Conclusions
Like most compelling forces and factors in our mid-21st-century society, monetary systems and the domain of wealth are fully saturated with the VUCA-Plus conditions of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity, turbulence, and contradiction (Bergquist, 2025). Money is shadowy because it is easily lost and is a source of profound regret for those seeking to gain wealth on the way to happiness. The monetary road to happiness is indeed bumpy (volatility, uncertainty, and turbulence); furthermore, it is often not even clear when we have achieved the goal (Gold) of happiness (ambiguity and contradiction).
I have suggested that Carl Jung and Rudolph Otto identify even more shadowy features of money and wealth. While Jung focused on the often-sacred transformational processes (individuation) of analytic therapy, many of us are inclined to focus on the very secular transformation of poverty into financial prosperity. We seek out the financial pathway from powerlessness (and lack of control) to powerfulness (and a strong sense of control). Money becomes the mechanism of transformation. And serving as this wonderous (“awe-full”) mechanism, money becomes shadowy and numinous (as Rudolph Otto might have suggested). We are drawn to money, much as Jung was drawn to Gold, yet we (and Carl Jung) are also repelled by money and its destructive and “cheapening” impact on our society. Money and wealth are indeed “many splendored (and elusive) things.”
____________________________
References
Argyris, Chris (1982) Reasoning, Learning, and Action: Individual and Organizational. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Argyris, Chris and Schön, Donald (1978) Organizational Learning. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Bair, Deirdre (2003) Jung: A Biography, Boston: Little, Brown and Co.
Berdyaev, Nikolai (1960) The Destiny of Man. New York, Harper Torchbooks.
Berdyaev, Nikolai (2023) Freedom and the Spirit, Sophia Perennis et Universalis. ISBN-10 : 1597311936, ISBN-13 : 978-1597311939
Bergquist, William (1993) The Postmodern Organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bergquist, William (2014a) Soliciting the pre-mortem and riding the change curve: coaching tools, strategies and concepts for effective planning. Library of Professional Coaching. Link: https://libraryofprofessionalcoaching.com/tools/coaching-questions/soliciting-the-pre-mortem-and-riding-the-change-curve-coaching-tools-strategies-and-concepts-for-effective-planning/
Bergquist, William (2025) The New (Ab)normal. Harpswell, Maine: Professional Psychology Press.
Bergquist, William and Agnes Mura (2011) coachbook: A Guide to Organizational Coaching Strategies and Practices. Sacramento, CA: Pacific Soundings Press.
Bergquist, William, Jeannine Sandstrom and Agnes Mura (2023) The Ark of Leadership: An Integrative Perspective. Harpswell, ME: Atlantic Soundings Press.
