"The stages of psychic development as treated by Neumann are successively (1) the infantile undifferentiated self-contained whole symbolized by the uroboros (tail-eater), the serpent with its tail in its mouth, as well as by other circular or global mythological figures [including Nietzsche's imagery about the eternal return?], (2) the Great Mother (the impersonal womb from which each human infant, male or female, comes, the impersonal femininity which may swallow him [or her] up again), (3) the separation of the world parents (the principle of opposites, differentiation, possibility of change, (4) the birth of the hero (rise of masculinity and of the personalized ego) with its sequels in (5) the slaying of the mother (fight with the dragon: victory over primal creative but consuming femininity, chthonic forces), and (6) the slaying of the father (symbol of thwarting obstruction of individual achievement, [thwarting] what is new), (7) the freeing of the captive (liberation of the ego from endogamous [i.e., "married" within one's psyche] kinship libido and the emergence of the higher femininity, with woman now as person, anima-sister, related positively to ego consciousness), and finally (8) the transformation (new unity in self-conscious individualization, higher masculinity, expressed primordially in the Osiris myth but today entering new phases with heightened individualism [such as Nietzsche's overman] - or, more properly, personalism - of modern man [sic])."
Ong also sums up Neumann's Jungian account of the stages of consciousness in his (Ong's) book Fighting for Life: Contest, Sexuality [Gender], and Consciousness (1981, pp. 18-19; but also see the "Index" for further references to Neumann [p. 228]), the published version of Ong's 1979 Messenger Lectures at Cornell University.
As you can see, Ong values twentieth-century personalism. He characterized his own work as phenomenological and personalist in cast. I honored both of those two characterizations in the subtitle of my award-winning book Walter Ong's Contributions to Cultural Studies: The Phenomenology of the Word and I-Thou Communication (2000).
But no inward turn of consciousness = no twentieth-century personalism.
No inward turn of consciousness - no literary modernism.
Now, the reader may wonder what I will say about Tolkien's experience of accessing the optimal and positive form of the King archetype in his psyche as he was engaged in writing The Lord of the Rings, and Neumann's Jungian account of stage (8) of the eight stages of consciousness.
Yes, as you may have surmised, I say that Tolkien's experience of accessing the optimal and positive form of the King archetype in his psyche involved his individual personal transition into stage (8) of the eight stages of consciousness that Neumann delineates.
But let's review a bit here, so that I can explain something else that is relevant here. When Tolkien experienced what Neumann describes as stage (7) of the eight stages of consciousness, Tolkien experienced in his psyche, in Ong's wording, "the freeing of the captive (liberation of the ego from endogamous kinship libido and the emergence of higher femininity, with woman now as person, anima sister, related positively to ego consciousness."
Now, Trump and his male MAGA supporters are misogynists - which means that they have not yet experiences stage (7) on the eight stages of consciousness that Neumann delineates. Indeed, we can interpret certain culture wars involving DEI (= diversity, equity, inclusion) as basically conflicts between certain persons who have experienced stage (7) of the eight stages of consciousness that Neumann delineates, the advocates of DEI measures, on the one hand, and, on the other, certain other persons who have not yet experienced stage (7) of the eight stages of consciousness that Neumann delineates, the adversaries of certain DEI measures.
For an insightful analysis of the empathy-deprived misogynist Trump, see the American psychiatrist Justin A. Frank's book Trump on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President (Avery/ Penguin Random house, 2018).
For an insightful discussion of empathy, see the Evangelical lawyer and columnist David French's column "Behold the Strange Spectacle of Christians Again Empathy" (dated February 13, 2025) in The New York Times:
For a wide-ranging discussion of the heart, and in effect of empathy, in the Roman Catholic tradition of spirituality, see Pope Francis' 2024 encyclical titled Dilexit Nos: On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ. Like all official papal documents, Pope Francis' 2024 encyclical letter is available in English and other languages at the Vatican's website.
I discussed Pope Francis' 2024 encyclical in my OEN article "Pope Francis' New 2024 Encyclical" (dated November 1, 2024):
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