The Internet feels to many of its more spiritually-minded proponents like a hardwiring of human consciousness. If and when poor people and developing nations get access to these technologies, we will all have the means, at least electronically, to access one another’s information, opinions, and feelings.
Although it will certainly occur more subtly than in a sci-fi movie or New Age novel, I do believe we are in the midst of a transition towards a more collective thinking, where the individual psyche becomes a component of a larger group mind.
This doesn’t mean we stop existing as individuals, but it could mean we become more aware of every other living being.
The implications of such a global community are social, political and spiritual. At first, psychologists will be called to address the panic and paranoia associated with forced cultural intimacy. On a cultural level, resistance to a true global political network will result in a short-term rise in nationalism and patriotism.
This could lead to a temporary but distressing epidemic of new, perhaps Balkanised, nation states and ever smaller factions of patriots. Because of our past experiences, we can’t help but see unity as a loss of personal and local power.
The resistance to spiritual evolution and religious tolerance will manifest as a fundamentalist revival, increased membership in the most orthodox churches, support for charismatic leaders with intolerant stances, and bizarre, cultish behaviour.
Psychologists will be called on to address these reactions to impending world culture. Sometimes this will mean teaching people how to create intentional barriers to unwanted social intimacy. People should be given the tools they need to maintain their sense of safety without falling into self-imposed exile.
Those who yearn to increase their participation in the global community will need to address their personal obstacles. Psychologists will work to reduce the level of fear associated with intimacy, non-institutional religion, and non-hierarchical civil society. They will need to develop a set of cognitive tools.
In the “meta-psychology” of society, dream analysis of individuals will become media analysis of the collective. Television, films and online games will be understood as a group dreamspace, worthy of our attention. Jungian analysis of archetypes will be replaced by interpretation of branding and cultural icons as the “collective unconscious” is depicted in our media and commerce. The Freudian model of parental determinism will give way as people choose to grow into free-willed adults.
Most significantly, psychologists will be called on to conduct collective therapy through media rather than individual therapy. It has already begun in forums as seemingly banal as Oprah Winfrey. The mandate will be to reduce cultural fear and anxiety associated with the collapse of boundaries and formation of collective awareness.
A bit New Agey, perhaps, but lot more interesting than sitting in a room with Seinfeld. c Douglas Rushkoff
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