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M Winther
Jun 25, 2012, 2:54:10 PM6/25/12
to
"Thanatos"
Abstract: The principle of the death drive (Thanatos) is understood as
a genuine psychic force connected with the mother complex.
Destructivity in repetitious form temporarily emancipates the ego from
unconscious dependency in the psychology of phallic-narcissism. It is
also present in the immature or fragile personality (the weak ego).
Thanatos is unconsciously therapeutic in that it aims at strengthening
a weak ego consciousness, thus to ward off unconscious wholeness,
invariably associated with the Mother archetype. Although it serves to
avoid regression, destructiveness can become obsessive. The sun-god
Horus's perennial struggle against Seth, in Egyptian mythology,
illustrates the dynamics of Thanatos. Accordingly, every night Seth
defends the sun-bark by defeating the negative Mother in the guise of
the chaos monster Apophis. Thanks to Seth, the sun of consciousness is
restored and can rise again in the morning. In history, phallocentric
culture is sustained by Thanatos in its restorative capacity, but this
runs counter to the ideals of patriarchal culture, whose guiding star
is Horus.
Keywords: Todestrieb, trauma, suicide, mortido, destrudo, patriarchal,
matriarchal.
Read the article here:
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-73784/thanatos.htm
Mats Winther
Abstract: The principle of the death drive (Thanatos) is understood as
a genuine psychic force connected with the mother complex.
Destructivity in repetitious form temporarily emancipates the ego from
unconscious dependency in the psychology of phallic-narcissism. It is
also present in the immature or fragile personality (the weak ego).
Thanatos is unconsciously therapeutic in that it aims at strengthening
a weak ego consciousness, thus to ward off unconscious wholeness,
invariably associated with the Mother archetype. Although it serves to
avoid regression, destructiveness can become obsessive. The sun-god
Horus's perennial struggle against Seth, in Egyptian mythology,
illustrates the dynamics of Thanatos. Accordingly, every night Seth
defends the sun-bark by defeating the negative Mother in the guise of
the chaos monster Apophis. Thanks to Seth, the sun of consciousness is
restored and can rise again in the morning. In history, phallocentric
culture is sustained by Thanatos in its restorative capacity, but this
runs counter to the ideals of patriarchal culture, whose guiding star
is Horus.
Keywords: Todestrieb, trauma, suicide, mortido, destrudo, patriarchal,
matriarchal.
Read the article here:
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-73784/thanatos.htm
Mats Winther
M Winther
Jun 28, 2012, 9:25:11 AM6/28/12
to
The difficulty that Freud wrestled with was how to biologically
motivate an innate tendency that goes against life. Eros sustains life
while Thanatos is antagonistic to Eros. Yet, Thanatos is not
antagonistic to life from an overarching perspective. The point is
that both Eros and Thanatos work to sustain life. It functions like a
thermostat. When it gets too hot, electricity is shut off temporarily.
Seth is a menace. He is the god of the dead region, the desert. But he
defends the sun bark in the dead of night. In modern biology, such
dialectics has been verified. All living beings undergo programmed
cell death without which they could not develop to maturity.
Destructive agents in the form of free radicals (oxidants) cause
damage to living cells. So people eat antioxidants to remove these
destructive compounds. However, over-consumption of antioxidants,
especially with elderly people, is destructive to the body, causing
inflammation and accelerated aging.
The reason is that free radicals are needed in the immune system.
White blood cells are responsible for the defense against virus,
bacteria, toxins, and cancer. They utilize free radicals as
"missiles", shooting them at the infectants, thus to destroy them.
This means that a shortage of free radicals in the body weakens the
defense. The white blood cells must have recourse to plenty of free
radicals in order to fulfill their function properly[11]. So, while
free radicals do harm to living cells, they are also necessary to
promote the life of the organism. Too much free radicals and too
little of it are equally harmful. The absence of Thanatos can have
harmful consequences to life.
Regression to infantilism in sectarian groups is an expression of
Eros. Grown-up men thus give up their willpower. They are a chocking
sight. Eventually, the leader tells them to kill themselves, an order
which they readily fulfil, deprived as they are of individual
willpower. The cult leader cuts the Mother's phallus off vicariously,
because he is contemptuous of the mother-dependent male, which is
really the painful truth about himself. Death has made the scene in
the paradisal kindergarten. According to the bible, death came into
existence when mankind was banished from the Garden, which signifies
the lost unconscious symbiosis with creation. This theme is repeated
in world mythology, as in the Australian aborigine story named "The
Southern Cross", in which death enters creation when men become aware
of sin. These myths seem to say that Thanatos is concomitant with ego
consciousness, as shadow accompanies light.
Spiritual sages of all time have been misogynistic, in a sense, and
warned against cohabitation with women, as the proselytes will tend to
fall prey to the symbiotic unconsciousness of Eros. The Gnostics,
especially, whose spiritual path revolved around enlightenment,
'gnosis' (heightened consciousness), were adamant about this. The
majority subscribed to continence and a reclusive or monastic
lifestyle. But there were Gnostics who went in the opposite direction
and allowed free rein to sexuality. They also performed sexual rituals
in open before the congregation[12]. Eros is thus torn apart, through
unnatural application of sexuality. The Gnostics were aware of this.
By emptying the erotic drive, so they thought, they got rid of its
coercive power. Thence they may give God undivided attention.
At Egypt's Tahrir square, again, a Western female journalist was
(June, 2012) sexually assaulted by a large group of men. She was
"violently attacked by a 'group of animals' who stripped her naked,
scratched and clenched her breasts and 'forced their fingers inside
her'"[13]. Eros is restrained, alternatively women are raped, or
recruited to group sex, etc. It is an expression of Thanatos and a
serious impediment to Eros. In this way weak ego-consciousness defends
against abatement in the symbiotic condition, a power set in motion by
mass-movements such as the Arab Spring. It is very characteristic of
certain ethnic groups in convergence with the modern world, on account
of a low conscious level. The Holocaust and the many ethnic cleansings
give us ample evidence of how unitive Eros is compensated by divisive
Thanatos.
Mats Winther
"M Winther" <ml...@swipnet.se> skrev i meddelandet
news:4fe8b3ab$0$4275$c83e...@weathergirl-read.tele2.net...
motivate an innate tendency that goes against life. Eros sustains life
while Thanatos is antagonistic to Eros. Yet, Thanatos is not
antagonistic to life from an overarching perspective. The point is
that both Eros and Thanatos work to sustain life. It functions like a
thermostat. When it gets too hot, electricity is shut off temporarily.
Seth is a menace. He is the god of the dead region, the desert. But he
defends the sun bark in the dead of night. In modern biology, such
dialectics has been verified. All living beings undergo programmed
cell death without which they could not develop to maturity.
Destructive agents in the form of free radicals (oxidants) cause
damage to living cells. So people eat antioxidants to remove these
destructive compounds. However, over-consumption of antioxidants,
especially with elderly people, is destructive to the body, causing
inflammation and accelerated aging.
The reason is that free radicals are needed in the immune system.
White blood cells are responsible for the defense against virus,
bacteria, toxins, and cancer. They utilize free radicals as
"missiles", shooting them at the infectants, thus to destroy them.
This means that a shortage of free radicals in the body weakens the
defense. The white blood cells must have recourse to plenty of free
radicals in order to fulfill their function properly[11]. So, while
free radicals do harm to living cells, they are also necessary to
promote the life of the organism. Too much free radicals and too
little of it are equally harmful. The absence of Thanatos can have
harmful consequences to life.
Regression to infantilism in sectarian groups is an expression of
Eros. Grown-up men thus give up their willpower. They are a chocking
sight. Eventually, the leader tells them to kill themselves, an order
which they readily fulfil, deprived as they are of individual
willpower. The cult leader cuts the Mother's phallus off vicariously,
because he is contemptuous of the mother-dependent male, which is
really the painful truth about himself. Death has made the scene in
the paradisal kindergarten. According to the bible, death came into
existence when mankind was banished from the Garden, which signifies
the lost unconscious symbiosis with creation. This theme is repeated
in world mythology, as in the Australian aborigine story named "The
Southern Cross", in which death enters creation when men become aware
of sin. These myths seem to say that Thanatos is concomitant with ego
consciousness, as shadow accompanies light.
Spiritual sages of all time have been misogynistic, in a sense, and
warned against cohabitation with women, as the proselytes will tend to
fall prey to the symbiotic unconsciousness of Eros. The Gnostics,
especially, whose spiritual path revolved around enlightenment,
'gnosis' (heightened consciousness), were adamant about this. The
majority subscribed to continence and a reclusive or monastic
lifestyle. But there were Gnostics who went in the opposite direction
and allowed free rein to sexuality. They also performed sexual rituals
in open before the congregation[12]. Eros is thus torn apart, through
unnatural application of sexuality. The Gnostics were aware of this.
By emptying the erotic drive, so they thought, they got rid of its
coercive power. Thence they may give God undivided attention.
At Egypt's Tahrir square, again, a Western female journalist was
(June, 2012) sexually assaulted by a large group of men. She was
"violently attacked by a 'group of animals' who stripped her naked,
scratched and clenched her breasts and 'forced their fingers inside
her'"[13]. Eros is restrained, alternatively women are raped, or
recruited to group sex, etc. It is an expression of Thanatos and a
serious impediment to Eros. In this way weak ego-consciousness defends
against abatement in the symbiotic condition, a power set in motion by
mass-movements such as the Arab Spring. It is very characteristic of
certain ethnic groups in convergence with the modern world, on account
of a low conscious level. The Holocaust and the many ethnic cleansings
give us ample evidence of how unitive Eros is compensated by divisive
Thanatos.
Mats Winther
"M Winther" <ml...@swipnet.se> skrev i meddelandet
news:4fe8b3ab$0$4275$c83e...@weathergirl-read.tele2.net...
M Winther
Jun 30, 2012, 4:51:59 AM6/30/12
to
Thanatos is a psychological function that accompanies the ego complex,
as shadow accompanies light. In Egyptian mythology, Horus establishes
dominion over Seth by adopting Seth as his son. Horus is the paragon
of the modern ego, Seth is the shadow. This is a very sound map of the
psyche. The corresponding relation in Christianity is that the shadow
is throughly rejected and relegated to the underworldly realm.
Thanatos is necessary to the survival of our species as a defensive
function of psychic economy. To the extent that the ego is rooted in
our biology, so is Thanatos, although it is operative in the psychic
realm. There is no wish to self-destruct as a biological species. The
destructive impulse serves to strengthen the borders of personality,
essential to the long-term survival of both the individual and the
species. Nietzsche, lending the voice of Thanatos, said that warfare
paves the way for the Übermensch, which is really Horus, the sun-hero.
Nietzsche isn't out to destroy the human species, but to augment its
survival-value.
The destructive impulse is triggered when personality faces
disintegration in unconscious merger. The policy of the Yugoslav
compound nation was to live together in unthinking unison, which is
why Yugoslavia turned into a collective suicide sect. What is the
consequence when the European welfare states accept immigrants from
regions where a passive life-style is natural, even desirable? In an
effort to repress our collective shadow, which is Nietzschean
Thanatos, European politicians are devoted to the motherly motif, and
the protection of all people in the world. Accordingly, they allow
mass-immigration of ethnicities who elevate the motherly ideal and to
whom womanhood is equated with motherhood. I don't mean to disparage
these people. We are providing them with comfortable living
circumstances, which they judge according to the matriarchal criterion
as preferable to hard toil. The patriarchal criterion is reversed. The
consequence is that Thanatos is mounting in the unconscious. There is
great risk that Europe will burn again, this time in civil war.
Mats Winther
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-73784/thanatos.htm
as shadow accompanies light. In Egyptian mythology, Horus establishes
dominion over Seth by adopting Seth as his son. Horus is the paragon
of the modern ego, Seth is the shadow. This is a very sound map of the
psyche. The corresponding relation in Christianity is that the shadow
is throughly rejected and relegated to the underworldly realm.
Thanatos is necessary to the survival of our species as a defensive
function of psychic economy. To the extent that the ego is rooted in
our biology, so is Thanatos, although it is operative in the psychic
realm. There is no wish to self-destruct as a biological species. The
destructive impulse serves to strengthen the borders of personality,
essential to the long-term survival of both the individual and the
species. Nietzsche, lending the voice of Thanatos, said that warfare
paves the way for the Übermensch, which is really Horus, the sun-hero.
Nietzsche isn't out to destroy the human species, but to augment its
survival-value.
The destructive impulse is triggered when personality faces
disintegration in unconscious merger. The policy of the Yugoslav
compound nation was to live together in unthinking unison, which is
why Yugoslavia turned into a collective suicide sect. What is the
consequence when the European welfare states accept immigrants from
regions where a passive life-style is natural, even desirable? In an
effort to repress our collective shadow, which is Nietzschean
Thanatos, European politicians are devoted to the motherly motif, and
the protection of all people in the world. Accordingly, they allow
mass-immigration of ethnicities who elevate the motherly ideal and to
whom womanhood is equated with motherhood. I don't mean to disparage
these people. We are providing them with comfortable living
circumstances, which they judge according to the matriarchal criterion
as preferable to hard toil. The patriarchal criterion is reversed. The
consequence is that Thanatos is mounting in the unconscious. There is
great risk that Europe will burn again, this time in civil war.
Mats Winther
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-73784/thanatos.htm
M Winther
Jul 4, 2012, 4:51:31 AM7/4/12
to
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 in "Anima and Animus in Fairy
Tales" (2002). She sees it as the fountainhead of masculoid thinking,
and connects it with pre-Christian Wotan and with Hitlerism.
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-73784/thanatos.htm
news:4feebe34$0$4277$c83e...@weathergirl-read.tele2.net...
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 in "Anima and Animus in Fairy
Tales" (2002). She sees it as the fountainhead of masculoid thinking,
and connects it with pre-Christian Wotan and with Hitlerism.
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-73784/thanatos.htm
news:4feebe34$0$4277$c83e...@weathergirl-read.tele2.net...
M Winther
Jul 5, 2012, 12:16:10 PM7/5/12
to
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.
news:4ff40418$0$4282$c83e...@weathergirl-read.tele2.net...
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.
news:4ff40418$0$4282$c83e...@weathergirl-read.tele2.net...
M Winther
Jul 5, 2012, 12:41:19 PM7/5/12
to
I am merely saying that those who project the demonic evil are the
very people who are possessed by it. Well worth to remember is that
the force of Thanatos exists in us all. The vital point is whether we
succeed in keeping our foot upon his neck.
Mats
news:4ff5bdd0$0$4261$c83e...@weathergirl-read.tele2.net...
very people who are possessed by it. Well worth to remember is that
the force of Thanatos exists in us all. The vital point is whether we
succeed in keeping our foot upon his neck.
Mats
news:4ff5bdd0$0$4261$c83e...@weathergirl-read.tele2.net...
M Winther
Jul 15, 2012, 4:33:29 AM7/15/12
to
According to Azar Gat ("War in Human Civilization"), primitive man's
mortality rates in war, skirmishes, or
intra-group violence, before the coming of state authority, is
extremely high. In the Amazon, a study of the Waorani showed more than
60% of adult deaths over five generations were caused by feuding and
warfare. In a prehistoric Indian site in Madisonville Ohio, 22% male
skulls had wounds and 8% were fractured. In a similar site in
Illinois, 16% had met a violent death. In New Guinea, about 15% died
as a result of inter- and intra group violence: 24% males and 7%
females. At the Australian island of Tiwi, the aboriginals lost 10% of
the male population in a decade. An Aboriginal tribe of Murngin of
Arnhem Land lost 200 men out of a population of 3,000, during a period
of 20 years. 30% of the warriors died. Another study suggests
aboriginals in a generation lost about 5 to 6.5%. Studies of Eskimos
show a murder rate of one in a thousand, about ten times the US peak
rate in 1990.
But violence is not predicated on the motif of keeping the population
down. Agriculture has allowed an enormous increase in population
numbers, whereas our murderous activity hasn't increased, but rather
abated. An important factor is the way in which the frail
consciousness of natural man is sustained by tradition. Accordingly,
the introduction of alien thoughtways and traditions (a form of
multiculturalism) has a passivating effect, with the result that
consciousness loses its impetus. The introduction of Christianity in
primitive society has resulted in a collective lethargy. Carl Jung
sees this as a very tragic complication of cultural colonialism. It
works almost like a poison that kills their distinctive cultural
character and their will to proclaim themselves as worthy humans.
There are many examples of vigorous and ecologically sophisticated
cultures, such as the African Bantu, in which people lived worthy
lives in harmony with nature. However, in the Third World, today,
there is a strong tendency toward an unworthy vegetating lifestyle.
The conscious level is generally lower than in animistic society,
which had a great awareness of the spirit. Whether these developments
could have been avoided, is another question.
In traditional culture, Thanatos was institutionalized, as human
sacrifice, warfare, and initiation rites involving marring. Thanatos
revolves around the archetype of death as provider of the conditions
for new life. For instance, when the vegetation is burned, you also
create very fruitful agricultural land. The abatement of the conscious
level is connected with the removal of Thanatos from culture. As a
result, the ego is today in closer proximity to the Mother. It would
explain why primitive society is so very conservative and tends to
keep sternly to the traditions of the forefather spirits, and why
aborigins are so prone to make war against other tribes. To defend
culture and territory is also to defend the conquests of ego
consciousness. The injuries sustained by the warriors of primitive
society make them incomplete. A missing limb, for instance, is a sign
that the warrior has departed from childlike wholeness and become a
free agent with respect to unconscious wholeness. He has obtained
precious consciousness and a relative independence of will, Thus, he
is endowed with immense power. Wotan (Oden) sacrificed an eye, thus he
came to possess wisdom and the knowledge of the runes. Tezcatlipoca
sacrificed a leg in the jaws of the Earth Monster, which is the
grounds for his rise to power.
news:4ff5c3b5$0$4266$c83e...@weathergirl-read.tele2.net...
>>>> for the �bermensch, which is really Horus, the sun-hero.
mortality rates in war, skirmishes, or
intra-group violence, before the coming of state authority, is
extremely high. In the Amazon, a study of the Waorani showed more than
60% of adult deaths over five generations were caused by feuding and
warfare. In a prehistoric Indian site in Madisonville Ohio, 22% male
skulls had wounds and 8% were fractured. In a similar site in
Illinois, 16% had met a violent death. In New Guinea, about 15% died
as a result of inter- and intra group violence: 24% males and 7%
females. At the Australian island of Tiwi, the aboriginals lost 10% of
the male population in a decade. An Aboriginal tribe of Murngin of
Arnhem Land lost 200 men out of a population of 3,000, during a period
of 20 years. 30% of the warriors died. Another study suggests
aboriginals in a generation lost about 5 to 6.5%. Studies of Eskimos
show a murder rate of one in a thousand, about ten times the US peak
rate in 1990.
But violence is not predicated on the motif of keeping the population
down. Agriculture has allowed an enormous increase in population
numbers, whereas our murderous activity hasn't increased, but rather
abated. An important factor is the way in which the frail
consciousness of natural man is sustained by tradition. Accordingly,
the introduction of alien thoughtways and traditions (a form of
multiculturalism) has a passivating effect, with the result that
consciousness loses its impetus. The introduction of Christianity in
primitive society has resulted in a collective lethargy. Carl Jung
sees this as a very tragic complication of cultural colonialism. It
works almost like a poison that kills their distinctive cultural
character and their will to proclaim themselves as worthy humans.
There are many examples of vigorous and ecologically sophisticated
cultures, such as the African Bantu, in which people lived worthy
lives in harmony with nature. However, in the Third World, today,
there is a strong tendency toward an unworthy vegetating lifestyle.
The conscious level is generally lower than in animistic society,
which had a great awareness of the spirit. Whether these developments
could have been avoided, is another question.
In traditional culture, Thanatos was institutionalized, as human
sacrifice, warfare, and initiation rites involving marring. Thanatos
revolves around the archetype of death as provider of the conditions
for new life. For instance, when the vegetation is burned, you also
create very fruitful agricultural land. The abatement of the conscious
level is connected with the removal of Thanatos from culture. As a
result, the ego is today in closer proximity to the Mother. It would
explain why primitive society is so very conservative and tends to
keep sternly to the traditions of the forefather spirits, and why
aborigins are so prone to make war against other tribes. To defend
culture and territory is also to defend the conquests of ego
consciousness. The injuries sustained by the warriors of primitive
society make them incomplete. A missing limb, for instance, is a sign
that the warrior has departed from childlike wholeness and become a
free agent with respect to unconscious wholeness. He has obtained
precious consciousness and a relative independence of will, Thus, he
is endowed with immense power. Wotan (Oden) sacrificed an eye, thus he
came to possess wisdom and the knowledge of the runes. Tezcatlipoca
sacrificed a leg in the jaws of the Earth Monster, which is the
grounds for his rise to power.
news:4ff5c3b5$0$4266$c83e...@weathergirl-read.tele2.net...
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