There is no background reading ‘required’ (but there is some that is optional) and no other instructions, apart from watching the 50-minute video – https://myers.co/psychologicaltypes – before the session. In one sense, it is a basic, introductory video, containing much information that your members may already know. However, it also teases apart the Myers-Briggs interpretation of Jung’s book from that which Jung intended and describes the process of transformation that Jung viewed as the ‘gravamen’ of Psychological Types (for which he pointed to chapters II and V).
The optional reading, probably best read after watching the video, includes one or two articles in the Journal of Analytical Psychology that illustrate the (hot?) debate about the role of the transcendent function in politics. The first is Andrew Samuels’ 2010 article ‘The transcendent function and politics: NO!’ (JoAP, vol 55, issue 2, pp 241-253) – this is behind the JoAP paywall. The second is my 2022 response ‘The transcendent function in politics: YES!’ (JoAP, vol 67, issue 3, pp. 817-837). Although this is also behind the paywall, the full text is available online if (and only if) you go via the shortlink https://myers.co/tfyes.
The transcendent function in Nelson Mandela’s politics
Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. When Nelson Mandela became President, he envisioned how South Africa winning the 1995 Rugby World Cup could help heal their deep racial divisions. In a shock result, they did indeed win, and it had a transformational impact on race relations. There was a great deal of luck involved, and subsequent rumours that a betting syndicate gave South Africa’s final opponents food poisoning 48 hours before the match. But Nelson Mandela’s personal contribution was very substantial to both the sporting achievement and its impact on South African culture.
This session will look at the manifestation of the transcendent function in Mandela’s personal life, and how he used the associated attitude to help develop a transcendent function in South African society. It will use the sporting event and the medium of film – including selected clips from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013) and Invictus (2009) – to show how the flexibility of attitude and constructive approach to symbols, furnished by the transcendent function, underpinned and helped shape the politics of Nelson Mandela. For example, we will see how Mandela was willing at times to oppose both blacks and/or whites, to maintain the tension of opposites for the purpose of reconciliation.
The presentation will conclude by posing some questions for a plenary discussion. For example, how relevant is analytical psychology to contemporary political developments outside the clinical setting? Is it currently being too passive (having no impact), too one-sided (exacerbating the problems of polarisation), or is it promoting greater use of the transcendent function in public political discourse? The aim of the session is to both inform and provoke further debate on the practical steps that can be taken to realise the full potential of Jungian political psychology’s contribution to politics.