Psychological Onirico-Parliamentarism
A political ideology inspired by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung who lived across the second half of the the XIXth century and the first half of the XXth century and worked for a while in collaboration with the more famour Sigmund Freud. The Jungian paradigm shared some commonalities with Freudian psychoanalysis in that it assumed the existence of an influential unconscious, of impulses and drives, of the meaning bearing function of dreams, and of the re-enactment of meaningful past relationships in new meaningful encounters (a.k.a transference). It was also distinct from Freudian theory in assuming the existence of a Collective Unconscious that was common to all humans and contained shared instinctive patterns called Archetypes that could be expressed through acts, words and symbols, and in that sense, focused more on the creative capacity of humans to build new symbols and myths. It also was less interested in sexuality and more in the psychological tenants of religion.
IOTL, Jung and his paradigm got actually a bit involved in politics during the rise of nazi Germany. On one hand, Jung was quite in awe (and later horrified) with the capacity of Hitler to master symbols and incarnate archetypal figures, on the other, the nazis found in his theory the opportunity to turn the Collective Unconscious into a racial unconscious that would fit will within their doctrine of aryan superiority (and most importantly, he was, unlike Freud, not Jewish). Ensues a whole mess with him accepting a big job by the nazis in the 30s, some will say to have a position where he could protect his Jewish colleagues, others will say to have enough influence to diminish Freud’s influence, whichever way, his appointment didn’t fit that well nazi expectations and he resigned before WWII. After WWII broke out, he was contacted by the OSS (American secret services) and worked as a secret agent for the Allies, providing psychological profiles, including a report predicting that Hitler would end up committing suicide.
ITTL, the Jungian paradigm catches on in the realms of politics in many democratic countries and relies on a central tenet: to pass laws that benefits the multitude
outside them, politicians must tap deep into the multitude
within themselves.
Political System: Ensues the following principles of politics :
- The Great Dream : Politicians can only take part in an election if they formulate a Great Dream that came to them one night and demonstrates that politics is their True Calling. This Great Dream and its interpretation by the politician are passed under review by a council composed of 50% elected officials to a similar post and 50% randomly picked citizens. Any attempts to plagiarise dreams from other politicians leads to direct unelectability.
- Archetypal Incarnation : for the highest offices, such as President, the election is done in 4 rounds. For the 1st and 2nd round, think French system (1st round to pick the two main candidates, 2nd round to choose between the two). For the 3rd round all citizens write in the voting booth a single word they associate with the new President, and after a week of national semantic analysis, all associations are organised into lexico-semantic clusters, and the two clusters that are the most popular in number of associations are both summarised into a single world. The two resulting words, or Archetypes, are presented for the 4th round of vote. The winning archetype will be associated with the President. Indeed the President can only be President if they incarnate something that echoes with the psyche of the people.
If the newly elected President is truly popular, then they may get in office with an archetype such as Robert “the Just” Bronstow or Philippa “the Generous” Kriesling, but if they got elected because they were the least worse choice out of two terrible choices for the major part of the population, then they may end up as President Timothy “the Knobhead” Gavinson.
- The Challenge of Intuitive Debating : Rationality is a good basis for politics, but to be a worthy representative of the people, politicians must be able to venture beyond their rationality. This is exemplified in the practice of Intuitive Debate, which unfolds in 3 distinct stages (about 1 hour each).
- The 1st Stage (the Rational Stage) is a classical debate where politicians can use notes, answer to the questions of experts and members of the public and criticise each other’s positions and policies.
- The 2nd Stage (the Intuitive Stage) is pure improvisation: politicians have no notes, no questions, no themes, they are merely on stage with each other and… whatever must emerge in that moment will emerge (though physical violence is forbidden).
- The 3rd Stage (the Synthetic Stage) is the opportunity for the experts and the public to ask questions about the 2nd stage, comparing it and contrasting it with the 1st Stage. At the end, the public votes, if the majority of voters is satisfied with the debate, then it is considered concluded, if the majority of voters is not satisfied. Then the debate must resume on the next day for another 3 hours.
The goal here is to push the politicians away from their well structured rational programmes and force them to tap into their creative depths, which are deemed to provide a necessary counterbalance in order to build a complete picture of their political intentions.
Social Organisation
In Onirico-parliamentarism, society is organised around the capacity to create in ways that carry meaning.
- Creative Duty : It is part of the duty of every citizen to engage in creative practice, whether it be art, crafts, or anything that carries uniqueness and novelty. Scientific and Artistic discipline are constantly encouraged to cross over.
- Mixed Education: this crossover is also present in the education system, based around a principle of 50% rationality and 50% irrationality. E.g : a History exam would be 50% Essay on a predefined theme, 50% creating an alternate history timeline. A Physics Exams would be 50% solving thermodynamics equations, 50% creating an addition to Newtonian Laws.
- Meaning Seeking: the culture celebrates the capacity to seek, create, and find meaning in all endeavours. Individuals who are considered too shallow or too materialistic tend to be patronised. A lack of capacity to interact with one’s inner world is seen as a hurdle towards everyday socialisation : “how can you relate to me if you cannot relate to yourself?”.
Good and Bad forms
Individualist good guys: “Be who you were always meant to be”. This is a society that is all about self-actualisation. True harmony is achieved when every citizen excels in a form of art or practice that uses their talents to the fullest. Life is about finding one’s true calling, and then putting one’s energy and skills into forever pushing this calling further. A true great dream is never achieved, but always pursued. State ensures healthy work-life balance, public education until 21, and living wage for artists.
Collectivist good guys: “ True meaning is shared meaning” . This is a society that is all about culture. True harmony is achieved when every citizen contributes to the national culture with the fruits of their own creation. Life is about finding one’s true calling, and then putting one’s energy and skills into integrating the products of this calling into the national culture. The true measure of a country’s happiness and achievement is the continuity and constant renewal of its culture. State regulates all wages based on a framework of Unconditional Lifelong Salary, public education is free for all, and all citizens must take 1 month off work per year to focus on contributing to the national culture.
Individualist bad guys: “ True meaning is never granted, it must be earned. “ . This is a society that is all about excellence. True harmony is achieved when the most talented citizens are given free reign to turn their dreams into grandiose symbolic achievements, becoming creative leaders, with immense talents and resources at their disposal. Competition is encouraged from a very early age to ensure that the children with the best intuition and creative skills are quickly identified and provided with the education they deserve in order to achieve their masterpieces, be they in science or art. Citizens with Great Dreams but no resources are scorned and encouraged to be more realistic. State oversees the allocation of resources, education is fully privatised, artists who do not contribute to the economy must either find a job, or work for the creative leaders and get a state subsidy.
Collectivist bad guys: “ A citizen’s worth is found in his contribution to the culture”. This is a society that is all about gigantic works. True harmony is achieved when all citizens work together towards the building of a Great Work that will shine for the centuries to come. Life is about being given a role in an art, craft, or science, and work alongside many other citizens into building cultural or scientific creations as designed by one of the great cultural leaders of the country. The Grand Leader is the most meaningful of all Archetypes and the dreams of each citizen converge towards the Grand Leader. The true measure of a country’s achievement is the scale of its cultural sites and scientific facilities. State allocates children in specialised education curriculum depending on their assessment, all work is coordinated and paid by the state.
