Of late I have been very troubled and, I must admit, even pessimistic over the growing violence in our world. The war against terrorism seems only to polarize groups and incite more terrorism. How did we get to this point and how do we improve the situation? Does anyone have the answer, I wonder.
Our world might be viewed as a macrocosm, which is mirrored in individual psyches. That thought reminds me of a book by my friend, Jungian analyst Louise Craig, called Descent to Wholeness: Joli's Story. The book presents a case study of the archetypal healing of a patient with multiple personality disorder, or in today's preferred terminology, dissociative identity disorder.
The patient, Joli, becomes aware in the course of her analysis, of a number of personalities, some of whom disturb the host personality greatly. Different selves have different wants and needs. Many feel they have been forced to live in dark places for years and only occasionally can slip out to do what they want - actions that often horrify the host self.
As awareness grows, parts are jealous of and dislike each other, and at times some even try to inflict harm upon another, which, since they all reside in the same body, looks from the outside like self-mutilation and a suicidal ideation. There is within Joli a deep brokenness that mirrors, in ways, the brokenness of our world. Through the course of therapy the analyst practiced what is called by another analyst and writer "the love cure." (Haule) The process involved getting to know, accepting and mirroring in a positive way each part of Joli while negotiating with them an end to the harmful behaviors. In the end Joli learned first to tolerate, then to embrace and love all her parts. One by one or in small groups they became integrated. The different interests, talents and personality traits became aspects of the whole.
In the conclusion of her book, Dr. Craig brings her work with one individual into focus as a mirror of our world. She says, "I am one among many who are doing inner work for personal redemption as well as to improve the state of the world by increasing consciousness." She goes on to say, "We have important lessons to learn from them [patients with multiple personality disorder]. We have come this far in our development as a species without realizing our basic unity." (Craig 99) Recalling the words of Jung in Memories, Dreams, Reflections, she goes on to express her hope that a growing consciousness will lead us as diverse people of the earth to find some unity.
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