Tide of Madness

Carl Jung believed that the psyche always strive towards wholeness and that a union of both the conscious and unconscious is necessary. When a person ignores the unconscious and is completely ruled by the conscious or the ego, the psyche will alert the person of the disharmony through somatic symptoms or some mental disorders eg. depression or anxiety disorders. A person can get in touch with the personal unconscious through dreams, play, artistic, cultural/spiritual expression. As dreams is the means whereby our unconscious conveys messages, it is advisable that we should not deprive ourselves of sleep and also as far as possible try to recollect our dreams.

It is no wonder that children deprived of play or the space/freedom to express their creativity develop some form of disorders like anxiety or panic attack. It has been reported that some Singaporean parents are sending their children to see psychiatrists as the children are not coping with their school work. Some of these children are experiencing mental blocks.

I can't help but feel there is a tide of madness/quirkiness creeping over our society. In today's papers there is report of parents engaging tutors to do their children's tuition homework, mind you not school homework but tuition homework. This is because some prestigious tuition centres demand that the students keep up with the tuition homework or be expelled!!! Imagine the toll on the kids not only to cope with school and tuition curriculum but various enrichment classes as well. Have the parents gone mad?

Then there was the weekend report that civil servants including a vice prinicpal of a popular school are involved in an online prostitution ring. Could the stress from their children's education ontop of their own work stress be the last straw that drives some men to look for avenues for emotional release? There seems to be no stopping of this relentless fear of trailing behind others. The herd instinct is so powerful here that it encroaches all aspects of life. It could be that people feel safe as long as they move with the herd be it at school, at work, at play and at prayer. One takes on a persona most accepted by society and soon believes that persona is the real self whilst one's unconscious and shadow cringe in pain.