The Regenerative Power of Chaos

Healing Power of the Unconscious

Chaos is normally seen as this force of destruction and danger. Yet instead of seeing it as chaos and danger and this scary thing, what it really is, is a regulating force. The snake does not take away the cattle in myth because women (the goddesses) are evil, but because the culture transgressed against the wholeness of the earth. Same with the unconscious too. It sends the metaphorical snake (which can be scary, but healing) as a means to update consciousness. It is only the scary snake if our attitude towards this update of consciousness is not correct. Then it can become destructive. Otherwise if our attitude is correct and we look at for what it is, an update, we can with that update consciousness and thus society to align again with the wholeness of the earth, the divine cosmic order. So it regulates where we stray from the wholeness of life, and thus becomes a force of healing. Which is what the Sovereignty Goddess and the Divine Feminine does. Why Zeus has the sceptre of Nyx, but fears her immensely. As he knows he better not transgress against her, as she will take it away. The right to rule, and all abundance that comes with it. Because the true power comes from the unconscious, the earth, the goddess.

The Sovereignty Goddess being a key balancing force which both sends the snake, but also is the figure that really is trying to bring back that which has been marginalised and repressed. This repressed cultural content is being projected on those in society that are marginalised, who might or might not even have those repressed qualities. Yet what is key is that this repressed cultural content is understood from the lens of understanding and compassion, not the lens of fear and hate. As the latter leads to the destructive outcomes one wishes to stay clear from. Like Odin mistreating Fenrir out of fear creating his own doom at Ragnarök.

Mental Disorders: A Manifestation of Misaligned Attitudes

Also with most "mental disorders" it is a manifestation of the wrong attitude towards what it represents. If it is tied to emotions for instance, the issue is not the emotions, but the attitude towards it that both society and the individual has. Not aligned with the deeper truths of the psyche. Same with any other symptom. So instead of fighting it, as something to correct, one has to understand it from the correct attitude and understanding to heal. Think cultivating distress tolerance, or a more mindful way of relating to one's emotions. Emotional processing being key. With severe forms of “disorders” this being a manifestation of more intense form of trauma, and repressions of aspects of the self, though can also be more functional in nature.

What is key to understand is that, through affect and thus emotion consciousness is updated, this also ties to somatic processing as well. Mere cognitive work, fails to update consciousness, without any emotional or somatic engagement. All of this made me realise a lot, which made me feel peaceful now. No longer feeling any tension between me and "society" or even other people. As order and chaos and with it good and evil as people understand it are an illusion, when it comes to people. With that there is no real distinction between self and other, as we are all interconnected. So as much as those with a "disorder" are sick, the society they are part of is as well.

It is just that those with the "disorder" are the ones being the “designated patient” of the society they live in, who manifest the symptoms of the societal "disorder" and disconnect from reality. Hence our current society already having a baseline level of dissociation of sorts from emotions and the body for many. Hence the increase in depression, drinking and all the various other ills and symptoms we see that affect people's well-being. They are misaligned attitudes due to inner conflicts and internalised beliefs and trauma, rather than flaws or pathologies. It is important to understand that the psyche and with it the Jungian Self is a self-regulating system that responds to trauma, societal repression, and misalignment. It is our ego and attitude that gets in the way of the process.

The Illusion of Duality Between Self and Society

Evil and things “wrong” are not things that exist as an external force that can be pinpointed anywhere in an individual or group. The reason why things happen that people consider evil is an interplay of trauma, ignorance, too rigid societal norms and historical trauma's that distort the underlying complexity of the human experience. A lot of that ties into duality and the classification of everything into dualities, like virtue versus sin, which itself creates sinners/scapegoats and redeemed/pure ones. Which does not see how the real issue is not in the individual, but their actions, which are there due to trauma, ignorance, rigid societal norms and historical trauma's that distort human experience and behaviour. Meaning that the narratives and stories that people are told in the culture and by their families, can create harmful behaviours that repress parts of the psyche of an individual, and with that even an entire culture.

Repressed by an "ideal" which does not account for the reality of things. Like men should be stoic and without emotions, which does not see the fact that men are humans with emotions too. So when in this case men are taught to repress it, or been through shaming experiences or trauma related to it, they project and enforce this onto other men too, next to starting to see female experience and their emotions as a source of fear and “chaos”. Putting the blame onto emotions of women, or other people. Where the problem is not the emotions, but the inability of some people to know how to properly understand them.

And on a larger scale this same behaviour causes cultures to project their fears and insecurities onto other people and entire groups and cultures. As it is easier to blame someone who has nothing to do with it, than to acknowledge the fact that oneself and the culture is not perfect. Nothing is perfect, and even our culture, as it is made up of humans makes mistakes. Though most people are uncomfortable with that idea and thus say those people over there are to blame. Hence projecting their own cultural issues onto these other people, leading to all kinds of horrific things. The thing is that the real issue is not in the people even, but in the narratives, stories and beliefs that are perpetuated. Including the societal norms. That might not exactly reflect things as they truly are. As things are more nuanced that mere Logic versus Emotions, for instance.

Cultural Narratives, Trauma, and Creation of Scapegoats

If we understand this dysfunction and misalignment to reality we can thus align better to reality, and heal this dysfunction, meaning the harmful actions don't have to manifest. So what it really means is that we as humanity are still ignorant of human nature, and the reality of the spiritual cosmos, so really the psyche. We have done our best through myths and narratives to capture what we have seen and understood up to this point, yet we have to keep in mind that this is from the perspective of the ego most of the time. Which is still in a dualistic framework. Actual reality is much more complex than such a framework can account for. The culture is creating these actions deemed evil by distorting how people see themselves and others. Which itself is often out of ignorance as well. The actions and dysfunctional behaviour are indeed still harmful and not good. Yet there is something deeper at play which we can understand. It’s about understanding where the hurt comes from, the source of the distortion, so we can heal this, and thus come closer to reality and the wholeness of the Self and the Divine. In this way any individual and culture can realign with the Monad, which symbolises the ultimate reality, and act out of that alignment.

Yet on an even deeper level I had been also reflecting on the Buddha and Jesus and their roles. Where it dawned upon me that their roles as redeeming figures, as much as the role of scapegoat for some other groups in history puts them at odds with society. Mainly because they position themselves as redeemer against something to be redeemed, and goes out to alleviate suffering. Whilst there is a reality to that, and a need, on a more subtle level this still positions them within a more subtle level of duality. As redeemer versus sufferer. Or Nirvana versus Samsara. However the issue of the redeemer is that they can fall into the trap of seeing themselves as the redeemer and others as suffering. Same as the scapegoat sees themselves as the suffering one, who has to carry the evils of the family, society or world, to keep their evilness at bay or other internalised negative societal or familial beliefs. Where they see themselves through the lens of labels.

The Trap of Duality in Redemptive Figures

However the problem is that figures like Jesus were still thinking on an individual level, and did not take into account the larger interconnectedness of our actions, including their own, and how this affects the perceptions and actions of others they are trying to redeem. And the role of external redeemer actually perpetuates the very mechanism that figures like Jesus sought to liberate others from. As it reinforces the duality. In actuality instead of the problem lying solely in the sufferer, the origin of the problem does not lie in them, nor other individuals that one can point towards. As there is no self and other at this level of reality, that I am talking about.

Internalized Judgments and Relational Trauma

Hence the real issue stems from the internalisation of the societal norms and judgements that do not account for the actual nature of reality, the higher eternal truths and norms that govern existence. So the issue lies in the misalignment of the cultural and societal norms, from the eternal truths and norms that govern existence. And as this is cultural, and civilizational in nature, these obviously affect society as a whole, and with it families and human behaviour. As these psychological complexes as ideas internalised dictate how we relate to ourselves, what we repress in ourselves, and thus in others, finally affecting how we treat others based on that. As what one represses in oneself, one judges in others. Which if internalised leads to relational trauma and suffering. Which leads to emotional abuse, physical abuse and other forms of relational trauma within families and society. Where those with said trauma or just a more general severe internalisation of said norms, can perpetuate this suffering regarding others, and often leading to prolonged suffering for themselves.

Think parts of themselves through said trauma being repressed and fragmented, due to the way they relate to these aspects of themselves. Like emotions, their body or identity. For instance if femininity is associated with abuse, the mind can dissociate itself from that, to protect itself from the abuse memories, to stay functional. Think also with DID the creation of alters in the same manner. In that sense the suffering we see in others and the world is not an issue of merely the individual but symptoms of collective misalignment in the belief systems that the society holds. With that the issue of suffering, boils down to the personal responsibility of the individual to face their own suffering and shadow, and overcome the internalised societal and familial beliefs, by working with the archetypal wisdom from their unconscious. Ones true responsibility lies healing oneself, and realising that you are both sufferer and healer. Others might help you on your path, but they too are their own sufferer and healer. We can only awaken the healer in others, through guidance. In that sense we are like Chiron both wounded and healer, and through this inner work, we can at the same time bring this same medicine towards others.

Healing Ourselves to Heal Society

Larger societal issues can be analysed and looked at for understanding, but changing this, does not lie in the externalisation of our dissatisfaction onto a construct called “society” that does not exist, and is really a set of ideas and beliefs a people have internalised. It is easy to confuse a group of people with the idea of society, but the society is only the ideals, values and norms. Which can be changed. Nothing else has to be fought externally. We change society by challenging these ideals, values and norms, that have caused the inner critic and repression within ourselves. Accept what has been marginalised in ourselves and we often see as “wrong” in others, as the snake of healing it could be. Through this challenging of norms and inner growth and shadow work, we not only heal ourselves but heal “society”. Then through that slow cultivation of the presence of healing and acceptance in ourselves, we can extend this natural healing presence of relational safety towards others. Through this act of non-doing, can we contribute to the healing of others, without needing to take on their shadow. It is not ours to carry. We can show them tools for healing, even insights, but that is where our task ends. Only they can feel their emotions, and thus heal.