June 21, 2021

A well-functioning democracy is like a well-functioning psyche: the multiplicity of voices is respected and power-sharing is encouraged. In a well-functioning psyche and democracy, pathologies are prevented from festering and taking over. Traumas and complexes are brought to consciousness so that they can be understood, healed, and integrated. In a well-functioning psyche and democracy, freedom is critical, like oxygen for lungs.

The work of Individuation is both personal and collective, internal and external. It makes no sense to work on self-becoming without also fighting for freedoms for ourselves and our fellow beings. Individuation is impossible if our bodies and choices are not in our own control.

In addition to our programming coming up this Friday and Sunday, I wanted to share some critical activism and journalism on these topics this week that have been on my mind and heart.

• An interview with Stacey Abrams about the importance of protecting voting rights these days, and the grassroots (that’s us!) work happening this summer to support the For the People Act (SR1). I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but the For the People Act has to pass to protect voting access nationwide and as long as people like Stacey Abrams are working on it, I’m working on it.

• A short piece by Nicholas Kristof on legal, yes legal, child marriage (rape) in America. Kristof is one of few male journalists consistently shining a light on the exploitation of girls and women. I’m grateful for his activism and exceptionalism journalism. I hope it’s work that will change laws and lives.

• An incredible piece of journalism by my friend, Jill Filipovic, for the New York Review on abortion access in conflict zones. The bodies of women and girls are policed all over the world (see above). Rape is a weapon of war and control. The freedom of women and girls to make decisions for our own lives and healthcare—in war and in peace—can not be negotiable. As abortion rights are under attack nationwide, journalists like Jill are keeping a light on the critical importance of choice with reporting like this.

In a well-functioning democracy and psyche, demands for power and efforts to actively suppress the power of others are grave warnings of danger ahead. A pathology has gained ground. The fear of the Other has taken root. The focus on balance and wholeness has been lost. These are battles for consciousness that we’ve been fighting for a long time, and that we’re fighting vigorously right now. Let’s keep on.

XO, Satya

Satya Doyle Byock, Director of The Salome Institute of Jungian Studies