{"id":28339,"date":"2022-03-08T10:54:39","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T18:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28339"},"modified":"2022-03-08T10:54:39","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T18:54:39","slug":"integrating-the-collective-unconscious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/integrating-the-collective-unconscious\/","title":{"rendered":"Integrating the Collective Unconscious"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. <\/span>Then they heard the sound of the Lord<\/span>\u00a0God as he was walking\u00a0in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid\u00a0from the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0God among the trees of the garden.<\/span>\u00a0But the\u00a0Lord<\/span> God called to the man, \u201cWhere are you?\u201d\u00a0<\/span>He answered, \u201cI heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.\u201d – Genesis 3:7-10 NIV<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mythologically and psychologically, Genesis 3 offers readers the first buddings of human consciousness. Our eyes opened, we were naked, shamed, afraid, and so we hid from one another and from God. This is not a historical origin story of human sin, but a symbolic reflection of the drama enacted by every individual and system on earth.\u00a0 Our work is to take ownership of and integrate our naked, shamed and fearful self, and cease projecting our fig-leaf-clad shadow onto others, be they other humans or God.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dr. Pragya Agarwal’s book Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias<\/em> explores exactly what the title indicates. Agarwal’s work aligns with and compliments Daniel Kahneman’s work around bias, or what he calls heuristics. Both authors approach, from different perspectives, the bias of human intuition and human institutions.\u00a0Sway\u00a0<\/em>approaches this topic through qualitative and quantitative research, and addresses bias from a more practical and societal perspective than Kahneman who does so from more of an esoteric plane. Dr. Agarwal writes, “In this book I am looking primarily at examples where a bias is misdirected and creates prejudice and discriminatory behavior through a negative association with a certain group of community.” (13) As a British Indian, Dr. Agarwal draws many stories from her life and discrimination she’s experienced, but always connects her individual experience to the systemic roots of bias.<\/p>\n

The subtitle Unravelling Unconscious Bias<\/em> offers a bias of its own! Western culture is inherently individualistic, and operates from a heuristic of personalization. However, we do not simply hold our personal unconscious, but the collective unconscious; the personal unconscious is to the collective unconscious as a drop of water is to all the waters of the earth. Dr. Agarwal offers a benign, if not rationalized reasoning for human bias through her integration of evolutionary science. She writes, “Detection of trustworthiness has been crucial for human survival […] Faces play a key role in determining membership and in signaling social cues such as trustworthiness.” (83) What Kahneman calls system 1 thinking, Agarwal calls our gut instinct.<\/p>\n

This brings back Max Weber’s work on the development of rationalism and bureaucratic systems. Truly, humans are not purely rational beings, but simply beings capable of rationality. Bureaucratic institutions attempt to be non-bias, but, because of a bias toward rationality, they actually create systemic bias through a self-perception of objectivity. Here bias is not propagated solely by those operating and enacting the bureaucratic system, but by the system itself. This is why racism, sexism, ageism etc. cannot be understood or addressed solely as an issue of the “heart” or of individual moral corruption. Certainly, arriving at the origin of bias is a “chicken or the egg” dialectic, and its presence is ubiquitous. Addressing individual racism is essential; however, our individual biases must be understood within the context of the cultural and historical collective, but I do not believe our collective shadow work can be done from a rational-historical approach. This is why myth is so vital. The mythology of Genesis offers symbols of “sin” or disconnection which enable us to peer into our individual and collective unconscious waters of bias. Myth and symbol offer a gracious perspective, which allows us to engage in the painful and transformation process of Christian formation. Without myth, a new path forward seems impossible because there is no way to recover our shadow-projections, our prejudices, our biases from those on whom we have projected.<\/p>\n

Finally, being labeled as bias, racist, sexist etc. is a contemporary scarlet letter, a mark of uncleanliness, and rejection. Owning personal and collective bias will always be uncomfortable, but its work each of us must do to live more whole, inclusive, and holy lives. Dr. Agarwal offers that the etymology of bias is rooted in the Indo-European word sker-<\/em>, which means ‘to turn or bend’. (11) It is fascinating that repentance has a similar meaning, to turn, or turn back toward. Repentance of bias is not magical, and it may even be helpful to see it as non-spiritual. Ultimately it is an action we take and the Spirit guides us in. As a white, Christian, heterosexual, cisgender man, I have more to do here to uncover my unconscious bias – truly the American system was created by and for people like me. But I know I can approach this work confidently and actively. This work is worth it because it is at the root of my humanity, and holds high stakes for the humanity of others.<\/p>\n

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Agarwal, Pragya. Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias<\/i>. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Gen. 3:7-10 NIV<\/div>\n

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