho died w hen she w as a few w eeks old. From early on he was a sickly child

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suffering from rheum atism . His fath er w as an alcoholic and a ty ra n t w h o seems to have had no in terest in his children ex c ep t to trau m atize them . B u t m ost o f the tim e, the fath er left the boys to them selves. T he m o th e r atten d ed to seeing th a t they w ere fed and clothed; then she too left them to th eir o w n activities. From tim e to tim e the elder b ro th e r stood up to the fath er in w h a t R ank describes as horrendous shouting m atches. O n these occasions R ank and his m o th er regularly fled the scene. Finally the tw o b ro th e rs and the m o th er stopped speaking to the fath er and things becam e m ore tran q u il although n ot im proving in any o th e r w ay. T he eld er b ro th e r, by v irtu e o f his p atriarch al privilege, w as sent to the u n iversity. O tto w as sent to m iddle school, and then to a technical school w h ere he w as tra in e d in an occu p atio n w hich he hated. H is o lder b ro th e r in tro d u ced him to the th e a tre and opera w hen he w as a teen ag er and th a t opened w ide the door to his ow n self-education in a rt, m usic, philosophy and lite ra tu re , th ro u g h intensive reading. H e began a jo u rn a l w hich reveals his e x tra o rd in a ry insight into lite ra tu re in general and philosophy in p articu lar. H e quickly absorbed the w ritin g s o f N ietzsche, Schopenhauer and others. D u rin g this p eriod o f his splendid isolation, he seems n o t to have had any friends, and to have held v ery ju v en ile, co ntem ptuous attitu d es to w a rd hum anity in general. H e w as suicidal at tim es and once purchased a gun for th at purpose. G radually, h o w ev er, as his self-education continued, his depression began to lift. T h en one day his jo u rn a l contained a new kind o f en try . It re fe rred to a m an nam ed Freud and to The Interpretation o f Dreams (Freud 1900). B efore long Rank had read all o f F re u d ’s w orks and, w h a t is m ore, he u n d ersto o d them th oroughly, alm ost m a tte r o f factly, as if this w as w h a t had been at the back o f his ow n m ind for some tim e. H e began to believe in him self as a creative w rite r, and m ade a nu m b er o f a ttem p ts at w ritin g plays and novels, only fragm ents o f w h ich have survived. H o w e v e r, he becam e very serious about one p ro ject w hich he en titled A rt and Artist. It w as a psychological treatise on the creativ e a rtist, and it d rew heavily on F reu d ’s ideas. W h e n it w as com pleted he som ehow m anaged to b rin g it to F reu d ’s atten tio n . Freud was enthusiastic ab o u t the book and the creative in tellect he saw behind it, and invited R ank to jo in his V ienna group. Freud persuaded Rank to get a university ed ucation, and assisted him financially. R ank becam e the secretary o f the V ienna g roup and w as F reu d ’s closest associate du rin g th at tim e. B ut Rank m ade the same m istake as A dler and Jung. H e took seriously F reu d ’s rep eated reassurances as to the need for innovations in

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psychoanalysis, and p roceeded to develop his ow n view s o f psycho­ analytic th eo ry , for w hich he too was expelled. T he w o rk w hich invited con tro v ersy am ongst the tru e believers in the V ienna group was The Trauma o f Birth (1924). If w e allow ourselves a speculation, it m ight appear th at w h en Rank published his The M yth o f the Birth o f the Hero in 1909, he w as taking the first step to w a rd his ow n evolution as the hero, and now his Trauma o f Birth could be seen as a fu rth er stage in his realizatio n o f the role o f the hero. As w e consider im p o rtan t links b etw een R a n k ’s psychological d evelopm ent and his th eo ry , w e m ay note th at he suffered early and persistent em otional d ep riv atio n and neglect at the hands o f both parents. T h en th ere w as the sense o f in fe rio rity and shame at hiding in his m o th e r’s skirt, so to speak, w hile his elder b ro th e r challenged the father. O ne o f R a n k ’s tenets w as th at individuals suffer from eith er the fear o f d eath or the fear o f life. This m ight be seen as R an k ’s c o u n te rp a rt to J u n g ’s e x tro v e rt and in tro v e rt. T he core psychological v iew p o in t th a t developed o u t o f his The Trauma o f Birth, w as the role o f the creativ e w ill in evoking a re b irth for the neu ro tic individual w hom R ank spoke o f as Vartiste manque. T he prim ary cultural attitu d e th at seized him w as the aesthetic. All this is consistent w ith his th eory o f the creativ e w ill and the goal o f creativ e reb irth . T he m ost significant psychological im pact o f his childhood was em otional d ep riv atio n , the lack o f love and n u rtu ran ce w hich evokes the archety p al affect o f sadness and m ay lead to depression. As w e know , he w as suicidal durin g his late teens. T he im age th at evokes sadness is the void o f loss, the com pensatory sym bol is reb irth . A fte r he was expelled by Freud, R ank m oved to Paris w here he w ro te a series o f volum es expounding his th eory w hich cam e to be called ‘w ill th e ra p y ’. T hese are w id e-ran g in g , deeply-thoughtful analyses o f Freud, A dler and Jung, and the developm ent o f depth psychology in general, including his o w n revisions. These w orks also express his view s w ith respect to the p ractice o f psychotherapy, education and the arts. W h e n Rank trav elled to A m erica, he gave lectures, held classes, w as w ell received and soon found adherents. As the first lay psychoanalyst, he was w elcom ed at the Philadelphia School o f Social W o rk . This led in d irectly to his influence on C arl Rogers, H a rry Stack Sullivan and others. It can be said th at in the U n ited States, R ank w as the in itia to r o f the n o n -d irectiv e, ‘client c e n tre d ’, self-tran sfo rm ativ e approach to psychotherapy. H e also co n trib u ted to the em erging a rt psychotherapies w h ich w ere inspired by his Art and the A rtist, w ith its th eo ry o f the n eu ro tic as the ‘artiste manque.

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Carl Gustav Jung W h a t stands o u t in J u n g ’s siblings. U n til the age o f 9 G e rtru d e w as born. T h e re G e rtru d e w h en she w as a reactions, although they are

v ery early m em ories is the absence o f Ju n g w as an only child. T hen his sister w e re no o th e r siblings. His m em ory o f n e w -b o rn in fant reveals highly-typical tem p ered in expression by J u n g ’s age.

M y fath er b ro u g h t m e to m y m o th e r’s bedside, and she held o u t a little c re a tu re th a t looked dread fu lly disappointing: a red, shrunken face like an old m a n ’s, the eyes closed, and probably as blind as a young puppy, I th o u g h t. O n its back the thing had a few single long red hairs w hich w e re show n to m e - had it been intended for a m onkey? I w as shocked and did n o t know w h a t to feel. W as this h ow n ew b o rn babies looked? (Jung 1961: 25) N o w to J u n g ’s earliest m em ories: O ne m em o ry com es up w h ich is perhaps the earliest o f m y life, and is indeed only a ra th e r hazy im pression. I am lying in a pram , in the shadow o f a tree. It is a fine, w a rm sum m er day, the sky blue, and golden sunlight d a rtin g th ro u g h g reen leaves. The hood o f the pram has been left up. I have ju s t aw akened to the glorious beau ty o f the day, and have a sense o f indescribable w ell-being. I see the sun g litte rin g th ro u g h the leaves and blossoms o f the bushes. E very th in g is w holly w o n d erfu l, co lo rfu l, and splendid. (Jung 1961: 6) This m em o ry w as fo llo w ed by an o th er pleasant one in w hich Ju n g w as sittin g in a high chair and spooning w a rm m ilk w ith bits o f b roken b read in it. H o w e v e r an o th er m em o ry a short tim e la te r reflects a m ore tro u b led tim e. I am restive, feverish, unable to sleep. M y fath er carries m e in his arm s, paces up and d o w n , singing his old student songs. I p a rtic u ­ larly rem em b er one I w as especially fond o f and w hich alw ays used to soothe m e, ‘Alles schw eige, je d e r neige. . . ’ T he beginning w e n t som ething like th at. T o this day I can rem em ber m y fa th e r’s voice, singing ov er m e in the stillness o f the night. I w as suffering, so m y m o th e r told m e a fterw a rd , from general eczem a. D im intim atio n s o f tro u b le in m y p a re n ts’ m arriag e h o v ered aro u n d m e. M y illness, in 1878 [w hen Jung w ould have been 3 years o f age], m ust have been co nnected w ith a tem p o ra ry

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separation o f m y parents. M y m o th er spent several m onths in a hospital in Basel, and presum ably h er illness had som ething to do w ith the d ifficulty in the m arriage. (Jung 1961: 8) As a consequence o f his m o th e r’s absence, Ju n g says th at he alw ays felt m istrustful w hen the w o rd ‘lo v e ’ was spoken. T he feeling I associated w ith ‘woman* w as for a long tim e th a t o f innate u nreliab ility . ‘F a th e r,’ on the o th e r hand, m eant reliability and pow erlessness. T h a t is the handicap I started o ff w ith. (ibid.) Ju n g n ow distinguishes b e tw e e n w h a t he calls his ‘o u tw a rd m em ories’, and ‘m ore p o w erfu l, indeed overw h elm in g im ages’, some o f w hich he says he recalled only dim ly: A t th at tim e I also had vague fears at night. I w ould h ear things w alking about in the house. T he m u ted ro ar o f the Rhine Falls was alw ays audible, and all around lay a d anger zone. People drow ned, bodies w e re sw ep t o v er the rocks. In the cem etery nearby, the sexton w o u ld dig a hole - heaps o f b ro w n , u p tu rn ed earth. Black, solem n m en in long frock coats w ith unusually tall hats and shiny black boots w o u ld b rin g a black box. M y fath er w ould be there in his clerical gow n, speaking in a resounding voice. W om en w ept. I was told th a t som eone w as being b uried in this hole in the ground. C e rta in persons w ho had been around previously w ould suddenly no longer be there. T h en I w ould h ear th at they had been buried, and th a t Lord Jesus had taken them to him self. (Jung 1961: 9) T he idea th a t death w as associated w ith being ‘ta k e n ’ by Lord Jesus led Jung to the d isturbing conclusion th at Lord Jesus could n o t be trusted. A n o rd in ary p ray er th at used to co m fo rt him now began to stir feelings o f dread: Spread out thy wings, Lord Jesus mild, and take to thee thy chick, thy child. . . T his sinister analogy had u n fo rtu n ate consequences. I began to d istrust Lord Jesus. H e lost the aspect o f a big, com forting, b enevolent b ird and becam e associated w ith the gloom y black m en in frock coats, top hats, and shiny black boots w ho busied them selves w ith the black box. These rum inations o f m ine led to m y first conscious traum a. O ne

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h o t sum m er day I w as sittin g alone, as usual, on the road in fro n t o f the house, playing in the sand. T he road led past the house up a hill, then disappeared in the w o o d on the hilltop. So from the house you could see a stretch o f the road. Looking up, I saw a figure in a strangely b ro ad h at and a long black g arm en t com ing dow n fro m the w ood. It looked like a m an w e a rin g w o m e n ’s clothes. Slow ly the figure d re w n earer, and I could now see th a t it really w as a m an w e a rin g a kind o f black robe th a t reached to his feet. A t the sight o f him I w as o vercom e w ith fear, w h ich rapidly g rew into deadly te rro r as the frig h tfu l reco g n itio n shot th ro u g h m y m ind: ‘T h a t is a J e s u it.’ S hortly b efo re, I had o v erh eard a conversation b etw e e n m y fath er and a visiting colleague concern in g the nefarious activities o f the Jesuits. From the h a lf-irrita te d , h alf-fearfu l tone o f m y fa th e r’s rem arks I g ath ered th a t ‘Je su its’ m ean t som ething specially d a n g e r­ ous, even for m y fath er. A ctu ally I had no idea w h a t Jesuits w e re , b u t I w as fam iliar w ith the w o rd ‘Jesu s’ from m y little pray er. (Jung 1961: 10-11) T o rev iew J u n g ’s earliest m em ories: First he is alone and happy in his carriag e in the garden. A ro u n d 3 years o f age he e x p erien ced the trau m a o f his m o th er being aw ay in the hospital. H e suffered a general eru p tio n o f eczem a. T he innate affect o f sadness had been constellated and the nucleus o f a com plex had form ed w hich led to distrust o f ‘lo v e ’ and w om en. H ere w e no d o u b t see the origins o f his u nderlying depression w h ich lasted up to the tim e o f his university years, and o c c u rre d p eriodically th e re a fte r. His early m em ories also reveal a developing distru st o f Lord Jesus. (N o d o ubt his anxious rum inations w e re m agnified by the fact th a t his o w n fath er w as a theologian, as w ere nine o f his uncles, and as had been his m atern al g ra n d fa th er.) S urrounded by relatives w h o b elieved in a G od th at is only lig h t and good, Ju n g could n o t express his concerns to anyone. T hen cam e the te rrify in g ex p erien ce o f ‘the J e s u it’. So te rrifie d w as Jung th at he ran to the top o f the house and hid on a beam in the forbidden attic. A t this point J u n g ’s im agination w as p o te n tia te d by the innate affect o f fear, a state o f panic. T his te rrify in g ex p erien ce w as closely follow ed by a n ig h tm are. Ju n g d re a m t o f an u n d erg ro u n d m onster in the form o f a phallus on a golden throne. T h e n ig h tm are too becam e linked w ith his rum inations about w h e th e r o r n o t he could tru st Lord Jesus. W h a te v e r the specific sibling com plex m ay be th at is g en erated for the first-b o rn w ho is an only son o r d au g h ter, it is in p a rt a function o f the n u m b er o f years th at the first-b o rn son o r d au g h ter is an only child.

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A ny com plexes th at m ay develop durin g th at period are not a p roduct o f sibling relationships, since th ere are no siblings. Looked at the oth er w ay around it is obvious th at the lack o f siblings is the unique fam ily ex p erien ce so long as the child is an only child. If this period is a considerable n um ber o f years, nine in the case w ith Jung, w e m ight th erefo re, e x p e c t th at d u rin g the tim e th at he was an only child he is likely to have ex p erien ced jealo u sy and envy o f the parents in an intensified form . W e m ight suggest th at the only child is the O edipal child par excellence. O edipus w as, a fter all, an only child. T o be sure, a first-b o rn child w ith siblings and a second-born child m ay also ex p erien ce jealousy and envy o f the parents, p articularly O e d ip a l/E le c tral jealousy o f the p aren t o f the same sex because o f the p a re n t’s relationship to the p aren t o f the opposite sex. H o w ev er, for these ch ildren sibling riv alry goes on at the same tim e in a never-ending cycle th ro u g h o u t early childhood, no m a tte r w h a t em otions m ay be constellated in relatio n to the parents. T he only child has no siblings to be rivalrous w ith . For the only child, jealousy and envy are experienced in relatio n to the p arents, and there follow s then the possibility o f an ongoing cycle th ro u g h o u t childhood o f the continuing constellation o f these em otions in relatio n to the parents. If w e try to ch aracterize w h a t this is like for the only child it w ould likely be a m o re-o r-less constant aw areness o f the need to appease or satisfy b o th parents. This com es about in p a rt because o f the conscious o r unconscious riv alry th at m ay arise b etw een the parents for the c h ild ’s favours. T he only child, in co n trast to any child w ith siblings, is co nstantly a w are o f the advantages and the disadvantages o f being the only child th a t the parents have to love o r hate, be jealous o f o r envy, and so on and on. This position in the fam ily m ust p o ten tiate a sense o f p o w er, and an equally deep sense o f helplessness. T he m ore closely one exam ines the relationship o f the only child to its parents the m ore evident it becom es th at a m y riad o f experiences o f the opposites held in a precarious balance is the everyday life o f the only child, as Jung notes: I began to see m y parents w ith d ifferen t eyes, and to understand th eir cares and w o rries. For m y fath er in p a rticu la r I felt com passion - less, curiously enough, for m y m o th er. She alw ays seem ed to me the stro n g er o f the tw o. N evertheless I alw ays felt on h er side w hen m y fa th e r gave v en t to his m oody irrita b ility . This necessity for taking sides w as n o t e x actly favorable to the form ation o f m y c h a ra c ter. In o rd er to lib erate m y self from these conflicts I fell into the role o f the superior a rb itra to r w ho w illy-nilly had to ju d g e his

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parents. T h a t caused a c e rta in inflatedness in me; m y unstable selfassurance w as increased and dim inished at the same tim e. (Jung 1961: 24-5) N o w , w e m ay ask, is th ere an all encom passing em otion th at c h a ra c ter­ izes the fam ily ex p erien ce o f the only child? It w ould seem likely th at a tendency to secretiveness develops; this w as highly developed in Jung du rin g his early childhood. T o have a secret, som ething th at no one else know s, gives one p o w er. It fills a void; the void o f loneliness? Loneliness is a com p lex fam ily em o tio n , an em otion to w hich the only child is highly susceptible, as Ju n g w as. R eflecting on his early childhood, Jung says th a t he ‘played alone, and in m y ow n w ay. . . I did n o t w a n t to be d isturbed. I w as deeply absorbed w ith m y gam es and could n o t endure being w a tc h e d or ju d g e d w hile I played th e m ’ (ibid.: 17-18). B etw een the ages o f 7 and 9 Jung says th at he w as ‘fond o f playing w ith f ir e \ In an old stone w all he b u ilt fires in the cracks, little ‘cav es’. N o one was allo w ed to tend these fires b u t he him self. ‘M y fir e ’, he says, ‘w as living and had an unm istakable sa n c tity .’ A round the same tim e Ju n g becam e fond o f a stone th a t w as em bedded in a slope. ‘O f te n ’, he says, ‘w h en I w as alone, I sat dow n on this stone, and then began an im aginary g a m e .’ H e w ould begin by saying to h im self th a t he was sitting on the stone and it w as u n d ern eath him , b u t then he thought: ‘T he stone also could say “ I ” and think: “ I am lying h ere on this slope and he is sittin g on top o f m e ” ’. Jung w as left then w ith the v ery u n settlin g question. ‘A m I the one w ho is sitting on the stone, o r am I the stone on w h ich he is sittin g ? ’ (ibid.: 19-20). Late in his life Jung sum m ed up his thoughts about his loneliness: As a child I felt m y self to be alone, and I am still, because I know things and m ust h in t at things w h ich others app aren tly know n o th in g of, and for the m ost p a rt do n o t w an t to know . Loneliness does n o t com e from having no people about one, b u t from being unable to com m unicate the things th a t seem im p o rta n t to oneself, or fro m holding c e rta in view s w h ich oth ers find inadm issible. T he loneliness began w ith the experien ces o f m y early dream s, and reached its clim ax at the tim e I was w o rk in g on the unconscious. I f a m an know s m ore th an oth ers, he becom es lonely. B ut loneliness is n o t necessarily inim ical to com panionship, for no one is m ore sensitive to com panionship th an the lonely m an, and com panionship thrives only w h en each individual rem em bers his individuality and does n o t identify h im self w ith others. (Jung 1961: 356)

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As Ju n g m akes clear, secretiveness was for him an inseparable com ponent o f loneliness: It is im p o rtan t to have a secret, a prem o nition o f things unknow n. It fills life w ith som ething im personal, a num inosum . A m an w ho has never ex p erien ced th at has missed som ething im portant. H e m ust sense th at he lives in a w o rld w hich in some respects is m ysterious; th at things happen and can be ex p erien ced w hich rem ain inexplic­ able; th at n o t ev ery th in g w hich happens can be anticipated. T he u n ex p ected and the incredible belong in this w orld. O nly then is life w hole. For me the w o rld has from the beginning been infinite and ungraspable. (Jung 1961: 356) O n the basis o f these m em ories and J u n g ’s ow n evaluations o f his life, w h a t can w e say about J u n g ’s th eo ry o f analytical psychology and his early m em ories? T he basic sibling com plex is th at o f loneliness, secretiveness. T he synthetic propensity o f the only child is ap parent in Ju n g ’s d escription o f his need to ju d g e ’ his parents, th at is to say, to atte m p t a b ro ad er view o f the parents as a w hole. His trau m atic m em ory o f the Jesuit and the d ream o f the ‘underground phallus’ foreshadow the period o f his ‘co n fro n tatio n w ith the unconscious’ in m idlife. T he p o ten tiatio n o f the archetypal im agination by the innate affect o f te rro r th at took place at the age o f 4 to 5 years o f age, unfolded in stages o f c re a tiv ity w hich required a lifetim e’s com m it­ m ent. T h ere is an o th er trau m a th at Ju n g ex p erienced, b u t he says very little about it. As a boy he w as sexually vio lated by a m an he had once ‘w o rsh ip p ed ’. In an early le tte r to Freud (28 O cto b e r 1907) Ju n g tries to explain the am bivalent feelings th at com e up in him around in tim ate relationships. M y v en eratio n for you has som ething o f the ch a rac ter o f a ‘relig io u s’ crush. T hough it does no t really b o th e r m e, I still feel it is disgusting and ridiculous because o f its undeniable ero tic undertone. This abom inable feeling com es from the fact th at as a boy I w as the victim o f a sexual assault by a m an I once w orshipped. . . This feeling, w hich I still have not quite got rid of, ham pers me considerably. A n o th er m anifestation o f it is th at I find psychological insight m akes relations w ith colleagues w ho have a strong tran sfe r­ ence to m e d o w n rig h t disgusting. I therefore fear your confidence. I also

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fear the same reactio n from you w h en I speak o f m y in tim ate affairs. (Jung, in Freud and Jung 1974: 95) T he em otions Ju n g describes are disgust and fear. H e m ust have also felt sham e and hum iliatio n , as w ell as te rrib le feelings o f b etray al, b u t he does n o t speak o f these d irectly . His fear seems to be som ehow m ore bearab le. H e nam es the em o tio n and describes it in a fo rth rig h t w ay. B ut w h en he tries to describe his feelings o f disgust, it feels p rim itive, a w k w a rd . O n one hand, he denies it ( ‘it does n o t really b o th er m e ’), y et on the o th e r hand, it d o esn ’t go aw ay ( ‘I still feel it is disgusting and rid icu lo u s’). I shall close w ith some o f J u n g ’s boyhood eruptions o f anger. In his m em oirs, Ju n g tells how he w as accused o f copying a com position he had tu rn ed in to a teacher. H e w as in fu riated he says: ‘I shot to m y feet, as h o rrifie d as I was furious, and cried “ I did n ot copy it!” ’ (1961: 65). B ut the tea c h e r did n o t believe him . Ju n g goes on to say th at ‘profoundly d ish earten ed and dishonored, I sw ore vengeance on the teacher, and if I had had an o p p o rtu n ity som ething straig h t o u t o f the law o f the ju n g le w o u ld have re su lte d ’ (ibid). So m oved by this experience w as Jung th at he co m m en ted on it some seventy years la te r w hen he w as in terv iew ed on B B C fo r the film Face to Face. H e goes on to say: M y g rie f and rage th re a te n e d to get o u t o f co ntrol. A nd then som ething happened th a t I had already observed in m yself several tim es b efore: th ere w as a sudden inner silence, as though a so u n d p ro o f d oor had been closed on a noisy room . It w as as if a m ood o f cool curio sity cam e o v er m e, and I asked m yself, ‘w h a t is really going on here? All rig h t, you are excited. O f course the tea c h e r is an idiot w ho d o esn ’t u n d erstand your n atu re - th a t is, do esn ’t u n d erstan d it any m ore than you do. T h erefo re he is as m istru stfu l as you are. Y ou d istru st y o u rself and others, and th a t is w h y you side w ith those w ho are naive, sim ple and easily seen th ro u g h . O ne gets e x c ite d w h en one d oesn ’t understand th in g s.’ (Jung, in Freud and Jung 1974: 65-6) As J u n g ’s rage w as tran sfo rm ed in to curio sity and then thinking, th ere is a shift o u t o f chaos to w a rd an o rd e re d cosm os. I trie d to describe this kind o f dev elo p m en t in C h a p te r 5. N o t long afte r this exp erien ce o f rage, as w ell as o th e r instances, and m ost p artic u larly an ongoing fru stra tio n w ith his inability to engage his fath er in a discussion o f his fa th e r’s loss o f faith, Ju n g becam e avidly dev o ted to reading all the books o f philosophy he could put his hands on. This in terest in

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philosophy persisted th ro u g h o u t his life. His philosophic cultural attitu d e was second in d evelopm ent only to his religious attitu d e, and, o f course these tw o attitu d es are in tim ately linked in Ju n g ’s w orks.

SUMMARY T o sum up w h a t w e learn from a com parison o f the early m em ories o f Freud, A dler, Rank and Jung: First o f all it is ap parent th at they are d ifferen t along a n um ber o f dim ensions. For first-b o rn Freud, jealous rage is evoked at 17 m onths o f age, follow ed by rem orse and guilt at 23 m onths. T he seeds o f a jealo u sy com plex have been planted. Rage is an innate existential affect o f the collective unconscious. W h en jealousy reaches an ex tre m e intensity, rage m ay be constellated and poten tiate a p articu lar form o f the arch ety p al im agination. T he experience o f rage is a psychosom atic state o f chaos. T he com pensatory im age th at is then constellated in the unconscious is the opposite o f chaos, th at is, ord er, the ideal o f the o rd ered cosmos. W e know th at jealousy, in the form o f the O edipus com plex, eventually becam e a cen tral dynam ic o f the ‘fam ily ’ rom ance in F reu d ’s theo ry , and pursuit o f the origins - the prim al scene - becam e the reductive m eth o d th at dispels F reu d ’s prim al chaos and restores a sense o f o rd er. T he reductive focus is revealed in the d etectiv e-lik e story form o f F reu d ’s case histories, his cause and effect, theo rizin g and the like. For second son A dler, an in term ed iate child, the innate affect o f shame is evoked at around 2 years o f age in the com parison o f him self suffering from rickets, w ith a healthy, active older b ro th er. T he seeds o f an envy com plex are sow n. As an innate existential affect, shame p oten tiates the archety p al im agination in a specific w ay. T he affect o f shame creates a psychosom atic state o f alienation. T he com pensatory opposite is constellated in the unconscious as the archetypal im agina­ tion o f relatedness, the ideal o f U to p ian com m unitas. Envy, then, becom es the cen tral dynam ic o f A d le r’s th eory o f the ‘e g o ’s a rran g e­ m e n ts’, w hile the ‘as i f a ttitu d e becom es the teleological m ethod o f dispelling the sense o f alienation. A dler constructs a ‘style o f life ’ th at fosters the developm ent o f a social attitu d e. H e cam e to the concept o f ‘social in te re st’ as the necessary co u n ter to feelings o f in ferio rity and the striving for superiority. From the perspective on the theories o f Freud and A dler th at I have sketched above, it is possible to see F reu d ’s emphasis on sexual and jealo u sy theories as d irectly related to the ‘fam ily ro m a n ce ’, and the expression o f the Eros dim ension o f fam ily relationships. Likew ise,

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from this perspective w e see th a t A d ler focuses the o th e r polar dim ension o f fam ily relationships, p o w er. R ank, a last-b o rn , w as em otio n ally abandoned by b o th fath er and m o th er. Sadness w as the p rim a ry ex istential affect th at w as con­ stellated , along w ith fear and sham e. T he creativ e ‘w ill’, fashioned a fte r S ch o p en h au er’s w ill, w as cen tral to R a n k ’s theory. It w as the source o f all c re a tiv ity and the m eans o f overcom ing n eu ro tic difficulties. R ank spoke o f the n e u ro tic as the artiste manque. T he cure o f neurosis lay in the creativ e w ill w h ich evokes a re b irth ex perience. This is the dynam ic o f the innate ex isten tial affect o f sadness w hich is co n stellated by the ex p erien ce o f loss. T he psychosom atic state c rea ted by the affect o f sadness is a sense o f em ptiness, a void. T he unconscious com p en sato ry function o f this form o f the archetypal im agination is th a t o f re b irth o f the G re a t M o th er, the abundance o f N atu re in all its beauty. T his is the p rinciple o f the aesthetic cu ltural attitu d e. O n ly son J u n g ’s earliest traum as are re lated d irectly to the parents, w ith o u t in terv en in g experien ces w ith siblings. H e experiences an early co n stellatio n o f the com plex fam ily em otions o f secretiveness and guilt in relatio n to his m o th e r’s absence w h en he w as 3, and the difficulties o f the p a re n ts ’ m arriag e. T his is follow ed closely by the te rrify in g experien ces o f the ‘J e s u it’ and the dream o f an ‘und erg ro u n d m o n ste r’. T e rro r is an innate ex isten tial affect th a t p o tentiates its specific form o f the arch ety p al im agination. In te rro r, w e are face to face w ith the unknow n. T h e gro u n d u n d er o u r feet trem bles and drops aw ay as w e fall into the abyss. T he unconscious com pensatory opposite is the im age o f the sacred, the sym bol o f the holy m ountain. Ju n g ’s em phasis on religious sym bolism can in p a rt be in ferred from this. From his m em oirs w e learn th a t the disru p tio n o f his o rd in ary religious attitu d e by the te rrify in g ex periences described above left him struggling for the b e tte r p a rt o f his life to arriv e at a satisfying reco n stru ctio n o f a new religious a ttitu d e . T his w e know w as n o t accom plished until late in his life in his w orks, ‘T he psychology o f the tra n sfe re n ce ’ (1946a), ‘A nsw er to J o b ’ (1952), Aion (1951a), and Mysterium Coniunctionis (1963). In conclusion I w ish to acknow ledge th at the foregoing is n ot m eant to be a com prehensive com parison o f the theories o f Freud, A dler, R ank and Jung. M y in te n t has been to show th at each o f the pioneers w as engulfed by em otions in early childhood, w hich w ere specific to the co m b in atio n o f th eir sibling position and fam ily atm osphere. These early experien ces fo reshadow ed im p o rta n t elem ents o f th eir theories. T he differences in the view s espoused in th eir theories reflect the specific co n trib u tio n s each m ade to the overall cycle o f creativ e change

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in depth psychology. I have also tried to show how the innate existen tial affects co n stellated in early childhood through the prob­ lem atic, and m ysterious atm osphere w hich perm eated their fam ilies, e v en tu ated for each o f them in a p o ten tiatio n o f the archetypal im agination in one o r m ore o f its four basic form s. O v er tim e the psyche seeks to recreate and tran sfo rm the underlying early e x p e r­ iences th at w ere at first o v erw h elm ed by such influxes o f em otion. This com pensatory process, the dynam ic tension o f opposites, o f conscious and unconscious, is intrinsic to the archetypal im agination. It is im p o rtan t to realize th at the o rd inary situation for the child from infancy on is to have satisfying and illum inating experiences o f each o f the form s o f the arch ety p al im agination. This norm al expec­ tatio n is due to the fact th a t the cu ltu ral form s have over the ages becom e innate functions o f the psyche. Thus the cultural attitudes: the philosophic, the social, the aesthetic and the religious, are the innate co u n terp arts, w ith respect to the spirit, o f the innate functions o f the ego: thinking, feeling sensation and in tu ition, w ith respect to the w o rld . O v er tim e everyone tends to develop certain preferences, or discovers a p a rtic u la r talen t, for one or an o th er o f the cultural form s. This is due to a v ariety o f innate and fam ily influences, benign on the average so long as th ere is good enough parenting. B ut as w ith the pioneers o f depth psychology, the fam ily influences m ay stir deeper em otions and m ore pro b lem atic responses w hich, in the case o f the field o f psychology, can be traced back to its roots in the early G reek m yth o f Asclepius, the w ounded healer. As a consequence o f th eir w ounding, each o f the pioneers o f depth psychology was d ra w n to the field o f psychological healing, and each w as deeply involved, consciously and unconsciously, w ith the re crea­ tion in them selves o f one o r m ore p a rtic u la r cultural attitudes w hich had been p o ten tiated by the arch ety p al im agination. Freud sought resolution th ro u g h the redu ctiv e, sleuthing, tru th -seeking m ethod o f the scien tific/philosophic cu ltu ral attitu d e; A dler sought to restore a sense o f relatedness th ro u g h the social cu ltural a ttitu d e; Rank saw the neu ro tic as a ‘failed a rtis t’ w ho m ust th erefo re find equilibrium in creativ e re b irth th ro u g h the aesthetic cu ltu ral attitu d e; w hile Jung saw th at m odern m an and w om an suffer from a lack o f ‘w holeness’ w hich can be resto red th ro u g h a tran sfo rm ativ e experience o f the realized Self. For Jung, the im age o f the self, o f w holeness, corresponds to the im age o f G od, a com plex o f opposites, light and shadow , approached th ro u g h the religious cu ltu ral attitu d e. This is n o t to say th at each o f the four pioneers did not develop

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o th e r, secondary, cu ltu ral attitu d es as w ell. Freud, for exam ple, had a stro n g aesthetic bent: he w as a g ifted w rite r. Late in his life he w as given the G oethe prize. Ju n g , in ad d itio n to his highly-developed religious attitu d e , had a stro n g philosophic b en t as a secondary cu ltu ral a ttitu d e . A dler w hose social a ttitu d e w as finely tuned, w as also m usically talen ted and in early life had w a n ted to pursue a m usical ca re e r. T hus he m ay be seen as having the aesthetic as a secondary cu ltu ral attitu d e. It is d ifficu lt to identify for certain R an k ’s secondary cu ltu ral d evelopm ent, alth o u g h it m ay w ell have been the social. Finally it is im p o rta n t to em phasize th a t there is no reason to believe th a t the fam ily m ilieu is o f necessity the same for everyone w ho develops a p referen ce for a specific cu ltu ral attitu d e. W e know too little y et ab o u t the process o f b eing chosen by the spirit to m ake any such ju d g em en ts. It w o u ld seem then, th a t alth o u g h the d epth psychology pioneers w e re c ertain ly cu ltu rally d eveloped in m any w ays, there is n e v e rth e ­ less, at the very cen tre o f th e ir theories a specific cultu ral attitu d e. Is this ju s t coincidence? T o me it seems m o re likely th at as w e b e tte r u n d erstan d the cycle o f c re a tiv ity and the psychological forces in h eren t in it, w e shall com e to see it as a m irro r o f the individuation process in the individual. It w ill even tu ally be u nderstood, I believe, th at the innate process o f individuation follow s a fourfold cycle w h ich is re c a p itu la ted at every stage o f hum an develo pm ent in w ays ap p ro p riate to the p a rtic u la r stage. In the course o f psychotherapy it is necessary to revive, so to speak, the norm al g ro w th process o f developm ent w hich, fo r w h a te v e r reasons, has been th w a rte d by the in d iv id u al’s life ex periences. T h e d ialectical process o f psychotherapy m ay then facilitate a re c re atio n o f the perso n ality in accord w ith the psyche’s no rm al, innate th ru st to w a rd ind iv id u ation and w holeness. In a discussion o f the sym bolic cu ltu ral attitu d es, H enderson suggests th at they are intrinsic to the d ev elo p m en t o f self-reflective consciousness. A n o th e r w ay o f saying this: T he aesthetic, religious, philosophic and social a ttitu d es are fundam ental to the realization o f the self. I can im agine a g roup o f fu tu re analysts teaching a new ap p reciation o f old cu ltu ral attitu d es n o t because they set o ut to do this on p urpose in any m issionarizing sp irit b u t because this teaching w ould be an inevitable result o f th e ir w a y o f w o rk in g w ith th eir patients. (H enderson 1962: 14) I w o u ld suggest as a fu rth e r consequence, th at any m ajor change in society, such as the em erg en ce o f d ep th psychology, m ust o f necessity

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involve creativ e individuals w hose ideas reflect all o f the basic cultural a ttitu d es in o rd er th at the changes to be b ro u g h t about m ay becom e as fully as possible rep resen tativ e o f the fundam ental n ature o f w o rld and spirit.

NOTE 1 Galileo (M1MMFFF) was the first-born child in his fam ily, but the order o f his younger male and fem ale siblings is in question.

Chapter 9

Jung’s synthesis

J u n g ’s synthesis o f the stages o f psych o th erapy provides con firm atio n o f the cycle o f creativ e change. H e creates a synthesis o f the c a th a rtic ap proach o f the early m esm erists and hypnotists as consolidated in C h a rc o t’s school as the th eo ry o f abreaction; w ith F reu d ’s th eo ry o f psychoanalysis; A d le r’s th eo ry o f individual psychology; and his o w n th eo ry o f analytical psychology. J u n g ’s understanding o f the stages o f p sy chotherapy is o f p a rtic u la r in terest, since it is only in a field such as d ep th psychology th at the o u te r, o r w o rld cycle o f creative change could be com p ared w ith the in n e r-d ire c ted developm ent o f an individual in psychotherapy. W h a t w e see then in the stages o f p sy chotherapy is the kind o f circu m am b u latio n th at Jung speculated about so m uch, p artic u la rly in his late w ritin g s on such subjects as the fourfold n a tu re o f the carbon ato m and its innate circu lato ry process, as w ell as his fourfold figure o f the p y ram id stru c tu re o f the evolution o f life and consciousness. It seems to m e highly likely th at all o f the w o rld cycles o f creativ e change, in science, politics, the arts, the religions and psychology, are o f necessity p rojections o f the innate individuation process on to the plane o f society. I shall begin w ith J u n g ’s stages o f psychotherapy and then tu rn to co n tem p o ry reactions to J u n g ’s synthesis.

EARLY HISTORICAL SOURCES J u n g ’s synthesis o f d ep th psychology encom passes a w ide range o f concepts. T h ere is the arch ety p e as sym bol and em otion, and as a p a tte rn o f behaviour; and psychological types, and the stages o f psychotherapy; as w ell as his m eth o d o f active im agination as a dialogue b etw een the conscious ego and the unconscious and, o f course, his co n cep t o f the self as the o rg an izin g principle o f the collective

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unconscious - the archetype o f m eaning and o rientation. Ju n g ’s broad perspective on all relevant developm ents in the fields o f psychology, philosophy, science, archaeology and religion is im pressive. He took the w hole o f hum an history and cu ltu re as the necessary background and source for his thought. T he field o f psychology provides a m icrocosm o f his interests as a w hole. In the b roadest sense, Jung draw s from the know ledge o f the ages, those ideas and observations o f a psychological nature w hich in the Renaissance began to see the light o f day again, and w hich in the eig h teen th and n in eteen th centuries began to take on a new em pirical form . In an article titled ‘Fundam ental questions o f p sy chotherapy’ (1951b), Jung briefly review s the history o f depth psychology in this light. H e gives high cre d it to Paracelsus as one o f the first explorers o f the ‘psyche’, b u t goes on to say, h o w ev er, that: N o t until tw o centuries la te r did a new alto g eth er different kind o f em piricism arise w ith [younger son] M esm er’s theory o f anim al m agnetism , stem m ing p artly from practical experiences w hich today w e should a ttrib u te to suggestion, and p artly from the old alchem ical lore. (Jung 1951b: 111-12) Ju n g says: T he physicians o f the R om antic Age then tu rned th eir atten tio n to som nam bulism , thus laying the foundations for the clinical discovery o f hysteria. B ut then alm ost an o th er cen tu ry was to pass before C h a rc o t and his school could begin to consolidate ideas in this field. T hanks are due P ierre Ja n e t for a deeper and m ore e x ac t know ledge o f hysterical sym ptom s, and the tw o French physicians, Liebeault and B ernheim , la te r to be jo in e d by A ugust Forel in Sw itzerland, for a system atic investigation and d escription o f the phenom ena o f suggestion. (Jung 1951b: 112) T he n e x t m ajor discovery w as m ade by B reuer and Freud. W ith their reco g n itio n o f the ‘affective origins o f psychogenic sym ptom s’, Jung says, ou r know ledge o f th eir causation took a decisive step fo rw ard into the realm o f psychology. T he fact th at the affectively toned m em ory

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im ages w h ich are lost to consciousness lay at the ro o t o f the h ysterical sym ptom im m ediately led to the postulate o f an unconscious lay er o f psychic happenings. (Jung 1951b: 112) T his lay er prov ed n o t to be som atic as had been th o ught by academ ic psychologists, b u t ra th e r psychic, ‘because it behaves like any o th e r psychic function from w h ich consciousness is w ith d raw n , and w hich thus ceases to be associated w ith the e g o ’. Freud and Jan e t proved, at alm ost the same tim e, th at this ‘holds true o f hysterical sym ptom s g e n e ra lly ’. H o w e v e r, w hile Ja n e t th o u g h t th at the reason for ‘the w ith d ra w a l o f consciousness m ust lie in some specific w eakness, Freud p o in ted ou t th at the m em o ry im ages w hich produce the sym ptom s are ch a ra c teriz e d by a disagreeable affective tone. T h eir disappearance fro m consciousness could thus easily be explained by repression’ (Jung 1951b: 112). Ju n g then com m ents th a t an e x p lo re r in a new field m ust b e a r in m ind th at som eone else m ay be ap proaching the same m aterial in a d ifferen t w ay. ‘So it happened w ith F reu d ,’ says Jung, ‘his pupil A lfred A d ler (M M 2F[m ]FM M ) developed a view w hich shows neurosis in a v ery d ifferen t lig h t.’ For Freud the ro o t cause o f neurosis has to do w ith sexuality. B u t for A dler, ‘it is no lo nger the sexual urge, o r the pleasure p rinciple, th a t dom inates the p ictu re, b u t the urge to p o w er, (self assertion, “ m asculine p ro te s t,” “ the w ill to be on to p ” ) ’ (Jung 1951b: 113).

THE FOUR STAGES OF PSYCH OTHERAPY T his is one o f the m ost in terestin g and com pelling o f Ju n g ’s efforts to in te g ra te the theories o f Freud and A d ler into a com prehensive w hole; and to show h ow , and w h ere, his th eo ry o f analytical psychology fits. ‘I w o u ld v e n tu re ’, he says, ‘to reg ard the sum total o f our findings under the aspect o f four stages, nam ely, confession, elucidation, education and tra n sfo rm a tio n ’ (Jung 1931b: 55). Ju n g suggests th at confession is the first and universal beginning, com m on to all psychotherapies. T he stage o f elucidation he assigns to F re u d ’s psychoanalysis. T he th ird stage, education, is related to A d le r’s individual psychology. T he fo u rth stage, transformation, is his o w n c o n trib u tio n , analytical psychology. Ju n g ’s fo rm u latio n o f the stages o f p sy chotherapy deserves special atten tio n . It represents his m ost considered e ffo rt to d ra w the theories o f Freud and A dler into a synthesis w hile at the same tim e giving them due respect. In addition, though, this fo u rfo ld schem e o f the stages o f psychotherapy

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is im p o rtan t for the insight it provides into the natural, self-directed processes o f psychotherapy and individuation.

1

The stage o f confession: catharsis

‘T he first beginnings o f all analytical tre a tm en t o f the soul’, Jung says, ‘are to be found in its p ro to ty p e , the confessional. . . O nce the hum an m ind had succeeded in inventing the idea o f sin, m an had recourse to psychic concealm ent; or, in analytical parlance, repression arose. A nything concealed is a se c re t’ (1931b: 55). In secrets, Jung sees b o th a m edicam ent and a poison: T he possession o f secrets acts like a psychic poison th at alienates th eir possessor from the com m unity. In small doses, this poison m ay be an invaluable m edicam ent, even an essential pre-co n d itio n o f individual d ifferen tiatio n , so m uch so that even on the prim itive level m an feels an irresistible need actually to invent secrets: their possession safeguards him from dissolving in the featureless flow o f unconscious com m unity life and thus from deadly peril to his soul. (ibid.: 55-6) Ju n g notes an o th er form o f co ncealm ent, ‘the act o f holding som ething back. W h a t w e usually hold back are em otions or affects’ (ibid.: 57). For Jung, d ifferen t form s o f neurosis can be a ttrib u te d to: T he respective predom inance o f secrets or o f inhibited em otions. . . A t any rate the hysterical subject w ho is very free w ith his em otions is generally the possessor o f a secret, w hile the hardened psychasthe­ nic suffers from em otional indigestion held. (ibid.: 58) Ju n g points o u t th at n atu re visits us w ith illness w hen w e keep secrets and hold back em otions in p riv ate. W h en em otions are expressed in com m union w ith others, he says, ‘they satisfy natu re and m ay even count as useful v irtu e s ’ (ibid.). T h ere w ould appear to be a sort o f conscience in m ankind w hich severely punishes every one w ho does not som ehow at some tim e, at w h a te v e r cost to his virtuous pride, cease to defend and assert him self, and instead confess him self fallible and hum an. U ntil he can do this, an im pen etrab le w all shuts him o ff from the vital feeling th at he is a m an am ong o th e r m en. This explains the e x tra o rd in a ry significance o f genuine

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s tra ig h tfo rw a rd confession - a tru th th at w as probably know n to all the in itiatio n rites and m ystery cults o f the ancient w o rld . T h ere is a saying from the G reek m ysteries: ‘G ive up w h at thou hast, and then thou w ilt re c e iv e ’. (ibid.: 58-9) In its beginnings psychoanalysis is n o th in g b u t a scientific rediscovery o f an ‘ancien t tr u th ’. In concluding his discussion o f the n atu re o f confession, Jung makes the follo w in g caveat: N o w I am far fro m w ishing to en unciate a general m axim . It w ould be d ifficu lt to im agine an y th in g m ore unsavory than a w holesale confession o f sin. Psychology sim ply establishes the fact th at w e have here a sore spot o f first-ra te im p o rtance. As the n e x t stage, the stage o f elucidation, w ill m ake clear, it cannot be tackled directly , because it is a problem w ith quite p artic u larly pointed horns. (ibid.: 60)

2

The stage o f elucidation: Freud’s psychoanalysis

Faced w ith the tran sferen ce, m ere confession is o f no avail. Jung says, Freud w as d riven to substantial m odifications o f B re u e r’s c a th artic m eth o d . W h a t he now p ractised he called the ‘in te rp re ta tiv e m e th o d .’ This fu rth e r step is quite logical, for the transference relationship is in especial need o f elucidation. . . T he result o f the F reudian m eth o d o f elucidation is a m inute elab o ratio n o f m a n ’s shadow -side u nexam pled in any previous age. It is the m ost effective a n tid o te im aginable to all the idealistic illusions about the n atu re o f m an; and it is th e re fo re no w o n d e r th at th ere arose on all sides the m ost vio len t opposition to Freud and his school. (ibid.: 63-4) Ju n g goes on to point out th at F re u d ’s in te rp re ta tiv e m eth o d rests on ‘re d u c tiv e ’ explanations w h ich unfailingly lead back w ard s and d ow nw ards, and it is essentially d estru ctiv e if o v er done o r handled one-sidedly. N evertheless psychology has p ro fite d g reatly from F reu d ’s pioneer w o rk ; it has learn ed th a t hum an n atu re has its black side - and n ot m an alone, b u t his w o rk s, his institutions, and his convictions as w ell. Even o u r p urest and holiest beliefs rest on very deep and dark

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foundations; after all, w e can explain a house not only from the attic dow n w ard s, bu t from the basem ent upw ards, and the la tte r expla­ nation has the prim e advantage o f being genetically the m ore c o rre c t, since houses are in fact built bottom -side first, and the beginning o f all things is simple and crude. (ibid.: 64) In his discussion o f elucidation, Jung suggests that ‘the u p ro ar over F reu d ’s in te rp re ta tio n ’ is really o u r ow n problem . It is our childish naivety. W e do not y et u n derstand the relationship o f the opposites, nor realize th at 7es extremes se touchent really is one o f the ultim ate v e ritie s’ (ibid.: 64). O u r fundam ental e rro r, w hich according to Jung, Freud also fell into, ‘lies in supposing th at the radiant things are done aw ay w ith by being explained from the shadow -side’ (ibid.: 64). Jung does not lam ent the shock F reu d ’s exposures caused. O n the co n trary he w elcom es it. It is, he says, an historic and necessary rectificatio n o f alm ost incalculable im p o rt­ ance. For it forces us to accept a philosophical relativism such as Einstein em bodies for m athem atical physics, and w hich is fundam entally a tru th o f the Far East w hose ultim ate effects w e cannot at present foresee. (ibid.: 64-5) In this last sentence w e get an o th er glim pse o f the w id e-ranging n ature o f J u n g ’s synthetic bent. W e shall see fu rth er evidence o f his attem pts to in co rp o rate the standpoints o f the East and the w o rld o f physics. This is fu rth e r clarified in his follow ing com m ents: N oth in g , it is tru e, is less effective than an intellectual idea. B ut w hen an idea is a psychic fact th a t crops up in tw o such totally d ifferen t fields as psychology and physics, apparently w ith o u t historical connection, then w e m ust give it our closest attention. For ideas o f this kind represent forces w hich are logically and m orally unassailable; they are alw ays stro n g er than m an and his brain. H e fancies th at he m akes these ideas, b u t in reality they m ake him - and m ake him th eir u n w ittin g m outhpiece. (ibid.: 65)

3

The stage o f education: Adler’s individual psychology

C ontin u in g then w ith the discussion o f the four stages o f psychotherapy, Jung considers n e x t the stage o f education. T he problem the

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patien t now faces is the need for ‘educatio n as a social b e in g ’ (ibid.: 65). This brings us to A dler. H ere, for the first tim e, Jung draw s a connection b etw een the theories o f Freud and A dler in term s o f sibling position in th eir fam ilies. H e does n o t say th at he has Freud and A dler in m ind, b u t from o th e r sources it is clear th at he is aw are o f th eir respective sibling positions. A t any rate he com pares the dom inant tenets o f th eir theories, th at is to say, F reu d ’s pleasure principle, and A d le r’s principle o f the striving for p o w er, as follows: O n the average, all those w ho have no d ifficulty in achieving social a d ap tatio n and social position are b e tte r accounted for by the pleasure principal than are the u n adapted w ho, because o f th eir social inadequacy, have a crav in g for p o w er and im portance. T he eld er b ro th e r w ho follow s in his fa th e r’s footsteps and w ins to a com m anding position in society m ay be to rm en ted by his desires; w hile the y ounger b ro th e r w ho feels him self suppressed and o v ershadow ed by the o th e r tw o m ay be goaded by am bition and the need for self-assertion. (ibid.: 66) ‘A d le r’s m e th o d ’, he says, ‘begins essentially at the stage o f elucida­ tio n ’: A dler has show n convincingly th a t num erous cases o f neurosis can be far m ore satisfactorily explain ed by the p o w er instinct than by the pleasure principle. T he aim o f his in te rp re ta tio n is th erefo re to show the p atien t th at he ‘a rra n g e s’ his sym ptom s and exploits his neurosis in o rd e r to achieve a fictitious im portance; and th at even his transference and his o th e r fixations subserve the w ill to p o w er and thus rep resen t a ‘m asculine p ro te s t’ against im aginary sup­ pression. O bviously A dler has in m ind the psychology o f the u nderdog, o r social failure, w hose one passion is self-assertion. Such individuals are n eu ro tic because they alw ays im agine they are h ard done by and tilt at the w indm ills o f th eir o w n fancy, thus p u ttin g the goal they m ost desire quite o u t o f reach. (ibid.: 66-7) B ut, as Ju n g points out, A dler does n o t put too m uch reliance on u nderstanding. H e goes beyond th a t to recognition o f the ‘need for social e d u c a tio n ’ (ibid.: 67). T he distin ctio n b etw een Freud and A dler, as Ju n g sees it, is th at ‘Freud is the in v estig ato r and in te rp re te r, A dler is prim arily the e d u c a to r’ (ibid.). A d ler seeks to m ake the p atien t a ‘norm al and adapted p e rso n ’ (ibid.). In the stages o f p sychotherapy the

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educational aims o f the A dlerian school begin precisely w here Freud leaves off; consequently they m eet the needs o f the patient w ho, having com e to u n derstand him self, w ants to find his w ay back to norm al life. . . T he p atien t m ust be drawn out o f him self into oth er paths, w hich is the tru e m eaning o f ‘e d u c atio n ,’ and this can only be achieved by an educative w ill. (ibid.: 67-8).

4

The stage o f transformation: Jung’s analytical psychology

In intro d u cin g the fo u rth stage, Ju n g com m ents th at every stage o f psychotherapy seems to be com plete in itself. W h e th e r w e ’re in the m idst o f em otional discharge (confession), tracing the neurosis to its roots in childhood (elucidation), o r learning adaptive social skills to develop g re a te r self-esteem (education), each stage seems to be all that is needed. As he sees it: This curious sense o f finality w hich attends each o f the stages accounts for the fact th at there are people using c ath artic m ethods today w ho have ap p aren tly n ever h eard o f dream in terp re tatio n , Freudians w ho do n o t u n derstand a w o rd o f A dler, and A dlerians w ho do not w ish to k now anything about the unconscious. Each is ensnared in the peculiar finality o f his o w n stage, and thence arise th at chaos o f opinions and view w hich makes o rien tatio n in these trou b led w aters so exceedingly difficult. (ibid.: 68-9) A ttem p tin g to explain this situation, Jung concludes th at ‘each stage does in fact rest on a final tru th , and th at consequently there are alw ays cases w hich dem onstrate this p articu lar tru th in the m ost startling w a y ’ (ibid.: 69). Jung turns to the d o cto r him self for the resolution o f the problem . H e says: As a rule w e take no account o f the fact th at the do cto r w ho practises catharsis is no t ju st an abstraction w hich autom atically produces nothing b u t catharsis. H e is also a hum an being, and although his thinking m ay be lim ited to his special field, his actions e x e rt the influence o f a com plete hum an being. W ith o u t giving it a nam e and w ith o u t being clearly conscious o f it, he u n w ittin g ly does his share o f ex p lan atio n and education, ju st as the others do th eir share o f catharsis w ith o u t raising it to the level o f a principle. (ibid.: 69)

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As for his o w n th eo ry , Ju n g asserts th a t ‘It too should n ot claim to be the finally attain ed and only valid tru th . It certain ly fills a gap left by the e a rlie r stages, b u t in so doing it m erely fulfils a fu rth e r need beyond the scope o f the o th e rs’ (ibid.: 69-70). W h a t could this psychic need be? W h a t has n o t y et been addressed by the o th e r stages? Ju n g asks: ‘C an an ything lead fu rth e r or be h ig h er than the claim to be a norm al and adap ted social b ein g ?’ (ibid.: 70). His answ er is th at there are ju s t as m any people w ho becom e n eu ro tic because they are m erely norm al, as th ere are people w ho are n eu ro tic because they cannot becom e norm al. T h a t it should e n te r an y o n e’s head to educate them to n o rm ality is a n ig h tm are for the fo rm er, because th eir deepest need is really to be able to lead ‘a b n o rm a l’ lives. (ibid.: 70) W h a t this im plies for Ju n g is a p luralistic v iew o f the needs o f hum an beings. In addition he notes th a t in p sychotherapy one m eets only individuals; and, ‘th ere are no universally valid recipes and ru les’ (ibid.). From this standpoint he proposes th at the personal relationship b e tw e e n tw o hum an beings, p a tie n t and d o c to r, is the healing factor. Ju n g says: In any effective psychological tre a tm e n t the d o cto r is bound to influence the patien t; b u t this influence can only take place if the p a tie n t has a recip ro cal influence on the d o ctor. Y ou can e x e rt no influence if you are n o t susceptible to influence. It is futile for the d o c to r to shield h im self from the influence o f the p a tie n t and surround h im self w ith a sm oke-screen o f fath erly and professional au th o rity . (ibid.: 71) ‘B etw een d o c to r and p a tie n t,’ Jung says, ‘there are im ponderable factors w h ich b rin g about a m utual tra n sfo rm a tio n ’ (ibid.: 72). For Ju n g , co m m itm en t to a deep er process o f psychological develop­ m en t grounds the stage o f tran sfo rm atio n . First o f all the analyst needs to be analysed. B eyond th a t ‘the fo u rth stage o f tran sfo rm atio n requires the co u n ter-ap p licatio n to the d o c to r h im self o f w h ate v er system is believed in - and m o reo v er w ith the same relentlessness, consistency, and p erseverance w ith w hich the d o c to r applies it to the p a tie n t’ (ibid.: 73). Ju n g points o u t th a t the step from ed ucation, the th ird stage, to self-education o f the d o c to r at the stage o f tran sfo rm atio n , is a natu ral progression. H e recognizes, h o w ev er, th at this is n o t a popular idea:

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First, because it seems un p ractical, second, because o f the un­ pleasant prejudice against being preoccupied w ith oneself; and th ird , because it is som etim es exceedingly painful to live up to ev ery th in g one expects o f o n e ’s patient. T he last item in p articu lar con trib u tes m uch to the un p o p u larity o f this dem and, for if the d o cto r conscientiously doctors him self he w ill soon discover things in his o w n n atu re w h ich are u tte rly opposed to norm alization, or w hich continue to h au n t him in the m ost disturbing w ay despite assiduous ex p lan atio n and th o ro u g h abreaction. (ibid.: 73-4). T he u ltim ate problem lies in the d ifficult recognition by the d o cto r that the ‘questions w hich w o rry him as m uch as his patients cannot be solved by any tre a tm e n t, th a t to ex p ect solutions from others is childish and keeps you childish, and th at if no solution can be found the question m ust be repressed a g a in ’ (ibid.: 74): W h a t w as fo rm erly a m eth o d o f m edical tre a tm e n t now becom es a m ethod o f self-education and w ith this the horizon o f our psycho­ logy is im m easurably w idened. T he crucial thing is no longer the m edical diplom a, b u t the hum an quality. This is a significant tu rn o f events, for it places all the im plem ents o f the psychotherapeutic a rt th at w ere developed in clinical p ractice, and then refined and system atized, at the service o f o u r self-education and self-perfec­ tion, w ith the result th a t analytical psychology has burst the bonds w hich till then had bound it to the consulting-room o f the doctor. It goes beyond itse lf to fill the hiatus th at has h ith e rto put W e ste rn civilization at a psychic disadvantage as com pared w ith the civiliza­ tions o f the East. W e W estern ers knew only how to tam e and subdue the psyche; w e knew nothing about its m ethodical develop­ m ent and its functions. (ibid.: 75) In a la te r article, en titled ‘Fundam ental Q uestions o f P sy ch otherapy’ (1951b), Ju n g expands fu rth e r on the new developm ents. In p articu lar he explores fu rth e r his conv ictio n th at ‘any com plicated tre a tm e n t is an individual, dialectical process, in w hich the d o cto r, as a person, p artici­ pates ju s t as m uch as the p a tie n t’: W e could say, w ith o u t too m uch ex ag g eratio n , th at a good h a lf o f every tre a tm e n t th a t probes at all deeply consists in the d o c to r’s exam ining him self, fo r only w h a t he can put right in him self can he hope to put rig h t in the p atien t. It is no loss, eith er, if he feels th at

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the p atien t is h ittin g him , or even scoring o ff him: it is his ow n h u rt th at gives the m easure o f his p o w er to heal. This and nothing else, is the m eaning o f the G reek M yth o f the w ounded physician. (Jung 1951b: 116) In his discussion o f the p ractice o f p sy chotherapy in ‘T he psychology o f the tran sferen ce * (1946a) Ju n g re-em phasizes the im portance o f the p sy ch o th erap ist’s c o m m itm en t to the d ialectical process: It is like passing th ro u g h the valley o f the shadow , and som etim es the p a tie n t has to cling to the d o c to r as the last rem aining shred o f reality. This situation is d ifficu lt and distressing for bo th parties; often the d o c to r is in m uch the same position as the alchem ist w ho no longer knew w h e th e r he w as m eltin g the m ysterious am algam in the crucible or w h e th e r he w as the salam ander glow ing in the fire. Psychological induction inevitably causes the tw o parties to get involved in the tran sfo rm atio n o f the th ird and to be them selves tran sfo rm ed in the process, and all the tim e the d o c to r’s know ledge, like a flick erin g lam p, is the one dim light in the darkness. (Jung 1916: 198-9) O u r discussion o f the stages o f p sy chotherapy leads in the end to the core o f analytical tre a tm e n t, the p a tie n t’s ‘tran sfe ren ce ’ and the p sy ch o th erap ist’s ‘c o u n te rtra n sfe re n c e ’. H ere we find the tran sfo rm ativ e process th at, gods w illing, m ay produce the synthesis o f personality, the goal w hich the alchem ists described as the mysterium coniunctionis, the hierosgamos.

CONTEM PORARY REACTIONS TO JU N G ’S SYNTHESIS N ow for a b rie f review o f some aspects o f the g ro w in g in terest show n by psychotherapists in J u n g ’s synthesis. In Jung and the Post-Jungians, A n d rew Samuels (1985) describes a d ialectical process w hich he sees taking place b etw een d ifferen t schools o f analytical psychology. This approach, he says, ‘can enable us to see the discipline as a w h o le ’. His basic schem a highlights the d evelopm ental school and the archetypal school, w hich, he says, ‘appear to be attack in g the c e n tre ’, defined as the basic tenets o f ‘classical analytical psy chology’. W h en fleshed o ut w ith the in terests o f individual p articip an ts in this dialectical process, this schem a serves a v ery useful purpose. T h ro u g h o u t the book Samuels identifies them es and pinpoints the areas o f ag reem ent o r disagreem ent,

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w hile at the same tim e suggesting w ays in w hich a synthesis m ight arise out o f this process, or so I u n derstand him. Since in m y view a synthesis o f dep th psychology was achieved by Ju n g in his analytical psychology, I am inclined to in te rp re t the ongoing dialogue b etw een individuals w ith differing perspectives as a process o f ex ten d in g and testing and questioning J u n g ’s synthesis. This is com par­ able to a sim ilar process th a t follow ed N e w to n ’s great synthesis in the field o f physics. It req u ired some fifty years o f struggle betw een adherents and doubters b efore there w as general acceptance o f N e w to n ’s theory. S om ew here in the m idst o f such a dialogue the seeds are o ften sow n for w h a t w ill eventually be a new ‘re v o lt’ th at w ill set in action a new cycle o f creativ ity . This has already o ccurred in physics w ith the advent o f P lan ck ’s quantum theory. It m ay be th at Samuels sees in w h at he calls ‘classical analytical p sychology’, the same synthesis th at I have been describing. If so, there are basic areas w hich still need to be addressed. In m y view , an area o f p articu lar im p o rtan ce is the role o f the fam ily in the stru ctu rin g o f com plexes w hich d eterm in e the form and d irection o f an in dividual’s destiny. T he fam ily tends no t to be considered in any g reat detail in the Jungian lite ra tu re . Samuels takes up very b riefly the fact th at Jung had a theory o f the influence o f the fam ily on the individual, but Samuels relegates its significance to the field o f fam ily therapy w h ere sim ilar attitu d es have developed. As has been ap p arent from the beginning, I place the influences o f the fam ily at the cen tre o f the psychological processes w hich shape and energize the in dividual’s innate potentials. N evertheless, on the w hole Sam uels’s book is an im p o rtan t co n trib u ­ tion, no t only to the Jungian com m unity, b ut also to the developing consciousness o f J u n g ’s th eo ry w hich is gradually taking place in the b ro ad er field o f dep th psychology and psychotherapy, and in w idening circles am ongst the public at large. From a certain perspective one can see that Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and practice has in recent years been m odified in w ays w hich bring it closer to Ju n g ’s analytical psychology. T here is, o f course, the earlier history o f m odifications in F reud’s view s w hich first took the form o f A d le r’s defection, follow ed by that o f Jung and then Rank. Freud him self m odified his theory th roughout his lifetim e, and some o f his m odifications can be seen as d irect reactions to A dler, Rank and Jung. But Ju n g ’s defection was m ore o f a blow to Freud than that o f A dler or Rank. Jung w as w ith o u t a doubt the m ost creative and productive o f all o f Freud’s early collaborators. F reu d ’s response to Ju n g ’s divergent views as to the nature o f libido and incest was to excom m unicate him for his heresy.

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This tendency to w a rd dogm atism led Freud in the end to form a secret society, an inner circle o f ‘tr u e ’ believers, each w ith a secret seal ring. J u n g ’s ideas becam e anathem a to the tru e believers, and this stance has been p e rp e tu a te d into the present day am ongst o rth o d o x Freudians. The trag ed y o f this situation is th at the follow ers o f Freud w ere cut o ff from J u n g ’s developing th eo ry o f analytical psychology. O f course, there have been m any alteratio n s in F reu d ’s th eo ry since his death. Some w ere in itiated by his d au g h ter A nna Freud and o th e r w om en analysts, for exam ple, K aren H o rn ey and M elanie K lein. N o w there are m any varian ts o f F re u d ’s original psychoanalysis, although a cen tral core o f o rth o d o x y still persists. A d le r’s and R a n k ’s ideas have been p re tty w ell in te g ra te d into some o f the d iv erg en t schools. A nd, o f course, schools o f A dlerians and offshoots o f R ank are still active. B ut the in co rp o ratio n o f J u n g ’s ideas has taken longer, and is only now clearly app aren t in the w ritin g s o f a few innovative individuals. D . W . W in n ic o tt and H einz K ohut have m ade some o f the m ost ‘h e re tic a l’ changes in Freudian theo ry . W in n ic o tt, w ho w as first a p ed iatrician , m oved n atu rally enough into child analysis. It is, o f course, im possible to analyse young ch ildren unless one is w illing to allow them to play, a fact w h ich b o th A nna Freud and M elanie K lein relu ctan tly recognized. Even so, they used the ch ild ’s play p rim arily as a m edium to be in te rp re te d ; they had little ap p aren t understanding o f the function o f play and im agination as the tran sfo rm ativ e principle o f b o th develo p m en t and th e ra p e u tic change. A t first W in n ic o tt also tended to see play from ju s t such a lim ited point o f view , b u t he g radually recognized its cen tral im p o rtance to child analysis, and h im self becam e a tru e p a rtic ip a n t w ith young children. N evertheless he still w as inclined to see the in te rp re ta tio n s he m ade as o f prim ary significance. L ater in his life he began to see m ore adults for analysis, and cam e to the conclusion th at analysis itself is essentially play, th a t is, play w ith im ages (W in n ic o tt 1971). As he m oved tow ards this b e tte r u n d erstan d in g o f play and im agination, he found him self becom ing m ore aw are o f an inner core o f the individual, th a t is p riv ate and nearly inaccessible. It com prises a m asculine and a fem inine elem ent. I found m y self g reatly en rich ed by this w ay o f thinking. . . I w as no longer thin k in g o f boys and girls o r m en and w om en b u t I w as thinking in term s o f the m ale and fem ale elem ents th at belong to each. . . In an a tte m p t to fo rm u late this I found m yself in the position o f com p arin g being w ith doing. (W in n ic o tt 1966: 190-1)

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To be sure, Freud had recognized the bisexuality o f hum an n ature, but he had not arriv ed at an adequate conceptualization. W h a t w e see in W in n ic o tt’s developing view is som ething m uch closer to J u n g ’s conception o f the anim a and the anim us as the contra-sexual aspect o f the individual w hich has an im p o rtan t and ongoing psychological role in the personality. K o h u t’s m odifications o f Freudian th eory have to do w ith the transference and co u n te r-tra n sfere n c e and w ith a conception o f the self as an inner core o f the personality. H e in troduced the idea to Freudian analysts th at it is n atu ral to have em pathy for a patient, and th at it is even th erap eu tic (K ohut 1977). K o h u t’s ideas w ere only being fully expressed at the tim e o f his d eath in 1981, but they clearly begin to approach aspects o f the concept o f the Self th at Jung articu lated in the 1920s, although, as has been usual am ongst Freudian analysts, K ohut does no t refer to J u n g ’s w o rk . Jung had, o f course, recognized the im portance o f a n atu ral hum an relatio n to the analysand, w hich is w hy he gave up the p ractice o f using a couch and sitting behind the patient. His reasoning was th a t the p atien t should be able to see the an aly st’s face and vice versa, so th at each could tell w h a t the o th er was feeling. T hus, for Jung, analysis becam e a dialectical, em otionally alive, hum an relationship. It is u n fo rtu n ate th at K ohut did not refer to Ju n g ’s w ork. B ut w h e th e r the source is acknow ledged or not, co ntem porary psychoanalytic th o u g h t is finally catching up w ith Jung. These convergences to w a rd Jung indicate th at the artificial b a rrie r set up by Freud, and co n cu rred in by his orth o d o x follow ers, w ill ultim ately be b reached. This should prove to be a gain for all psychotherapists. T he free interchange o f ideas is essential to the continuing d evelopm ent o f any field o f endeavour. It has been som ew hat easier for analysts w ho have g ro w n up, so to speak, in the com m unity o f Jungian analysts, to in co rp o rate ideas from o th e r schools o f thought, b u t th at is relative. O n one hand, a co u n ter-reactio n did take place w ith in the Jungian com m unity. A m ong the m ost orth o d o x follow ers o f Jung, F re u d ’s th eo ry becam e a focus o f criticism , and gradually w as ignored. O n the o th e r hand, there have alw ays been Jungian analysts w ho u n derstand th at Jung was a Freudian before he developed his ow n approach, and th at m uch o f his w o rk rests on the contrib u tio n s o f Freud. These analysts rem ained open to the ideas o f those Freudians w ho w ere in itiatin g m odifications o f F reu d ’s theory as, for exam ple, the English school o f Jungian psychology w ith its close relationships w ith K lein, W in n ic o tt and others. In G erm any too, there has been a developing dialogue and co -o p erativ e exchange betw een the

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Freudian and Jungian schools. This openness has begun to spread to the y ounger m em bers o f o th er Jungian com m unities, particu larly in the U n ited States. W ith all th at said, I should like to express the opinion th at J u n g ’s analytical psychology is the m ost com prehensive th eo ry now available. This is, o f course, a trib u te to J u n g ’s genius. B ut there are o th e r reasons. First o f all, w hen the b reak cam e w ith Freud Jung did n o t cut him self o ff from the ideas o f Freud or A dler. Instead he saw his developing th eo ry as a synthesis th at included the perspectives o f both. In addition he saw his th eo ry carry in g fo rw a rd the essential ideas they had espoused. T hus Ju n g had the advantage o f an open and free in terest in, and engagem ent w ith , the w orks o f b o th Freud and A dler, as w ell as Rank, Ferenczi and o thers w hom he cited num erous tim es. T he end result was th at J u n g ’s view was no t clouded by an irratio n a l rejection o f any viable idea in the field o f psychology. It could be said then th at the convergence o f o th e r view s to w a rd J u n g ’s analytical psychology, is evidence th at his view s rep resen t a p aradigm , in the sense th at K uhn uses the term (1962, 1977) to describe a p eriod in the history o f science w hen a synthesis o f a field is achieved. T he present phase o f this d evelopm ent can be seen then as the fu rth e r c larificatio n and testing o f the validity o f J u n g ’s ideas, as w ell as the extension o f his ideas and th eir application in new w ays. A t any rate, this is how I u n d erstand the creativ e ferm en t th at is stirrin g in dep th psychology today.

Chapter 10

Epilogue - the family of nations

As I have been w ritin g this book the w o rld has been engulfed in a w h irlw in d o f change. T hese changing events reflect new developm ents in the w o rld o rd er, b u t they also o ffer an ex trao rd in ary op p o rtu n ity to v alidate, o r invalidate, conclusions reached, and questions raised, in this book, p articu larly the relationship o f sibling position and political leadership, and the u rg e n t problem o f good and evil.

THE CONTEM PORARY W ORLD IN CHANGE Like everyone else, I have been fascinated by the w ildfire o f change th at has taken place in E astern E urope. The Iron C u rtain has been d ra w n back by M ikhail G orbachev and the B erlin W all has been dism antled and sold fo r souvenirs. All the countries th at w ere absorbed into the Russian hegem ony after the Second W o rld W a r are now in the process o f replacing the dom ination o f the com m unist regim es w ith proposed dem o cratic parliam ents and governm ents. W h a t is m ost in trig u in g about these co n tem porary events is how sharply they seem to focus the problem o f good and evil. It is crystal clear th at tw o kinds o f change are o ccu rrin g alm ost sim ultaneously. O ne is d riven by perestroika and glasnost - the o th er is driven by dream s o f em pire and absolute po w er. Scarcely was the ‘c o ld ’ w ar declared o ver by M ikhail G orbachev, b efore Saddam H ussein’s ‘h o t’ w ar eru p ted as Iraq invaded K u w ait, and the spectre o f H itle r appeared once again on the horizon. D em ocracy and dictatorship appear to be locked in a fateful struggle. These are precarious tim es, m ore precarious than ever experienced in the past. T he holocaust, as w ell as ou r possession o f atom ic w eapons, are constant rem inders o f the frig h ten in g p otential for destruction. Y et is it possible th at this p eriod o f e x tra o rd in a ry change m ay also hold out

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the possibility for a new in spiriting o f fam ily and society? Such a ‘rev o lu tio n ’ if it w ere to com e about, w ould o f necessity be based in a new w o rld -w id e com m unity o f nations and peoples, the ‘global v illag e ’ w e hear so m uch about these days. For th at to happen, h o w ev er, there w ill have to be a new vision o f the universe, a new ‘pageant o f the sp h eres’ to p o ten tiate the im agination as once o ccu rred in the ancient land o f Sum er. As N eum ann and Jung have advocated, a new ethic w ould have to be fostered w hich encom passes the old one, b ut creates a fu rth e r dem and on self-reflectiv e consciousness, th at is, aw areness o f the inseparable oppositions w ith in the hum an psyche. H o w this could com e about is difficu lt to im agine. H o w ev e r, in a le tte r w ritte n to V icto r W h ite , 10 A pril 1954, Jung proposes th at such a new kind o f consciousness w ill com e into the collective w hen a p ro m in en t individual surprises ev eryone by show ing a degree o f psychological m a tu rity w hen it is least expected. T h ere is need o f people k n o w in g about th eir shadow , because there m ust be som ebody w ho does n o t p ro ject. T hey ought to be in a visible position w h ere they w ould be e x p ected to pro ject and u n ex p ectedly they do n o t project! T hey can thus set a visible exam ple w h ich w ould not be seen if they w ere invisible. (Jung 1975: 168) Even m ore astounding than J u n g ’s idea is the possibility th at this process m ay have already happened. It surely began to stir w hen M ikhail G orbachev took p o w e r in Russia. B ut is it conceivable th at the m eetin g o f R onald R eagan and M ikhail G orbachev in M oscow in 1988 w as ju s t such a m o m en t as Ju n g refers to? O n th at occasion, visible to all the w o rld on television, the m ost unlikely person, P resident R onald R eagan, dro p p ed his in flam m ato ry rh e to ric about the ‘evil e m p ire ’, and described G orbachev as a ‘frie n d ’ (D o d er and B ranson 1990: 319). W ith the fo regoing in m ind, I shall try to capture the spirit o f some o f these recen t events and th e ir p o ten tial consequences. W e shall ex p lo re the dynam ics in term s o f J u n g ’s analytical psychology, taking up the ap p aren t sta n d -o ff b e tw e e n the opposites o f dem ocracy and d ictato rsh ip , and the related pro b lem o f the sources o f good and evil. T o illu strate these issues, w e shall take up the lives o f some w ell-k n o w n individuals, especially p olitical leaders. W e begin w ith M ikhail G o rb a­ chev on the one hand, w ho evokes com parisons w ith Franklin D elano R oosevelt, and Saddam H ussein on the o th er, w ho com pares him self to Stalin.

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Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev A round the w o rld the issue o f hum an rights is gaining a higher profile. T o be sure it has taken the activism o f m any courageous individuals w ho have suffered for th eir outspokenness. But now som ething that could not have been im agined a few years ago has happened in Russia. A new leader for the tim es, G orbachev (M1[17]M), is attem p tin g to brin g to fruition the earlier efforts o f K rushchev (MFM3) to reveal the h o rro rs o f the Stalin era, and accom plish the reform s o f the dissidents w ho have been so persecuted. W h o is this M ikhail G orbachev, the man o f the hour, w ho appears to have been ‘chosen’ for ju st such an existen tial task? A lthough I had long been unable to find any reliable inform ation about the childhood and background o f M ikhail G orbachev, I had anticipated, how ev er, th at he w ould be an only child. This because he has risen to the peak o f the Russian political hierarchy at a critical m om ent in the history o f his cou n try , a m om ent w hich calls for a leader w ho can identify w ith society as a w hole - left and right, liberal and conservative - and w ho can speak to the failure o f econom ic policies and the increasing dep riv atio n , in this case o f the Soviet citizen, as w ell as the oppressive surveillance by the K G B w hich m ade social life a constant dissociative experien ce, and the dem oralization that is every­ w h ere evident. W h a t is it th at m akes such a leader? O n the one hand he m ust have acquired from his fam ily and its relationship to the collective a th o ro u g h know ledge o f the political apparatus and a dem onstrated com petence w ith in the ‘sy stem ’ as it existed. O n the o th er hand he m ust have acquired from the fam ily atm osphere a self-confident ability to think for him self and to re-ev alu ate the accepted view o f things in the light o f the developing Zeitgeist. If w e knew enough about G o rb ach ev ’s fam ily background, the ex p erien ce o f his ancestors, and the w ay in w hich their experience was passed dow n, in p a rt th ro u g h conscious m em ory, b ut m ost significantly th ro u g h the unconscious m em ory o f the p a re n ts’ ancestral com plexes, w e w ould be b e tte r equipped to say som ething about the w ay in w hich G orbachev has been chosen by the spirit, so to speak, to bring to fru itio n the changes in the a ttitu d e to w a rd Stalin th at w ere initiated by N ik ita K rushchev, and secretly fostered by Y uri A ndropov, and others w hose nam es w e do n o t know , b u t w ho m ust have existed. T o succeed in the present situation G orbachev m ust be capable o f holding the opposites o f the political situation in consciousness and in balance and

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to somehow achieve a synthesis which unites the opposites in a new vision of the society. As we have seen, this ability to hold the opposites and achieve a synthesis is the natural talent of the only child. Comparisons have been made between Gorbachev and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This is not unexpected in view of the similar circumstances that were prevalent in the USA during the great depression of the 1930s when Roosevelt became president. However, it is the similar characteristics and behaviour of the two men that is noticed by astute observers. Here are some of the ways in which they have been compared: 1 Gorbachev uses TV like Roosevelt used the radio for his fireside

chats. He speaks directly to all of the people. 2 Like Roosevelt, Gorbachev has managed to lead both the incumbent regime and the opposition - an authoritarian in the pursuit of democracy. 3 And also like Roosevelt he has staked out the political centre. 'It is, as Soviets say, no accident that Gorbachev permits Boris Yeltsin - the purged politburo member turned populist to attack him from the left, while hard-liner Yegor Ligachev snipes at him from the right. The dance between left and right is astounding,' says the Harriman Institute's Robert Legvold. (Time Magazine, January 1990) These comparisons highlight qualities which are part of the political repertoire of the only child. Roosevelt (MI), like Gorbachev (Ml[17]M), was an only child. As we have seen earlier, it is an only child who is called to leadership at a time of great social unrest and the collapse of basic support systems, as in the depression of the 1930s and as is now true in the Soviet Union. One of the reasons that the only child is leader of choice in such situations is in part the fact of the triadic family constellation of mother, father and child. The only child has the experience of keeping a balance between the attention and expectations of the parents, first in childhood experience, and then as inner objects of the psyche. That is a prominent factor in establishing the only child's synthetic propensity and the balancing of opposites.

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein has been compared with Hitler. Is this a fair comparison? Probably this question cannot be answered with the facts

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at hand. In the early period o f H itle r ’s rise to pow er, it w ould have been very d ifficult to p red ict his u ltim ate behaviour. But since we now have the advantage o f hindsight w ith reg ard to H itle r’s life, it m ay be possible to d raw some lim ited com parisons w ith Hussein. Hussein has been an o p p o rtu n ist o f the first w a te r and has used M achiavellian tactics o f a savage n atu re in o rd e r to acquire the pow er he now holds. D u rin g the w a r w ith Iran he tu rned to the use o f poison gas. H e also gassed the K urds w ho form a p art o f Iraq, and he th reaten ed others, especially Israel. In addition he has th reatened the use o f biological w a rfa re. H e held hostages and th reatened to put them in the line o f fire if Iraq w ere attacked. All in all he seems to have little com punction against using w h a te v e r w eapons are at his disposal, that is, if he thinks he can get aw ay w ith it. This has created considerable a n x iety since it is know n th at he is not far from being able to produce atom ic w eapons. W ith o u t a doubt he is capable o f doing things that others w ould be quick to call evil. O n the o th e r hand, in the past he m ay have done some things for his co u n try w hich have benefited the Iraqi people, ju st as H itle r w as able to say he had done m uch for the G erm ans w hen the co u n try was in such serious econom ic trouble w hen he cam e to p ow er. A lthough H ussein proclaim ed a holy w ar against Israel and the w estern allies, his statem ents did not reveal such thoroughgoing policies o f death and d estru ctio n as H itle r’s plans for the annihilation o f the Jew s, the psychiatrically ill, and others. B ut did H itler reveal his long-ran g e plans early on? W h e th e r o r not Hussein is as dangerous as H itle r, he is w ith o u t a d oubt dangerous. T he question th at rem ains then is, how does such a person com e to be? Saddam H ussein w as born in p oor circum stances in a rem ote village. T h ere is a re p o rt th at w hile his m o th er w as p regnant w ith him , she was o v erw h elm ed by tw o trag ic losses: H er husband died and their oney ear-o ld son died o f cancer. She was g rie f stricken, perhaps a m ajor depression. T h ere is a story th at she was suicidal and th at she tried to a b o rt Saddam (W ald m an 1991). N eith er o f these o ccurred and Saddam w as b o rn in A pril 1937, in the hom e o f K hairallah T alfah, his m o th e r’s b ro th e r. T he m o th er, Sabha, then m arried Hassan, her late husband’s b ro th e r, forcing him first to divorce his w ife. Sabha left her infant Saddam to be raised by h er b ro th e r, K hairallah Talfah. Saddam seems to have lived in his m atern al uncle K h a ira llah ’s household until he was 3. T hen his cousin A dnan w as born, and around the same tim e his uncle K hairallah was arrested by the B ritish and im prisoned for five years. A t th at tim e Saddam w e n t to live w ith his m o th er and h er husband Hassan.

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A lthough w e d o n ’t know the years o f th eir b irth , one o r m ore o f his three y o unger h alf-b ro th ers m ay have already been born. T hey lived in p rim itiv e conditions and H assan, a rough illiterate peasant, put Saddam to w o rk tending sheep. H e w as n o t allow ed to go to school. A t the age o f 10 he ran aw ay, back to his uncle K h airallah ’s hom e. H e and his cousin A dnan (th ree years his ju n io r) w e n t to school to g e th er and becam e best friends. K hairallah also had a daughter, Sajidah, w ho m ay have been older than Saddam , o r younger. W h en they grew up, Saddam and Sajidah w ere m arried . She is his first cousin. L ater in life Saddam feuded w ith A dnan, w ho w as at once cousin, friend, and b ro th e r-in -la w . In 1989 A dnan died m ysteriously in a helico p ter crash. A t the age o f 18 Saddam follow ed his uncle to B aghdad. In 1956 he p a rtic ip a te d in a v io len t mass d em o n stratio n o f the B a ’ath P arty . In 1957 at the age o f 20 he becam e a m em ber o f B a ’ath. In 1958 he w as arrested for the first tim e and served six m onths in ja il for killing his b ro th e r-in -la w o r uncle (if tru e). By the age o f 22 he w as one o f ten young B a ’ath P arty guerillas assigned to assassinate A b d al-K aru m Q assim , the d ic ta to r w ho h ad o v e rth ro w n the m onarchy a y ear b efo re. T he plan w as b otched, b u t Saddam escaped. H e spent the follow ing five years in E gypt u n d er N a sse r’s p ro tectio n . In 1963 several B a ’ath arm y officials w ere killed and Saddam h u rrie d back to Iraq. T he p a rty lost p o w er, h o w ev er, and in 1964 Saddam w as arrested in a second coup a tte m p t and spent tw o years in prison. Saddam w as a distant cousin o f A hm ed H asan al B ahr, a T ik rite , w ho becam e president o f the B a ’ath P arty in Ju ly 1968. H e tre a te d Saddam (w ho w as tw e n ty -th re e years younger) as a son. From the scanty in fo rm atio n available, I have co n jectu red th at Saddam H ussein is e ith e r a first-b o rn or an only c h ild /o n ly son. T his is supported in m y v iew by the fact th at Saddam w as not the lead er o f the B a ’ath p arty revolution. T he leader o f the rev o lu tio n appears to have been A hm ed H assan al B akr. C om p arab le in m any w ays to Stalin, Saddam w o rk ed his w ay up th ro u g h the ranks using stro n g arm m ethods in the service o f the ruling m em bers o f the p arty . As soon as he w as able to com m and p o w er he w as ruthless, assassinating m any w ho had been loyal to him . Stalin u n d erto o k sim ilar tactics w h en he took co ntrol o f the com m unist rev o lu tio n , and he co n tin u ed a h o rrify in g reign o f te rro r until he died in 1953. Saddam H ussein exercises p o w e r in the same w ay. It is im p o rta n t to keep in m ind th a t b o th Stalin and H ussein rose to p o w e r th ro u g h a h ierarch y o f rev o lu tio n ary leaders, and then con­ solidated personal co n tro l o f the p arty , the m ilitary and the co u n try as a w hole. T h ey becam e d ic ta to rs o f the m ost im perial stripe. T hey

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clearly had no com punctions about ruthless behaviour o f any kind. T hey fit H a rry Stack S ullivan’s diagnostic category o f the ‘m alevolent tran sfo rm atio n o f p erso n ality ’. In this respect both Stalin and Saddam Hussein can be com pared w ith H itler. W ith reg ard to fam ily atm osphere, it w ould seem th at the qualities o f c h a ra c ter, or ra th e r lack o f ch a ra c ter, th at Stalin, H itler and Hussein show , are to be traced to the d em oralizing situations w ithin their fam ilies. T hey w ere ill cared for, b ru talized , and abandoned. Stalin and Saddam had no consistent fathering. S addam ’s fath er died before his b irth and he w as tu rn ed ov er to an uncle w ho left him at the age o f 3 w h en he, the uncle, was im prisoned. Saddam then w en t to live w ith his m o th er and stepfather. T he step fath er is described as ‘a brutish m an w ho used to am use him self by h u m iliating Saddam. His com m on punishm ent was to b eat the y outh w ith an asphalt-covered stick, forcing him to dance around to dodge the b lo w s’ (K arsh and Rautsi 1991: 10). S talin ’s fath er w as a d ru n k ard w ho left hom e w hen Stalin w as about 3. H e is said to have retu rn ed occasionally th ereafter. T he m o th er, h o w ev er, took Stalin to a C ath o lic boarding school w h ere it appears they b o th lived. V ery little m ore is know n about S talin’s childhood. H e w as educated to some e x te n t at the C atholic school. R egarding sibling position, Stalin w as an only child. Saddam Hussein has th ree y ounger h alf-b ro th ers, but is m ost likely an only child/son psychologically, passed from one fam ily to another. Y et as I have said above, the o th e r possibility is th at he has the experience o f a first-born. H itle r, in co n trast, was a younger son. This fits the expectations o f my earlier studies. H itle r p ro m u lg ated a revolution and eventually took ov er the g overnm ent. Stalin and Saddam H ussein each w o rk ed up th ro u g h the ranks d u rin g the consolidation o f a revolution. A nd each cam e to p o w er at a tim e w hen th eir p articu lar personalities served them w ell in containing the d iv erg en t elem ents o f the revolutionary group, w hile at the same tim e m oving to w a rd total dictato rial control. T h ey gained support o f the com m on people in th eir respective co untries d uring d ifficult tim es th ro u g h the projection o f a public im age o f the g reat, benev o len t fath er p ro tec to r.

DEMOCRACY OR DICTATORSHIP D ick en s’s w e ll-w o rn phrase is strangely apropos again: these are best o f tim es; these are the w o rst o f tim es. It is as if the spirit o f French R evolution was once m ore in the air. T he sim ilarity o f w h at been happening in the countries o f E astern E urope, as w ell as in

the the has the

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Philippines, and m ost recen tly South A frica, to the period o f the French R evolution is striking - masses o f people in the streets bringing d ow n the Bastille again and again. C e n tra l to all o f these rev o lu tio n ary m ovem ents is the sense o f a n ew era o f freedom and support for the rights o f the individual citizen. B ut w ill this euphoria be follow ed by the atm osphere o f the trib u n al as in the French R evolution, the desperate a tte m p t to p reserve the ‘p u rity ’ o f the revolution by p urging those w ho dissent, thus c re a tin g the very instrum ent o f god-given vision and au th o rity w h ich the rev o lu tio n had sought to transform ? In the rev o lu tio n o f the A m erican colonies this self-destructive en an tio d ro m ia w as avoided, th ro u g h w h a t m ysterious m ix o f good w ill and luck w e shall n ever know . W as it the b ackground o f B ritish h istory and its struggle to w a rd d em o cracy , o r perhaps the separateness on a new co n tin en t, or the high quality o f the founders o f the new republic, o r w as it the creatio n o f a c o n stitu tio n and bill o f rights w hich allow ed for a d em o cratic tran sfer o f p o w e r at regular intervals, as w ell as establishing inalienable rights o f the individual citizen? T o be sure, the new republic was soon put to the test o f its high ideals in the secession o f the so u th ern states over the issue o f slavery. T he C ivil W a r was w on by the n o rth e rn states and slavery w as abolished, y et the issue o f full rights for all citizens had n o t been settled. In the south, econom ic slavery replaced the old form o f slavery. T he n o n -v io len t civil rights m o v em en t o f the 1960s led to considerable im p ro v em en t in the rights o f A frican A m ericans and o th er m inorities, b u t full equality for all citizens has n o t y et been achieved. In the U SA w om en did n o t w in the rig h t to vote until 1920. T he struggle still goes on.

Democracy T he psychological origins o f d em o cracy are surely to be found, in the inner dialogue o f individuation - becom ing oneself - the dialectic b etw een conscious and unconscious. As Ju ng (1916) has put it: It is technically very sim ple to note dow n the ‘o th e r ’ [inner] voice . . . and to answ er its statem ents from the standpoint o f the ego. It is ex actly as if a dialogue w e re taking place b etw een tw o hum an beings w ith equal rights. (Jung 1916: 88-9) T his statem en t conveys the essence o f Ju n g ’s m ethod o f active im agination, w hich is a re a c tiv a tio n in psychotherapy o f the innate

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process o f individuation. If w e look to the socio-political w orld for the pro jectio n o f this process, it w ould appear to be dem ocracy. ‘A dialogue . . . b etw een tw o hum an beings w ith equal rig h ts’ is the essence o f dem ocracy. It is also the essence o f true friendship and o f true m arriage. W e need only look to ourselves, to our friends, our spouses, our fam ily, to realize how im p erfect is our com m itm ent to ‘tr u e ’ dem ocracy. N evertheless, the ideal exists, and w e are often painfully aw are w hen w e fail its requirem ents. This, o f course, is the hum an condition. T o strive for an ideal makes us vulnerable to a p o tentiation o f the opposite in the unconscious w hich w ill eventually have its due. W ith this w e are m ade aw are th at the individuation process does not lead to perfectio n , b u t ra th e r to a circum am bulation o f the self. As Jung pu t it, the goal is w holeness. T he goal is also the process itself. It requires a lifelong engagem ent in an intrapsychic dialogue betw een conscious and unconscious, ego and shadow . Speaking to the n atu re o f political d em ocracy, Jung characterizes the Swiss ex p erien ce o f some four hundred years o f struggle w ith a co m m itm en t to dem ocracy. W e cam e to the conclusion th at it is b e tte r to avoid ex tern al w ars, so w e w e n t hom e and took the strife w ith us. In S w itzerland w e have b u ilt up the ‘p erfect d e m o c ra c y ,’ w here our w arlike instincts exp en d them selves in the form o f dom estic quarrels called ‘political life .’ W e fight each o th e r w ith in the lim its o f the law and the con stitu tio n , and w e are inclined to think o f dem ocracy as a chronic state o f m itig ated civil w ar. Thus far w e have succeeded, b ut w e are still a long w ay from the u ltim ate goal. (Jung 1946b: 224) Ju n g concludes th at a fu rth e r step, an in troversion o f the dialectic o f conscious and unconscious, is y et to be taken. W e still have enem ies in the flesh, and w e have not yet m anaged to in tro v e rt o u r political disharm onies. W e still labour under the unw holesom e delusion th at w e should be at peace w ith in ourselves. Y et even o u r national, m itig ated state o f w a r w ould soon com e to an end if everybody could see his o w n shadow and begin the only struggle th a t is really w o rth w hile; the fight against the ov erw h elm ­ ing p o w e r drive o f the shadow . W e have a tolerable social o rd er in S w itzerland because w e fight am ong ourselves. O u r o rd er w ould be

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p erfect if only every b o d y could d ire c t his aggressiveness inw ards, into his ow n psyche. (Jung 1946b: 224) T hen in discussion o f the trag ic w o rld situation follow ing the Second W o rld W a r, Jung com m ents on his hopes and fears for the future: T he m arked tendency o f the W e ste rn dem ocracies to in ternal dissension is the very th in g th a t could lead them into a m ore hopeful path. B ut I am afraid th at this hope w ill be d eferred by pow ers w hich still believe in the c o n tra ry process, in the destru ctio n o f the individual and the increase o f the fiction w e call the State. T he psychologist believes firm ly in the individual as the sole c a rrie r o f m ind and life. Society and the State derive th eir quality from the in d iv id u al’s m ental con d itio n , for they are m ade up o f individuals and the w ay they are organized. (Jung 1946b: 225) This puts us in m ind o f the u rg e n t need to b e tte r understand w h a t it is in hum an n atu re, or hum an circum stances, th at th w arts the norm al individuation process and leads to au th o ritarian ism and evil. T he m ajor issue w ould appear to be a failure to ‘in sp irit’ the dialogue o f in ner and o u ter, unconscious and conscious, personified as ego and shadow in J u n g ’s term inology.

Dictatorship T he question is still open as to w h a t leads to dictatorship. Jung has also addressed this problem . H is ideas o f how an individual becom es a lead er is illum inating. It is n o t ju s t the w ill to p o w er o f the individual, he says, b u t ra th e r a co m b in atio n o f the in d ividual’s w ill and the desire o f the com m unity to be led. O ne could easily assert th at the im pelling m otive in this develop­ m en t is the w ill to p o w er. B ut th at w ould be to fo rg et th a t the building up o f prestige is alw ays a p ro d u ct o f collective com ­ prom ise: n o t only m ust th ere be one w ho w ants prestige th ere m ust also be a public seeking som ebody on w h om to confer prestige. T h a t being so, it w ould be in c o rre c t to say th a t a m an creates prestige for h im self ou t o f his individual w ill to p o w er; it is on the c o n tra ry an e n tirely co llective affair. Since society as a w hole needs the m agically effective figure, it uses this need o f the w ill to p o w e r in the individual, and the w ill to subm it in the mass, as a vehicle, and

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thus brings about the creatio n o f personal prestige. The la tte r is a phenom enon w hich, as the history o f political institutions shows, is o f the u tm ost im portance for the com ity o f nations. (Jung 1928a: 150-6) T he foregoing offers a useful perspective on the question o f leadership and autho ritarian ism . In fact this essentially grounds our understanding o f dictato rsh ip since it postulates th at there m ust be a com m on need shared by a poten tial leader and the society. B ut w e have not yet satisfactorily u n derstood d ictato rsh ip from a psychological perspective. For th at w e m ust try to understand good and evil.

GOOD A N D EVIL T o ex p lo re the n atu re o f good and evil, I begin w ith an effort to identify the psychological dynam ics w hich account for our experience o f good and evil. This leads d irectly to the innate archetypal affects, c o n tem p t and shame. C o n te m p t/sh a m e seems to have evolved from the in h erited affective reflex , disgust, w hich is present in infants from b irth . T he survival function o f disgust is to identify noxious, potentially poisonous substances and avoid them . For exam ple, using the senses o f smell and taste, w e tu rn aw ay from ro tte n food, or reject it by spitting it ou t o f the m outh. In the e x tre m ity o f disgust w e m ay still experience the prim al reactio n o f vom iting. A t this fundam ental level, the life stim ulus is rejection; the inner (inh erited ) im a g e/im p rin t is alienation. T he life stim ulus and the innate im a g e /im p rin t are tw o halves o f the symbol: w hen the tw o halves unite, the em otion is constellated. T he process is sim ilar to the ‘innate releasing m echanism ’ described by the ethologist T inb erg en , or the ‘key tu m b le r’ structures th at release p ro to ty p ical p attern s o f behav io u r (Stevens 1983: 56-8). W hen the affect co n tem p t/sh am e is released, w e hum ans experience the terrib le, w ith e rin g feeling o f rejectio n , eith e r to w a rd the o th er (contem pt), or to w a rd the self (sham e). In D isgust, lips curl, noses w rin k le. W e pull aw ay from a dirty , sm elly object. In H u m iliatio n w e w rith e and squirm and m ay even retch , because the d irty , sm elly o bject w e w an t to get aw ay from is ourself. (C h odorow 1991: 131) As consciousness is engulfed by co n tem p t/sh am e, it is as if one is banished, driven into the w ilderness, far from hum an com m unity.

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W h e th e r one experiences co n tem p t or sham e, one is alienated. W h en a state o f profound alienation is in consciousness, the opposite is constellated in the unconscious, th at is, the m oral idea o f the ‘g o o d ’, U to p ian communitas, the highest ideal o f the social cultural attitu d e . O n the plane o f the em otions, the dialectic o f jo y and interest and th eir dynam ism s o f im agination and e x p lo ra tio n fall into the unconscious w h ere they begin to in terw eav e w ith unconscious com pensatory fantasies around inclusion and exclusion: the im agination o f hum an relationship. H ere w e find the incipient form s o f U to p ian fantasies. Such fantasies m ay be about d ic ta to ria l p ow er, as w ell as the dem o cratic ideal. T he foregoing w ould seem to describe roughly the dynam ics o f w h a t com es to be seen in its e x tre m e form s as good or evil. Evil is the rejectio n o f relatedness; it creates a state o f alienation from oneself and from others. G ood on the o th e r hand is acceptance o f the dem ands o f relatedness. It is an intrinsic form o f the im agination th at is shaped by the ideal o f communitas. T o recap itu late, w e could say th at the striving for ‘g o o d ’ in the so cial-political realm is fostered by the archetypal im agination o f the U to p ian society w ith freedom and ju stice for all. This is based in und erstan d in g the archety p al affect o f c o n tem p t/sh am e as the source o f b o th the ego function o f feeling, and the sym bolic cu ltural a ttitu d e o f the social. These tw o functions have presum ably evolved over the ages fro m the tw o aspects o f the arch ety p al affect: the im pressive w hich m anifests as the feeling function o f the ego, and the expressive w hich m anifests as the social cu ltu ral a ttitu d e . This m ay be seen in the psychosom atic ex p erien ce o f the psyche w hen the archetypal affect is constellated. T h a t is to say, an e x tre m e state o f alienation - a loss o f relatedness to o n eself and to oth ers - w h ich is felt as dreadful shame: a tu rn in g aw ay , hanging o n e ’s head, w ishing to fall th ro u g h the floor; o r as the equally alienating feeling o f co n tem pt: pulling back, looking do w n o n e ’s nose and sneering in disdain o f the o th er, w hich o f course alienates o n eself from o thers and from o n e ’s o w n ‘b e tte r ’, o r social side. All o f the above refers to the social cu ltural a ttitu d e, the ideal o f the good/communitas, and to fam ily and society, the social realm s o f hum an relationships. A related question is w h e th e r o r n o t infants are bo rn w ho are im m oral, o r am oral? This could o ccu r, presum ably, only if th ere are genes o f im m o rality o r am o rality w h ich can be inherited. Is it possible th a t th ere are such genes? Follow ing o u t the discussion above, it w ould seem th at if there are they w o u ld have to be related to the social aspect

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o f hum an nature. Perhaps w hen the encyclopedia o f the hum an genom e is com pleted w e shall be able to answ er this question. A t the present tim e there is no verifiable evidence o f the inheritance o f acquired characteristics o f such a natu re. N o r does it seem likely th at there will be, since such genetic developm ent w o u ld seem to fly in the face o f the survival o f the species. This brings us then to the difficult task o f sorting out, if possible, the aspects o f fam ily life w hich lead to the kind o f behaviour w e think o f as good o r evil. First some fu rth e r thoughts on the relationship o f the innate cultural form o f the so cial/m o ral w ith its ideal o f the good, and its com ­ pensatory opposite, the innate affect co n tem pt/sham e. W hen con­ stellated, co n tem p t/sh am e drives the conscious attitu d e o f social relatedness into the unconscious and creates the psychosom atic state o f alienation. A lienation is a v ery painful state. If it becom es chronic and is rein fo rced o ver tim e it leads to isolation and w ith d raw al. An ex tre m e state o f alienation is paranoia. O ne solution is to identify a scapegoat. This is w h a t H itle r did.

Adolph Hitler H itle r w as severely sham ed in his childhood by his father and by the general d eg rad atio n o f his fam ily. L ater he faced o th e r sham ing defeats in his efforts to m ake a living as an artist. His service in the First W o rld W a r seems to have given him his first satisfying sense o f achievem ent. From the tim e w hen he en tered politics he dressed him self in a uniform . H e discovered his gift for o ra to ry , and realized the po w er it gave him o ver others. His first efforts at fom enting a revolution failed, and he w as im prisoned. B ut prison gave him an o p p o rtu n ity to form ulate his m essage and to see it published, as Mein Kampf. W h en released from prison he had g re a te r prestige than w hen he w en t in. H e had transform ed him self from a failed a rtist to a political visionary. A nd no longer need he blam e him self, he had identified the scapegoat - the Jew . H e registers in Mein K am pf the m om ent on the street in V ienna w hen he realized th at he could be an anti-S em ite. This decision was tran sfo rm ativ e, a seizure by the spirit, an evil spirit, Jung w ould say. N o w he w ould build a new society o f blond, blue-eyed G erm ans d evoted to the Fatherland. T h en he w ould conquer the w orld. His was a m egalom ania p erfectly tuned to the needs o f the masses o f G erm ans w ho w ere sham ed by the d efeat o f the First W o rld W a r, and w ho suffered from the h u m iliating loss o f parts o f th eir hom eland and the various restrictions o f the arm istice ag reem ent.

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H itle r was capable o f co m m ittin g evil o f an en orm ity th at had not been ex p erien ced since the days o f the O tto m a n em pire, and G enghis K han. T he Jew s, the w eak and the ill w ere to be ex term in ated . T o assure his ow n p o w er, he w as w illin g to execute his loyal fellow revolu tio n aries, as w ell as anyone else w ho stood in his w ay. H e was to tally u n tru stw o rth y , using lies and tric k ery to achieve his surprise attacks on o th e r countries, and on any o th e r occasion th at suited him . All this and m ore is w ell know n. R edeem ing features are hard to find. Perhaps he was good to his m o th er, and to the w om an he m arried ju st befo re his suicide. H o w e v e r, it is k n o w n th a t intim acy and ord in ary sexual ex p erien ce was for him im possible. T he question th a t still rem ains open is: how does som eone regress to such a p rim itiv e, archaic id en tificatio n w ith an archetypal vision o f such destructiveness? T o talk o f the constellation o f the ancient N orse G od W o ta n , as Ju n g has done, m ay be instructive o f the archetypal qualities o f his id en tificatio n , b u t this leaves unaddressed the question o f ho w this cam e about. W e k now th at th ere w as historical p rep aratio n for H itle r ’s recourse to the te rm A ry an and the sw astika sym bol as w ell as those w ho pressed a course o f re tu rn to the prim itive gods o f the N orse, W o ta n in p articu lar. H o w e v e r, as I have said, to see H itle r ’s reactio n as a p urely arch ety p al situation does little for ou r und erstan d ­ ing o f the hum an situation. W h o w as H itler? H o w did he com e to be the w ay he was? All o f this did n o t happen overnight. His life is n o t a m yth. H e did n o t w ake up one day suddenly transform ed. His tran sfo rm atio n was a process o f years, and his early developm ent from infancy to adulthood w as an equally long period. It is e x tre m ely im p o rta n t to see th at H itle r w as seized by the spirit and w h a t the consequences w ere. Ju n g has trie d to m ake these clear. It w as an evil spirit, he says. B ut ho w does an evil sp irit acquire the upper hand in a p e rso n ’s life? N o t by chance, n o t by accident, is it perhaps by infection? H o w , then, w as H itle r infected? T o be infected there m ust be a ‘psy ch o lo g ical’ virus o r b a c te ria in the su rrounding atm osphere. C an w e identify the psychological infection and the bacteria o r virus th a t it sprang from ? W h a t com es to m ind first is the intense hum iliation o f the G erm an people follow ing th e ir defeat in the First W o rld W a r. W h en the archety p al affect o f sham e is co n stellated there follow s an unconscious constellation o f the com pen satory sym bol o f the ideal, U to p ian society. T o reco v er fro m deep hum iliation one m ust com e to grips w ith an ethical conflict; w as the w a r itself ju stified on m oral grounds? If this approach proves u n accep table, then one seeks to blam e som eone o th e r than o n eself and o n e ’s co u n try . H ere is w h ere the

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infection occurs. This is w h a t happened to H itler. He had been shamed as a child, not only by the b ru ta lity o f his hom e w here his drunken fath er w ould beat him and his b ro th e r, bu t also because o f the suspicion th at existed for his fath er, and was com m unicated to H itler, th at there was a Jew ish relative in the b ackground o f the fam ily. A nti-Sem itism w as the virus th at infected H itle r ’s fath er and his son, and th at had infected a large p ro p o rtio n o f G erm ans. A nti-Sem itism was prevalent in m ost, if not all o f the E uropean countries, and others as w ell. It was highly v iru len t in G erm any. T he virus o f anti-Sem itism is a significant quality o f the ‘e v il’ spirit th at seized H itle r, as he him self no ted in Mein Kampf. Since I had begun to concern m y self w ith this question and to take cognizance o f the Jew s, V ienna appeared to me in a different light than before. W h e re v e r I w en t, I began to see Jew s, and the m ore I saw , the m ore sharply they becam e distinguished in m y eyes from the rest o f hum anity. P articu larly the Inner C ity and the districts n o rth o f the D anube C anal sw arm ed w ith a people w hich even o u tw ard ly had lost all resem blance to G erm ans. . . All this could scarcely be called v ery attra ctiv e ; but it becam e positively repulsive w hen, in addition to th eir physical uncleanli­ ness, you discovered the m oral on this ‘chosen p eople’. . . W as there any form o f filth o r profligacy, particu larly in cultural life, w ith o u t at least one Jew involved in it? If you cut even cautiously into such an abscess, you found, like a m aggot in a ro ttin g body, o ften dazzled by the sudden lig h t— a kike! G radually I began to hate them . . . For me this w as the tim e o f the g reatest spiritual upheaval I have ever had to go through. I had ceased to be a w eak -k n eed cosm opolitan and becom e an an ti-S em ite. . . H ence today I believe th at I am acting in accordance w ith the w ill o f the A lm ighty C re a to r: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work o f the Lord. (H itler 1927: 56-65) D eep d ow n he feared th at he him self m ig ht be Jew ish; he needed to establish beyond all d o u b t th at he was ‘p u re ’ A ryan. W h a t b e tte r w ay than to persecute, and eventually a tte m p t to destroy the w hole Jew ish race. M oreo v er, he knew th at this approach w ould gain him the support o f a large p a rt o f the G erm an people, those w ho w ere

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viru len tly anti-S em itic, and w ho w ould w elcom e a scapegoat to alleviate th eir hum iliation. H itle r becam e a pow erful o ra to r and c reated a participation mystique w hen he spoke to the masses. A nd it was alw ays the masses he spoke to. Masses assem bled by constan t prop ag an d a and by th reats and innuendos and som etim es forceful persuasion. B ut it m ust be acknow ledged th at there w ere indeed masses o f people in G erm any at th at tim e w ho w ere only too w illing to h ear the kinds o f things H itle r had to say. This, as I have suggested, was in large p a rt due to the g reat hum iliation the G erm an people ex p erien ced in the First W o rld W a r and its harsh legacy o f lost te rrito ry and rep aratio n s. H itle r spoke to the low est com m on denom inators o f decency, b u t alw ays in term s th at ex alted the ideas he proposed to a m ystical level o f ju stifica tio n for the G od-given destiny o f the G erm an soul. H ow H itle r cam e to p o w er is now w ell docum ented. It began w ith an unsuccessful coup a tte m p t, follow ed by organizational w o rk to develop a core o f ruthless su pporters. U sing all the tactics o f persuasion, th reats and in tim id atio n , as w ell as lies and deceit, H itle r edged his w ay into the g o v ern m en t, and then, as the ageing H in d en b u rg began to give him some credence, he acted sw iftly and decisively to achieve a n o n -v io len t coup, cloaked in the ap p aren t processes o f dem ocracies, b u t in fact utilizing the m ost m anipulative m eans to g et the aged m an to ap p o in t him to the position o f chancellor. This was im m ediately follow ed by a supposed referendum w hich w as noth in g b u t a m eans o f elim in atin g the p o w er o f the legislators and taking full p o w er into his o w n hands. H e was then d icta to r. Pursuing fu rth e r ou r question o f w h a t m akes for d ictato rsh ip , a valuable com parison can be m ade b etw een B ern t Engelm ann, a G erm an w ho resisted the N azi regim e; and H itler. E n g elm an n ’s ex p erien ce speaks d ire c tly to the differences in fam ily atm osphere.

Bernt Engelmann Studs T erk el, in his fo re w o rd to B ern t E n g elm an n ’s In Hitler}s Germany (1986), concludes w ith the fo llo w in g ev ocative thoughts: It w as so easy. N obody w as m ore surprised than A dolph H itle r him self. It w as the evil o f b an ality as m uch as the banality o f evil th at was the challenge th ere and then. It m ay possibly be the challenge here and now . B e rn t Engelmann*s account is m ore than m em oir; it is a cau tio n ary tale.

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A dolph H itle r and B ern t E ngelm ann w ere both G erm ans, Engelm ann by b irth and in h eritag e, H itle r by decision to change his citizenship from A ustrian to G erm an. H itle r was o f an earlier generation; E ngelm ann was a teen ag er w hen H itle r cam e to pow er. All around him E ngelm ann saw a m ajo rity o f the G erm an youth his age and younger jo in in g H itle r ’s you th groups, w hile he, at his g ra n d fa th e r’s urging, jo in e d a socialist group o f the w o rk in g class. O bviously E ngelm ann was n o t alone, bu t nevertheless in the m in o rity . It w ould seem th at Jung is rig h t; it is the masses th at give o ver th eir ow n consciousness and act in thoughtless unison to bring about the kinds o f evil th at H itler exem plified. T he questions then are: W h a t are the differences betw een H itle r, the H itle r youth, and Engelm ann? W as Engelm ann born w ith genes o f a h igher m oral potential? O r was he fo rtu n ate in having a fam ily th at was n o t infected by anti-S em itism , and o th e r v irulent attitu d es o f co n tem p t for o th e r hum ans - the aliens? C learly the evidence is far m ore persuasive for the la tte r conclusion than the form er. A com parison o f the fam ily life o f H itle r and E ngelm ann reveals the vast chasm th at separates them . T o sum m arize briefly some o f the m ost salient differences. E ngelm ann him self sought to understand the reasons for his lack o f ‘in fe c tio n ’ by the spirit o f the tim es as em bodied in H itle r and his policies. In the in tro d u ctio n to his book Engelm ann seeks to determ ine the param eters o f the ‘causes’ o f H itle r ’s G erm any and its disastrous consequences. H e gives various reasons for his ow n im m unity to the N azi state. In conclusion he attem p ts to ch aracterize his fears and his concerns for the future. M y ow n b itte r experiences d uring the N azi years explain w hy I cannot agree w ith those intellectuals in present-day G erm any w ho view the tw elve years o f N azi dom ination as the ‘w ork o f sinister d em o n s,’ as ‘the p ro d u ct o f a g rim fa te ’ for w hich no one can be held accountable. I am convinced th at one m ust seek to understand the factors th at m ade individuals and groups vulnerable to the lure o f m ilitarism and to talitarian ism , and th a t one m ust continue to resist them w h en ev er they appear in the w o rld today. It is in the hope o f co n trib u tin g to such an u nderstanding th at I offer this book to the reader. (Engelm ann 1986: xiii) E n g elm an n ’s ‘im m u n ity ’ to N azism is readily understandable w hen one reads w h a t he has to say about his fam ily. H e was a schoolboy o f 12 w h en H itle r cam e to p o w er in 1933. ‘M uch depends’, he says, ‘on how

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each individual v iew ed the N azi regim e at the tim e, and how he chose to respond to i t . ’ As a blindly loyal su p p o rter; as an op portunistic fellow trav e lle r w ho saw only his o w n gains; as a docile, apolitical citizen, w ho obeyed the au th o rities and did w h a t he considered his duty; as one w ho kep t quiet and shut his eyes b u t w as ‘p rivately against it a ll’; as an innocent victim ; as som eone w ho resisted the regim e as best he could, cautiously and ra th e r passively; or even as som eone w ho rep eated ly risked his life by resisting boldly and actively, like m y ‘U ncle E ric h ,’ alias M ajor von Elken. (E ngelm ann 1986: ix -x ) E ngelm ann him self becam e aw are o f the political situation w hile he w as quite young. I knew w h ere I stood, and even as a child p artic ip ated in clandestine resistance to H itle r ’s law less regim e. M y lively in terest in w h a t w as going on can be ascribed to m y im m ediate environm ent: m y parents and relatives and th eir closest friends. (E ngelm ann 1986: x) This is a v itally im p o rta n t statem en t, w hich E ngelm ann elucidates w ith g re a t clarity and depth. His fa th e r w as an ex em plary m an w ho w as closely involved w ith his son and d eterm in ed to see th at he u nderstood ev ery th in g th at w as going on in the w o rld . Engelm ann rem em bers w ith delight the ‘m arvellous sto rie s’ his fath er told him as a little boy: L ater, w hen I developed into a ra th e r precocious youth, avid to learn and to u n derstand the w o rld , he answ ered all m y questions . p atien tly and tho ro u g h ly . H e fo llo w ed the politics o f the W e im a r R epublic atten tiv ely , though from a distance. H e w as a staunch advocate o f d em ocracy to w h o m N azism appeared as a dangerous sickness - he could only hope th a t the p atien t, G erm any, w o u ld survive. (E ngelm ann 1986: x) His m o th e r he describes as a h ard -w o rk in g , strong-m inded w om an, w ho w as n o t m uch in terested in politics. She w as, ho w ev er, ‘quick to recognize p ractical steps th a t could be taken to assist the victim s o f an obviously inhum an p o lic y ’. C o m p arin g his parents, E ngelm ann says: ‘from m y fa th er I learned to analyse things logically, fro m m y m o th e r to d ra w p ractical conclusions and to act on th e m ’. B oth abilities w e re essential to him since w hen he

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was 16 his parents had him ‘declared o f legal a g e ’ and tran sferred to him the rem ains o f th eir ow n fo rtu n e and w h at was left o f the resources o f relatives and friends, ‘w ho by then had fled the c o u n try ’. M y fam ily, w as split up by the o u tb reak o f the w ar. T he plan had been to leave G erm any by the autum n o f 1939 and w ait in England for the fall o f H itle r. M y fa th e r w as already in London, b u t my m o th er and I w ere unable to jo in him . (E ngelm ann 1986: x) In his grandp aren ts, he also found adm irable qualities. His m aternal g ran d fath er w as a self-m ade and self-tau g h t m an w ho from the age o f 17 rem ained a trad e unionist even though in late r life he had becom e a w ealth y m an: H e g reeted the N azis’ propaganda w ith m ockery and scorn. From m y g ran d fath er I received n o t only a sense for the value o f fine old things, a recep tiv ity to a rt, and a love o f books, b u t also certain fundam ental political view s. It w as he, the solid businessm an w ith a house on the elegant K urftirstendam m , w ho advised me w hen I was eleven to jo in Red Falcon, the organization for the youngest m em bers o f the Socialist W o rk e rs ’ Y outh. (Engelm ann 1986: xi) His m atern al g ran d m o th er was an ex tra o rd in ary person w ho had a g re a t influence on him . A tiny w om an, not p re tty b ut ‘sh arp -w itted and splendidly e d u c a te d ’, his g ran d m o th er was a ‘w alking encyclo­ p ed ia’. In addition, he says, his g ran d m o th er was significant in developing his im m unity to ‘Fascism, m ilitarism , and reactionary politics, m y g ran d m o th er im planted in me an ineradicable com m itm ent to d em o c ra c y ’. ‘W ith this sort o f fam ily b a ck g ro u n d ,’ he says, ‘I m ight have been ex p ected to resist the contagion o f N azi ideology, as w ell as the u ltra-co n serv ativ e nationalism th at raged through G erm any during m y school y e a rs’ (ibid.: xii). Finally he attrib u tes the ‘fact th a t I never dream ed o f yielding to the N azis’ propaganda and in d o ctrin atio n no t only to my origins, my education, m y fam ily and th eir friends, b u t also in great m easure to the books these people gave m e to r e a d ’. H e then proceeds to list the books, beginning w ith Jack London and ending w ith A rnold Z w eig. W ith these books he says, it w as im possible for me to becom e a N azi, o r even a m ilitarist. A nd w hen the books o f m ost o f these authors w ere banned and burned by

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the N azis, I knew beyond any d o u b t th at H itle r and his henchm en w ere m y enem ies; how else could they do such a thing to the books I loved? (E ngelm ann 1986: x ii-x iii) D u rin g the w a r E ngelm ann d em o n strated his convictions in an ongoing p articip atio n in the u n d erg ro u n d railw ay w hich helped Jew s to escape to o th e r countries. T o w a rd the end o f the w a r he was im prisoned in D achau. H e survived and w as lib e ra te d by the allies. T he co n trast b etw een E n g elm an n ’s childhood and H itle r ’s is as ex tre m e as one can im agine. It w o u ld be v ery difficult to believe th a t E ngelm ann could have becom e a H itle r, o r th at H itle r could have becom e an E ngelm ann. Is this ju s t an isolated case w hich proves nothing? I believe no t. E v ery th in g w e no w know about the childhood experien ces o f b a tte re d child ren w h o g ro w up to b a tte r th e ir o w n ch ild ren , o r o f sexually-abused child ren w hose only defence against the d eg rad atio n and the c ru e lty o f th e ir hom es is to dissociate into a m u ltitu d e o f personalities, suggests th a t E ngelm ann’s c h a rac ter and H itle r ’s c h a ra c ter are in the larg est p a rt due to the atm ospheres o f th e ir respective fam ilies. B ut E n g elm an n ’s story is n o t a unique one. T h ere are now available m any stories o f the heroism o f o rd in ary people w ho cared enough to help and p ro te c t the p o ten tial victim s o f the N azis te rro r. A nd the stories they tell o f th e ir ow n hom es and w hy they acted the w ay they did have a com m on core o f m o rality and ethical values learned from carin g p arents and relatives and friends.

Jung on evil In the end w e are all cau g h t in the dilem m a o f im perfection and the fu rth e r fact th a t the psyche is a complexio oppositorum. E very conscious reactio n has its unconscious c o u n te rp a rt, and vice versa. T ry in g his best to arriv e at a clear position w ith respect to good and evil, Ju n g takes up first the question o f ‘co n scien ce’. A fte r an ex am ination o f the d iffer­ ences b etw een a ‘conscious m oral c o d e ’ as is acquired in F reu d ’s con cep t o f the ‘su p ereg o ’, versus an unconscious ‘conscience’ w hich finds expression o ften in unconscious acts and in dream s, Ju n g notes th a t the unconscious can n o t be to tally d ep endent upon consciousness. W ith o u t at least som e deg ree o f auto n o m y the com m on ex p erience o f the co m p lem en tary o r com p en sato ry function o f the unconscious w ould n o t be possible. I f the unconscious w ere really dependent on

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the conscious, it could not contain m ore than, and o th er things than, consciousness contains. (Jung 1958: 441) From this Jung argues th at ‘m o rality as such is a universal a ttrib u te o f the hum an psyche*, b u t he also points out th at this is not true o f any m oral code. Even though conscience o ften coincides w ith the conscious m oral code, it ju st as often is in co n trad ictio n o f it. From this situation Ju n g draw s the follow ing conclusion. T he concept and phenom enon o f conscience thus contains w hen seen in a psychological light, tw o d ifferen t factors: on the one hand a recollection of, and adm onition by, the mores; on the o th er, a conflict o f duty and its solution th ro u g h the creatio n o f a th ird standpoint. T he first is the m oral, and the second the ethical, aspect o f conscience. (Jung 1958: 455) It is the concept o f a ‘con flict o f duty* th at gives the final m eaning to J u n g ’s view o f good and evil. W e are left w ith the difficult and inescapable fact th at as hum an beings w e are incapable o f being certain o f ou r ju d g em en ts o f good and evil. W h a t does Jung offer as a solution? Self-know ledge and psychology. Speaking d irectly, then, to the issue o f self-know ledge, Ju n g asserts: T he p roblem o f evil, as it is posed today, has need, first and forem ost, o f self-knowledge, th at is, the utm ost possible know ledge o f his ow n w holeness. H e m ust know relentlessly how m uch good he can do, and w h a t crim es he is capable of, and m ust b ew are o f reg ard in g the one as real and the o th er as illusion. B oth are elem ents w ith in his n atu re, and b o th are bound to com e to light in him , should he w ish - as he o ught - to live w ith o u t self-deception or self-delusion. . . Such self-know ledge is o f prim e im portance, because th ro u g h it w e ap proach th at fundam ental stratu m or core o f hum an n atu re w h ere the instincts dw ell. H ere are those p re -e x isten t dynam ic factors w hich u ltim ately govern the ethical decisions o f our consciousness. This core is the unconscious and its contents, con­ cerning w hich w e cannot pass any final ju d g m en t. O u r ideas about it are bound to be inadequate, for w e are unable to com prehend its essence cognitively and set rational lim its to it. W e achieve know ledge o f n atu re only th ro u g h science, w hich enlarges con­ sciousness; hence deepened self-know ledge also requires science, th a t is psychology. N o one builds a telescope or m icroscope w ith

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one tu rn o f the w rist, ou t o f good w ill alone, w ith o u t a know ledge o f optics. (Jung 1961: 330-1) Ju n g goes even fu rth e r in his e x h o rta tio n for increased in terest in the psyche: T o d ay w e need psychology fo r reasons th at involve ou r very existence. W e stand p e rp lex ed and stupefied before the phenom e­ n on o f N azism and B olshevism because w e know n othing about m an, o r at any rate have only a lopsided and d isto rted p ictu re o f him . If w e had self-know ledge, th at w ould n o t be the case. W e stand face to face w ith the te rrib le question o f evil and do n o t even k n o w w h a t is b efore us, let alone w h a t to pit against it. A nd even if w e did k now , w e still could n o t u n d erstand ‘how it could happen h e r e ’. (Jung 1961: 331)

FAMILY OF NATIO NS I speak o f a fam ily o f nations fo r several reasons. T he first is in response to w h a t is happening in E urope w ith the fo rm atio n o f a com m unity o f nations w ho are seeking to reach ag reem en t on m any econom ic and m ilita ry issues. T hey aim for a com m on m ark et by 1992. A t the same tim e, the French and the English, tra d itio n a l enem ies in the m ore d istan t past, and still v iew in g each o th e r w ith suspicion, are tunnelling b en eath the English C hannel b e tw e e n France and E ngland. This is a h isto ric even t p rim arily because the English isolationist policy is finally giving w ay to a m ore co -o p erativ e stance. These are good reasons for using the te rm , a fam ily o f nations, b u t th e re is a deeper need to be m et w h ich has been discussed by m any co n cern ed leaders, as w ell as others. In previous chapters I have show n h ow sibling position in the fam ily and the atm osphere o f the fam ily, along w ith the Zeitgeist, have significant im pact on the destiny o f the individual and the fu tu re o f society. This has been illu strated in g re a te st depth th ro u g h studies o f p o litical leadership, and th ro u g h the evolution o f d epth psychology. H o w e v e r, it has also been show n th a t sim ilar developm ents occur in all fields o f endeavour. In physics, the C o p ern ican revolution, and the subsequent Planckian rev o lu tio n , w e re prim e sources for understanding the c reativ e cycle in the field o f science. T he history o f the arts and religion reveal sim ilar cycles o f rev o lu tio n ary change w hich arriv e at a n ew synthesis th ro u g h the cycle o f c reativ e individuals o f p articu la r

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sibling positions, and w ith p a rtic u la r fam ily backgrounds. Thus, the cycle o f creativ ity goes on in all o f the sym bolic cultural form s: art, religion, science (philosophy), and society. M ost o f the exam ples I have p resented lead us to perceive the change in these cycles as having a salutary result. H o w ev er, a m ore doubting attitu d e turns up some stu b b o rn questions. It is an undeniable fact th at in the face o f the seem ingly-im possible situation o f H itle r ’s attem pts to conquer the w o rld , as w ell as Ja p a n ’s assault in the Second W o rld W a r, the U n ite d States felt the need to develop, and then use, atom ic w eapons. T he efforts to save ourselves and the rest o f the w o rld from the h o rro rs o f H itle r ’s G erm any and T o jo ’s Japan led us to develop the v ery w eapons w h ich n o w m ake it possible to destroy all life on the globe. It behoves us then to take seriously the m eans by w hich w e can contain those w eapons, and eventually do aw ay w ith them . This is obvious to every th o u g h tfu l individual. It needs to be em phasized, though, th at the fam ily o f nations does n o w exist and has existed in vary in g degrees o f com ity for ages. B efore the ‘n a tio n ’ becam e a conscious reality , th ere was a ‘fam ily o f fam ilies’ in the old trib al societies. T he tribes m ay have been at odds w ith one an o th er m uch o f the tim e, b u t they nevertheless m aintained at least a w a ry eye on each o th e r and m ust have felt some sense o f potential relationship o th e r than constant w arfare. T h ere is after all a psy­ chological reason for the d raw in g to g eth er o f peoples into groups and tribes, and then la rg e r constellations o f nations and em pires. H um ans like all m am m als are basically social creatures. Survival is ultim ately dependent on a sufficiently secure group w hich can p ro tec t the v u lnerable process o f b irth and the n u rtu ran ce o f infants, and their survival into adulthood. O bviously this need m ay often run co u n ter to o th e r needs. O ne o f the o th e r consequences o f this social natu re o f hum ans and o th e r m am m als, is a fin ely -tu n ed responsiveness to the differences and sim ilarities o f em otional tone and m odes o f behaviour. In hum ans this leads inevitably to div ersity in friendships, in love relationships and in anim osities as w ell. Sensitivity to one an o th er is largely an unconscious process o f feelings and em otional com plexes. T h ere is nothing p a rtic u ­ larly new in w h a t I am saying, b u t I should like to ex ten d our aw areness o f this deep lay er o f feeling and em otional responsiveness into areas th at seem far m o re difficult to understand. I am thinking here o f c ertain curious shifts in political leadership th at take place as the social-political situation varies. I have already show n how sibling position and the fam ily atm osphere as w ell as the Zeitgeist have

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pro fo u n d effects on the destiny o f individuals. W e have seen th at there is a m atching o f leaders o f p a rtic u la r sibling positions w ith shifts in the Zeitgeist. B u t th ere is an o th er lay er o f arrangem ents going on all the tim e in the fam ily o f nations. This appears in the relationships b etw e en the leaders o f d ifferen t countries. Frequently there is a m atching o f sibling rank am ong leaders w hose co untries are going th ro u g h sim ilar situations. For exam ple, in 1945 th ere w as the m eeting in Y alta o f C h u rch ill (Ml[7 years]M ), R oosevelt (Ml) and Staling (Ml). In recen t years, heads o f state in the USA (R eagan, Bush), B ritain (T h a tch e r, M ajor), G erm any (K ohl), France (M itte rra n d ), Poland (W alesa), T he Phillipines (A quino), and South A frica (de K lerk), are all younger siblings. W h a t are w e to m ake o f this shifting about o f leadership th ro u g h o u t an area o f com m on co n cern to several nations? It is difficult enough to u n d erstan d how a single lead er o f a p a rtic u lar sibling position and fam ily atm osphere com es to p o w e r at any one tim e in a n ation, let alone to try and im agine the situation w h en individuals o f the same sibling position com e to p o w e r at the same tim e in o th e r countries. W h e n several nations are g overned by individuals o f the same o r closely related sibling positions, w e m ay ex p e ct th at an unconscious level o f kinship w ill ex ist b e tw e e n them . A t best, this should have a salutary effect on the com ity o f nations. B ut such an unconscious state can also sw ing the o th e r w ay. O u r g ro w in g aw areness o f the hum an cond itio n m ust lead us to co n fro n t these deeply unconscious issues so th a t they m ay begin to com e to consciousness.

Depth psychology In closing I w ish to follow up on J u n g ’s e x h o rta tio n above on the g reat need fo r psychology in these tim es. W h a t if anything can d epth psychology co n trib u te? O u r w o rk w ith individual patients is p rim ary , b u t a secondary task is to foster the d evelopm ent o f a point o f v iew w h ich em phasizes the seriousness o f the w o rld situation, econom ically, ecologically and p o litically, and encourages the idea o f a global village as a solution to the frag m en tatio n o f the present tim e. Finally, it is essential to keep atte n tio n focused on the individual, fam ily and society, in th a t o rd e r, as the sources and the resources o f change. T he m ost u rg e n t p rio rity is finding a w ay to u nderstand b e tte r the sources and m anifestations o f good and evil. This leads to the need for individuals to becom e aw are o f the opposites in them selves and seek to hold the opposites in consciousness.

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In closing, I w ish to express m y advocacy o f a w orking hypothesis th a t has been fo rm u lated in this book; nam ely, th at libido, as the instinct o f life, o r the life force - psychic energy - is prim arily ex p erien ced th ro u g h the innate archety p al affects o f jo y and interest, and th eir tw in dynam ism s, p lay /im ag in atio n and cu rio sity /ex p lo ratio n . F u rth er I suggest th at these in h erited affects and th eir dynam ism s, com e to rep resen t in th e ir u ltim ate realized form s, w h at is m eant by the cosm ogonic principles, Eros and Logos, o r the Yin and Y ang o f the T ao. It seems to m e th a t this co nception o f libido as the in te rtw in in g o f tw o prim al affects w ith th eir dialectical dynam ism s, gives some psychological g rounding to the archetypal images o f incest; the hierosgam os o f the gods, and th a t th ird and final stage o f the alchem ical process, the chym ical m arriag e. T he follow ing com m ents by Jung on the culm ination o f the alchem ical process ap p ear to bear on the foregoing notions: A fter the h o stility o f the four elem ents has been overcom e, there still rem ains the last and m ost form idable opposition, w hich the alchem ist expressed v ery aptly as the relationship betw een m ale and fem ale. . . O u r reason is often influenced far too m uch by purely physical considerations, so th at the union o f the sexes seems to it the only sensible thing and the urge for union the m ost sensible instinct o f all. B ut if w e conceive o f n atu re in the higher sense as the to tality o f all phenom ena, then the physical is only one o f h er aspects, the o th e r is p neum atic o r spiritual. T he first has alw ays been regarded as fem inine, the second as m asculine. The goal o f the one is union, the goal o f the other is discrimination. [m y italics] (Jung 1963: 89) T his dialectical opposition m ay also be view ed as the etern al, and ever u n req u ited rom ance, o f tw o kinds o f m em ory - fantasy, the m em ory o f being; and m em ory, the m em ory o f becom ing. T he tw o kinds o f m em ory spring from an original irrep resentable unity, sym bolized in the m ythical im ages o f Purusha, the A tm an, the R otundum , and the like, w hich w hen divided into heaven and earth , m ale and fem ale, becom e the source o f all creatio n . Jung describes that m om ent as T he first m orn in g o f the w o rld , the first sunrise after the prim al darkness, w hen th at inchoately conscious com plex, the ego, the son o f the darkness, know ingly sundered subject and object, and thus p recip itated the w o rld and itse lf into definite existence. . . Genesis 1:1-7 is a p ro jectio n o f this process. (Jung 1963: 108)

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If this is evidence o f the p o ten tial for healing the ‘g reat sp lit’, then it w ould provide substance to E rich N e u m a n n ’s hoped for ‘em ergence o f the new e th ic ’. T he new ethic dem ands th at w e hum ans take responsibility for ou r com plex n a tu re and stop p ro jecting the shadow on to each o th er. ‘T he tim e has n o w com e for the principle o f p erfectio n to be sacrificed on the a lta r o f w holeness’ (N eum ann 1969: 133). O u r g ro w in g insight into the lim itations o f the hum an condition m ust inevitably lead, in the course o f the n e x t few centuries, to an increasing sense o f hum an solidarity and to a recognition o f the fact th a t, despite all differences, the stru c tu re o f hum an n atu re is e v e ry w h e re, in essence, the same. T he com m on rootedness o f all religion and philosophy in the collective unconscious o f the hum an race is beginning to becom e obvious. B ut ju s t as this solidarity o f o u r species accounts for the inner h isto ry o f m ankind, so the un ity o f the planet e arth w ill d eterm ine the h isto ry o f the fu tu re. . . Slow ly b u t surely, the hum an race is w ith d ra w in g the psychological projectio ns by m eans o f w hich it had p eopled the em ptiness o f the w o rld w ith hierarchies o f gods and spirits, heavens and hells; and, w ith am azem ent, for the first tim e, it is ex p erien cin g the creativ e fullness o f it ow n prim al psychic G round. A nd y et, o u t o f the m idst o f this circle o f hum anity, w hich is b eginning to take shape from the c o m in g -to g eth e r o f every p a rt o f the hum an species - nations and races, continents and cultures - the same creativ e G odhead, u n fo rm ed and m anifold is em erging w ith in the hum an m ind, w ho previously filled the heavens and spheres o f the universe aro u n d us. (N eum ann 1969: 133-5)

NOTE 1 Gorbachev (M1[17]M) is essentially an only child. In an article in the Washington Post, David Remnick, foreign correspondent in Moscow, asked the following question: ‘W hat does it mean to history . . . that Gorbachev grew up almost as an only child? His one sibling, his brother Alexander, was born 17 years after Gorbachev’ (Remnick 1989). Most biographies either lack early family history, or they agree with Remnick’s report that Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev has but one sibling, a much younger brother named Alexander (Sasha), who was born 16 or 17 years later, around the time Mikhail left home to go away to school (Sheehy 1990: 52). One biographical source cites a conversation with an anonymous senior official who said

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Gorbachev had an older brother (no name) who died on the front in the Second W orld W ar (Doder and Branson 1990: 440). But since I have found no other report of an older brother, and since Gorbachev’s psychology clearly seems to be that of an only child, I am inclined to think that there has been a misunderstanding. Gorbachev’s father, Sergei Andreyevich had brothers and other male relatives who fought in the war and died (Sheehy 1990: 45). Perhaps the older brother who died was a brother of Sergei. Or, if there was an older brother, he must have been many years older and/or grown up in another household. In addition to my search of standard biographical sources, I have w ritten Gorbachev asking for clarification of these questions. I look forward to his answer.

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Name index

T he N am e index includes only authors from w hose w orks e x trac ts are quoted. Adler, A. 58, 127-31 American Council of Learned Societies 50, 51 Angst, J. 55-6 Axline, V. 123 Beaverbrook, Lord 78 Berkeley, H. 71 Bingham, C. 72 Blake, J. 55 Bottome, P. 128-9 Branson, L. 162 Campbell, J. 24-6, 27-33 Cassirer, E. 13 Chodorow, J. 116, 171 Current Biography 51 Darwin, C. 93 Denton, L. 94 Dietrich, B. C. 32 Doder, D. 162 Ellis, H. 50, 54-5 Engelmann, B. 176-80 Erikson, E. H. 45-6 Ernst, C. 55-6 Fox, R. 16 Freud, S. 123, 131, 132, 140 Galton, Sir F. 54 Gipson, L. H. 70 Goleman, D. 55, 57 Goodall, J. 15

Graves, R. 11, 44 Grosskurth, P. 98 Harris, I. D. 55 Henderson, J. L. 144 Hillman, J. 122 Hitler, A. 173-6 Izard, C. E. 94 Jones, H. E. 52 Jung, C. G. 4, 7-8, 12, 16, 17, 18-19, 20, 21-2, 45, 58, 95, 103-8, 117-18, 119-20, 122, 123-7, 131, 134-41, 147-8, 162, 168-71 passim, 185 Kane, J. N. 51 Karsh, E. 167 Kerenyi, C. 45, 118 King, N. L. 67 Kohut, H. 159 Koyre, A. 85 Kramer, S. N. 33-4 Kuhn, T. S. 3, 85, 160 Lagerkrantz, H. 94 Laing, R. D. 48 Langer, W. L. 61 Layard, J. 21 Lee, S. 50, 51 Lynd, H. 94 Masson, J. M. 127 Mathiot, A. 71 Monte, C. F. 131

200

Changemakers

Neumann, E. 1, 13, 96, 117, 186 Otto, R. 26-7 Plato 13 Raglan, Lord 45 Rank, O. 44, 131-3 Rautsi, I. 167 Riordan, M. 92 Roseboom, E. H. 66, 67 Rosenberg, B. G. 47, 53, 54, 58 Russell, D. 127 Rustow, D. A. 49 Samuels, A. 2, 4 Schooler, C. 52-3 Schubert, H. J. P. 56 Slater, P. E. 45 Slotkin, T. 94

Smelser, W. 9, 55 Stephen, L. 50, 51 Stevens, A. 171 Stewart, L. H. 5, 9, 55, 58, 93, 95, 99 Sulloway, F. J. 57 Sutton-Smith, B. 47, 53, 54, 58 Taylor, R. L. 79 Time Magazine 164 Tomkins, S. S. 94 Verba, S. 48 Vitz, P. C. 122-3, 124-5, 126-7 W agner, M. E. 56 Waldman, P. 166 Watson, J. D. 92 W innicott, D. W . 5, 123, 158-9

Subject index

T he Subject index also includes individuals as subjects. abreaction 120, 146, 155 Adler, Alfred 8-9, 58, 98, 119, 1201, 141-5, 148; early memories 127-31; education: Jung on Adler’s individual psychology 151-3 Affect Imagery Consciousness (Tomkins) 94 affects, the innate 9, 116; and the complex family emotions 92-100; and the world cycle of creative change 90-1 Aids quilt 100 Aion (Jung) 21-2, 142 American presidents, the 9, 60-71; discussion 69-71; sibling position and political Zeitgeist 60-8; toward ‘freedom and justice for all’ 86-91 American revolution, the 83-4 ancestral complexes 5-6, 7, 14-15, 17, 44, 99, 112 ‘Answer to Job’ (Jung) 142 archetypes 3, 4-5, 111, 146, 184-5; the archetypal imagination 99-100 Art and Artist (Rank) 131, 132 biblical stories, 8, 43, 45, 101-2 birth order see sibling positions British Dictionary of National Biography (Stephen and Lee) 50, 51, 54 British Genius, A Study of (Ellis) 50, 54-5 British prime ministers, the 9, 71-9; results 72-9 catharsis as therapy: Jung’s synthesis

149-50 confession as therapy see catharsis contemporary world in change 161— 7; Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev 163-4; Saddam Hussein 164-7 Copernicus 3, 84-6 creative change, world cycle of 9, 81-91, 161-7; the American revolution 83-4; the Copernican cycle 84-6; and depth psychology 115-45; a fourfold creative cycle 34, 81-3; toward ‘freedom and justice for all’ 86-91 cross-cousin marriages 19-20 De Revolutionibus (Copernicus) 85 democracy or dictatorship 167-71 depth psychology 9, 11, 17, 22, 51, 115-45; the early memories of Freud, Adler, Rank and Jung 121— 41; and the family of nations 1846; summary 143-5 Descartes 84, 86 Dictionary of American Biography 50, 51 Dictionary of National Biography 55 education as therapy; Adler’s individual psychology 151-3 Electra complex 97-8, 137 elucidation as therapy; Freud’s psychoanalysis 150-1 Engelmann, Bernt 176-80 Enigma of Bologna, the 18 ‘envelope of expectations’ 5, 44

202

Changemakers

evil, Jung on 180-2 Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (Darwin) 93 Facts About the Presidents (Kane) 51 family atmosphere 6, 17, 43-4; and the destiny of the individual 1-10 family constellation 6, 8-9, 39-40, 122; reference sign system 54, 59,n.5 family emotions 9, 92-100; the archetypal imagination 99-100; the complex family emotions 959; the nature of emotions 92-5 family of nations 10, 182-6; and depth psychology 184-6 first-born child, the 42 ‘freedom and justice for all’ 86-91 Freud, Sigmund 119-20, 141-5, 147— 8, 153; early memories 123-7; elucidation: Jung on Freud’s psychoanalysis 150-1 ‘Fundamental Questions of Psychotherapy’ (Jung) 155 Galileo 3, 84 Gandhi, Mahatma 43-4, 45, 69, 70, 73 Gandhi’s Truth (Erikson) 46 good and evil 171-82; Bernt Engelmann 176-80; Hitler, Adolph 173-6; Jung on evil 180-2 Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich 160, 163-4, 186-7,n.l History of Presidential Elections, A (Roseboom) 66 Hitler, Adloph 43-4, 173-6 Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture (Huizinga) 25 Hussein, Saddam 161, 164-7 Huyghens 3, 84, 86 hysteria 147-8 In Hitler’s Germany (Engelmann) 176 incest 19-20 inspiration see ‘spirit’, the intermediate child, the 42-3 International Federation for Psychoanalytic Education (IFPE) 2

Interpretation of Dreams, The (Freud) 132 Joan of Arc 43, 69, 102-3 Jung, C. G. 58, 116-21, 141-5, 14660; contemporary reactions to Jung’s synthesis 156-60; early historical sources 146-8; early memories 7-8, 134-41; on evil 180-2; the four stages of psychotherapy 148-56; on the meaning of the spirit 103-8; spirit and nature: Jung’s seizure 108-14 Jung and the Post Jungians (Samuels) 2, 156 Kepler 3, 84 kinship bonds 12, 19, 33-5 last-born child, the 43 literature, review of the 50-1, 53-8 Masks of God, The (Campbell) 24 Mein Kampf (Hitler) 173, 175 Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Jung) 7, 117-18 methodology 50-1 Moses 43, 45, 101-2 Mysterium Coniunctionis (Jung) 18, 142, 156 Mysterium Tremendum 27 Myth of the Birth of a Hero, The (Rank) 44, 133 mythology 8, 12-13, 44-6, 84, 118; Sumerian revolution 9, 24-36 Newton 84, 86 Oedipus complex 97-8, 125-7, 137 only child, the 42 Origins of Greek Religion (Dietrich) 32 Piggle: an account of the psychoanalytic treatment of a little girl, The (W innicott) 5 play/‘pretend\ the importance of 24-9, 96 political leadership and the sibling complex 9, 37-59; background 3740; the family atmosphere 43-4; the four sibling positions 41-3; methodology and review of the

Subject index literature 50-8; mythic origins 446; the politics of birth order 46-7; toward ‘freedom and justice for all’ 86-91 Psychological Examination of Political Leaders, A (Stewart) 56 ‘psychology of the transference, the’ (Jung) 142 psychotherapy, client-centred 133 psychotherapy, Jung’s four stages of 148-56; confession: catharsis 149— 50; contemporary reactions to Jung’s synthesis 156-60; education: A dler’s individual psychology 151-3; elucidation: Freud’s psychoanalysis 150-1; transformation: Jung’s analytical psychology 153-6 Rank, O tto 119, 121, 141-5; early memories 131—3; on myths 44-5 Rank's Myth of the Birth of the Hero (Rank) 131 religion: birth of 27-34; ‘religious actualism’ 45; religious dread 27; see also mythology; Sumerian revolution self-education, Jungian 154-5 sibling complex 9, 122; family emotions 92-100; and political leadership 47-50 sibling positions 17, 41-3; the first­ born child 42; the intermediate child 42-3; the last-born child 43; methodological definition 52; the only child 42; and political Zeitgeist 60-8; the politics of birth order 46-7

203

Sibling, The (Sutton-Smith and Rosenberg) 54, 58 somnambulism 147-8 Sons of Liberty 69, 83 spirit of the age see Zeitgeist, socio­ political ‘spirit’, the 9, 101—14; Joan of Arc 102-3; Jung on the meaning of 104-8; Moses 101-2; and nature: Jung’s seizure 108-14; spirit and inspiration 103-4 startle, the innate affect of 95 Sumerian revolution, the 9, 24-36 ‘Symbols of transformation* (Jung) 131 transference 19, 131, 159; Jung’s analytical psychology 142, 153-6 Trauma of Birth, The (Rank) 133 Utopian communitas 5, 90-1, 172 Vienna Group, the 120, 132-3 ‘will therapy’, Rank’s 133 world cycle of creative change 9, 81-91; the American revolution 83-4; the Copernican cycle 84-6; and depth psychology 115-45; a fourfold creative cycle 81-3; toward ‘freedom and justice for all’ 86-91 ‘wounded healers’ 118, 143, 155-6 Zeitgeist, socio-political 5, 7, 9, 11; and sibling position 60-8; and sibling positions of American presidents 60-71; and sibling positions of British prime ministers 71-9