The Hero and His Shadow: New Revised Edition
Psychopolitical Aspects of Myth and Reality in Israel

By Erel Shalit

Paperback, University Press of America, 2004, 212 pages. ISBN 0-7618-2724-2

Contents

Foreword by Andrew Samuels; The Beggar in the Hero’s Shadow; A Return to the Source; From My Notebook; From Dream to Reality; Origins and Myths; From Redemption to Shadow; Wholeness Apart; Myth, Shadow and Projection; A Crack in the Mask; The Death of the Mythical and the Voice of the Soul

From the Back Cover

The Hero and His Shadow introduces a psychological perspective on the history, development and myths of modern Israel.
The realization of Zionism relied on the pioneer, who revolted against the Way of the Fathers and sought spiritual redemption through the revival of Mother Earth in the ancient land. Myth and history, psyche and matter are constantly intertwined in the birth and development of Israel, for example when in the Declaration of Independence we are told that pioneers make deserts bloom, the text actually says they make spirits blossom.

Pioneer, guardsman and then warrior were admired hero-ideals. However, in the shadow of the hero and the guiding myths of revolt, redemption, strength and identity-change, there were feelings of despair, doubt, weakness and fear. Where there has been renewal, lurks the threat of annihilation.
The suppressed aspects of past and present myths, which linger in the shadow, are exposed. The psychological consequences of Israel’s wars, from independence to the war of terror, are explored both on a personal note and from a psychoanalytic perspective, with social examples and clinical vignettes.

Shadow aspects of the conflicting guiding myths Peace and Greater Israel are examined. The mythological background of the archetypal struggle between Isaac and Ishmael, and the relationship between Jerusalem and the archetypal images of Wholeness and Satan are looked into.

Dr. Erel Shalit, author and Jungian psychoanalyst, is a training and supervising analyst with the Israel Society of Analytical Psychology. He has been Director of the Community Mental Health Clinic, Shalvata Psychiatric Centre. He is the author of articles on psychotherapy, political psychology and Jungian subjects, which have appeared in the San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal, Spring Journal, Political Psychology, Clinical Supervisor, and other professional and cultural journals. He is author of The Complex: Path of Transformation from Archetype to Ego (Inner City Books, 2002).

“An outstanding psychological study of one of the world’s most complicated and fraught political situations.” Prof. Andrew Samuels, author The Political Psyche.
“… interesting and important book.” Dr. Yossi Beilin, former Minister of Justice.
“…ever-timely and powerful…” Marcus West, The Journal of Analytical Psychology, 2005