Place of Origin
For the last few years, I worked at one of those genetic testing companies that was most well-known for its genealogy arm. My focus was on the health side of the company's consumer offering, which was just as well because I have never had much of a penchant for genealogy. My father made a hobby out of this, going to halls of records and digging up memorabilia from distant relatives to figure out who is in our distant family tree.
Far be it from me to judge what gets anyone else's rocks off, but I've always had trouble understanding the appeal of this. Genealogy, taking those ancestry tests, tell you something about who your distant ancestors may have been, but it tells you nothing about who you are or, more importantly, who you ought to be to self-actualize.
In my readings in Jungian psychology, I came across an interesting idea considering the psychological development of children. (Not being a parent, and having no intentions at present to become one, I don't read much about Piagetian ideas of how children's brains grow.) Jung wrote that the unconscious of the parents was the thing that had the most profound impact on their children.
You know that old idea how parents might consciously push their children to realize their own failed dreams? You know, the father who always wanted to be a quarterback but couldn't for some reason, so he vicariously tries to actualize his dream through his progeny? Jung claims that this idea plays out in reality, but not consciously. The unrealized longings of the parents will be expressed subconsciously to children, who will, without being aware of it, try to actualize them. Granted, they usually aren't as specific as the quarterback example. Perhaps a better example is a mother who longed to travel the world and never got the chance to. Even if she never talks about the journeys she never took, she may rear a daughter who, at the insistence of some subconscious urge, will take off for Europe between college and getting her first job.
This includes the traditions and elements of one's distant cultural ancestry. This is something deeply buried in the psyche, but ever-present, that is passed down through the generations. Did your great-grandparents come to the United States from Italy? If you pay a visit to the old Bel Paese, you'll feel a strong connection not only to the mileau you find yourself immersed in, but also to your own inner latent self.
So goes the theory. I have a significant amount of Norwegian blood in my veins from my maternal grandparents. I remember my grandmother on that side made at least one or two trips to that old country, and she enjoyed visiting that country more than just about any other place she traveled, if I remember correctly. I wonder now how much there is to this, and if we really would feel more connected to our places of ancestry than others for any objective reason.
Far be it from me to judge what gets anyone else's rocks off, but I've always had trouble understanding the appeal of this. Genealogy, taking those ancestry tests, tell you something about who your distant ancestors may have been, but it tells you nothing about who you are or, more importantly, who you ought to be to self-actualize.
In my readings in Jungian psychology, I came across an interesting idea considering the psychological development of children. (Not being a parent, and having no intentions at present to become one, I don't read much about Piagetian ideas of how children's brains grow.) Jung wrote that the unconscious of the parents was the thing that had the most profound impact on their children.
You know that old idea how parents might consciously push their children to realize their own failed dreams? You know, the father who always wanted to be a quarterback but couldn't for some reason, so he vicariously tries to actualize his dream through his progeny? Jung claims that this idea plays out in reality, but not consciously. The unrealized longings of the parents will be expressed subconsciously to children, who will, without being aware of it, try to actualize them. Granted, they usually aren't as specific as the quarterback example. Perhaps a better example is a mother who longed to travel the world and never got the chance to. Even if she never talks about the journeys she never took, she may rear a daughter who, at the insistence of some subconscious urge, will take off for Europe between college and getting her first job.
This includes the traditions and elements of one's distant cultural ancestry. This is something deeply buried in the psyche, but ever-present, that is passed down through the generations. Did your great-grandparents come to the United States from Italy? If you pay a visit to the old Bel Paese, you'll feel a strong connection not only to the mileau you find yourself immersed in, but also to your own inner latent self.
So goes the theory. I have a significant amount of Norwegian blood in my veins from my maternal grandparents. I remember my grandmother on that side made at least one or two trips to that old country, and she enjoyed visiting that country more than just about any other place she traveled, if I remember correctly. I wonder now how much there is to this, and if we really would feel more connected to our places of ancestry than others for any objective reason.