THE SPIRIT OF THE FUTURE: Reclaiming the Value and Meaning of the Individual in Times of Collective Upheaval

This presentation will explore Jung’s notion that “If the whole is to change, the individual must change himself.” The cultural, societal, and national crises that are taking place across the world, and especially here in the United States, challenge us to critically think about and question Jung’s premise. Is individual change enough? Is personal analysis and a commitment to one’s individuation process really enough? While some may view individual work with oneself and one’s unconscious as nothing but ‘bourgeois individualism,’ I will argue that this is far from the case…that the work of the individual—to sufficiently reckon with his or her unconscious so as to produce an individual sense of morality and responsibility, one that takes into consideration one’s opposite, one’s inner enemy, and one’s own evil­—is not just for one’s self, but for the good of the collective, and for what Jung referred to as the “spirit of the future.”