In the Red Book group on Face book, Lewis Lafontaine asked an important question: What is the demarcation line where "Modern" ends and "Postmodern" begins?

Here is my response.

Thanks for your question Lewis. Large cultural movements rarely can be pinned to singular time points. Such movements manifest in many different cultural dimensions and the time lines for each of these can be widely different. As a general rule, a new “wave”of cultural dynamics (what Jung called dominants) will appear first in the arts, later in science, and later still in politics. The critical origins of cultural dynamics become clearer as time passes. For this reason, the “birth” of modernism is now pinpointed to July 17, 1789, when French revolutionaries stormed the Bastille. The “dream”of modernism was the supremacy of the rational in producing ever greater progress of human good in all departments of human activity. Modernism suffered a major blow with World War I. By then “irrational” art had been evident for some time, the “irrational” had hit Jung (The Red Book), and things in general had begun moving to extremity, such as later seen in the holocaust, World War II, and the atomic bomb.The combination of “progress” and “death” had reached an apotheosis. For this reason, the death throws of modernism are now seen as taking root with the atomic bomb, and the birth of wide ranging post-modernism began. The spirit of post modernism is various forms that de-legitimize standards of any kind, including truth, values, and ethics. We are now seeing the ruinous effects of post-modernism everywhere as we head into very dark times for humanity. We are now seeing calls for “something else.” What this is likely to be is unclear. This, I believe, is what Jung referred to as “the coming guest” And that it would be art and artists that would serve as the mouthpiece for welcoming this portentous spirit.