Mask - (Lyn Cowan, Masochism; A Jungian view)
Richard
anyone share their wisdom?
"Throughout the play, the masochist, like Dionysus, wears a mask. In
the theater province of Dionysus, the masochist reveals that he is not
only a spineless, passive creature of misfortune, but also a forceful
actor. He must act, and loves to act, and hates to act. So great is
his inner torment that it must hide behind curtains and burst forth
onto centre stage.
On the one hand, exhibitionism attempts to activate, deepen, and
intensify masochistic experience, reducing it to amateur charades,
pushing it into the theatre of the absurd. In the contradictory and
paradoxical phenomenon of exhibitionism, the roles of masochist and
martyr interchange in the same actor, their distinctions nearly
obliterated in the spotlight's glare". (p124)
"The patron god of masochism, Dionysus, wears a smiling mask. As long
as we see only the smiling aspect of the mask, we must think of
masochism as a false pain, a histrionic-not a tragic or
dramatic-suffering. But as in any drama, the audience does not always
recognise what it is is seeing. And the masochist himself does not
always know he is acting. After all, in the front of the mask, one
sees a 'real' face, and behind it, one cannot see the mask at all. The
masochistic exhibitionist wears a mask of paradox. Most often, it is
the revealed ex hibition of humiliation and pain; yet simultaneously,
it is an attempted in hibition of pleasure. The mask is a true face,
revealing an aspect of the pain and/or pleasure of a masochistic
moment. The mask is the fixed, unchanging face of intolerable
extremity". (p125)
I would be grateful for any comments on this text.
Richard
Salaryman
On 24 Oct 2003, Richard attempted to roll-back post contemporary Jungian
I read the mask as a crucifix. The eternal theater master hails you. If you
recognize yourself as the one hailed then you are the crucified on that
cross. Suffering perhaps that puer aesthetic of such beautiful flowing rose
red blood - why stop the pain that results in such beauty? Or perhaps the
unbearable alteration, enantiodromias, of suspention between the release by
heaven and hibition by earth.
--
Human relationships are not the same thing as material objects.
Annalee Newitz [Marxist Feminist]
Conservatism: "Affection for the proliferating variety
and mystery of human existence." - Russell Kirk
THIS WEEKS AMERICAN PIE CHART:
How Americans Use Their Hummer H2 -
Delivering Girl Scout cookies: 16%
Becoming Exxon's customer of the month: 21%
Intimidating fellow man: 46.5%
Hauling "Starving Artists" painting purchases: 4%
Overcoming fear of heights: 12%
Playing hide and seek: 9%
Off-roading: 0.5%
http://sierraclubmedia.net/flash/h2revise.html
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Rachelle Moore
did post or cause to be posted in alt.psychology.jung
<be585c82.03102...@posting.google.com>:
Taking masochism as something like "a tendency to assure cruel comfort
by acting out enjoying one's hurt as if one were unable to prevent a
significant loss" (after E.Erikson), the "ex-hibition/in-hibition"
split between "bad-feeling/good-feeling" is presented as persona
("mask"), though not necessarily yet experienced as such. (Haven't
actually read the book; don't know! :)
Several places in Jung is drawn out relationships between ceremonial
mask-crafting and ego differentiation, and he constructed a
developmental relationship between this and a putative "persona." His
reasoning probably was that by choosing to craft an external "face,"
an internal one becomes consolidated by acquiring the ability to
become self-referencing. This, in contrast to "mask as fixed,
unchanging face."
The "martyr-masochism" connection I can't quite understand. I mean, I
can feel there's a connection, but the metaphor is outside my range as
yet. (Here's where it would be useful to read the book, I suppose! :)
-
Rachelle
Richard
Thank you Salaryman and Rachelle; you've given me a lot to think about :-)