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For some time I have been interested in the books by the Jungian Psychaitrist Jean Shinoda Bolin M.D. who has written books on archetypes in people like the characters of the Greek Gods in both women and men, an analysis of archetypes in the Neibelungs Lied as told by Richard Wagner, and one of her early books The Tao of Psychology, Synchronicity and the Self.
In this short tract Bolin argues that synchronicity, coincidences that occur which take on great symbolic meaning for people, are evidance of a collective unconscious and a avenue to growth of the self. In one chapter she discusses synchronistic meetings which are prefigured by symbols from dream and premenition.
This is certiantly interesting as many of us can cite such connections in our lives. As with other forms of psychic awarenesses, such as revealed by fortune telling of all sorts, a certain openness of mind, a receptivity to the results in required.Although I am not prepared to deny any of Jung's theories or of a psychic dimension to the universe justified by quantum mechanics or not. It has occured to me that all we know has to do with the observer interacting with himself as well as any external correspondance of fact. So, our minds are active filters which the aware among us know we can modify ourselves.
TopThe hard-headed, masculine, rationalist, skeptical, view is that we are aware of our reason and or ideas and that we know reality through them. Reality is out there; exists indepandantly of us, and we must live by it having little choice about accepting it or not. This may be a convenient point of control of the powers that be over the individual unless you discover that what is considered "real" by most people is a consensus reinforced by certain exercise of influience by the powerful over the masses.
The realization is not as abserd that one can will the law of gravity doesn't apply to him, or even that wishing so is important, for science consists of a compelling correspondance of fact and explaination for fact. It is that so much else that we fatalistically accept is mutable by our choice of attitude. This is more the case the more psychological and subjective the issue becomes. Are we in control of ourselves? Do we ask for what we get? etc. etc.
And so the questions Bolin raises about parasychology and practices like I'Ching or Astrology, are not so much about whether these pursuits offer correct explainations, but whether they can help us identify those symbols and blind spots in ourselves that help or hinder us from being whole.
Finally, these encounters are significant bcause they bring out an archetype as if an actor is to take the stage of our life and play out his script. This is nearly always very emotionally charged and we are bewildered by that intensity. We grow by understanding this and not playing out the script when it represents a trap, and integrating the aspect of the character into self when we get control of it. This restores balance when there may have been inblanace up to then. We become aware and enlightened and act more responsibly eventually.
TopComedy always has a tragic edge, so repeats of the series "Sex and the City" reminds me of some things I have read about the development of the idea of romantic love and the connection of love to addiction in modern culture, how technology has the unintended effect of leaving many people isolated and socially inexperienced.
Throughout much of Human history people were born, grew up, married and raised a family, and died in the same village or location, with the same extended community from cradle to grave. Despite all of the true stories about festering bigotry and feuding, people in such communities got along surprisingly well for most of our history, arranged marriages and all.
TopTechnology, mobility, large scale organization, has possibly unintended consequences for the human condition which has a bearing on mating behavior. People were able to leave the confining and supportive community of villages strike off for the individuation and "freedom" of city life, and at the same time get connected for romantic reasons, without the gossiping aunts or matchmakers.
Modern people trade an identity defined by Surname, religion, or birthplace, by one based on career choice and preferences defined in a consumer economy. The price they pay for this transformation is two-fold: they can easily become isolated, and they can come to view getting connected as a consumer activity, so personals ads become like the want ads or a job resume. Because in such a mass culture any friendship can be ephemeral, it can also be shallow.
This is connected with addictive behavior as people get desperate for connection and display dependence on connection. A behavioral approach to addiction requires a community and an answer to ego inflation. Addiction to consumerism is common. People get fixated on activities that made them feel momentarily whole. They approach dating as if it is a consumer activity and remove it from a context of balance and optimism.
TopAnother consequence of the mobility is that people can run from anything challenging, something that might be unpleasant but from which they can grow. Think of how it was, you lived with the same people all your life, if someone gave you trouble you could fight, especially with the help of others in your community, but usually you had to learn to negotiate which requires some social skills. Not getting social skills if you are isolated in a mass urban culture leaves little alternative but to run from any discomfort, especially if your orientation is as a consumer who wants or expects instant gratification or no discomfort in your life. That is why people are unhappy and alone in modern urban society.
Our history suggests that we need to build community and to see how the mobile and corporate lifestyle we think of as containing greater opportunity, greater "freedom", comes at a high price. This is especially true if we never give each other social skills to solve problems with other people. In this way technology has directly affected people's love lives.
TopGeorge W. Bush spoke in prime time last week from Jackson Square in New Orleans saying that he would put the federal government in the lead to rebuild New Orleans and the surrounding storm-ravaged area. Estimates of a cost as much as $200 Billion to rebuild the area have been made. Almost as soon as he made the promise, without raising taxes, mind you, many people, even from his own party, began asking how he is going to raise the money. A couple of Republicans have already identified "pork" in the recently passed Transportation Act and prescription drug coverage for the elderly as targets to raise about $120 Billion. Targeting the latter again represents the Bush Administration and the Republican Party setting bad priorities for this Nation. The two congressmen who made these suggestions just underscore the mismanagement and lack of leadership that exaggerated the disaster in the South and now want to pass it on the a segment of the population least able to cope. Bush could raise taxes, and they could raise them on the wealthy and corporations without impacting the poor and elderly. Bush could scale back the military effort in Iraq which is probably illegal and a battle we are not going to win.
TopIt is Minorities, the poor, and the elderly who have suffered by far dispassionately by Katrina's wrath, and now the policies of the Bush Administration are going to continue their loss. At first I thought that Bush was making a hollow claim, that would make him appear to be concerned but would not be backed up with results. It was cleverly constructed to make him appear to be taking charge and to express empathy, but in fact is contains an exit plan if the fiscal parameters don't add up. He can appear to be the good guy in this strategy if Congress fails to pony up. But now it appears that his misguided fiscal policy remains in tact. He just steals from other programs some of which produce a double whammy on the people most affected. So, rather than just being a liar and betrayer he doubles the tort and adds injury to insult.
TopThe disasters could compound. New Orleans is very vulnerable, even a tropical storm could re-flood the city as the politicians exhort people to return. A Fuel Oil shortage and a natural gas price spike this winter could spread the damage even further afield, and this could spell even more damage to Bush and his policies.
The FEMA mess-up, which continues, may do more to underscore the failings of this Administration more than everything. It is connected in style with the corrupt (Chaney) and incompetent (Rumsfeld) cronyism that is characteristic of this government. Mike Brown was a political appointee who was obviously in over his head and even if the delays are not really his fault, the incident still points at bungling in the government. It is ironic how a Republican Administration whose political party for so many years championed local control over federal intervention has become so federal, and the people are telling the federal government to butt out. The corporate and fascistic overtones of this should be feared, but the sheer incompetence of the Bush Administration is doing more to remedy their failings than any other thing.
TopThe fiasco surrounding the response of emergency crews to the hurricane disaster on the Gulf Coast has prompted people locally to look at how prepared we are for the natural disasters that can occur here, especially for earthquakes. KRON-TV ran a couple of programs over the last weekend on seismic risk in the San Francisco Bay area. This is something I have personal knowledge as my degrees are in geology and I worked for a time with some of the people Brian Hackney interviewed, namely Ross Stein. I am out of touch for several years on the research, so the programs held my interest and seemed well researched and explained for the most part.
The net message is be ready, a significant quake could strike anywhere within the urban area and its effects could be much more severe than the 1989 Loma Priata quake. A quake of that size or greater will likely strike within the urban area on one of the major faults. We were relatively spared in 1989 because the epicenter was in the most unpopulated area possible. The effect could be about 50 times as much damage even though the Richter magnitude of the event might be comparable.
TopThe risk of large quakes close to the cities of the Bay Area is increasing. The information comes from a new branch of earth science, paleoseismology. Here, researchers dig a trench in a sag pond, a existing or former lake that forms in a depression within a fault zone, and look for disrupted layers with bits of organics that con be radio-carbon dated. The sequence of such beds and the dates that can be assigned extends the history on events on faults back for several centuries that can be double checked with any eyewitness accounts. The results are that the 20th Century was very quiet from 1906 to 1980 as compared to the previous four centuries. It is believed the the 1906 quake relaxed stress on all the faults in the Bay Area so that for about 75 years there was comparatively low seismisity.
The lull in moderate quakes in the Bay Area ( M = 5-7 ) is coming to an end. Loma Priata is only the beginning of a more "normal" regime of quakes of this size on the several faults within the Bay Area that occur once every few years. There is another approach where the forces that build up in the crust around the faults can be measured and modeled. It is this regional stress model that suggests that the faults in the Bay Area are emerging form the "Seismic Shadow" created by the 1906 quake. The fault of greatest worry is the Rogers Creek Fault near Santa Rosa which is a probable extension of the Hayward Fault. In the worst case an event near San Pablo Bay could trigger simultaneous events on both faults. The regional stress model shown in the program cited above and its citing of lack of creep on the Rogers Creek, makes it a prime candidate for rupture. But any fault could rupture without warning and it is possible that some unknown structure could cause a large event, ie. a blind trust as in Colinga in 1984. The Northridge quake of January 1992 in So. Cal. occurred on a known trust but had no warning signs.
TopToday is California's Admission to the Union. I guess I remember this because it was a school holiday when I was a kid. How far have we come. Actually we have regressed mightily. California has a corrupt system of government and is the bellwether of political leveraging in the nation through an initiative process that is out of control because it is the most blatant example of deteoriation of separation of powers and special interest manipulation of the legislative process. The latest variation is the ability of a confrontational governor to use a special election as a weapon against elected legislators with whom he refuses to negotiate. The big lie is that the special interests are left-wing labor interests when they really are Big Money Conservatives, corporate and business and also religious groups with money. The Governor and the backers of misleading propositions, like #78, can taint the whole process and confuse the public into thinking that their priorities are necessary and desirable when they are self serving.
TopThe fight between Props. 78 and 79 is classic. The latter allows the state to buy generic drugs and sell them to people who think they are getting ripped off by the drug companies and HMOs. The campaign against it and for the alternative Prop 78 claims that your right to buy meds. as prescribed by your doctor will be overturned by some bureaucrat. Since paid political advertising is required to have a list of its backers in the small print, when you look quick you see that the promoters of Prop 78 are HMOs and Drug Companies. The slick ad is clearly not objective.
TopThe Katrina Hurricane disaster, the poor response and co-ordination between government agencies is a National disgrace. It has another effect that is likely to be larger than government incompetence. It reveals that the Third World is in America. The visions of poor and elderly people suffering amid the filth and devastation in New Orleans is no different than that of any Third World slum, and it could have been prevented. When the government told people to leave, someone seems to have forgotten to say that there are all these people who don't have a car or can't drive and need help out. That would have been apparent two days before the flood happened.
And now it is coming out the head of FEMA has consistently lied about his qualifications, according to Time this week. Experience claimed in his official bio are not true. His competence was questioned early on. (050914) Since the above was written he, Mike Brown, was first recalled to Washington, and then resigned. Bush is forthcoming with acceptance of blame, but the real fault is that he has set bad priorities for the government and displayed weak leadership. Hopefully, this reflects badly on Republicans in 2006. I'd like to include many business leaders in that depreciation, as well.
TopThis is the beginning of a Journal page that uses a TOC and internal links. Some people don't like internal links, but the advantage is that changes can be made to this page without having to maintain a bunch of links to/from other pages.
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