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Character Armor (Put on your thinking caps ladies)
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Socrates
Apr 21, 2013, 5:43:58 PM4/21/13
to
"Not to laugh, not to lament, not to curse, but to understand."
Spinoza
The driving force in all our mischief is our need to control our basic
anxiety. We are naturally anxious because we are ultimately helpless.
We emerge from nothing, have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner
feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self expression.
Unfortunately, with all this comes the nagging awareness that it is all
temporary. We dance around the subject, loath to admit that we are
fundamentally dishonest about reality, that we do not, really, control
our own lives.
Let the games and the terror begin.
The vital lie of character, what Wilhelm Reich called our "character
armor" is our first line of defense against our awareness, conscious or
unconscious (mostly the later) of our helplessness.
Thus, as long as we stay obediently within the defense mechanisms of our
personality we feel safe and are able to pretend that the world is
manageable. But the price we pay is high. We sacrifice pleasure, our
lives, to buy immortality. We encapsulate and preoccupy ourselves to
divert attention from facing our mortality and life escapes us while we
huddle within our defended fortress's of character.
We do not do this alone.
Society (the collective we) provides a second line of defense against
our natural impotence by creating a hero system that allows us to
believe that we transcend death by participating in something of lasting
worth. We achieve artificial immortality by sacrificing ourselves to
conquer empires, build temples, write books, accumulate fortunes, etc..
Since the main task of human life is to become heroic and transcend
death, every culture must provide its members with an intricate symbolic
system that is /covertly/ religious: (pious, devout, godly, exact, and
conscientious).
This means that ideological conflicts between cultures are essentially
battles between immortality projects. Nations, (and in these modern
days corporations) are driven by /unconscious/ motives that have nothing
to do with their stated goals.
Human conflicts are life and death struggles, my gods against your gods,
/my/ immortality project against /your/ immortality project.
Ironically, our heroic projects that are aimed at destroying evil have
the paradoxical effect of bringing more evil into the world.
Spinoza
The driving force in all our mischief is our need to control our basic
anxiety. We are naturally anxious because we are ultimately helpless.
We emerge from nothing, have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner
feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self expression.
Unfortunately, with all this comes the nagging awareness that it is all
temporary. We dance around the subject, loath to admit that we are
fundamentally dishonest about reality, that we do not, really, control
our own lives.
Let the games and the terror begin.
The vital lie of character, what Wilhelm Reich called our "character
armor" is our first line of defense against our awareness, conscious or
unconscious (mostly the later) of our helplessness.
Thus, as long as we stay obediently within the defense mechanisms of our
personality we feel safe and are able to pretend that the world is
manageable. But the price we pay is high. We sacrifice pleasure, our
lives, to buy immortality. We encapsulate and preoccupy ourselves to
divert attention from facing our mortality and life escapes us while we
huddle within our defended fortress's of character.
We do not do this alone.
Society (the collective we) provides a second line of defense against
our natural impotence by creating a hero system that allows us to
believe that we transcend death by participating in something of lasting
worth. We achieve artificial immortality by sacrificing ourselves to
conquer empires, build temples, write books, accumulate fortunes, etc..
Since the main task of human life is to become heroic and transcend
death, every culture must provide its members with an intricate symbolic
system that is /covertly/ religious: (pious, devout, godly, exact, and
conscientious).
This means that ideological conflicts between cultures are essentially
battles between immortality projects. Nations, (and in these modern
days corporations) are driven by /unconscious/ motives that have nothing
to do with their stated goals.
Human conflicts are life and death struggles, my gods against your gods,
/my/ immortality project against /your/ immortality project.
Ironically, our heroic projects that are aimed at destroying evil have
the paradoxical effect of bringing more evil into the world.
Tommy
Apr 21, 2013, 6:08:57 PM4/21/13
to
"Socrates" <empir...@wing-it.net> wrote in message
news:kl1mdv$r7u$1...@dont-email.me...
ground, best players, their colours... etc.
We visit their club shops and buy their rubbish errh items for sale :)
We visit their ground, pray for them to win, shout their names in awe when
they score, or prevent a score. Curse their opposition when theyre beaten,
or are losing.
We watch them on TV, and discuss them in our everyday happenings - some go
to fisticuffs over their perceived favourites or slights...
I don't blame Christians, Jews, Muslims, etcccc - its the same thing as our
sporting habits,,,,but its called religion....
Or Atheism or Agnosticism. Shout for your team, club, captain forward,
backline etc.. wear their colours, curse their detractors, be good to those
that support your side -
Or don't :-))
Cheers
Hurler on the ditch.
news:kl1mdv$r7u$1...@dont-email.me...
> "Not to laugh, not to lament, not to curse, but to understand."
> Spinoza
>
> The driving force in all our mischief is our need to control our basic
> anxiety. We are naturally anxious because we are ultimately helpless. We
> emerge from nothing, have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner
> feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self expression.
> Unfortunately, with all this comes the nagging awareness that it is all
> temporary. We dance around the subject, loath to admit that we are
> fundamentally dishonest about reality, that we do not, really, control our
> own lives.
>
>
> Spinoza
>
> The driving force in all our mischief is our need to control our basic
> anxiety. We are naturally anxious because we are ultimately helpless. We
> emerge from nothing, have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner
> feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self expression.
> Unfortunately, with all this comes the nagging awareness that it is all
> temporary. We dance around the subject, loath to admit that we are
> fundamentally dishonest about reality, that we do not, really, control our
> own lives.
>
>
> Human conflicts are life and death struggles, my gods against your gods,
> /my/ immortality project against /your/ immortality project. Ironically,
> our heroic projects that are aimed at destroying evil have the paradoxical
> effect of bringing more evil into the world.
We all know who and what our favourite sports team is/are. Their home
> /my/ immortality project against /your/ immortality project. Ironically,
> our heroic projects that are aimed at destroying evil have the paradoxical
> effect of bringing more evil into the world.
ground, best players, their colours... etc.
We visit their club shops and buy their rubbish errh items for sale :)
We visit their ground, pray for them to win, shout their names in awe when
they score, or prevent a score. Curse their opposition when theyre beaten,
or are losing.
We watch them on TV, and discuss them in our everyday happenings - some go
to fisticuffs over their perceived favourites or slights...
I don't blame Christians, Jews, Muslims, etcccc - its the same thing as our
sporting habits,,,,but its called religion....
Or Atheism or Agnosticism. Shout for your team, club, captain forward,
backline etc.. wear their colours, curse their detractors, be good to those
that support your side -
Or don't :-))
Cheers
Hurler on the ditch.
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