[Whit Blauvelt]

Charles,

I’ve also favored holism since childhood. Have you read much Carl Jung, on the male and female in each of us, and how becoming psychologically whole is to be achieved by the alchemical marriage of anima and animus? To deny that each of us is both feminine and masculine is to deny our shadows. What we exclude from consciousness becomes polarized in the unconscious. The persona (or “ego,” if we’re going with Strachey’s version of Freud’s term), is as Freud well-described in The Ego and The Id a left-hemisphere production — at least in regards to the gateway function of our public languages in our consciousness of our selves. The syntactical side of language, as McGilchrist presents, is LH, although the metaphors displayed in its more poetic use are RH.

My son, who at 18 is a straight male and physics major at an elite college, is home for the weekend, and has friends from his high school days staying over for their high school reunion. One is a boy born female, who is obviously male now, pursuing acting at a conservatory. One is a born female whose pronoun is “they.” Such usage is awkward for me, but “they” are brilliant, funny, and a talented artist. Our dinner guests tonight will include another kid, born male, who now presents as one of the most beautiful women.

These are all healthy, wonderful kids. Are we glad our son is one of the straight ones in his diverse friend group? Yes. There are many advantages in being normal in the larger society. Also, since my wife and I are entirely straight — neither tempted by seduction offers of various gay and bi friends over the years — it’s easier to understand him that it might be otherwise.

We might guess Jung, on viewing modern youth’s shifting enculturation regarding sex roles, would welcome it as progress. McGilchrist in several places appears to react differently to it. Jung told the BBC late in his career, “Thank God I am not a Jungian.” No psychological theory does well, when taken as doctrine.

Best,
Whit