James Hollis is one of the great psychological thinkers, lecturers, and authors of our time. Here’s a quote from Why Good People Do Bad Things, Understanding Our Darker Selves, Gotham Books, pages 108-109, about the power of the collective shadow.
“Everywhere we move, our Shadow trails us–its hidden agendas, its repressed motives, its imposing history, its un-lived life, its fear-driven stratagems. Into relationships, into work life, into the dream I dream tonight, the Shadow elements are dynamically active. And if this is so of any and each of us, only one person, what happens wherever more than one are gathered?
Does not the shadow go with each of them, occasion contrary, or mutual, projections, blend together, provide an even greater sum of darkness? Is not the Shadow of a group more than the sum of individual Shadows, and might it not create a whole new dimension of unconsciousness?
Just as two persons can intermingle their Shadows, producing the famous folie a deux, so groups can suffer a collective contagion, a group madness, a communal enthusiasm. We have only to look at the sad chronicle of human history to see collective contagions, participatory madness, wars and witch hunts, and the violence that may rise from collective possessions.
Just as the ego of the individual is predisposed to defend itself, prejudice its limited purview of reality, reject those elements that are discordant, disruptive, and threatening, so, too, groups always have a fluid, amorphous, but highly vulnerable “ego.” From any region of our psyche excluded from sustained self-examination, much energy may be released, for good or ill, no matter how benign the intent of the group may be.
Moreover, that fluid, amorphous ego is always highly susceptible to the manipulation of a charismatic leader. Each individual in the group brings complexes, needs, and hidden agendas waiting to be activated. Dictators, politicians, and televangelists skillfully exploit this group fluidity–comprised both of collective insecurities and the unexamined lives of each individual multiplied.”
And alas, collective shadow contagions are easier to share than they have ever been, as it is easier than it has ever been for like minded kooks to share their contagions.