Lifting the Veil: Recovering the Feminine
A Global Webinar hosted by the Asheville Jung Center
The veil has emerged in the 21st century as an international symbol that holds a variety of meanings. The veil can able understood as merely the customary dress of Arab women, a religious expression, or a political statement. For some women donning the veil represents male dominance enforced by the threat of beatings or death, for other, the veil signifies self-determination and independence in reaction to the threat of western ideology impacting Islamic culture. The veil powerfully holds the polarity of attitudes and beliefs and invites the projections of the psychological complexes in both western and Islamic societies. These negative shadow projections fuel external and internal conflict between and within each culture. The veil is not just a female garment to hide, protect or humble Muslim women, but the curtain behind which resides the feminine principle, repressed in both east and west. Beneath the veil resides the unconsciousness of both cultures that become manifested in the politics of today. Lifting the Veil (the book) is a timely exploration of the symbolic attractor that the veil has become within and outside the Muslim world.
