15-03-2010, 01:23 PM
That an interesting slant on history Ruben. By which I mean the idea that the Spanish Conquistadors and the Europe-nization of Latin America was ultimately beneficial.
It is a truism that people who set out to do good often do bad in its place, and those who intend to do bad, achieve good. The trickster figure is with us always.
However, in regard to your proposition, the problem I see with it is that we don't know how the indigenous peoples might have turned out sans the European intervention (and their noxious baggage). They may have become highly civilized in their own right. We just don't know - and we certainly can't turn the clock backwards to find out.
But what is now evident is that European civilization and its Anglo-American arm are doing more harm than ever before. In the age of the Enlightenment, Europe had many laudable things going for it. But this surely is not the case today where the dominant factor is, well, to dominate and plunder.
It seems that things have not changed very much at all since the Spanish donned their conquering armour.
It is a truism that people who set out to do good often do bad in its place, and those who intend to do bad, achieve good. The trickster figure is with us always.
However, in regard to your proposition, the problem I see with it is that we don't know how the indigenous peoples might have turned out sans the European intervention (and their noxious baggage). They may have become highly civilized in their own right. We just don't know - and we certainly can't turn the clock backwards to find out.
But what is now evident is that European civilization and its Anglo-American arm are doing more harm than ever before. In the age of the Enlightenment, Europe had many laudable things going for it. But this surely is not the case today where the dominant factor is, well, to dominate and plunder.
It seems that things have not changed very much at all since the Spanish donned their conquering armour.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14