Anxiety and the Postmodern Condition

The Hero and His Shadow  Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality in Israel now available on Kindle  ($9.99) The Six Day War between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan broke out on June 5, 1967, after Egypt had mobilized along the Israeli border, closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships, and Israel was threatened by invasion of Arab forces. After a sweeping victory, Israel came to occupy large neighboring areas, but has since withdrawn from Sinai, Gaza and 40% of the West Bank. However, as victorious as Israel was, relieving the deadly threat, led by then Chief-of Staff Yitzhak Rabin, the prolonged occupation of territory in Judea and Samaria/the West Bank, is detrimental not only to the Palestinians, but to Israeli society as well. The release of tension resulted in years of denial and inflation, as for instance expressed in the infamous words of General Shmuel Gonen (Gorodish), “We looked Death straight in the eye, and Death lowered its gaze,...

In the present issue of Psychology Today, Pythia Peay, author of America on the Couch , interviews Erel Shalit (excerpted from the interview in  America on the Couch ): The hero archetype, as the mythologist Joseph Campbell taught, is common to all cultures. Yet the hero is writ especially large in the American psyche. From Gary Cooper facing down a gang of killers in High NAoon , to Captain Chuck Yeager (played by Sam Shepherd in  The Right Stuff ) piloting the X-1 rocket plane to the edge of the atmosphere and becoming the first man to break the sound barrier, it is a myth that animates the telling of our history, and that operates as a background force in all our lives. What is more—as vividly displayed by Republican candidate Donald Trump, whose invincible, strongman persona has propelled his rise to political power—our hero is an emotional tough guy. Yet according to Israeli Jungian psychoanalyst and author Erel Shalit, author of  Enemy, Cripple, and Beggar...