In this article, we continue exploring the insights of Dr. Carl Jung about the nature of the State, the dangers of government, and the role of religion as found in his book The Undiscovered Self. Last entry in the series, we explored Dr. Jung’s explanation of how secularism doesn’t eliminate the psychological urge from humans to worship. Secular nations end up worshipping the Government as God and the governments of the world intentionally encourage such feelings in order to secure obedience from the masses. Having demonstrated the parallels between the functions of religion and the functions of the State, Dr. Jung then shows that the State promises the same things as religion does, but here in the material world:
“The goals of religion – deliverance from evil, reconciliation with God, rewards in the hereafter, and so on – turn into worldly promises about freedom from care for one’s daily bread, the just distribution of material goods, universal prosperity in the future, and shorter working hours. That the fulfillment of these promises is as far off as Paradise only furnishes yet another analogy and underlines the fact that the masses have been converted from an extra-mundane goal to a purely worldly belief, which is extolled with exactly the same religious fervor and exclusiveness that the creeds display in the other direction.” (pg. 19)
That the State promises and earthly utopia while never actually being able to deliver Paradise is not as damaging to its cause as one might think. Indeed, this is partly why political parties and internal/external enemies are so necessary to the functions of governments. The political Right blames the political Left for its failures, and vice versa. It isn’t the vision or planning that failed, it isn’t that the job is impossible. It isn’t that the government, being constructed of men, cannot ensure eternal plenty, endless peace, perfect safety, and permanent joy to all people as it promises. The utopian goals of State are never achieved because of the obstruction caused by the greedy and stupid obstructions of the rival political party, not because of the impossibilities of the promises of politicians. External enemies perform the same function. It isn’t the nation that it is fault, it is our enemies – terrorists, Christians, Muslims, Communists, capitalists, Russians, Americans, Chinese, etc. that are to blame.
By utilizing these ideological dynamics, the failures of the State are transformed into the very justifications for it. This is almost certainly why so many today champion Socialism (a particularly good example of the State as religion) despite its 100% failure rate. Every past failure is blamed on some imperfection in doctrine or dogma and its promises of a perfect world without sorrow, suffering, or poverty, a place of perfect unity of all the masses – of a worldly Paradise – is seductive to the masses. Individuality and liberty seems to be small sacrifices for such gains to those whose understanding of what exactly they are giving up is dim to begin with.
“The ethical decision of the individual human being no longer counts – what alone matters is the blind movement of the masses, and the lie has thus become the operative principle of political action. The State has drawn the logical conclusions from this, as the existence of many millions of State slaves completely deprived of all rights mutely testifies.” (Pg. 20)
If you wish to see an example of this, look no further that the way so many disdained freedom as a reason to oppose State mask mandates and lockdowns. It didn’t matter that the lockdowns have been proven to be failures at altering the Covid-19 death rate in any manner or that the mandates themselves were what had driven so many to oppose masking in the first place. People were not opposed to wearing masks, they were opposed to being forced to wear masks. Politicizing the issue only engendered resistance from people who would have otherwise complied. The response to this resistance was even more politicization – in terms of people calling for greater and greater State punishments such as fines and imprisonment, and the violence that attends enforcing such punishments – as the solution.
The most effective solutions – individual responsibility, liberty, and education – were rejected because the people are “mass minded.” The public rejected their own natural liberties and have made themselves slaves of the State by believing its religious sects – the different political parties - and its violence are the only viable solutions to any problems society faces. As Jung said above, the lie of subservience has replaced the truths of individual natural rights and became the basis upon which all social and political action takes place. The solution is never less power, it is always more power with the argument being over how that power is used.
Source: thelatterdayliberator.com