ABSTRACT
Ministering to the social and political ills of our time will necessarily include psychological interpretation and interventions. While the individual has been the primary subject matter of psychology, there is evidence that this is a result of restraining historical factors and current use, not an intrinsic limitation of psychology’s effective use. By focusing on the contribution of Carl Jung, highlighting some of his central ideas, and following his connection to the epistemological tradition of American pragmatism, it is possible to set aside his obscure language and identify its ‘function’ in a theory of the species’ capacity for psychocultural development, which both Jung and pragmatism helped identify. Based on this theory, we are now in a position to establish practices that make conscious and accelerate this development as the primary means of broadly ‘treating’ human suffering. This is the foundation for the work of a new generation of psychocultural practitioners.
