By Michael Prager Aanavi, Ph.D.
In the midst of conflict between Palestinians and Israeli Jews—the current iteration of an age-old conflict which, at the moment, does not leave me feeling particularly hopeful—I would like to offer a depth perspective with an eye toward expanding our view of the "peace process." It seems to me that through our (or, at any rate, the news media's) identification of this issue as Palestinian-Israeli, Arab-Jew, and Arafat-Sharon, we have lost a host of possibilities which bring with them the hopefulness of a multiply-determined perspective—a psychological viewpoint with the capacity for healing festering wounds. My experience of hopelessness is in large part due to the sense that the participants are somehow locked into their positions and that efforts at resolution are futile—the sense that I am unable to find space around the conflict in which to reflect on anything other than desperation, fear, and hatred. The image that arises is that of two starving siblings locked in a room with food enough for one and weapons enough for both, which leads to the questions I wish to consider: how did these children (and all players in this drama, I think, are acting like wounded children) become locked into this struggle; how did they become trapped, and from whence did their starvation come? In examining the historical and mythic antecedents to this situation and their psychological sequelae, I hope to open up the possibility of a less fused interaction, and perhaps of t'shuvah—a word which I believe critical to the present discussion.
Often translated in Christian contexts as repentance, t'shuvah comes from the Hebrew root shuv which means "to turn." T'shuvah is understood as a process of returning to past events, but not simply in order to repent. Inherent in this practice is the idea that one substantively examines oneself and one's motives, that one grapples in every way possible with one's yetser ha ra—the "evil inclination" which might also be understood as shadow—in order to bring about healing and transformation.
TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, GO TO:
http://www.cgjungpage.org/articles/abrahamsshadow.html
Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright
law ( http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html ).
All copyrights belong to original publisher.
"RHINO'S NEWS BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine.
Feedback is encouraged and can be emailed to him at:
rhino@kifaru.com
RHINO'S WEB SITES:
http://radio.weblogs.com/0103207 (RHINO'S NEWS WEBLOG - PRESENT & PAST)
http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG)
http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES)
Tell a friend about this weblog, or if you know someone who'd like to join the Rhino's News Blog mailing list, drop a line to rhino@kifaru.com.
8:43:30 AM
|
|