On the Ukraine Issue (Part 8): Four Steps Beyond Dualism

■A Common Challenge for All Mankind: Overcoming Dualism

In my previous article, I mentioned that in my original specialty, "dreamology," things develop dialectically, whether in the life of an individual or in the destiny of a nation. No problem can be solved without a dialectical process.

A dream is a personal activity, of course, and a phenomenon created by a person's unconscious. However, according to Jung, the individual is connected to the entire human race in a common field called the "collective unconscious".
Therefore, our dream study group has conducted a series of "experiments for publicness of dreams" to prove the existence of the "collective unconscious" proposed by Jung. In this experiment, multiple people bring together the dreams they had during a certain period of time, extract common elements from them, and analyze them to see if there is a universal answer to a specific theme.
No matter how many times this experiment is repeated, a common conclusion is drawn. That is, there is always a certain amount of highly public element in the personal activity of dreaming.
For example, if we wanted to derive a solution to an extremely public problem, such as the global spread of infectious diseases, from the dreams of several people, we could do so.
In fact, our group has already conducted this experiment twice, and came to a very public conclusion that is common to all.
Furthermore, no matter what kind of dream experiment is conducted on any topic, there is a commonality in the solutions that are derived.
This commonality means that no matter what kind of person tackles any kind of problem, there is always a common solution that must be used.
To put it simply, it is to "transcend dualism. In other words, dialectics.
Here, too, the "universal process of self-development that every human being experiences many times in his or her lifetime" has proven to be a dialectical process.
It is no exaggeration to say, of course, that the fate of a country depends on whether or not a process of dialectical transformation of consciousness (a process that transcends dualism) occurs in the leaders who lead that country.

■Evolution occurs by overcoming every dualism

By overcoming every dualism, one broadens and grows as a human being.
Self and others, inside and outside, male and female, day and night, good and evil, God and the devil, heaven and hell, public and private, mind and body, right brain and left brain, science and non-science, causalism and teleology, visible and invisible, ideal and reality, me and you... I listed these at random, but strictly speaking, these dualisms have some categorization, and there will be priorities in the efforts.

To overcome this dualism of "A or B" means to create "something" that is neither A nor B, but at the same time has the property of being both A and B.
In other words, it is a dialectic. This is called "emergence". Evolution is always accompanied by this "emergence".
Integrating duality or opposites is the task of growth imposed on all human beings. No human being is exempt from this task.

If one is unable to overcome a certain dualism, a certain "symptom" or "pathology" will appear in that area.
For example, a man who has not integrated his "inner feminine" (anima) may be considered a man, but not as a "mature adult man". It may sound ironic, but unless he awakens to his inner femininity, he cannot truly become a "manly man" in the true sense of the word. Such a man's consciousness is so narrow-minded and entrenched that he cannot see women in a holistic way. It is tantamount to not recognizing a part of themselves. Such men regard women as a kind of "tool" and evaluate them in terms of their "usability". If this state of consciousness becomes too much, it can develop into a kind of "pathology". There is no end to the number of men who go astray because of this. It is a waste of life.

■Four Steps to Overcoming Dualism

While each of the dualisms enumerated above requires individual efforts to overcome, there are common stages in the process of overcoming them.
First, it will begin with a chaotic state in which duality or opposites are undifferentiated. That state will eventually reach its limits. From there, the following process of integration begins.
Step 1: Look at only one side of the duality or opposites. (For example, look at only the inner masculine and not the inner feminine.)
Step 2: Look at both and choose one or the other (the "seesaw game" may be repeated at this stage).
Step 3: Look at both and choose both simultaneously (the "seesaw game" ends at this stage).
Step 4: Integrate both into one whole.

None of these four steps can be skipped.
You will also find that steps 1-3 are precarious. Remaining stuck in these steps can lead to "symptoms" or "pathologies" specific to those steps. The men mentioned earlier who have not integrated their inner femininity represent those who remain in Steps 1-2.

Now let us consider the four steps in the transformation of the consciousness of a country's leaders.
Step 1: Look at only one side, one's own country but not the adversary's.
Step 2: After looking at the convenience of both countries, choose the convenience of one's own country.
Step 3: Look at the convenience of both countries and choose the path that can achieve both at the same time.
Step 4: Integrate both into one whole (does not mean that one is annexed to the other).

Up to Step 3, you may have some idea of what we are talking about.
However, looking around at leaders around the world, I wonder if any of them have reached Step 3...?
Furthermore, if you get to step 4, you can somehow see that in a sense, the world view is as different as it could be. The idea is to integrate the two countries into one whole, not to have one country annexed by the other. In the case of the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, this may not mean annexing Ukraine to Russia, but creating a new third state system that is neither Russian nor Ukrainian.
In a sense, this might mean that a global East-West integration would occur.
Even if this could be achieved, it would probably take decades and centuries to come.
In other words, this solution would not be a solution to the Russian-Ukrainian problem alone, but a process that would lead to the realization of peace for the entire world. This is the universal solution.
The solution of problems of an individual, the solution of domestic problems, the solution of regional conflicts between two countries, and the realization of permanent world peace are all a series of processes.