Borderlanders

For Immediate Release: December 1, 2005
Liz Williams, WMS Media
publicity@borderlanders.com

Jerome S. Bernstein, a Jungian analyst, has written a new book (Living in the Borderland / Routledge Press / $34.95 / November, 2005) which claims that just as we are evolving on a biological level, we are as well evolving psychologically. Chief among the many signs of this shift, being seen in therapist’s offices with increasing regularity, is what Bernstein has termed “Borderland consciousness.” People who are “borderlanders” regularly experience transrational realities – experiences that do not fit into a standard cause and effect logical structure, including, most significantly, a profound sensitively to nature, animals and the environment.

“Borderland people personally experience the split from nature on which the Western ego has been built,” Bernstein says. “They feel, not feel about, the extinction of the species. They feel, not feel about, the plight of the animals that are no longer allowed to live freely by instinct. They are acutely, sometimes painfully aware of the Earth’s pain as the destruction of nature continues in a pace never before seen in human history. They experience a visceral identification with nature which most Westerners don’t grasp even intellectually. Our medical systems label it and pathologize it, thus compounding the pain these people feel.”

The human mind has never been so glorified, Bernstein writes. Beginning with the Book of Genesis, where man was admonished by no less than God to have dominion over the Earth and its creatures, Western civilization has been estranged from the natural world for more than 2,500 years. In modern times, Bernstein says, “The Western ego has replaced Yahweh as the powerful, guiding force in man’s life.”

However, with the discoveries of depth psychology beginning with the work of Freud and Jung, a new awareness of, and respect for, the more subtle regions of consciousness beyond ego began. Jung’s work with the collective unconscious, his emphasis on dreams and his discovery of synchronicity were pioneering and contributed much to our understanding of the psyche. In fact, Jung’s work remains the only psychology that embraces transpersonal experience and spirituality as an integral part of human experience and an essential consideration in clinical practice.

Clinical psychology and modern medicine are often suspicious of transrational events, calling them at best “phenomena” and at worst, “crazy.” But what if some of these kinds of experiences were actually the result of an evolutionary force, pushing its way into our personalities with the same insistence that genetic mutations have allowed the human species to adapt to new environments? As Bernstein says, “We acknowledge and even applaud our biological evolution. How could it be that our psychological selves are not evolving as well?”

That our rational functions became separated from the transrational dimension is both a disastrous occurrence which has had profound repercussions in ecology and spirituality and one which has meaning. Bernstein passionately and with considerable erudition argues that this evolutionary trend will heal that split and may even be a self-serving mechanism to prevent our species from self-inflicted extinction. As Jung himself said, “Man feels isolated in the cosmos because he is no longer involved in nature.”

Bernstein’s call is for a modified clinical approach that integrates the body-mind divide. In the final section of the book, he explores the rich tradition of Navajo healing which holds promise for providing some of the elements missing in Western treatment models. He discusses a new clinical approach and his collaboration with Navajo medicine men integrating Jungian psychology, Western medicine and Navajo healing in the treatment of such ”Borderland syndromes” as Environmental Illness as well as some auto-immune disorders.

Compelling and controversial, “Living in the Borderland” is an important contribution to the fields of psychology, psychoanalysis, medicine, ecology and spiritual development, and is sure to engender much discussion and debate.

Living in the Borderland: The Evolution of Consciousness and the Challenge of Healing Trauma, By Jerome S. Bernstein
A Routledge Trade Paperback Original / Nonfiction / November 15, 2005
Jungian Psychology / 1-58391-757-8 / $34.95 / 261 pages