The Comfortization of Civilization and the Atrophy of the Soul: A Jungian Perspective on French Generational Psychological Structures

Foreword: My Inquiry Begins with a Civilizational Hypothetical Displacement In the long arc of my research and observations, a shadowy hypothetical question haunts me like a persistent specter: If Carl Gustav Jung (C.G. Jung) had not been born in the 1910s amid Europe’s war-scarred wounds and spiritual fractures, but instead arrived in Mitterrand-era France, a … Continue reading The Comfortization of Civilization and the Atrophy of the Soul: A Jungian Perspective on French Generational Psychological Structures →

Paris Traffic: A Shabby Symptom of a Fading City

Let’s cut to the chase: getting around Paris, especially to its airports, is a dismal experience that exposes the city’s overblown reputation. Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), 25 kilometers from the center, demands 40 to 50 minutes on the creaky RER B for €13 —a rattling, strike-prone relic. Orly, 13 kilometers out, forces you onto … Continue reading Paris Traffic: A Shabby Symptom of a Fading City →

The French Paradox: Liberty, Equality, and the State’s Heavy Yoke

France’s state-driven dream battles its own weight over decades Liberty, equality, fraternity—these words, carved into France’s revolutionary granite, gleam as a noble trinity. Yet beneath them lurks a paradox: a state-driven vision, crafted to cradle these ideals, has hardened into a yoke too heavy to hoist. From the postwar surge—5.1% annual GDP growth through 1945-1975 … Continue reading The French Paradox: Liberty, Equality, and the State’s Heavy Yoke →

A clash of scenes unveils how culture fuels economic fates

Envision a Parisian café in the 1950s, where intellectuals nurse espressos and spar over liberty, their voices rising with the steam. Half a world away, a Taiwanese family toils in a cramped workshop, soldering circuits beneath the pall of martial law. These scenes are more than vignettes—they are the cornerstones of economic fates. Economics, too … Continue reading A clash of scenes unveils how culture fuels economic fates →