Enantiadromia -

There has been some discussion recently on one of the listserves I'm on about the Jungian/Heraclitian term "enantiadromia" in relation to the present election.

For example, one person wrote:

"At the more collective level of the two parties, I do see some enantiadromia being expressed. McCain is the antithesis of a 'conservative' in his public persona, while Obama is far removed from the emotionally driven 'bleeding heart' stereotype as one could get. Their policies may each be driven by their respective parties (party's?) traditional stands, but their public performances have enacted alot of the opposites." (See JVB's Astro News for Maureen's complete post.)

What is enantiadromia?

It's not listed in dictionary.com.

One astrology writer defines this as "A psychological phenomenon wherein, when one resists something long enough and hard enough, one becomes that thing by flipping violently to the opposite." From: Definition of Jungian Terms, by Nancy R. Fenn

Here are some examples provided by "Gritchka."

And here's from a therapist's perspective:

"This pendulum swing, or enantiadromia, is defined by the Greek Heraclitis as 'Where the deepest point of saturation with darkness gives birth to a rapidly expanding point of light.'"
From: Dream Talk, by Ken Kimmel, M.A., C.M.H.C.

For me, saying that one may turn into one's opposite is quite different from talking about the birth of light out of darkness.

The simplification inherent in the entire ying/yan idea has always bothered me. Women are not simply the opposite of men. There really is no such thing as a simple good versus evil in life.

I think that opposites are a good initial way to frame and distinguish things. We can see that if he acts unkind, he is not our friend. If she makes lots of money, she is not poor.

Defining something by the negative can help us to see what it IS.

Another example of how humans "do" opposites: we tend to create oppositions relative to parts of ourselves that we have a hard time accepting or integrating into our self-image. The psychological term for this is "projection." We deny and dissociate from ourselves whatever part(s) we cannot accept and project those parts (or characteristics) onto another (or onto an entire other social group). Thus it is that a great deal can be learned about someone by studying who is his mortal enemy.

But neither of these facts compel the conclusion that life is made up of opposites. The "deepest point of saturation with darkness" is not the opposite of light (or of lightness). It is a specific emotional, psychological "place" that you don't arrive at by simply turning off the psychological lights or by seeking out a cave.

Quantum physics has shown, however, that there is no place without light. The lowest state of background light and energy, in the vast darkness of the "empty" regions of space, is called the "zero point field."

Astrophysicist Bernard Haisch writes:

"The fact that the zero-point field is the lowest energy state makes it unobservable. We see things by way of contrast. The eye works by letting light fall on the otherwise dark retina. But if the eye were filled with light, there would be no darkness to afford a contrast. The zero-point field is such a blinding light. Since it is everywhere, inside and outside of us, permeating every atom in our bodies, we are effectively blind to it. It blinds us to its presence."

Our own personal darkness comes out of pain, denial, loss, grief. In the movie, What Dreams May Come, Chris (played by Robin Williams) dies and goes to heaven. After his death, his wife commits suicide and goes to hell. Nobody who goes to hell ever gets out, but Chris decides to try to retrieve his wife and bring her back to heaven. The key to his success is that he is willing to go there and be there with her in her great grief and sorrow. He doesn't try to convince her to come out of hell with him; he doesn't try to convince her that her awful pain is just a delusion. He goes into her darkness with her because he loves her.

While it is easiest to explain this event as "going into the darkness in order to find its opposite," the important message in this story cannot be adequately conveyed by a metaphor of opposites. Nor can it be conveyed by the cliched aphorism "love conquers all." The deep message can only be conveyed by the story itself. It tells of a unique human psychological situation and inner journey.

(Animals are not exempt from such psychological journeys, by the way. More on this later.)