Father (myself) born in communism. Kids born in democracy
Context: I was born in 1984 in communist Romania. I remember the food rationing, the ration cards, and my parents joining the queues forming at 4:00 in the morning with me in tow. I remember the planned blackouts and my dad building a Petromax lamp so we could still function during the blackouts. I remember the only sweets we had were these "milk candies" which were doused in so much cocoa they tasted like a job you hate until you've gone past the coating. We were grateful for them whenever we got them (which was rare). I also remember when the revolution started, the gunshots, the dead bodies, the mothers wailing while searching for their sons. I remember childhood summer holidays spent at my grandparents home in a village half-forgotten by time. Boredom. Sun tans that made me look sub-saharan from all the swimming in the river and playing barefoot and shirtless on empty, dusty streets. Question: I have two kids ages 4 and 2 (girl and boy respectively). I would like them to experience the simple things in childhood: Water gun fights Climbing trees Playing cops & robbers Boredom What is the best way to make them appreciate simplicity and wean them off of the constant stimulation and technological bombardment they're subjected to in an urban, 21st century. environment ?
How does one integrate the Anima/Animus?
You talked a lot about integrating the shadow by means of watching one's resentment, bitterness, and dark fantasies, but you haven't touched upon the anima/animus as much. Is it true that the anima/animus can be found even deeper in the unconscious than the shadow? What are some concrete ways to integrate our unconscious as a whole, both shadow and anima/animus?
Oh dear, we're the adults now
If you're somewhere in your thirties like me, you probably grew up with ICQ, MSN messenger, MySpace and a plethora of chat rooms and communities online that have long since gone. There were no parents, no authorities, no institutions, not even any role-models except the ones we elevated ourselves. Our parents probably thought that values from the real world would simply map onto the digital world, and they'd finally found a way to keep us entertained. In reality, it was more like the Wild West though, or a "Lord of the flies", where a group of kids is stranded on an island, left to recreate civilization for themselves. You could also compare it to being children of immigrants, where the kids speak the language but the parents don't, and they go places their parents have never even heard of. To see this culture now spilling back into mainstream culture I expect is not a surprise to those of my generation. We now have the unfortunate privilege of being the first adults to have grown up with the internet. It's our turn to be role-models, to show the younger generation how to manifest yourself as a good person online, to know who to trust and how to engage with each other. It seems to me the older generations to some extent are still in denial, and are still trying to map traditional values on to internet culture. Is current day culture the tale of a clash of two civilizations that have developed in relative isolation, one of children, one of adults, one of institutions and traditions, and one of idealism, freedom of expression and naked opportunism? If we can say that my generation grew up online without role-models and institutions, how should we manifest ourselves as proper adults and role models, and how do we establish a functioning social hierarchy online?