The Imaginal as Temenos for Moral Reckoning in Israel‐Palestine

Abstract

The individual psyche in Israel is under tremendous pressure to merge with a collective field of attitudes and self‐perceptions stemming from archetypal enmity, victimhood and denial of the collective’s implication in war atrocities. This dense field of denial, obfuscation, projection and self‐justification makes it enormously difficult for individual Israelis to face their moral injury and implication in the moral transgressions involved in the occupation, subjugation and killing of Palestinians. A clinical case showcases the unique role that the Imaginal plays in approaching such reckoning. Through working with literary figures, a sand tray scene and a dream series, a former Israeli soldier comes into increasing conscious contact with his own moral implication and the ways it got entangled with lifelong, pervasive unconscious guilt. The author also considers how her own political and cultural positioning, intersecting with her patient’s, impact the analytic field. This process echoes and amplifies Jung’s call for individuals to engage in self‐reflection and personal change as a way to contribute to ethical and moral reckoning on the part of the collective.