The article explores the psychological concept of complexes, originally articulated by Carl Jung, emphasizing their unconscious influence on individual behavior and group dynamics. Complexes represent a collection of emotions and ideas that can distort intentions, operating like a secondary personality. Modern threats to safety stem from psychological rather than physical dangers. Psychiatrist Thomas Singer expands on Jung's work by linking individual complexes to broader cultural ideologies and myths, suggesting that collective unconscious forces significantly shape societal trends and beliefs, ultimately impacting emotional stability and personal identities.
Once upon a time, survival required being able to read the sky for storms or recognize the proximity of a dangerous predator. Today, threats to our safety and security do not involve mammoth beasts but emerge from human actions or inactions and our own troubled psyches.
A complex with its given tension or energy has the tendency to form a little personality of itself. It can upset the stomach. It upsets the breathing, it disturbs the heart - in short, it behaves like a partial personality.
With complex phenomena, the individual’s responses can be overridden, leading to statements or actions that deviate entirely from their true intentions, illustrating how deeply rooted unconscious influences can distort behavior.
Singer posits that unconscious influences are not confined to the individual but extend to larger cultural phenomena, where groups can become swayed by collective unconscious elements, leading to societal myths and ideologies.
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