The Human Soul: Lost in Transition at the Dawn of a New Era - audio recording

with Dr. Erel Shalit

A Public Event on the Pacifica Institute Ladera Lane Campus, Barrett Center
Thursday, November 12th from 7:15 – 9:00 p.m.

An audio recording of the lecture is now available here, beginning with Joe Cambray's introduction.

The post-modern condition is characterized by a multitude of perspectives and narratives, challenging the view and the value of central, universal truths. The changes generated by this existential condition affect the individual as well as society, the experience of interiority as well as the perception of external reality. In cyberspace, the internal and the external sometimes converge, persona and shadow may merge, and the ego's sense of identity may become detached from its roots in the Self.

The lecture will present these developments, including the Transient Personality, who traverses time, space, narratives and a plenitude of faces at great ease, but does not stay in one place either in external reality, or within him- or herself.

Dr. Erel Shalit is a Jungian psychoanalyst in Tel Aviv. He is a past President of the Israel Society of Analytical Psychology, founding Director of the Jungian Analytical Psychotherapy Program at Bar Ilan University, and past Director of the Shamai Davidson Community Mental Health Clinic, at the Shalvata Psychiatric Centre in Israel.

He is the author of several books, among them The Cycle of Life: Themes and Tales of the Journey; Enemy, Cripple & Beggar: Shadows in the Hero’s Path; The Complex: Path of Transformation from Archetype to Ego; The Hero and His Shadow: Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality in Israel, and the novella Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return; and with Nancy Swift Furlotti, he has edited The Dream and its Amplification. Dr. Erel Shalit is also the editor of Jacob and Esau: On the Collective Symbolism of the Brother Motif, a previously unpublished book by Erich Neumann, and Turbulent Times, Creative Minds - Erich Neumann and C.G. Jung in Relationship, co-edited with Murray Stein, as well as the author of a forthcoming book on The Human Soul in Transition, at the Dawn of a New Era.

Last spring Dr. Shalit chaired the Jung-Neumann Conference, April 24-26, 2015 in kibbutz Shefayim, Israel.

The Night of Broken Glass, 75 years ago

77 years ago, on the night between November 9-10, 1938, pogroms took place during the so called Kristallnacht, in which more than 90 Jews were killed, 30,000 incarcerated in concentration camps, 1,000 synagogues were burned, thousands of Jewish business, schools, homes and buildings damaged and destroyed.

The following are excerpts from the novella Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return:

Eliezer Shimeoni recalled the words of Chaim Potok, who so poignantly gave voice to that collective concern, “To be a Jew in this century is to understand fully the possibility of the end of mankind, while at the same time believing with certain faith that we will survive.” Living in Israel was certainly living at life’s edge, at the edge of survival.

Bitter irony turned into sour cynicism, as Professor Shimeoni reflected on the word “certain.” He was convinced that an eloquent writer such as Potok had purposefully used the ambiguous word certain. “Is there a word more uncertain than certain?” he asked himself rhetorically. “Did Potok mean that we could be sure, could be certain in our faith that we will survive, or did he mean that we may have some, a bit, perhaps a certain bit of faith that we will survive?” 

Eliezer Shimeoni did indeed have a certain, a very certain faith that the Jews would survive.
.... 

Had not the ordinary German, covering the gamut from willing collaborator to frightened compliant, been infected by years of indoctrination and selective information? “When I myself look into the mirror,” he said to himself, “it is somewhat embarrassing to admit that, perhaps, I may have wished Chamberlain success in his mission of appeasement. I have always had a soft spot for Neville Chamberlain. He pronounced himself to be ‘a man of peace to the depths of my soul,’ and I believed him, and I like to see myself as a man of peace to the depth of my soul.” ...

"Peace in our time"

And Professor Shimeoni, for one, would have made his way to Heston Airport and applauded him upon his return, because he is a man of hope and peace.

Thus, he told himself, “I cannot blame the passively collaborating German, and can only admire and feel a deep love for those who dared to see and those that dared to act.” Particularly he thought of Wickard von Bredow, as the example of exceptional heroism: As County Officer (Landrat), he received the order, November 9, 1938, to burn down the synagogue in the East Prussian town of Shirwindt, just like all the synagogues in Germany that were to be destroyed during the next few hours. Von Bredow put on his German Army uniform, said goodbye to his wife, and, ...

Eli Shimeoni wondered, “Would I have dared to trespass the prohibitions, would I have dared to buy from a Jewish store? I hope so, but the honesty that fears evoke, makes me wonder. If I would have been a 1938 German, may I not have looked the other way, avoiding the shame and the guilt gazing back at me in the store owner’s eyes of shattered glass.”

And he knew very well that pathology is always stronger and more powerful than sanity, just like hatred settles into scorched ground, while love forever remains aloft, like letters written in the clouds. Does not Father Death eventually swallow every one of Life’s Children? ...

@Howard Fox. http://howardfox.com

The Cycle of Life Book Giveaway

Enter for a chance to win a first edition paperback copy of THE CYCLE OF LIFE: THEMES AND TALES OF THE JOURNEY by Erel Shalit.

In the first half of life, the task of the young traveler is to depart from home, to step out into the world in search for his or her adventure, to find his or her own individual path. However, in the second half, we find ourselves on what often amounts to a very long journey in search of Home. In many a tale, the hero, for instance Gilgamesh, sets off on his road to find life's elixir, while other stories, such as the Odyssey, revolve around the hero's long and arduous journey home.

This archetypal journey of life is constantly repeated along the never-ending process of individuation. We find ourselves returning to this venture repeatedly, every night, as we set out on our nightly voyage into the landscape of our unconscious.

From the Bible to Shakespeare, to Carl Jung and to Erik Erikson, Erel Shalit's book, THE CYCLE OF LIFE poetically and informatively presents "the themes and tales of the journey". THE CYCLE OF LIFE received the Eric Hoffer Book Award Honors (in Culture), 2012.

Erel Shalit is a Jungian psychoanalyst in Ra’anana, Israel. He is the author of several publications, including Enemy, Cripple, Beggar: Shadows in the Hero’s Path, The Hero and His Shadow: Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality in Israel, The Complex: Path of Transformation from Archetype to Ego, and Requiem: A Tale of Exile and Return. With Nancy Furlotti, he co-edited The Dream and It’s Amplification, also a Fisher King Press publication. Dr. Shalit lectures at professional institutes, universities, and cultural forums in Israel, Europe, and the United States.

Click here to enter the book giveaway.

Netanyahu – a leader with no vision, and without a message

As so many times in the past, Israel is again burning. Terror, clashes and violence, mostly instigated and carried out by Palestinians, sweep over the country, not only in the West Bank and Gaza, but in Israel proper.

And now we have instances of terror carried out by Jews as well, and we can not claim moral immunity.

Yes, true, terror by Jews is condemned by the absolute majority of Israelis, while much of Palestinian teror is received by praise by both Palestinian leadership and society. Still, far from what is necessary has been done to reign in those extremist elements in Israeli society, particularly in the more fanatical of the settlements and among certain national-religious groups.

While Netanyahu occasionally has been pressured to freeze settlements and other concessions, it has never been his initiative. Unfortunately, the Palestinian leadership has also never responded favorably to those concessions – for equally bad reasons: a lack of will and capability.

In his recent talk to the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu spoke well and truthfully. Yet, without any vision. He did not bring any message. Declaring his desire to renew negotiations without preconditions is not enough. His counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, does not trust him, and is equally reluctant, since he cannot provide what is required – accepting a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel without any further claims on the Jewish state.

Yet, stalemate inevitably leads to the eruption of violence (even movement does not guarantee peaceful relations – the terror instigated by the Palestinians during the Oslo negotiations should not be forgotten or denied).

However, Mahmoud Abbas, while perhaps tired and often threatening to resign, does move his separate agenda, to gain international recognition. While his moves are mainly on the international arena, they ignite the fire on the ground, not the least by incitement (such as “The Jews have no right to defile Al-Aqsa with their filthy feet”).

Netanyahu, however, has to be dragged, sometimes into the right acts. His present reluctance to expand construction of settlements, and in fact enforcing a construction freeze, is helpful.

Even more helpful would be a comprehensive initiative. Considering the locked situation, the first issue on the agenda would be unilateral withdrawal from civilian occupation.

First, Israel would need to define a temporary border. In fact, the notorious security fence does this quite well; 9-13% of the West Bank remains west of the fence. That is, 87-90% of the West Bank remains outside the security fence, to establish a demilitarized Palestinian state with temporary, but near-complete borders.

© Shaul Arieli, http://www.shaularieli.com

Secondly, separate between civilian and military occupation:

a. Withdrawal from civilian occupation beyond the self-defined temporary border, and beyond the big settlement blocs; i.e., from close to 90% of the West Bank. Relocate the many small and scattered settlements - in which a minority of settlers reside, to inside the security fence, i.e., the self-defined, temporary but distinct border, preferably by offering compensation for voluntary relocation.

b. Retain military occupation for security needs, but step by step, increase the territory handed over to Palestinian civilian authority – and eventually, as well, security control. Practical and creative solutions to ensure security cooperation can be provided – some are already implemented. Each limited territorial step, as part of a long range plan, should be accompanied by steps of mutuality, agreed upon by both sides. If no agreement, no military withdrawal, until security control can be transferred. 

c. That is, unilateral civilian disengagement and withdrawal from occupied territories beyond thesecurity fence, but negotiated step-by-step military withdrawal, with increased Palestinian security responsibility in those areas added to its sovereign territory.

Thirdly, in the long run, in order to ensure viability, low-level confederative frameworks of cooperation, can be conducive, encompassing Gaza-Israel-West Bank/Palestinian Authority-Jordan.

The critical issue at this time is withdrawal from civilian occupation beyond the big settlement blocs (located along the cease-fire lines), while incremental withdrawal from military occupation can only take place when agreements are reached.

A NECESSARY COMPANION TO Ari Shavit's MY PROMISED LAND

By Elizabeth Clark-Stern

Psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote in The Red Book of the distinction between “The Spirit of the Times” and “The Spirit of the Depths.” We see this vividly demonstrated when we put Ari Shavit’s acclaimed new book My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel alongside Erel Shalit’s classic work, The Hero and His Shadow: Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality in Israel. The former takes us through the history of the heroic creation of Israel, including the darkest “shadow” behaviors of the Jewish state in the 1948 massacre of the Arabs of Lydda.

In the latter work, Erel Shalit tells us why.

This is no simplistic psychological analysis. The brilliance of this Israeli Jungian analyst is that he offers no easy solutions, plumbing the paradox of the necessary heroic identity of the Jewish state, and yet, around every corner is the shadow of every hero: the beggar, the frightened one, the part of all of us that is dependent on forces outside of our control.

It is also very important to note that Erel Shalit’s book is fascinating reading for anyone interested in the inner workings of the soul. On one level Israel is the backdrop for the author to explore how shadow, myth, and projection work in all of us, regardless of our life circumstance, nationality, environment, or history. It even includes a comprehensive glossary of Jungian terms that has some of the best definitions I have ever encountered, and hence a find for readers new to Jung.

And, of course, for people who are fascinated by the scope and depth of the story of Israel, this is a simply great read. It stands alone, but read as a companion to Ari Shavit’s My Promised Land, Erel Shalit’s Hero and His Shadow gives us The Spirit of the Depths in all its dimension. We may not be able to resolve the Arab/Israeli conflict, but we can learn many things from this brave, complex Israeli author, that we can apply to healing the inner and outer wars in our own lives.

The Jung Neumann Conference - A Contribution

The Jung-Neumann Conference

A Celebration of a Creative Relationship

Kibbutz Shefayim, April 24-26, 2015, Trailer FaceBook

When we started planning the Jung Neumann Conference, which took place now half a year ago, we could not know how well it would turn out.

The challenge began in 2012, when as representative of the Erich Neumann Heirs, I signed the agreement to publish the correspondence between Jung and Neumann, together with the Stiftung der Werke von C.G. Jung, and the Philemon Foundation.

After signing, Jung's grandson, Mr. Ulrich Hoerni suggested we launch the book, and hold a conference in Israel.

To fulfill this in the spirit of Jung's and Neumann's writings on the psyche in the world, on evil, ethics, and the shadow, we decided that if there were to be any profit from the conference, we would donate this.

As it turned out, we did make a small profit, and decided to contribute to two organizations:

The Way to Recovery, which brings Palestinian children and adults to treatment in Israeli hospitals. You can read about the organization and its founder, Yuval Roth, here, and on their website.

Amalia, of Road to Recovery

The other organization, Hosen (Resilience), is located in the small town of Sderot, which has suffered thousands of missile attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza. The organization works with post-trauma, from which many, perhaps most, in the town suffer. It is impressive how this town manages to keep life going, care for the appearance and infra-structure, as well as the psyche of its citizens.

Hilla Barzilai, director of Hosen/Resilience

While Erich Neumann did not work directly with children, after the Holocaust he was acutely aware of the need to treat children. He thus supervised child analysts in the treatment of children coming to Israel from the devastation in Europe.

While sadly there is a need for these organizations, we are pleased to have devoted a small sum of money, and much of our soul and heart, to the important causes that they serve.

The Deal with Iran is a Bad Deal – Approve it!

Harsh words have been used to criticize the agreement with Iran, according to which inspections are dubious, seemingly much in the hands of the untrustworthy Iranian regime itself. Iran makes it clear that it intends to remain the leading state sponsor of terror in the Middle East (and possibly elsewhere), and has recently increased its advanced military acquisitions from Russia and China.

At a time when sanctions had begun to have a serious impact on the Iranian regime, they were lifted by negotiating this agreement. Whether the United States and the other signatures of the agreement have been naïve, achieving “peace in our time” along the lines of Chamberlain’s agreement with Nazi Germany, or have defused the cloud of nuclear threat, remains to see.

Iranian leader tweets Obama with gun to his head - July 18, 2015 

Those in favor of a liberal and peaceful reaching out toward agreement with a non-liberal, deceitful, cruel and genocidal regime, are naturally in favor of ratifying this severely flawed agreement, and try to convince as that the deal isn't that bad.

And those forces who look at Iran as a severe threat to the world, whether because they are realistic, or because they are inclined to blame the other, want to reject the deal, and to convince us that it is all bad.

While there are both assets and shortcomings to the deal, some of the flaws, such as inspections, seem all too problematic, as does the beyond provocative genocidal intentions that in self-confident arrogance continue to be expressed by Iranian leaders, no less, and perhaps with greater force, after the deal has been agreed upon.

But at this stage to reject the deal is as naïve as its signing. The Iranian regime does not want a deal. They do not want to sign commitments, which, some of them, they will have to break, either deceitfully or, if necessary, openly defy. All they want is the lifting of sanctions, which they have already achieved, with the possibility to continue their nuclear threat, establishing them as the leading force in this area of the world. The United Nations has voted to suspend and lift sanctions, European companies have re-ignited business with Iran, and Russia and China are now openly selling advanced weapons technology and airplanes.

The Iranian parliament has postponed its vote till after the vote in the Congress. An American rejection will put the blame on the US, cause an internal American rift, while simultaneously unite moderates and extremists in the Iranian regime. Nothing will prevent them to increase their significant support of terror and military forces such as Hizballah, and freely develop military nuclear power. No restraints, no limitations, and no sanctions.

This bad deal has trapped the United States, the more moderate Sunni Arab regimes, and Israel. A rejection of the deal will only trap them even further, while Iran is relieved of sanctions, relieved of restrictions, and relieved of blame.

Thus, at this stage, the deal should be approved. However, I suggest the establishment of a Monitoring Committee, headed by the United States, with relatively moderate Sunni States, France and Germany, and Israel. While this committee would not in itself have the means to implement either sanctions or inspections, it can have a strong monitoring capability, a moral impact, and a strong public diplomacy standing. Parallell to the overt monitoring of the implementation (or non-implementation) of details in the agreement, such a monitoring committee would have access to the most advanced intelligence. While a considerably better deal would have been preferable, the deal does provide for a stronger diplomatic stance vis-à-vis Iran. Exposure of non-compliance will therefore have considerably greater impact than without a deal.

Where was the left when the settlers hijacked Zionism?

In an article in Haaretz Eva illouz asks, “Where was the left when the settlers hijacked Zionism?”

My reply would be as follows:

1. when in the beginning of the 1990s, Peres and Rabin moved toward peace, the left was tired after decades of struggle, and left the work to the reliable leadership of the two. It meant the leaders were left alone on the road to peace, and not actively backed by the public that so much desired exactly that. The streets were therefore left to the right, becoming increasingly anti-Rabin and anti-Peres, till the extent of the horrendous demonstration behind a symbolic coffin – in which Netanyahu participated. This was the reason for that impressive and in the end so tragic gathering, in which Rabin was assassinated.

Demonstration against Rabin - Netanyahu seen from behind

2. During those years of intensive efforts at peace making, buses were blown up by Palestinian terrorists all over the country. The left was paralyzed, and only made ridiculous statements that “when peace comes, buses won’t blow up anymore.” That is, the left was stuck in a cynical fantasy of the “Great peace.” The left should have condemned every act of terror, just like we all condemn the acts of terror by Jewish terrorists. Thus, the left, lost its connection with much of mainstream Israel.

3. Since 1977, Israel has mainly been ruled by the right. All center-left governments since then have been short-lived, but done amazing attempts at reaching out – Rabin, Peres, Barak and Olmert, and Sharon’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. The Palestinian response has not been encouraging in any of these cases, even when offered a Palestinian state on all occupied territory (or exchange of equal territory). Responses have been suicide attacks, blown-up buses, endless rockets, war of terror.

4. During all these years, particularly right-wing governments have encouraged increased settlement activity (though it should be kept in mind that Netanyahu – davka – accepted Obama’s request for a ten month settlement freeze to get the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. They didn’t arrive, but asked for prolongation. With increased spending on settlements, money to the ultra-Orthodox, and to defense, the center- and left wing young and middle class Israeli has had to work even harder, pay more taxes, pay more for housing (except in the settlements) – and has not had the strength to continue his or her political activism, while paradoxically paying for those who destroy Israeli democracy.

5. Under the present circumstances, I suggest as one of several steps to be taken, but something that is very concrete and should be implemented immediately (though in steps): Unilateral withdrawal from civilian occupation beyond the security fence. That does not require agreement or reliance on anyone besides Israel itself. It means relocating (the term used by – Michael Oren!) the 20% of the settlers that live in 80% of the settlements (since these are smaller, and scattered all over, and most disruptive to Palestinian statehood).

6. In which country do you find men and women, till their mid-forties, physicians and others, being called up for combat duty, seeing the sons of their friends killed, treating the wounded, and then demonstrating for peace – the peace that almost anyone who has had such experiences yearn for, like the majority of the Israeli population, who is willing to give up the hold on occupied territory to a Palestinian state, alongside Israel?

7. So where was the left? Hard-working, paying taxes, trying to make a living and affordable housing and carry the burden of a country that we love, for which we bleed in so many ways, but refuse to give up the Hope.

From Steve Zemmelman's review in Spring, Summer 2015:

The Hero and His Shadow: Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality in Israel puts Israel’s recent history on the analyst’s couch with a particular focus on the intertwining development of individual and collective identity in the Jewish state. … For me, it was a particular challenge and pleasure to read this book since, as an American Jew who is on a path of discovery about what it means in my life to be Jewish, there was a great deal here that I found new and challenging. …

The Hero and His Shadow offers an intelligent, sensitive, humanized perspective on the trajectory of events that led to the current tragic situation in the Middle East so specifically detailed in Ari Shavit’s recent book, My Promised Land. Unlike Shavit’s excellent history … Shalit’s analysis reflects a skillful blending of the inner psychological and archetypal dimensions of the problem without collapsing it into a homogeneous whole.
…

In one section where he discusses the yearning for a strong leader by Israelis and Palestinians who are gripped by terror and the tendency to see the world in terms of polarized opposites, Shalit comments, “peace…poses a threat to those who identify with the quest for grandiose wholeness and totality, in which there is no room for the other." I could not help thinking at the same time about the current situation in American politics where there is so much polarization and such limited capacity on the part of many to see self and other as part of the civic whole.