Touch in the Age of Virtuality – Post-Jungian Reflection on Alienation and Integration
Dr. Dragana Favre is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and a seeker of the human psyche's mysteries. With a medical degree and extensive neuroscience education from prestigious institutions like the Max Planck Institute and Instituto de Neurociencias, she's a seasoned expert.
In contemporary society, the sense of touch is undergoing profound transformation and radical reduction. The digitization of daily life leads to the alienation of physical contact, raising deep philosophical, psychological, and archetypal implications. From a post-Jungian perspective, touch is not merely a biological phenomenon but also a crucial symbolic experience connecting the external world and inner reality.
Philosophically, Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology emphasizes touch as a fundamental mode of existing in the world, through which basic existential categories such as boundaries, proximity and distance, interiority and exteriority are formed. In the contemporary virtual space, these categories become fluid, destabilizing our perception of self and reality. Merleau-Ponty's notion of the "flesh of the world" (chair du monde), referring to the shared bodily reality in which we are all immersed, is now threatened by virtual separation from physical reality.
From the standpoint of archetypal psychology, James Hillman highlights the archetypal significance of touch as a bridge between consciousness and the unconscious, the individual and the collective. Touch symbolically serves as the foundation for integrating the shadow, connecting with others, and establishing a relationship with one's own body as a site of individuation. Archetypally viewed, the loss of touch can be interpreted as a collective expression of alienation from primary life energy, eros, and an authentic connection with the earth.
In this context, all virtual aids such as sensors, consoles, and other devices act as mediators, i.e., transitional objects between us and reality. From Donald Winnicott's psychoanalytic perspective, a transitional object serves as a bridge between subjective and objective worlds but may also prolong a state of infantile illusion, hindering emotional maturation. From the Jungian perspective, these mediators may represent projections of our inner reality, distancing us from direct contact with reality and creating greater space for subjective interpretations and fantasies.
In the digital world, we increasingly live within the domain of qualia, subjective and personal perceptual experiences. How we imagine a three-dimensional object or a person through virtual or screen-mediated experience heavily depends on our subjective interpretation. These interpretations may become new truths, yet simultaneously create barriers to authentically understanding the perspectives of others. Distancing from shared tactile experience further deepens the gap between different subjective realities, increasing psychological alienation.
The future of the sense of touch from a post-Jungian perspective will depend on how society addresses this symbolic and existential challenge. Possible scenarios include deeper integration of bodily practices such as yoga, meditation, somatic psychotherapy, and creative bodywork into everyday life. Furthermore, the development of technologies like haptic simulations, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) may offer new forms of tactile experiences, though the crucial question of their authenticity and capacity to fulfill deep psychological and symbolic human needs remains.
In the future, recognizing touch as an archetypal act, a return to fundamental principles of human existence will be essential. The post-Jungian vision will insist on revaluing corporeality and touch symbolically as vital elements for integrating soul and body, as well as society and nature. Our future capacity for psychological and emotional health will depend precisely on returning to and reaffirming tactile experience, enabling a new depth of relationship with ourselves and the world around us.
Dragana Favre, Psychiatrist and Jungian Psychotherapist
Dr. Dragana Favre is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and a seeker of the human psyche's mysteries. With a medical degree and extensive neuroscience education from prestigious institutions like the Max Planck Institute and Instituto de Neurociencias, she's a seasoned expert. Her unique approach combines Jungian psychotherapy, EMDR, and dream interpretation, guiding patients towards self-discovery and healing. Beyond her profession, Dr. Favre is passionate about science fiction, nature, and cosmology. Her ex-Yugoslavian roots in the small town of Kikinda offer a rich backdrop to her life's journey. She is dedicated to helping people find their true selves, much like an alchemist turning lead into gold.
