Originally published: . Volume 10, No. 6. Source pages: 1, 10, 11.
"Enchantment" and Modern Life––Are We Looking for Magic? An Interview with Dr. John Rosegrant
Last month the spectacularly popular HBO series Game of Thrones concluded. Thrones is a complex story chocked full of social-psychological conflicts, power issues, sex, convoluted relationships, hidden agendas, betrayals, personality disorders, violence, war and trauma. Viewership grew dramatically over the eight seasons, starting at 2.5 million and ending at around 40 million viewers. Viewers created a fandom, with their social media channels and blogs, discussing each and every detail of each detail.
On top of all the intrigue and social games, Thrones sported an array of fantasy elements — zombies, immortal beings, psychic time travel, witches, and a sundry of magic and mysticism. Perhaps the most appealing of all––three fantastical dragons.
Dr. John Rosegrant is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, explains one aspect of this type of literature.
"Enchantment is a state of mind that combines a sense of wonder, a sense of meaningfulness, and a sense of being connected to someone or something larger than oneself. Many of our patients suffer from a feeling of disenchantment, and are vulnerable to seeking enchantment in maladaptive forms such as drugs and destructive relationships. The popularity of media (such as “Game of Thrones” and role-playing video games) that involve magic is in part due to their engaging this fundamental psychological dynamic."
Dr. Rosegrant will be presenting this month at the Louisiana Psychological Association conference. In "Enchantment and Disenchantment Throughout the Life Cycle," he will explore the issues of enchantment in developmental crossroads across life periods.
Dr. Rosegrant is a Fellow of the International Psychoanalytic Association and Member of the New Orleans- Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center. Dr. Rosegrant has taught and supervised in many psychotherapy and psychoanalysis training programs. He has spoken and published on a wide variety of topics including psychoanalytic technique, short- term psychotherapy, play therapy, dreams, fairy tales, Harry Potter, the World of Warcraft computer game, and technology dependency.
What does Dr. Rosegrant see as the psychology behind this and other literature like Lord of the Rings, superhero movies, and other scifi-fantasy television and movies?
"Their great popularity partly comes from factors like interesting character development and exciting plots that they share with other forms of film and literature," said Dr. Rosegrant. "But it is also because the central role of fantasy in these works gives the audience a chance to experience a form of enchantment."
What is exactly is enchantment and why is it important?
"I define enchantment as experience that involves a sense of meaningfulness, a sense of wonder, and a sense of being connected to someone or something other than oneself," he said. "There are many ways this can be felt besides engaging with fantasy film and literature; some examples are creating or appreciating other forms of art, being 'in the flow' of a project, being in love, enjoying nature, and religious experience."
"But the White Walkers and orcs remind us that there are also painful forms of enchantment, such as drug addiction and destructive love relationships.
"It may help in understanding enchantment to contrast it with its opposite, disenchantment," he said. "Max Weber defined disenchantment as the sense that everything can be explained by rational, material factors. There are several points in psychological development at least in modern Western societies when the individual is expected to become more rational and organized, challenging feelings of enchantment that were available to their younger selves. One of the most important of these developmental phases is the shift from adolescence to adulthood, which many youths experience as giving up on freedom and fun to become boring adults. This is probably why fantasy literature and film often has special appeal to adolescents—they are trying to hold onto a sense of enchantment."
Is there something about modern life that is promoting this trend?
"Definitely. Max Weber, whom I just mentioned, thought that a defining feature of modernity was the 'disenchantment of the world.' Pre- modern societies believed that many things occurred because gods, spirits, witches, or other supernatural beings made them happen, but the modern scientific worldview that everything can be explained by material causes banishes all these beings into non- existence," Rosegrant said.
"Another way to think of this is as a shift from a permeable self to an impermeable self: pre-modern peoples could be affected by spirits and magic; modern peoples cannot be. In many of the jobs available in modern societies workers experience themselves as cogs in a machine that produces meaningless commodities, and it is hard for a cog in a machine to experience meaning and wonder." "Now, these are not absolute differences," he explained. "Even in modern societies many people believe somewhat in supernatural forces, and some people believe in them strongly. But I think the changes are real and make it harder for people nowadays to experience enchantment."
"This doesn’t mean we should idealize pre-modern societies. There are obviously innumerable ways that we now are safer, healthier, and more comfortable than in the past. We are probably better off without White Walkers and orcs. Although…it would be exciting and would give us a sense of common purpose if we had to deal with them…so I’ll leave it at probably better off."
What are some of the psychological theories that relate?
"I am not aware of psychologists talking directly about the importance of enchantment, but I think it is implicit in many forms of depth psychology. In one of his letters, Freud wrote that the goal of psychoanalysis was not to eliminate complexes but to live in harmony with them. Jung’s Modern Man in Search of a Soul is about the search for meaning in later life. Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development begin with basic trust vs. distrust and end with integrity vs. despair. Nancy Chodorow and Carol Gilligan have written about ways that modern child rearing instills instrumentality at the expense of community. All of these, and probably many others that you can think of, relate to meaning, wonder, and connection even without directly addressing enchantment."
Are there uses of enchantment for those providing psychotherapy and if so can you give some examples?
"These ideas about enchantment don't so much lead to specific techniques as to a therapeutic attitude. I think it is helpful to think about the ways that our patients struggle to hold onto enchantment, and to respect even the maladaptive forms this may take. For example, overuse disorders, such as chemical addiction or gaming to the extent that it interferes with other parts of life, are often ways to seek enchantment. I have found that an important part of helping people overcome these disorders is to accept the disorders and talk about what is helpful about them rather than to simply confront and try to eliminate them."
What are some of your favorites in this area of literature and why?
"I enjoy lots of fantasy literature and movies, but my favorite remains Tolkien, especially The Lord of the Rings. I could give reasons until you became quite bored, so I’ll just pick one: Tolkien not only provides enchantment but simultaneously puts it at risk, so he directly engages the psychological and social conflicts around enchantment that I have been talking about. Destroying the One Ring of Power also means that the elves must leave and Middle- Earth enters the disenchanted Fourth Age. Frodo departs as well, leaving Sam to find 'ordinary' enchantment with his wife and children. In that moment, Sam demonstrates the possibility of finding a new enchantment after a treasured enchantment has been lost."
In his presentation later this month, Dr. Rosegrant will use film clips from Peter Jackson’s movies of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to illustrate four developmental crossroads when the individual must find new forms of enchantment or become disenchanted: the language explosion during the second and third years; puberty and adolescence; leaving school and entering adulthood; and retirement and old age."
Dr. Rosegrant is also the author of the Young Adult Fantasy series The Gates of Inland: "Gatemoodle," "Kintravel," "Rattleman," and "Marrowland." "Makeles Made" and the concluding volume is expected in 2019.
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