XPost: alt.psychology, alt.psychology.jung, alt.psychology.psychoanalysis   
   XPost: sci.psychology.theory, sci.psychology.misc   
   From: mlwi@swipnet.se   
      
   The phallus is a god that stands on one leg, and has one eye looking   
   upwards. Wotan, who hung on the world ash, could set himself free from   
   the motherly tree, by the sacrifice of one of his eyes. Carl Jung, at   
   a tender age, dreamt of the phallus seated on a king's throne in an   
   underground hall, although at this young age he couldn't identify it   
   as such: "It was a huge thing reaching almost to the ceiling. But it   
   was made of a curious composition: it was made of skin and naked   
   flesh, and on top there was something like a rounded head with no face   
   and no hair. On the very top of the head was a single eye, gazing   
   motionlessly upward." His mother said "That is the man-eater." It was   
   a subterranean god, not to be named (Memories, Dreams Reflections,   
   pp.11f).   
      
   This was the deity responsible for the two greatest carnages in world   
   history, an epoch which Jung was destined to live through. We like to   
   think of our civilization as ruled by an enlightened spirit, but the   
   presence of the subterranean god can always be felt. Hatred, calumny,   
   and contemptuous remarks, are part and parcel of our culture. It   
   should be apparent to everyone that people aren't as good as they   
   pretend. It is a falsehood characteristic of our civilization.   
   Destructivity and malevolence does not depend on a misunderstanding,   
   as always supposed. Most people, it seems, cannot withstand an   
   opportunity to damage other people provided that they risk no harm   
   themselves. Malevolence is used as a means of self-therapy. For this   
   reason, it is exceedingly difficult to maintain civility in an   
   Internet discussion forum.   
      
   Why do people subscribe to ideologies, such as multiculturalism and   
   cultural relativism? It has nothing to do with ethical motives. In   
   fact, through ideological affiliation the adherents are able to   
   castigate other people as devils. A multiculturalist notoriously   
   accuses people of antidemocratic views, racism, right wing extremism,   
   egoism, etc. This is the great allurement of collective ideologies, to   
   be able to bully people. The only consequence is that one's social   
   status is augmented. Such people cannot get along in life without   
   recourse to calumniation. In another epoch, they would have   
   appropriated the politically correct norms of that particular period   
   in time. With great likelihood, they would have been firm Nazis. It   
   enables them to partake in collective hatred, which is really the   
   underlying motif, deriving from the god of Thanatos. They subscribe to   
   the prevailing views on account of their political correctness,   
   henceforth enabling them to demonize other people. It has nothing to   
   do with the moral and intellectual content of the ideology, as such.   
   The average multiculturalist of today, would have been a full-fledged   
   Nazi in the thirties.   
      
   They lack heartfelt convictions and merely parrot the standard tenets.   
   The notion of political correctness means that people program   
   themselves according to the most popular ideologies, whereas a proper   
   understanding is lacking. Intellectual understanding is not possible   
   anyway, since the ideology is only a chimera serving as concealment   
   for the subterranean god. Their motivation to partake in the movement   
   is to be able to make people suffer. Again, destructivity is   
   functional. It does not derive from misunderstandings. In fact,   
   Thanatos-driven people thrive on "misunderstandings". They have no   
   wish to avoid them.   
      
   There are only two alternatives; either you have faith or you have   
   ideology. In the Old Testament we can observe how the once   
   all-encompassing religious cosmogony, characteristic of ancient Egypt,   
   splits into the opposites of Faith and Law. In the ensuing battle,   
   faith came out victorious, in the form of Christianity. According to   
   Pauline Christianity, the Law is revoked and faith has taken   
   precedence. The same struggle is today ongoing in Islam, where   
   'sharia' (law) seems to prevail. Modern ideology in all its plenitude   
   represents a throwback to the pharisaic mind-set. A modern ideological   
   framework is an intellectual algorithm corresponding to the religious   
   law of olden days. Horus and Christ are connected with the   
   life-principle of faith, whereas Seth, and Old Testamental Jahve,   
   focus on zeal and demand blood sacrifice. In Norse and Teutonic   
   mythology, Wotan (Oden) is the lawgiver.   
      
   Mats Winther   
      
   "M Winther"  skrev i meddelandet   
   news:4ff40418$0$4282$c83e3ef6@weathergirl-read.tele2.net...   
   > If my conclusions resembles the truth about evil nature it would   
   > imply that the Jungian theory of the shadow is incomplete. It builds   
   > on the notion that destructivity in the social context depends on   
   > shadow projection, and that the subject must integrate the shadow,   
   > thus to remedy the problem. However, the theory does not take into   
   > account the functional aspect of destructivity, which serves to   
   > uphold a weak ego structure. Shadow projection and the constant   
   > victimization of our peers is functional. Without recourse to its   
   > shadow economy, the ego is threatened with collapse. This function,   
   > equal to Freud's Thanatos, surfaces when subsistence is no longer   
   > possible in the maternal environment, taken in its wide sense.   
   > Unsophisticated consciousness cannot cope with the complexity of the   
   > world without partially shutting it out and defaming it, blaming it   
   > for personal failures. That's why we see happy and naive primitives   
   > turn into machete murderers, and harmonious children, still living   
   > in a condition of wholeness, turn into bullies. This is the shadow   
   > phase of psychic development that the majority of people on earth   
   > aren't capable of surpassing.   
   >   
   > There is in Jungian psychology the expectation that the shadow can   
   > always be integrated, and that this accomplishment represents the   
   > first step in individuation, defined as the path to true maturity   
   > and wholeness. The truth in the matter is that only a portion of   
   > earth's population can accomplish this, and only because they have   
   > been endowed with a strong ego. Kathrin Asper in "The Abandoned   
   > Child Within" (1993) has reached similar conclusions. She says that   
   > the integration of the shadow is far from always the first phase in   
   > analysis with patients. The shadow cannot be integrated before the   
   > ego is ripe for it, a condition that some people will never reach.   
   > According to her, the 'negative animus' is the culprit. Arguably,   
   > the negative animus can be seen as the Jungian equivalent to   
   > Thanatos. The term  has a more scientific ring to it. However,   
   > Asper's understanding of the underlying causes of the constellation   
   > of the negative animus differs markedly from how Thanatos would   
   > form, as I see it. Also M-L von Franz discusses the negative animus   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)