Time, Technology and Totalitarian Tactics: A Deeper Look at the World's Collective Movement

Birgitte explores the interplay between the individual and the collective - often without our conscious awareness - and people who seek development in themselves and the world around them.

The lecture draws on Jung's words from 1934: "All human control comes to an end when the individual is caught in a mass movement" (CW10, par395). Jung wrote this as a reaction to the 1930s, when he saw the individual overwhelmed by mass formation and totalitarian currents - not only in Germany, but as a broader collective movement. The evening connects his perspective on unconscious, collective currents with the views of philosopher Hannah Arendt and psychologist Mattias Desmet.

The questions explored include: What can we learn about our time by placing it in the context of then? Can we strengthen the individual's continued individuation when "modern" reality is dissolving? And can we counter uniformity by doing our inner work? Along the way, concepts like VUCA, Learned Helplessness and Overton Window are introduced.