Anxiety and the Postmodern Condition

'Rooftops and Towers of Prague,' a drawing by Petr Ginz, 1928-1944 (Yad vaShem). Born in Prague, Petr spent his adolescence in the children's home in the Theresienstadt ghetto. He was murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau in the fall of 1944. In 2003, Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut that perished in the space shuttle Columbia , took Petr Ginz's drawing 'Moon Landscape' (see below) with him from the Yad Vashem collection. I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Czech Society for Analytical Psychology, to deliver a lecture and a workshop on the Cycle of Life . Following several years of experience with the impressive Bulgarian Jung Society, as well as visiting the groups in Poland, Estonia, and the Czech Republic, I can testify to the admirable devotion and seriousness found among the analysts, therapists and students in these countries. Their thirst for knowledge is a source of inspiration, and in only a few years the therapists in these countries have g...

Cease-fire yes, agreement no   The Hebrew will follow the English     העברית לאחר האנגלית  Attack on Tel Aviv bus School in Ashkelon hit by rocket Execution of suspected collaborator in Gaza     Hamas is a terror organization, openly aiming at the destruction of Israel, firing missiles with the intention of injuring and killing civilians, victoriously triumphant the more damage is inflicted on the detested enemy, whether child, man or woman, or the elderly. Their goals remain unchanged, so any commitment from their side, as they have themselves stated, has very little value, and is valid only as long as it serves their purposes, for instance rebuilding their arsenal of weapons. Yet, the ruling Palestinian Hamas government in Gaza carries responsibility of its own acts. Israel should of course not act in an inhumane way and prevent the supply of electricity to Gaza, the greater part of which is suppli...

From The Fisher King Review Transiency and the Culture of Plastic Our post-modern era is characterized by increasing dislocation and fragmentation. The sense of permanence and constancy of old, is exchanged for temporality and fluidity, i.e., a condition of transiency. Not only do cars, trains and planes carry us across continents faster than most people once could imagine – perhaps with the exception of Jules Verne and a few others, but we travel cyberspace in zero-time. Speed in the era of transiency, makes the soulful road of the wanderer seem hopelessly obsolete. Likewise, we are over-exposed to stimuli, information and images: once upon a time we would sit down and quietly look through the pictures of the past, the reminders of our childhood, enjoy a memory, recall days long gone by, share thoughts and feelings from a time that could be brought alive by the one photo from that day. Today, we are flooded by digital photos, numbered almost into infinity. Rarely do...

  After five long years, in what seemed frightfully similar to the eternity of a Kafkaesque Trial, Judge Talia Pardo Kupelman (K.) wrote,   "This case, complicated by passions, has been argued in court for quite a long time across seas, lands, and times. Not every day… does the opportunity befall a judge to delve into the depth of history as it unfolds before him in piecemeal fashion," opening, she said, "a window into the lives, desires, frustrations and the souls of two of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century." The judge ruled that the library of Max Brod, Kafka’s close friend, be transferred to the National Library, in accordance with his wish and intention. After his death in 1968, Brod’s secretary Eva Hoppe kept, and sold off, some of the important manuscripts. The remaining ones include, as Ofer Aderet writes in Haaretz , Brod's unpublished diary, notebooks with Kafka's writings, and correspondence of Kafka and Brod, among ...

Jungian analyst Dr. Yechezkel Kluger was born in Yonkers, New York, September 5th 1911. He died in Haifa, December 21st 1995, after a full life of varied experiences and focused aim in study and teaching. He was known as a born student and teacher, and a genuine devotee of ideals. Yechezkel Kluger served as President of the Los Angeles Jung Institute, 1967-1969, and later as President of the Israel Association for Analytical Psychology. Up to the time of his death he kept up a steady practice as analyst, supervisor, teacher of candidates in training, and writing. Yechezkel Kluger came from an orthodox Hassidic background. His mother and father came to America in the late 1800s from Dobczyce, Poland but his grandfather, Rabbi Reuven Kluger, remained, heading a small group of devotees. Yechezkel never met his grandfather but it is told that Reb Reuven was a scholar, a poet and a mystic. Yechezkel himself was, as well, both a scholar and a poet. The mystic in him found em...

During the last several weeks, in summer’s heat, Israel has seen unprecedented social protest, mainly by the country’s hard-working, mainstream young people. Israel is not unfamiliar with protests and demonstrations – whether the center-left in support of peace, or the ultra-Orthodox protesting, for instance, the opening of shopping malls on the Sabbath or against building on sites of ancient bones, and workers’ strikes. However, for a very long time, the hard-working middle-class has carried the burden, working ever harder to cope with rising costs of living, higher rents, receiving less and less for the heavy taxes paid. This summer has also witnessed an extended physicians’ strike – the excellent doctors are underpaid and overworked and ask for more positions. The wave of uprisings utilizing social networks such as Facebook and Twitter may have begun after the 2009 presidential elections in Iran, though brutally crushed by the regime, which quickly utilized the inter...

I recently received a letter from an American acquaintance, perhaps I even dare say, a friend. He is a very good person, having devoted his life to care for the sick and poor, alleviating the suffering of many. Most of us would pride ourselves for a humanistic outlook on life such as his. My friend inquires about the Middle East, and wonders, for instance, “what would happen if the United States took an isolationist's stance in the world?” And, interspersed among his questions, he asks me, “what do you think would happen in the Middle East if Israel was suddenly not there at all? Would the world be more or less stable? Would the Arab countries be able to unify and work together despite years of tribal, religious and political strife?” The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and the road to paradise on earth is paved with much evil. I am convinced that the most wonderful condition of peace, safety and tranquility would ensue, just as stated in the PLO (Palestine Liberation O...