On August 1, 2007, the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, MN, collapsed, injuring dozens and killing thirteen. It was a traumatic event for many, but for Medora Woods it was something more: a representation of the destruction caused by a society on its way to extinction. For us to transform this destruction into something more, we need a new paradigm: one of collective creation and change.

Collapse is an exploration of creative energy and transformation in the collective—organizations, communities, nations—and in our own lives. It is part memoir, exploring how following creative energy has worked in Medora’s own life, and part exploration of the images which inform our attitudes toward community, its creation, and its sustenance. The need for personal and collective transformation is right in front of us.

Old structures are failing, and the new alternatives need every bit of support that any of us can give them. If we understand the failing of old structures to be a necessary prelude to transformation, it can help the fear and anxiety that the loss of a familiar world inevitably brings.

Medora Woods is a retired Jungian psychoanalyst. She began her adult working life as a high school English teacher, before taking time off to have children and resuming her working career as a lawyer. Eventually, she found her way to Jungian psychoanalysis, first as a patient and then as an analyst, where her energies have gone for the last thirty years. She began writing what became Collapse in the early nineties.

“Woods makes a compelling and beautiful case that inside the flux is our ability to dream our way into a more dynamic, peaceful, and fulfilling world.” —Betsy Hodges, former mayor of Minneapolis

“Important, deep, and accessible.” —Sylvia Perera, Jungian analyst, C. G. Jung Institute of New York

“A fascinating read and a necessary one.” —Mary Logue, author of the Claire Watkins mystery series