ABSTRACT
Since the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the binary world view of conflicting superpowers that it symbolized, an endless parade of ethnic, racial, religious, gender, national and regional factions have emerged on the world stage with their long simmering feuds bubbling over. Everywhere, disadvantaged and/ or disenfranchised groups – whether representing a minority or a majority – have been crying out for justice, healing or vengeance – or all three simultaneously. It seems as if peoples from every continent have been caught in an endless round of conflicts that run the gamut from familial and tribal skirmishes to international hatreds. As these group conflicts flood relationships with highly charged emotions at every level of human exchange – from local to global – we seek explanations, understanding and remedies. More often than not, such seeking leaves us feeling powerless in the face of the intractable nature of these feuds. Political theories, economic theories, sociological theories, religious theories and psychological theories – all provide a partial glimpse of the truth as to what underlies and fuels these conflicts. This book offers a new perspective on the psychological nature of conflicts between groups and cultures. This new perspective is based on an old theory – Jung’s theory of complexes which he developed at the beginning of the twentieth century. Our modern version and new application of Jung’s old idea make no special claim to having the answer to what causes – or might heal – group and cultural conflict, but they offer a point of view that may be useful to some as they ponder the forces that invariably seem to thwart most human attempts to bring a peaceful, collaborative spirit to the unending strife between groups of people. In our ripe time or kairos, when understanding both the uniqueness and commonality of cultures from around the world has become essential for the well-being of the global community itself, shedding more light on what tears us apart is an essential first step. Much of what tears us apart can be understood as the manifestation of autonomous processes in the collective and individual psyche that organize themselves as cultural complexes.
