My comments are from my and, I think, a Jungian perspective. Deep in our collective human psyche, mostly UNCONSCIOUS to us all, are 'archetypes' which are energized images, stories and patterns of ancient human attitudes and behaviors. These energies have forever historically been able to possess(strongly unconsciously effect human personal and collective attitudes and values) persons and whole groups of persons. This is nothing new and comes with great cultural changes in epochs, say every 2000 years. Such changes can be overall good or extremely bad.
Neagatively, such disruptive collective posession often involves a hyper egotistic charistmstic personality who claims he alone can make everything better, just trust and follow him.
Because this process is truly UNCONSCIOUS one is not aware it is happening to oneself and feels she/he is fully in control of their own choices and decisions.
No one escapes this possibility happening to them. So it's essential persons be intentionally conscious and at least aware that there IS, fully proven by Freud in a somewhat negative way 100 years ago, a REAL and active unconscious dimension working in us all personally and collectively. This is our human condition for good and bad.
Vigilant awareness is our best protection against possession during such upheavels. We are in such a time Jung believed. During such times we are all likely to negatively project (transfer) our own unconscious 'shadow aspects' onto others, assuring ourself with dogmatic certainty that we know who the real devil is in all this.
So we might should have some empathy for those who appear to have become significantly different than they used to be in a culturally destructive and sometimes over-excited and unwarranted optimistic way.
Wisdom would say to always remember it 'can happen to me' in various unexpected ways. Our ego's resistance to respect, BELIEVE or TRUST in the reality of the Unconscious assumes we, by our ego self-willing alone, can live purely rational/balanced lives. This misguided belief, with no credit or recognition given to our own irrational behaviors and attitudes, is the greatest present enemy to a healthy sustained American culture. Such a one-sided view sets us up for our own lack of a more genuinely unbiased/objective cultural attitude.
And we might find ourself lining up with many others who would unintentionally crush the most positive aspects of American ideals with its collective goal of a 'checked and balanced' democratic life for all our neighbors, here and beyond.
Such a personal 'wholesome' psychological/spiritual balance is most needed, desirable, and I think still possible, in these ominous days.
Best wishes to us all in our transitional troubling times.
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