The Quest: Vision in an age of Crisis. Economic & Financial Crisis. Jungian Psychotherapy

S2 Ep50. The Financial Crisis part B. The Crisis of our Times. Part 23.

Financial collapses have been at the heart of all major economic crises of capitalism and examples from the 1890s and 1990s are given, observing that they are growing in intensity and frequency. Examples from early presidents of the United States, Jefferson and Jackson, are given,  both of whom spoke loudly against banking interests believing that they were inimical to democracy. It is argued that financial crises have been severe since the deregulation of the banking system in the 1980s and 1990s. Since the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 things have gone from bad to worse.

The present situation is that the major economies are not only hiding their chronic economic difficulties behind a financial façade of money creation and debt, they are also hiding their financial chaos and instability behind the same façade. You may ask then where is this infamous financial crisis that is so feared. The answer should be no surprise by now. We are already in it and have been so for a long time but its full force is yet to be revealed.

S3 Ep11. Carl Jung: Sus contribuciones a la psicoterapia, parte F. Spanish Language Podcast.

En este episodio se describen los siguientes puntos de la psicología junguiana:
La relación entre el terapeuta y el paciente.
La importancia relativa no absoluta de la transferencia.
Imaginación activa: la relación directa y creativa con figuras del inconsciente.
Terminología esotérica junguiana y tradiciones de sabiduría: Opus, Telos, Nigredo, Hierosgamos, Coniunctio oppositorum, Enantiodrama, Entelechy.
Una interpretación psicológica de amplio espectro de la mitología.
La importancia de la sincronicidad.
Arquetipos, ritos de paso, rituales, técnicas ancestrales.

S2 Ep49. The Financial Crisis part A. The Crisis of our Times. Part 22.

Firstly. some key terminology is explained, such as Financialization, Quantitative Easing, Moral Hazard, Price discovery, Gosbankification, Zombies, Gales of Creative Destruction, The Danger of Debt.

Secondly, a coherent narrative is given that is comprehensible to non-specialists concerning the recent history and likely future development of this financial crisis. It will also be of interest to those who have had a training in economics and finance since much of this does not prepare for this financial crisis at all.

Finally, this episode explores the emerging role of Central Bank Digital Currencies which will be key to reshaping the world financial order in the immediate future.

S3 Ep10. Carl Jung: Sus contribuciones a la psicoterapia, parte E. Spanish Language Podcast.

En este episodio continuamos explorando la contribución de Jung a la psicoterapia. Esto incluye: la crisis de la mediana edad; su clasificación de tipos psicológicos; dos metodologías, la analítica y la sintética; el tratamiento constructivo del inconsciente, el rol central de sentido y propósito; como contactar e elaborar los contenidos inconscientes; la activación de la función trascendente; la interacción entre el ego y el Self; el inconsciente no como un almacén de material reprimido sino un sistema interno que guía y transmite mensajes por medio de símbolos.

S2 Ep48. The long pause. The Crisis of our Times. Part 21.

The Economic Crisis, the next horseman of the apocalypse,  is updated and explained. We are currently in a  pause as the underlying malaise is disguised by money creations and bail outs. But this only postpones and augments the crisis to come.

# The post 2007/8 Global Financial Crash led to a new stage of capitalism in which massive government intervention in the financial system became the new paradigm

# This was accomplished through cheap and abundant money, propping up of the financial system at all costs

# Moral hazard has increased enormously

# Zombified companies have saturated the economy

# Stock markets have become disconnected fro the real economy

# Inflation in asset and housing prices have been typical of many counties.

# Increasing inequality

# Paralysed or declining productivity growth rates

# Astronomical and un-payable national debts which are ruinous for the future

# Price discovery, the essence of the free market system has been substantially eroded

 

Useful links for this episode:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?end=2019&start=1973

https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/publication/global-productivity

 

S2 Ep47. Decline of Civilization and the Pandemic. The Crisis of our Times. Part 20.

The pause button has been pressed on the economic and financial crisis with the rocketing debts of many nations which by trading current stabilty against future danger will lead to a mighty financial collapse. Civilization decline in the West is explored in the Romantic poetry of the 19th century. The causes of the current pandemic are presented as the consequences of a  fundamental disconnection and unprecedented attack upon nature.

S3 Ep9. Carl Jung: Sus contribuciones a la psicoterapia, parte D. Spanish Language Podcast.

Este episodio explora aún más la contribución de Jung a la psicoterapia. Esto incluye la Función Trascendente, el enfoque sintético que tipifica la terapia junguiana, y la interpretación junguiana de los sueños. Este episodio termina con un ejemplo de cómo trabajar con el reino arquetípico de una manera junguiana.

S2 Ep46. Overview of Series. The Crisis of our Times. Part 19.

An overview of The Crisis of our Times  series is provided; the ingredients of civilizational collapse are presented; future podcasts are indicated; the complexities of multidimesional crises are mentioned; a parable is given but the answer is not provided.

S3 Ep8. Carl Jung: El viaje interior de Jung: la Lucha por el Self. Parte C. Spanish Language Podcast

El concepto de Jung del Self no solo fue una de las grandes contribuciones a la Psicología Profunda, sino que surgió de su propio retiro y desintegración durante la Primera Guerra Mundial y su notable viaje para encontrar su propia mitología. Este episodio contará la historia de este descenso y renacimiento.

S2 Ep45. Spiritual Transformation, Taoist Philosophy and a Poem

In today’s episode I have decided to do something rather different. I have chosen a mythic individual at the start of Chinese history, the Yellow Emperor, and have constructed a poem using the story of  his retreat to the Mountains of the West in search of enlightenment at the feet of the sage Guangchengzi. This is one of the earliest stories we have of the search for spiritual illumination and its impact not just on an individual but on the collective which was in deep discord. I believe such a story, myth, or archetype is right for our time.

The literary sources for Taoist philosophy are taken from The Secret of the Golden Flower, a book of great importance to Jung. There are also references in the poem to the I Ching, the Book of Changes.

S2 Ep44. Part 18. Consciousness, Capitalism, and Death Potential. The Crisis of our Times.

This episode explores Death Potential which is not a psychological trait but a mythological and metaphysical category. Moreover, it is archetypal and universal and therefore is not unique to capitalism but exists within our consciousness across its whole history. The immense technological powers of capitalism constellate this Death Potential in the most intense form yet experienced by our species. This distinguishes it from Freud’s notion of the death instinct. I do not believe such an instinct exists in the human psyche but I do believe that mankind has a tremendous fear of death which is repressed, becomes intolerable and is then projected outwards. I also believe that the whole perinatal period, (that is the period around birth: in the womb, actual birth, and immediate post-birth) can be an intimate, dramatic, sometimes traumatic, encounter with the forces of death that can deeply shape human character. In other words our entrance into consciousness is through the gates of potential death. This is projected onto nature,other human beings, and the world. This is our greatest danger.

S3 Ep7. Carl Jung: Sus contribuciones a la psicoterapia, parte B. Spanish Language Podcast

En el último podcast esbocé una visión clásica de Jung del proceso de individuación. Cubrí la Persona y la Sombra. En este episodio describo las siguientes dos etapas: el encuentro con el Anima o Animus, y también con los arquetipos.

 

S2 Ep43. The Crisis of our Times. Part 17. Consciousness, Capitalism and Modernity. Part B

An extensive list is explored  of the changes in consciousness brought about by the development of capitalism. This includes:

The removal from nature. A material view of the world.  The increasingly rational and economic viewpoint. The abandonment of the religious outlook.  More individualism, less individuation.  An economic view of societal relationships.  A legalistic view of relationships.  Rational and bureaucratic systems of control.  Specialisation but fragmentation of knowledge.  Dominance of money relationships.  Greater education.  Wealth creation and enjoyment.  A vast increase in consumerism.  The impact of property ownership.  Technological reliance.  Greater freedom.  A change in the nature of the repressive apparatus within the collective psyche. Increasing dominance of the conscious over the unconscious.  Disenchantment and loss of soul. Nature is viewed as a completely exploitable resource.  The movement to a de-gendered human being. Informational capitalism – in which the consciousness of humanity is becoming fused with digital and virtual realities. The rise of artificial intelligence and the alteration of human nature.

S2 Ep42. The Crisis of our Times. Part 16. Consciousness, Capitalism and Modernity. Part A

The changes in consciousness engendered by capitalism are outlined. But there is also a light of new vision in the modern age that seems as nothing as compared with the vast forces of global economic development, finance, industrialization, and information technology. These forces that have produced the contemporary alienated, rationalised, increasingly digitalised human being are currently reshaping humanity so that it is even further removed from nature  and seem overwhelming. Yet history shows us that vast changes in consciousness begin like a small light, a vision glimpsed by few, but increasingly felt by many.

There is an emerging vision in the modern age which amazingly has been nurtured out of science itself, that sees the universe as alive and pregnant with meaning and consciousness, that sees nature as holy, that sees the human being as part of a spiritual development out of matter towards higher consciousness, that opposes the forces that are destroying us. Only by such visionary consciousness will we emerge from the precarious ledge we are balanced upon and move upwards to the next stage of our evolution.

S2 Ep41. The Crisis of our Times. Part 15. The Creative Destructive Nature of Capitalism

The productive forces of the capitalism are immense and without precedent. The continually reshape the relationship between world powers, countries, regions, cities, classes, and individuals.  It also has inherent, inbuilt  tendencies towards crises and even collapse. As well as its transformative power these weaknesess are enumerated briefly in this episode. Yet for all its creativity this power is also demonic and life-destroying.

From Eden cast in fallen state,

To world of death condemned,

Both Eve and Adam tears did shed,

This paradise must end.

Banished into endless toil,

Out of primal grace,

The shadow within consciousness,

Then gripped the human race.

Economic systems rise,

But never calm our fear.

Towards the gates of death we go,

If you have ears, then hear

 

S3 Ep6. Carl Jung: Sus contribuciones a la psicoterapia, parte A. Spanish Language Podcast:

En este podcast comenzamos a explorar las contribuciones de Jung a la psicoterapia. Examinaremos su visión de la estructura de la psique, su función intencional, sus mecanismos compensatorios y de autoequilibrio, el concepto de complejo, el proceso de individuación a partir de la persona y la sombra. En los siguientes podcasts continuaremos con la exploración de su trabajo.

La psicología junguiana continúa creciendo durante el siglo XXI, ya que no solo ofrece un rico conjunto de herramientas para examinar la psique, sino también la conciencia y los métodos para promover su desarrollo e individuación. El pensamiento junguiano instrumenta el acceso a la psique profunda, entra en el tejido vivo de nuestro tiempo, aborda su sentido de alienación y desesperación, y proporciona significado y el camino de transformación no solo a los individuos sino al colectivo.

S2 Ep40. The Crisis of our Times. Part 14. The European Union: Between a Rock and a Hard Place. Part C

The EU engaged in a exaggerated expansion of its membership. It now creates vast debts in an attempt to bail out States, banks, and even economies. It seems a titanic enterprise. Umm, titanic? The very word strikes an ominous chord in trauma memory. Back in 1912 it was asked how the Titanic, the largest passenger ship of its day, could be sunk by an iceberg. Monetary policy, with its exploding debts and money creations, could well be the iceberg that sinks the European Union.

The general problems of the EU, both external and internal are covered.   The monetary policies of the ECB since the 2008 crash are presented as a series of errors; These policies are desperate attempts to cover up the depths of the crisis and have led the Eurozone on the path of ruin. Only by understanding these polices as defensive and desperate manoeuvres of dubious legality, will one see the seriousness of the situation the EU is facing. And finally the latest stages of capitalism with respect to the balance between free markets and the State are examined.

 

S2 Ep39. The Crisis of our Times. Part 13. The European Union: Between a Rock and a Hard Place. Part B

The core problem of the European Union lies in its economic arrangements that, should they not be modified, will probably break apart the union as we currently know it.

As well as the deep differences between EU member states there is a lack of economic flexibility that arises from adopting a common currency. The rigid maintenance of the Euro with the absence of flexible exchange rates plus the escalating debts of the union will undermine its coherence, lead to the downfall of the Euro, and provoke a severe banking crisis which will go global and endanger the Union.

Division in the EU has sharpened. Thus, the EU leaders are caught between a rock and hard place. On the one hand, as countries enter into economic crises, there is threat of the breakup of the union and the destruction of the European dream, the great project. A banking crisis would be sure to follow as debts are reneged upon and the lending banks collapse triggering a global financial crisis. On the other hand, the opposite: the road of federalisation, the defence of the Euro, and the placating of weaker member states. The issuing of a common European debt is a milestone on this path.

S3 Ep5. Carl Jung: Recuerdos, Sueños, Pensamientos. Su Torre y Viajes. Spanish Language Podcast

Concentramos en los capítulos 8 y 9 de Recuerdos, Sueños, Pensamientos que cuentan primero, la historia de la construcción de su Torre. El escribe:

Nos precipitamos impetuosamente hacia la novedad, impulsados por una creciente sensación de insuficiencia, insatisfacción e inquietud. Ya no vivimos de lo que tenemos, sino de promesas, ya no a la luz del día presente, sino en la oscuridad del futuro, que, esperamos, finalmente traerá el adecuado amanecer. Nos negamos a reconocer que todo lo mejor se compra al precio de algo peor; que, por ejemplo, la esperanza de una mayor libertad se ve cancelada por una mayor esclavitud al Estado, por no hablar de los terribles peligros a los que nos exponen los descubrimientos más brillantes de la ciencia."

Y luego,  la historia de sus viajes donde él, por un lado, va buscando un significado fuera de sus propias raíces europeas y, por otro, se encuentra fascinado, pero también atemorizado de ser totalmente absorbido por la cultura indígena. Jung buscó en sí mismo el otro lado de la mente europea y osciló entre una severa crítica del punto de vista europeo y la necesidad de mantenerse en estas raíces porque estaba en peligro de ser engullido, tragado por otras culturas. Su inmersión en ellas tuvo sobre él una tremenda atracción magnética y en consecuencia tuvo que resistirla para mantener su sentido de identidad. Fue capaz de experimentar las dimensiones espirituales de culturas completamente distintas e incorporarlas a la Psicología Analítica, además de ofrecerlas a Occidente para su contemplación.

S2 Ep38. The Crisis of our Times. Part 12. The European Union: Between a Rock and Hard Place. Part A

The conflicts and contradictions of the European Union are explained, in particular the manner in which its monetary policy breaks the treaties of the Union. Populists and nationalist reactions in the "north" are explained in this context. The episode ends with a poem by W.B.Yeats The Second Coming:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Part B will follow in the next episode which examines the centripetal and centrifugal  forces acting on the  EU government and the member states. It will examine the idea that contrary to the centralising tendency of the EU government it might be that the abandoning of the Euro (and therefore the currency union) is the only way of saving the European Union.

References:

1.The Bitcoin Standard (2018) by Saifdean Ammous. especially chapters 4-7;

2. The blog of Tuomas Malinen on the www.gnseconomics.com website; also youtube videos;

3. Fredrick Hayek’s classic 1944 book: The Road to Serfdom.