Depth Insights With Bonnie Bright

  After the mass school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, in December 2013, I moderated a 2-part teleseminar series with Jungian analyst Michael Conforti for the Depth Psychology community and the general public in which we engaged in a depth psychological and archetypal discussion about the event. In preparation, I opened Issue 81 of Spring Journal (2009), a long running publication of Archetype and Culture called "The Psychology of Violence." Inside, I discovered a powerful and intriguing article by psychologist and professor, Glen Slater, entitled "The Mythology of Bullets." In the essay, Slater addresses the major mainstream issues that always arise in such devastating events: gun violence, media influence, and mental health.  However, Slater goes much deeper to look at the archetypal aspects of guns in America, how our inherent cultural roots come into play, and how the uncompromising drive of the American Dream insists we succeed at any cost. This drive enables us to project the causes o