The Seba library treats Catastrophe in 8 passages, across 6 authors (including Klein, Melanie, Alexander, Bruce K., Harding, M. Esther).
The mechanism of one part of the ego annihilating other parts which, I suggest, underlies ‘world catastrophe’ phantasy
Klein identifies ‘world catastrophe’ phantasy as rooted in excessive early ego-splitting driven by the death instinct, wherein one part of the infant psyche threatens to obliterate all others.
, Envy and Gratitude and Other Works 1946-1963, 1957thesis
dislocation and addiction are close to the top of the list of threats, in part because they multiply the others… dislocation is at the core of modern poverty of the spirit
Alexander argues that dislocation and addiction constitute a civilizational catastrophe of the spirit that amplifies all other modern crises because they hollow out the soul itself.
, The Globalisation of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit, 2008thesis
The cryptic words hint at a cosmic catastrophe, weaving a narrative that transcends time.
This passage draws on Revelation and ancient Indian texts to illustrate how cosmic catastrophe — celestial impact, seismic upheaval, darkness — is encoded across world mythologies as a recurring archetypal event.
, Woman’s Mysteries, Ancient and Modern, 1955supporting
There is a big nature catastrophe, and a man from a town has to judge a lot of people who have stolen things in connection with this catastrophe.
Von Franz reads a fairy-tale nature catastrophe as the narrative context in which an ordinary man is drawn into the liminal dreamworld of archetypal encounter, illustrating catastrophe as threshold rather than mere destruction.
, Archetypal Patterns in Fairy Tales, 1997supporting
These life histories contain striking illustrations of persistent attempts to hold on to what mattered most in the face of an emerging catastrophe.
Pargament documents how individuals facing collective catastrophe (Nazi persecution) demonstrate tenacious conservation of personal significance, illuminating the psychological function of values under existential threat.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001supporting
it is interesting to observe how often communitas-type movements develop an apocalyptic mythology, theology, or ideology
Turner links catastrophe-inflected apocalyptic mythology to the emergence of communitas movements, suggesting that collective anticipation of catastrophe dissolves structure and generates new social bonding.
, The Ritual Process Structure and Anti-Structure, 1966supporting
seismic events, possibly triggered by earthquakes, led to the collapse of earlier, larger structures into the mound
This passage situates Göbekli Tepe’s burial within a context of seismic catastrophe, treating the physical record as testimony to civilizational disruption that myth later encoded symbolically.
, Woman’s Mysteries, Ancient and Modern, 1955aside
In the wake of the great floods and the end of the Younger Dryas, cultures worldwide share a remarkable similarity — a divine figure, often associated with the sea, emerges to impart knowledge
This passage presents post-catastrophe renewal mythology — the cosmic teacher who reconstitutes civilization after flood — as a cross-cultural archetypal response to collective disaster.
, Woman’s Mysteries, Ancient and Modern, 1955aside