Yet another main 20th-century author who can help us in our journey of deeper understanding of our current plight is C.G.Jung.
We can approach Jung’s musings about evil through his notion of archetypes. He observed that such unconscious conglomerates of images and ideas which activate behaviors can not only lead or direct an individual personality, but in the same way can dominate a society over a period of time.
At the rising of Nazism in Germany, Jung spoke about the archetype of Wotan, the ancient god of the Germanic tribes, indicating that his qualities of rage and frenzy, as well as a sort of anti-intellectual return of magic thinking, were taking hold of the German people. He also spoke of shadow side of the Christ archetype, i.e. the Antichrist archetype, which in his view has expressed itself several times in the last 1000 years, and continues to show up in these last days of the Piscean Age, until the dawn of the Age of Aquarius.
For somebody like myself, who is passionate about Jung’s theory of personality types, as well as his studies on religious symbols and his development of psychotherapy, the certainty with which he spoke of the coming of the Aquarian age is a bit strange. It must be noticed, however, that he was not simply predicting a golden era of universal peace. On the contrary, he saw the approaching of the Age of Aquarius (sometimes between the year 2000 and the year 2200) as a time in which it will no longer be possible to write off evil as the mere privation of good; its real existence will have to be recognized.
In his book on Trump and the MAGA movement, Matthew Fox finds himself very much aligned with Jung’s understanding, both when he asks his readers to be aware of evil and cruel behaviors, which should not be overlooked, minimized, or explained away, and when he describes the opposite qualities of the Christ and the Antichrist archetypes. He also welcomes Jungian scholar Sue Mehrtens’ suggestion to stay grounded, rooted, practical, and resist ‘spacing out’.
For all his apparent relativism — he believed in fact that evil is first of all a judgment of consciousness which develops in infancy when the child starts judging the mother good or bad — Jung also affirmed the importance of making the shadow conscious, in order to prevent the dark sides of the unconscious archetypes take over the personality of the individual, or the soul of an entire society.
In our era, of course, the collective shadow is manifesting itself in the cruelty and the lies of the MAGA movement. I just saw today that people are posing gleefully in front of the signs indicating “Alligator Alcatraz” — which is the nickname of the inhuman detention center in Florida!
The shadow, i.e. the Antichrist, is not hidden anymore, it is out there and everybody can see it. The fact that it is visible, but it is not seen for what it really is, being mistaken instead for some expression of justice, can only be understood as a clear indication that the U.S. society is seized at present by the unconscious perverted power of the Antichrist archetype, just like Nazi Germany was seized by the Wotan archetype. We would not call Fascism or Hitlerism ideas — Jung wrote —for they are archetypes, and so we would say: Give an archetype to the people and the whole crowd moves like one man, there is no resisting it.
But Jung did suggest resistance, mainly through the painstaking personal work of uncovering one’s own shadow — which only can give to any critic of society the ethical stance necessary to perform their public function — but also by speaking up about how shadow archetypes may be damaging society’s clarity of consciousness.
As spiritual people, we cannot afford to unsee what we have seen, and what we see every day, as bewildering as it may be.
Jung, Aion (1959), in Collected Works vol. 9, part II, pp. 141-2.
Jung, Collected Works vol. 18, p. 372.
See Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, p. 87, 90.
See also Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.
And Fox, Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Banner Image: Half-submerged stones wrapped in chicken wire — an abandoned flood prevention effort — echo the ridged hide of an alligator and hint at the many dangers facing the victims of Alligator Alcatraz. Photo by Ilya Semenov on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
What parts of Jung’s musings about evil can be hepful to you in your efforts of resistance?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society
Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them.
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science. A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Selected with an Introduction by Charles Burack
To encapsulate the life and work of Matthew Fox would be a daunting task for any save his colleague Dr. Charles Burack, who had the full cooperation of his subject. Fox has devoted 50 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship. His more than 40 books, translated into 78 languages, are inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and have awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. Essential Writings begins by exploring the influences on Fox’s life and spirituality, then presents selections from all Fox’s major works in 10 sections.
“The critical insights, the creative connections, the centrality of Matthew Fox’s writings and teaching are second to none for the radical renewal of Christianity.” ~~ Richard Rohr, OFM.
4 thoughts on “Alligator Alcatraz and Jung on Evil”
It does not matter what Jung says, Heschel says, Girard says, Fox says, if we are only going to write our ‘fierce and fiery’ comments on them day in a day out. More than what they think, what do we think and then what are we willing to do? This is just not a responsibility of ‘the other, whoever ‘the other is’, especially when every vote counts.
All of the most rationale and logical arguments ever devised have not quelled the topsy-turvy, upside down and deceitful world that Donald Trump has been leading since 2014. Where are the leaders that are willing to go ‘toe to toe’ and challenge ‘the beast’? Where are the leaders who will ‘win over’ a new groundswell of support and change the landscape and future direction of nations. Maybe we should spend our time ‘beating the bushes’ looking for these leaders who will rise up to the challenges of the day.
What we don’t need is more ‘talking heads’ i.e. a more CNN type panels that just tell us what we like to hear endlessly, and more of the same politicians that in turn just tell us what we like to hear. Even well-intentioned, elected federal officials get disillusioned when they find out representing their constituents falls behind fundraising and ‘toeing the party line’. Those of ‘weak spine’ and not willing to turn over ‘the apple carts’, we don’t want. But we must do and act, and force all of these issues forward and hold our leaders’ feet to the fire or replace them. – BB.
“It does not matter what Jung says, Heschel says, Girard says, Fox says, if… ”
I could not agree more with that “if”. Change will take place, if it does, through courage and concrete action based on a clear understanding of the human shadow. So far, demonstrations of courage and concrete action have been few and far between, especially among political leaders, which suggests that a repeat is brewing of the 1930’s tacit collusion between fascism and a silent majority of passive bystanders. What happened to moral outrage ? I think it is muted by a wide spectrum of addictions, the most common of which is consumerism. Perilous times indeed.
I am also a student and fan of the influential depth psychologist, Carl Jung, so was very pleased to read in today’s DM, that he has also been a strong influence in your psychosocial development and spiritual understandings. I studied at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland for one year (1971) as an auditor before becoming a therapist/clinical social worker until retiring in 2015. My retirement ministry is spiritual guidance and my love and studies of the mystics continues with the tradition of Creation Spirituality which you have gratefully revived with your many ongoing books, studies, and webinars, including the recent one on “The Path of Christ Consciousness.”
Sorry for getting carried away by sharing my background and enthusiasm for Carl Jung since he was a strong influence and inspiration in my past career and continued spiritual journey. However, I am partly answering your question in the sense that I also feel that we all have to be honest and consciously aware with Faith of our personal and societal shadows with others in community on Our spiritual journeys in interconnection/interdependence with Sacred Mother Earth and All physical/nonphysical spiritual dimensions and beings of Our ongoing evolving Co-Creation/Cosmos and Angelic celestial realms… COMPASSIONATE COSMIC CHRIST (BUDDHA) CONSCIOUSNESS….
Just to let you know to watch the movie “Freud’s Last Session” with Anthony Hopkins playing Freud, and Matthew Goode plays C.S. Lewis. Grappling with the questions of faith in God and the presence of evil, good and evil; these two people with such different views and experience, and so much influence in our era! It is poignant, especially that it is at the end of Freud’s life, when he had just moved to England to escape the Nazi peril in Vienna. I wish they had made C.S. Lewis’ witness more compelling, but it would not have been easy to disagree with Freud in his embattled last illness and pain. Although you are speaking here about Jung, and the archetype of evil, which is so much on my mind now; I find it painful that so many people in our time are unable to trust in God, or find comfort in faith.