When I was a child I took for evidence that since France and England (yes, England) were our allies in WWII, that they had been friends forever.
Of course later on I learned they engaged in centuries of bloody wars.
But is it possible that this is how they got to know each other so well? Furthermore, is war, in some perverse way, how men develop intimacy?
And could we be developing intimacy with the Islamic world by being at war with them?
Could war be, in fact, an act of love?
2 comments:
This is something which, as a dyed-in-the-wool Jungian, I have believed for a long time: The Middle East and Western culture embody each other's shadow elements. We look at them and see simpleminded fervor; they look at us and see hedonism.
As always is the case with the shadow, we see in the Other the very qualities we in fact have, but have had shamed or beaten out of us for one reason or another. For example, a child who is always reprimanded for being "too loud" may develop into a taciturn adult who fumes at his vociferous friends for violating his sense of how quiet a person "should be."
But really it is the fumer who was violated, and who violated himself by suppressing his enjoyment of expression. And it is the full rage of that suppressed emotion that lashes out at the present violator: the friend who unwittingly has had the fumer's shadow projected on him.
BUT, the real source of this rage is the sense of unfairness and the unlived life seething within that fuming fury. The fumer really wishes he could cut loose (and some people do this via drugs and alcohol) and be his whole, unfettered self.
In essence, the fumer NEEDS the violator to remind him of that part of himself still yearning to be re-integrated and expressed.
And so it is with the Middle East and the West.
As someone who has spent the past several years closely connected to the art, music and dance of the Middle East, I believe that they have a sense of subtle feeling and deep emotionality that we COMPLETELY lack.
And we have the ability form and process powerful ideas and intentions that seems quite absent in their culture.
In one of his dreams about dueling with "the Saracen,' Jung noted that his need for the Dark Brother was so acute, and yet his fear was so powerful, that indeed the only way to engage him was through fighthing.
I wonder if there is another way to access that same combative energy without bloodshed... perhaps we should hold a zillion soccer matches with the Middle East and beat each other up on the green, instead of blowing each other up in the streets.
Carol, this is a gorgeous comment. Thank you for it. And I'm glad I "tapped into" the Jungian thing. Ah, men and aggression. It's just one of the things we do.
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