The Vision Thing: Myth, Politics and Psyche in the World

by Singer,Thomas

• ISBN13: 9780415195539
• ISBN10: 0415195535
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-02-24
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Contemporary politics goes on at a mythic level. This is the provocative argument put forward in this unique book which results from the collaboration of practising politicians, organisational and political consultants, scholars of mythology and culture, and Jungian analysts from several countries.The first part of the book focuses on leadership and vision, and features a reflection on myth and leadership by former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley. The second part deals with the way the theme of 'the one and the many' works itself out in politics today. From the perspective of 'the many', there are chapters on factionalism, ethnic strife, genocide and multiculturalism. From the perspective of 'the one', there are chapters on the economic myth and gender politics showing how these bring coherence to today's confused political scene, culminating in the suggestion that the modern political psyche is itself in the midst of a rite of passage.The relevance of the book to the practice and study of politics, mainstream and marginal, cannot be overemphasised and the book will provide stimulating reading for practitioners and students in these areas as well as for those engaged in psychological work such as therapy, counselling or analysis.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	xi
Notes on contributors	xiii
Acknowledgements	xvii
Introduction: the vision thing	1	(18)
Thomas Singer
PART I Leadership and vision in myth and politics	19	(78)
Foreword	21	(2)
Thomas B. Kirsch
Reflections on myth, politics, and leadership	23	(6)
Senator Bill Bradley
The inner vision and social organization	29	(5)
Joseph L. Henderson
The good-enough leader	34	(16)
Andrew Samuels
The feminine and politics	50	(12)
Betty D. Meador
The Wizard of OZ: a vision of development in the American political psyche	62	(22)
John Beebe
The politics of transformation: the transformation of politics	84	(13)
Andrew Samuels
PART II The one and the many in myth and politics	97	(172)
Foreword	99	(4)
Martin Krasney
The many	103	(2)
Arresting Orestes: mythic events and the law	105	(17)
Craig San Roque
Factionalism and interethnic conflict: narratives in myth and politics	122	(19)
Renos K. Papadopoulos
Reflections from the back side of a dollar: myth and the origins of diversity	141	(16)
Eli B. Weisstub
The cultural complex and the myth of invisibility	157	(13)
Samuel L. Kimbles
Under the shade of Pol Pot's umbrella: mandala, myth, and politics in the Cambodian genocide	170	(37)
Alexander Laban Hinton
The one	205	(2)
Practicing politics in the economic myth	207	(6)
Betty Sue Flowers
Cultural transition and spiritual transformation: from Alexander the Great to cyberspace	213	(19)
David Ulansey
Moose, Foose, Famose	232	(9)
Judith Grahn
Reasonable Woman/Reasonable Man: the emergence of a modern archetype of gender equality in political life	241	(10)
Peter Rutter
Is the modern psyche undergoing a rite of passage?	251	(18)
Richard Tarnas
Index	269