“… our progressiveness, though it may result in a great many delightful wish-fulfillments, piles up an equally gigantic Promethean debt which has to be paid off from time to time in the form of hideous catastrophes.”
- G. Jung, (CW 9i, par. 276)
These past two years have felt apocalyptic in so many ways. The COVID pandemic initiated us into lockdowns, shutdowns and even put-downs from those denying COVID’s reality. Politically and socially, chaotic divisiveness continues to sunder our hearts and minds, while climate chaos makes itself known in the forms of unbearable heatwaves, flaming forests, and life-choking smoke. In Jung’s words we truly find ourselves immersed in a multitude of ‘hideous catastrophes.’ In times like these, hope is a word that falls faint from our tongues. How do we find any sense of wholeness in a world so dissociated? Is hope possible? The story of Prometheus provides a rich, complex narrative that has captured the imagination of poets and artists for millennia. Its origins go back to a time of difficult struggles within ancient Greece. Using this Greek myth, we delve into the archetypal themes of trickery, theft, fire and hope to better understand psychologically our current Promethean debt to the unconscious forces at play today. We also explore possible sources of wholeness emerging in collective consciousness from our chaos.