| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
06 Jan 2005 11:39:25 AM |
| Object: |
Public is silent as America becomes a tyranny |
From The Daytona Beach News-Journal, 1/4/05:
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/03OpOPN69010405.htm
Public silent as rules of civil society are rewritten
Memos he signed condoning torture and bearing the Bush
administration's seal notwithstanding, Alberto Gonzales isn't about to
tell the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning that he or
President Bush supports torture in any way.
Gonzales wants to be the next attorney general, the nation's chief
enforcer of the Constitution, which prohibits "cruel and unusual
punishment" clearly enough.
He wants his confirmation hearing to be a formality, not a showcase
for contradictions.
He'll likely get his wish.
Expect Gonzales to provide the paint, the committee to provide the
brushes, and Thursday's hearing to be the inaugural whitewash of the
second Bush administration.
The committee's membership, Republican or Democrat, has yet to raise
much of a fuss about the administration's taste for gulag justice --
at Guantanamo Bay, at Abu Ghraib prison, at home through the USA
Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security's thickening
rulebook.
The committee's members aren't about to fuss now, even though one of
the chief architects of those gulag ways will be sitting in front of
them for two hours.
In that sense, the committee is representative of the public's
staggering apathy regarding this administration's grave and chronic
abuse of basic human and civil rights.
For the past several months hardly a week has gone by without new
revelations of the extent and savageness of prisoner abuse in Iraq.
The public reaction has been mute.
Over the weekend The Washington Post revealed that the Pentagon and
the CIA are looking for the means to keep hundreds of so-called
terrorist suspects locked up for life, without charge, getting around
obvious constitutional barriers by outsourcing the prisoners to
jailers abroad.
The public's reaction has been nonexistent.
At the same time reports leaked to The New York Times revealed that
the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo has included forced enemas,
sensory abuse, fake trips to made-up interrogation cells abroad,
indefinite shackling (to force prisoners to soil themselves) and other
abusive interrogation methods that are anything but the "humane"
treatment the Bush administration says it has been meting out to
Guantanamo's prisoners.
The public's reaction has been nil.
Fear of another Sept. 11 and assumptions of the prisoners' guilt are
overriding the most fundamental principles of justice.
Evidence has been made subordinate to circumstance.
Prisoners are presumed guilty.
It is up to them to prove their innocence (without lawyers in many
cases, without a trial, without so much as a judge's intervention).
The very government that ought to be upholding and protecting the
rules of civilized society is rewriting those rules for those it deems
suspect enough to dehumanize.
Gonzales didn't write the torture memo as an exercise in
possibilities, but as an affirmation of policies then ongoing.
Last week the Justice Department posted a 17-page memo on its Web site
professing to refute the Gonzales memo, and calling all torture
unacceptable.
Yet it also concludes that none of the interrogation methods approved
by the Justice Department have amounted to torture.
It's another word game, a whitewash to facilitate Gonzales'
confirmation and make Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and lesser-known scandals
seem like nothing more complicated, or less reasonable, than Taking
Care of Business
____________________________________________________________
"The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority,
or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by
force or fraud, in carrying elections."
Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton (1834-1902)
Harry
.
|
|
| User: "george" |
|
| Title: Re: Public is silent as America becomes a tyranny |
06 Jan 2005 06:35:09 PM |
|
|
In article <3utqt09h2a15r7bg4outnuq1gdc8qm9q8v@4ax.com>,
Harry Hope <rivrvu@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
From The Daytona Beach News-Journal, 1/4/05:
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/03OpOPN
69010405.htm
Public silent as rules of civil society are rewritten
Memos he signed condoning torture and bearing the Bush
administration's seal notwithstanding, Alberto Gonzales isn't about to
tell the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning that he or
President Bush supports torture in any way.
Gonzales wants to be the next attorney general, the nation's chief
enforcer of the Constitution, which prohibits "cruel and unusual
punishment" clearly enough.
He wants his confirmation hearing to be a formality, not a showcase
for contradictions.
He'll likely get his wish.
Expect Gonzales to provide the paint, the committee to provide the
brushes, and Thursday's hearing to be the inaugural whitewash of the
second Bush administration.
The committee's membership, Republican or Democrat, has yet to raise
much of a fuss about the administration's taste for gulag justice --
at Guantanamo Bay, at Abu Ghraib prison, at home through the USA
Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security's thickening
rulebook.
The committee's members aren't about to fuss now, even though one of
the chief architects of those gulag ways will be sitting in front of
them for two hours.
In that sense, the committee is representative of the public's
staggering apathy regarding this administration's grave and chronic
abuse of basic human and civil rights.
For the past several months hardly a week has gone by without new
revelations of the extent and savageness of prisoner abuse in Iraq.
The public reaction has been mute.
Over the weekend The Washington Post revealed that the Pentagon and
the CIA are looking for the means to keep hundreds of so-called
terrorist suspects locked up for life, without charge, getting around
obvious constitutional barriers by outsourcing the prisoners to
jailers abroad.
The public's reaction has been nonexistent.
At the same time reports leaked to The New York Times revealed that
the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo has included forced enemas,
sensory abuse, fake trips to made-up interrogation cells abroad,
indefinite shackling (to force prisoners to soil themselves) and other
abusive interrogation methods that are anything but the "humane"
treatment the Bush administration says it has been meting out to
Guantanamo's prisoners.
The public's reaction has been nil.
Fear of another Sept. 11 and assumptions of the prisoners' guilt are
overriding the most fundamental principles of justice.
Evidence has been made subordinate to circumstance.
Prisoners are presumed guilty.
It is up to them to prove their innocence (without lawyers in many
cases, without a trial, without so much as a judge's intervention).
The very government that ought to be upholding and protecting the
rules of civilized society is rewriting those rules for those it deems
suspect enough to dehumanize.
Gonzales didn't write the torture memo as an exercise in
possibilities, but as an affirmation of policies then ongoing.
Last week the Justice Department posted a 17-page memo on its Web site
professing to refute the Gonzales memo, and calling all torture
unacceptable.
Yet it also concludes that none of the interrogation methods approved
by the Justice Department have amounted to torture.
It's another word game, a whitewash to facilitate Gonzales'
confirmation and make Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and lesser-known scandals
seem like nothing more complicated, or less reasonable, than Taking
Care of Business
____________________________________________________________
"The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority,
or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by
force or fraud, in carrying elections."
Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton (1834-1902)
Harry
here's why
OThe Jungian analysis by Paul Levy, of Bush and the culture which
maintains
him, reaches deep into the American psyche. It should be studied and
digested by everyone. If the citizenry would recognize that Bush's
egomania
is acting out a national illness, we would all be saner. If the US could
integrate the "shadow" which Bush projects upon "the axis of evil,"
perhaps
we could achieve world peace and start to solve global problem. A MUST
READ.O
Carol S. Wolman, MD, Board Certified in Psychiatry
THE MADNESS OF GEORGE W. BUSH:
A REFLECTION OF OUR COLLECTIVE PSYCHOSIS
by Paul Levy
Click here to download a PDF version of this article.
One good thing I can say about President Bush is that he's gotten me
interested in politics. Before he came to office, I was mainly
interested in
spiritual matters, and considered politics a "distraction." There was
something playing out through George W. Bush as president, though, that
not
only caught my attention but strongly triggered something in me. In his
campaign he promised us a foreign policy with humility, yet his actions
seemed so arrogant, so full of hubris. I sensed a deep underlying
incongruity, as if some unfinished psychological process was
unconsciously
enacting itself through him. The problem with this was that because of
his
position as president, his unconscious was playing itself out and being
dramatized on the world stage, where it was negatively affecting the
lives
of billions of people. I saw that he was unwittingly evoking and
literally
creating more of the very situation that he was claiming to be fighting
against. It is as if he is fighting against his own shadow, which is a
battle that can never be won. There seems to be an element of craziness
in
it.
I would like to speak the marginalized voice. This voice can no longer be
kept silent, as it is being emboldened by the endless destruction that
the
Bush Administration is causing. It is as if there is an elephant in the
living room, and more and more people are pointing at it. The emperor
has no
clothes, and people are noticing. Situations like this, where someone's
unconscious actions are causing great harm to others, literally demand
to be
named. There is a field of fear and cover-up that gets constellated
around
someone like George Bush that inhibits people from speaking the truth.
This
is analogous to how people were afraid to disagree with Bush after 9/11
for
fear of being called terrorists. "You're either with us, or you're with
the
terrorists."
The truth now needs to be uttered. George W. Bush is ill. He has a
psycho-spiritual dis-ease of the soul, a sickness that is endemic to our
culture and symptomatic of the times we live in. ItOs an illness that has
been with us since time immemorial. Because itOs an illness that's in the
soul of all of humanity, it pervades the field and is in all of us in
potential at any moment, which makes it especially hard to diagnose.
Bush's
malady is quite different from schizophrenia, for example, in which all
the
different parts of the personality are fragmented and not connected to
each
other, resulting in a state of internal chaos. As compared to the
dis-order
of the schizophrenic, Bush can sound quite coherent and can appear like
such
a "regular," normal guy, which makes the syndrome he is suffering from
very
hard to recognize. This is because the healthy parts of his personality
have
been co-opted by the pathological aspect, which drafts them into its
service. Because of the way the personality self-organizes an outer
display
of coherence around a pathogenic core, I would like to name Bush's
illness
"malignant egophrenic (as compared to schizophrenic) disorder," or "ME
disorder," for short. If ME disorder goes unrecognized and is not
contained,
it can be very destructive, particularly if the person is in a position
of
power.
In much the same way that a child's psychology cannot be understood
without
looking at the family system he or she is a part of, George Bush does not
exist in isolation. We can view Bush and his entire Administration
(Cheney,
Rumsfeld, Rice, Ashcroft, Powell, Wolfowitz, etc), as well as the
corporate,
military industrial complex that they are co-dependently enmeshed with,
the
media that they control, the voters that support them, and ourselves as
well, as interconnected parts of a whole system, or a "field." Instead of
relating to any part of this field as an isolated entity, itOs important
to
contemplate the entire interdependent field as the "medium" though which
malignant egophrenia manifests and propagates itself. ME disease is a
field
phenomenon, and needs to be contemplated as such. Bush's sickness is our
own.
THE LIE
It is not that the threat of terrorism is not real, but that Bush's
policies
in dealing with terrorism are actually fueling the fire. A recent poll
showed that the majority of Americans have finally recognized that the
war
in Iraq has actually increased the threat of terrorism. Talking about
Bush's
policies on terrorism and his pre-emptive invasion of Iraq, Al Gore says,
"Instead of making it better, he has made it infinitely worse. We are
less
safe because of his policiesEE.the unpleasant truth is that President
Bush's
utter incompetence has made the world a far more dangerous place and
dramatically increased the threat of terrorism against the United
States."
Bush totally fell into Bin Laden's trap. Bin Laden couldn't have
imagined a
better recruiting tool for terrorists than for Bush to invade Iraq. The
way
Bush is fighting terrorism is actually the very act which is invoking and
creating more of it in the first place.
At the root of Bush's pathology is a deep dissociation. Like the
terrorists,
he has split-off from his own darker half, projecting the shadow "out
there," and then tries to destroy this dis-owned shadow. By projecting
the
shadow onto each other, Bush and the terrorists are each seeing their own
shadow reflected in the other. They see each other as criminals, as the
incarnation of evil. By projecting the shadow like this, they locate the
evil "out there," which insures that they don't have to recognize the
evil
within themselves. It's interesting to note that the inner meaning of the
word mirror is "shadow holder." Ironically, by fighting against their own
shadow in this way, they become possessed by the very thing they are
trying
to destroy, thereby perpetuating a never-ending cycle of violence. To
quote
C. G. Jung, one of the greatest psychologists of the twentieth century,
"The
psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made
conscious,
it happens outside, as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains
undivided [not in touch with both the light AND dark parts of themselves]
and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world must
perforce
act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves."
Symbolically, this is the repetition compulsion of the traumatized soul
gone
awry, to daemonic proportions, acting itself out on the world stage. To
quote noted psychologist Rollo May, the daemonic is "any natural function
which has the power to take over the whole person [or whole nation]E..the
daemonic can be either creative or destructive [i.e, demonic]E..violence
is
the daemonic gone awry." The disease takes on a certain autonomy and
literally possesses the person or group, as it is self-generating,
self-perpetuating and self-organizing in nature, like a closed and
negative
feedback loop. The person who is taken over doesn't suspect a thing as
the
field secretly conspires and colludes with and enables their psychosis.
Jung simply refers to projecting the shadow as "the lie." ItOs
interesting
to note that one of the inner meanings of the word Devil is "the liar."
Projecting the shadow, to quote Jung, "deprives us of the capacity to
deal
with evil." Jung stresses the importance of consciously developing what
he
calls one's "imagination for evil," which is to consciously recognize
one's
potential for evil. This recognition means embracing and integrating
one's
dark side into one's wholeness, which is made up of both light and dark.
If
we have no imagination for evil, to quote Jung, "evil has us in its
gripEE.for only the fool can permanently disregard the conditions of his
own
nature. In fact, this negligence is the best means of making him an
instrument of evil."
By projecting the shadow, Bush is unwittingly being a conduit for the
deepest, archetypal evil to possess him from behind, beneath his
conscious
awareness, and to act itself out through him. At the same time,
ironically
enough, he identifies with the light and imagines that he is divinely
inspired. He then believes that any action he desires is justified in the
name of God, as he can rationalize it as being God's will. Unable to
self-reflect, he is convinced of the rightness of his viewpoint, which he
considers non-negotiable. This is a very dangerous situation, as Bush has
become unconsciously identified with and possessed by the hero, or savior
archetype. This figure is religious in nature, as it derives from the
transpersonal, archetypal dimension of the collective unconscious. Being
inflated with the hero archetype, he (archetypically) wants to save the
world from evil and to liberate the planet.
This is the height of irony since, in reality, Bush is acting as an
unwitting conduit for evil by instigating wars and taking away people's
freedoms. This incongruity brings into bold relief the severe schizoid
split
that characterizes Bush's condition. His inflation blinds him to the real
consequences of his actions and is one of the easier to recognize
aspects of
his pathology. Being inflated due to an unconscious identification with
an
archetype is, in essence, an expression of having forfeited one's
humanity,
a state in which humility becomes impossible.
Bush has fallen into a state that is the embodiment of arrogance.
Succumbing
to the temptation of power, Bush has become corrupt, which is the
inevitable
consequence when one prefers power over truth. He has fallen into a
vicious
cycle where he has become addicted to power. Bush and his regime are
compulsively driven to do everything and anything they can to hold onto
the
position of power they find themselves in. Not only do they not see the
depraved nature of the situation they have fallen into, they don't want
to
see it. Being in the role of having power, there is a counter-incentive
to
self-reflect, which just reinforces the strength of the pathogen. As Al
Gore
mentioned, this is Bush's Faustian pact with the Devil.
Interestingly, as Freud pointed out, the Devil is symbolically related to
the archetypal figure of the negative father. The negative patriarchy,
the
dark father (darth vader) is the deeper, mythic, archetypal process that
has
seized Bush and is unconsciously playing itself out through him. The
negative father is a power-intoxicated devil, so to speak, that wants to
control, dominate and dictate to others. Like a bully who is in a
position
of power and privilege, this figure abuses its power simply because it
can.
Because it is attached to the position of power it finds itself in, this
figure is not interested in change, and therefore has become rigid,
calcified and egocentric. As Bush told Tim Russert of OMeet the Press,O
OIOm
not going to change.O This figure is an expression of an old paradigm,
macho
(Obring Oem onO) mentality whose MO is force. It does not learn from its
mistakes, and has wounded, terrorized and killed millions over centuries.
Seemingly strong and powerful on the surface, at the root of the figure
of
the terrible father is extreme fear and weakness, as it is threatened by
anyone who challenges its dominance.
The archetypal role of the negative father that Bush embodies is a figure
that exists deep inside of everyone. WeOre collectively living out the
archetypal myth of the death of the negative patriarchy, which is
symbolized
by the myth of the old king who is in dire need of transformation. We
have
all dreamed up the Bush regime to play this out for us so that we can
bring
consciousness to this part of ourselves. The old king is dissociated from
and threatened by Eros, from feeling, from the feminine, from the heart,
from relatedness, even from mother nature and the environment (which it
objectifies and tries to dominate, instead of being in relationship
with),
and from love. Concerned about nothing other than itself, this figure is
indifferent to other peopleOs suffering, all the while professing its
compassion. It is a true wolf in sheepOs clothing. Another name for the
mythic negative father is ME disease.
At the root of BushOs process is an unwillingness and seeming inability
to
experience his own sense of sin, guilt and shame, as if he is afraid of
being exposed, of being found out. HeOs clearly unable to feel any
remorse
and experience his own weakness and vulnerability, his own sense of
failure.
This threatens his narcissism too much. This inability to experience his
shame and guilt sets in motion a self-perpetuating cycle of denial,
cover-up
and projecting the shadow, all of which are based on a lie. Bush then
falls
into an endless loop of hiding from his own lie, which is to say, from
himself. This process allows Bush to becomes a conduit for egophrenia to
take him over and incarnate its malignant aspect through him.
Jung comments on this resistance to self-reflection and endless cycle of
self- deception by saying "Hysterical self-deceivers, and ordinary ones
too,
have at all times understood the art of misusing everything so as to
avoid
the demands and duties of life, and above all to shirk the duty of
confronting themselves. They pretend to be seekers after God in order
not to
have to face the truth that they are ordinary egoists."
Falling victim to one's own deception as Bush has can have a very
mesmerizing and gripping effect on others, as he appears so convinced of
what he is saying and is able to project this conviction. To quote Jung,
"Nothing has such a convincing effect as a lie one invents and believes
oneself." Bush has the seductive coherence of someone who is fanatically
identified, like the typical fundamentalist, with only one side of a
polarity. Thomas Merton, commenting on the case of the obviously demented
Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, points out "One of the most disturbing
facts that came out in the Eichmann trial was that a psychiatrist
examined
him and pronounced him perfectly sane." A key feature of malignant
egophrenia is that it is very hard to recognize when someone is a
carrier,
because the person can seem so normal and even endearing. The person
afflicted can be very "charming" and have a certain type of charisma that
can entrance those who don't see through their subterfuge.
Just like Hitler struck a chord deep in the German unconscious, Bush is
touching something very deep in the American psyche. Bush is acting out
on
the world stage an under-developed psychological process that deals
simplistically with issues such as good and evil. ItOs as if he hasn't
grown
out of and fully differentiated from the realm of mythic, archetypal
fantasy
that is typical of early adolescence. This immature aspect of Bush's
process
speaks to and resonates with those voters who support him, as it is a
reflection of their own under-developed inner process.
Whereas HitlerOs evil was more overt in its cruelty and sadism, BushOs
dark
side is much more hidden and disguised, which makes it particularly
dangerous. People who vote for Bush are somehow blind to what is very
obvious to others. ItOs as if theyOve become hypnotized and fallen under
the
spell that Bush is casting. Why would people vote for someone stricken
with
malignant egophrenia? People who support Bush are suggestible and
susceptible to the same malady that Bush is embodying, as if they have a
predisposition for it (based on their own trauma, dissociated psyche and
tendency to project the shadow). Supporting Bush is a sign that a person
not
only doesn't see the deadly illness that is incarnating itself through
Bush,
but is an expression that this disease has taken up residence in their
being
and is using them to do its bidding.
THE DISEASE IS NON-LOCAL
Being a field phenomenon, malignant egophrenia is non-local in nature,
which
means that it is not bound by the limitations of time or space. Being
non-local, this disease pervades and underlies the entire field and can
therefore manifest anywhere, through anyone and at any moment. The
disease's
non-local nature makes the question of who has the disease irrelevant,
as we
all have it in potential. It is more a question of whether or not we are
aware of our susceptibility to fall prey to the disease. This awareness
itself serves as an immunization that protects us from the pernicious
effects of the illness, thereby allowing us to be of genuine help to
others.
Bush, like all of us, is both a manifestation of this deeper field and
simultaneously an agent affecting this field. HeOs become so fully taken
over by the disease, all the while not suspecting a thing, that heOs
become
a "carrier" for this deadly disease, thus infecting the field around him.
HeOs become a portal through which the field around him "warps" in such a
way as to feed and support his pathogenic process. A non-local,
reciprocally
co-arising and interdependent field of unconscious denial and cover-up
gets
constellated around Bush to enable and protect his pathology.
People who don't recognize Bush's illness and support him are colluding
with
and enabling in the co-creation of the pathological field that is
birthing
itself through him into the human family. People who support Bush become
unwitting agents through which this non-local disease feeds and
replicates
itself. By supporting Bush they are collaborating with and becoming
parts of
the greater, interconnected and self-organizing field of the disease.
The situation is very analogous to when seemingly good, normal, loving
Germans supported Hitler, believing he was a good leader trying to help
them. The German people didn't realize that the virulent pathogen
malignant
egophrenia had taken possession of Hitler and was incarnating itself
through
him. By not seeing this and supporting Hitler, they became agents used by
this non-local, deadly disease to propagate itself. This was a collective
psychosis, and this is what is taking place in our country right now.
This is exactly what Jung was warning us about when he said "The gigantic
catastrophes that threaten us today are not elemental happenings of a
physical or biological order, but psychic events. To a quite terrifying
degree we are threatened by wars and revolutions which are nothing other
than psychic epidemics. At any moment several millions of human beings
may
be smitten with a new madness, and then we shall have another world war
or
devastating revolution. Instead of being at the mercy of wild beasts,
earthquakes, landslides, and inundations, modern man is battered by the
elemental forces of his own psyche."
A COLLECTIVE PSYCHOSIS
Malignant egophrenia is crazy-making. It induces a very hard to recognize
form of insanity. It's a world where up is down, as its flawless illogic
is
convoluted and inverted at its core. People with egophrenia do not
recognize
the mirror-like nature of reality, so they accuse other people of doing
what
they themselves are doing. For example, Bush is talking about himself
when
he accuses Saddam Hussein of being Oa man who has defied the world,O and
Oa
man who has made the United Nations look foolish.O When we fall prey to
egophrenia, we are unable to recognize that we are taken over, as we
become
bewitched by our own projections. Part of the disease is that when we
point
at it and call it by its true name - as being a form of insanity called
ignorance - people who are stricken with the disease will see us as the
one's who are crazy. Unless we recognize the insidious nature of this
disease, there is a crazy-making field around it that will make us a
part of
itself. Collective psychosis is like that.
There is only one reason why the mainstream psychiatric community is not
studying this contagious psychosis as it spreads through Bush, his
regime,
and the surrounding field. They are not studying this disease because
they
haven't yet recognized that the disease even exists. To the extent that
any
of us are unaware that this non-local pathogen pervades the field we
become
hooked by it through our own unconscious blind-spot. By not recognizing
the
nature of the disease, the mental health community becomes its unwitting
agents, helping the disease to propagate. What clearer sign do we need
of a
collective psychosis than when our mental health system itself, whose
job it
is to monitor such phenomenon, not only doesn't recognize that there is a
collective psychosis running rampant in our society, but are themselves
infected with it?
The DSM-IV, the psychiatric diagnostic manual, is continually expanding
and
including new diagnoses as we deepen our understanding of and map the
contours of the human psyche. The problem is that the DSM-IV is an
expression of an "old paradigm" way of thinking in that it looks at
mental
illness as it exists in individuals, regarding the individual as an
object
existing separate from the field around them. This is based on an
illusion,
for the individual is embedded in the greater field (family system,
society,
and planetary culture) and is an expression of this multi-textured field.
The individual and the field around them interpenetrate and condition
each
other so fully that they can't even be regarded as two separate aspects
that
have become joined together, but rather must be seen as inseparable
parts of
a greater whole. Egophrenia expresses itself non-locally throughout the
entire field. Consequently, instead of being viewed through the lens of
the
fragmented, separate self, it requires a more holistic vision that
recognizes the existence of the interdependently co-arising field. ItOs
not
a question of integrating ME disease into the existing DSM-IV, but
instead
of radically expanding, up-leveling and re-visioning our understanding of
the nature of illness itself.
ItOs profoundly important that the mental health community at large
recognize this age-old disease with which we are all afflicted. Doing
this
changes this community from being part of the problem to part of the
solution. The disease literally feeds on our unawareness of it. The
recognition of the disease is itself the beginning of the cure. By
recognizing the nature of this collective psychosis, we snap out of being
part of it. Malignant egophrenia, unrecognized and misdiagnosed until
now,
has wreaked havoc all throughout human history, and is at the very root
of
our current world crisis. To the extent we are unaware of the nature of
this
collective psychosis, it has us in its grips and will unconsciously get
acted out through us in a destructive manner. The choice is truly ours.
One of the signatures of ME disease is that it hooks people through their
unconscious blind-spot, so when people are afflicted by this deadly
disease
they are truly asleep to what is getting acted out through them. Bush
himself is being manipulated, used and victimized, like a marionette on a
string, by a deeper matrix of cover-up and deceit that has been
perpetrated
by him and his very regime, and has now taken on an autonomous life of
its
own. This disease, if it gets out of control, means self-destruction for
both victim and perpetrator. There are no winners. The entire
interconnected
web that supports Bush can be recognized to be tentacles of this
virulent,
non-local pathogen that, to the extent that it is not seen, is
potentially
gaining more and more sovereignty. Like a sci-fi movie, we have dreamed
up a
higher-dimensional Frankenstein monster that has taken on a life of its
own
and truly threatens all of us.
MALIGNANT NARCISSISM
Psychologically speaking, one facet of Bush's condition is what is called
"malignant narcissism." This is a narcissist who reacts to others who
don't
support and enable their narcissism not just with aggression but with
sadism. IOve never seen so many books come out by members of a
presidential
administration that hold up a mirror and reflect our president's shadow.
Instead of self-reflecting and taking in the critical feedback, the Bush
administration reacts like a mean-spirited malignant narcissist behaves-
by
denying the accusation and then by trying to destroy the messenger.
Malignant narcissists also tend towards paranoia and are very adept at
charming and manipulating others. They can seem confident and
self-assured,
but are, in reality, covering deep insecurities and fears through an
inflated self-image. Malignant narcissists are unable to genuinely mourn
or
feel empathy for others and have an overwhelming lack of genuine
compassion.
They relate to others (including the environment) as objects to satisfy
and
support their own inflated, narcissistic self-image (so much for
"compassionate conservatism"). Malignant narcissists have contempt for
anyone who disagrees with them (as it threatens their narcissism). For
example, the Bush Administration labels those who disagree with them as
being "un-American," "unpatriotic," and as we have seen in more extreme
cases "terrorists."
Malignant narcissists also have contempt for and flagrantly violate the
rule
of law, which they believe themselves to be above. Thai intellectual and
social critic Sulak Sivaraksa likens Bush to two other malignant
narcissists, Hitler and Stalin, arguing that Bush's declaration of an
"axis
of Evil," Hitler's "Final Solution," and Stalin's "pogrom of peasants"
were
actually analogous attempts "to perfect the world by destroying the
[perceived] impurities." Another modern day malignant narcissist is none
other than Saddam Hussein.
THE PALE CRIMINAL
The great German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche talked about an
extremely
pathological condition that he called the "pale criminal," which is a
chillingly accurate description of Bush that adds even more insight into
his
psychiatric profile. Jung felt that the pale criminal idea of Nietzsche
was
so profound that he referred to it in articulating a particular type of
malevolent personality disorder. To quote Jung, the pale criminal "simply
will not and cannot admit the he is what he is; he cannot endure his own
guilt, just as he could not help incurring it. He will stoop to every
kind
of self-deception if only he can escape the sight of himselfE.which
consists
essentially in one hand not knowing what the other is doing, in wanting
to
jump over one's own shadow, and in looking for everything dark, inferior
and
culpable in othersE.but since nobody can jump out of his skin and be rid
of
himself, they stand in their own way everywhere as their own evil
spirit."
Jung continues that the pale criminal's unconscious identification with
one
side of the polarity, his "God Almightiness, that is to say all those
qualities which are peculiar to fools and madmen and therefore lead to
catastropheEEmerely fills him with arrogance and arouses everything evil
in
him. It produces a diabolical caricature of man, and this inhuman mask
is so
unendurable, such a torture to wear, that he tortures othersEEdisrupts
the
laws of humanity, and sins against all the rules of the human
communityE..he
has to keep his crime secretE..he is the most violent breaker of the
bond of
the human community."
Nietzsche referred to this individual as a "pale" criminal because if
this
person were to self-reflect and look in the mirror, they would have their
breath taken away at seeing who they have become, and would become pale
at
the sight of themselves. This figure is an embodiment of what Jung would
call the "statistical criminal" that lives inside of all of us in a
state of
potential, and that can manifest under the right conditions. The Bush
administration is breaking the moral code, the law of the planet, what
Thomas Jefferson called "a decent respect for the opinion of mankind."
It's
important to see through our na?ve illusions and recognize that what the
Bush regime is doing is truly criminal.
THE IMPORTANCE OF NAMING THE DISEASE
Malignant egophrenia is both an expression of and at the root of the
extreme
polarization and dissociation in both the human psyche and the world
process
at large. We can even say that itOs the "bug" in the system that has
in-formed and given shape to all of the conflict and disharmony of human
relationship. ME disease is as old as the human species. However, weOre
now
at the point in our evolution where we can finally recognize it, see it,
give it a name and diagnose it.
Malignant egophrenia is truly diabolical in nature and is what the
ancient,
indigenous cultures would call a demon. Jung warned us that a difficult
task
lay ahead of us after the mass insanity of the second World War. He
points
out that after the "demons" abandoned the German people, these negative
energies weren't banished. To quote Jung "the demons will seek a new
victim.
And that won't be difficult. Every man who loses his shadow, every nation
that falls into self-righteousness, is their prey." Projecting the shadow
literally opens the door for malignant egophrenia to take up residence in
our being. Jung calls these demons "autonomous complexes," which are
split-off parts of the psyche that can possess a person and seemingly
develop an independent will and quasi-life of their own. These autonomous
complexes can't stand to be seen in much the same way a vampire can't
stand
the light. Malignant egophrenia will shape-shift and do everything in its
power to resist being seen. ItOs elusive, mercurial and very much a
trickster. The disease obfuscates itself, creating any number of
distractions to hide behind, and will even react violently to being seen,
for being seen takes away its omnipotence and autonomy.
When we see a demon we know its name. Naming it is exorcistic, as it
dis-spells the demon's power over us. To name something is to symbolize
it.
The word "symbolic," which means that which unites, is the antidote and
antonym to the word "diabolic," which means that which divides and
separates. George Bush claimed to be "a uniter, not a divider." However,
he
has only united one thing- the entire world against us. To see this
diabolical aspect of what is coming through Bush, namely, that he is an
instrument that is creating separation, is itself to be seeing with
symbolic
awareness.
Naming the disease, we are able to (alchemically) contain it, so that it
can't possess us from behind and act itself out through us unconsciously.
Once the disease is named, itOs anchored to consciousness so that it
can't
vaporize back into the unconscious. This de-potentiates the disease,
beginning the process of re-integrating it back into the profound unity
of
the psyche. The energy that was bound up in the compulsion to endlessly
re-create the disease becomes liberated and available for creative
expression. The prescription for this disease is simply for enough of us
who
see it to connect with each other in lucid awareness so that it can be
contained, metabolized and healed. This is an evolutionary impulse from
the
universe in which we are invited to participate.
Encoded in the disease is its own medicine. Hidden in the daemonic is our
guiding spirit, our true genius and inner voice. This is why Jung calls
the
daemonic the "not yet made real creative." The fact that such a dark
shadow
is emerging in our world is an expression that light is nearby, as
shadows
are themselves an expression of light. Demons are actually blessings in
drag. Lucifer is truly the bringer of light.
IS THE DISEASE A BLESSING OR A CURSE?
ME disease is unique in that it collapses the boundary between inner and
outer. Egophrenia is an inner disease of the soul that expresses itself
via
the medium of the outside world. Malignant egophrenia is manifesting
itself,
both literally and symbolically, hidden yet visible for all who have
eyes to
see, simultaneously veiling and revealing itself. Symbolically encoded in
egophrenia's literal manifestation is the key to its re-solution. Symbols
are the language of dreams. A symbol brings together and reconciles two
contraries into a greater whole. A symbol reflects and effects a change
in
and of consciousness itself. A symbol is both the expression of as well
as
the doorway into a more transcendent, higher-dimensional part of
ourselves.
People don't see egophrenia because they don't recognize the symbolic
dimension of existence, but rather are absorbed in the literal dimension
of
reality. It is very convincing to (only) take things literally and see
these
literal facts as "the (one) truth," as events in this world ARE literally
happening. They're as real as real can be. This can be very entrancing,
particularly with the evidence right in front of our face. People are
dying.
Seeing symbolically doesn't negate the literal dimension of this but
instead
complements and completes it, as both are true simultaneously. The
literal
and symbolic dimensions of reality interpenetrate each other so fully
that
they can't be seen as two separate things that are joined together, but
rather are interdependent parts of a greater whole. The birth of symbolic
awareness not only more fully completes our picture of the nature of the
universe we live in, but gives us access to the way to actually deal with
this deadly disease. Egophrenia is truly initiatory, as it is a wake up
call
to symbolic awareness, which is a higher dimension of our being. All
that is
needed for malignant egophrenia to reveal its blessing is for us to
recognize its revelatory function.
Jung says "Everything could be left undisturbed did not the new way
demand
to be discovered, and did it not visit humanity with all the plagues of
Egypt until it finally is discovered." Malignant egophrenia is a modern
day
plague of Egypt. If we don't see what it is symbolically revealing to us,
malignant egophrenia will destroy us. It's a gesture from the universe,
beckoning us, demanding us to integrate it and thereby receive its
blessing.
By prompting, pressuring and challenging us to come to terms with it and
receive its gifts, malignant egophrenia has the potential to awaken us,
thereby furthering the evolution of the species.
Seeing the symbolic nature of malignant egophrenia is to see that it is
both
a deadly disease and the highest blessing co-joined in one phenomenon.
Is it
a wave or a particle? It is a true "coincidentia oppositorum," a
conjunction
of opposites, an expression of divinity. The question is, do we recognize
what is being symbolically shown to us by egophrenia, or not? The inner
meaning of the word apocalypse is "something hidden being revealed." Will
these apocalyptic end times we are in be an initiation into a more
expansive
part of our being? Or will it destroy our species? How it will manifest
completely depends on us.
The fact that malignant egophrenia is manifesting in fully visible form
in
our world right now is an expression that this particular energy is
available for assimilation in a way that was unimaginable until now.
When an
unconscious content is ready to be integrated, it always gets dreamed up
into fully materialized form. This is the dimension in which the energy
bound up in the infinitely regressing feedback loop of the disease can be
accessed and redeemed. If we can make use of its lessons, ME disease
becomes
a portal into a more whole and integrated part of our being. It is a
potential blessing in a very convincing disguise that it's not.
Being a non-local field phenomenon, the malignant egophrenia epidemic is
something all six billion of us are collaboratively creating and
dreaming up
together. Bush is an embodied, mirrored reflection of a part of
ourselves,
just like we, reciprocally, are a reflection of a part of him. His
disease
is our disease. Bush and his regime are a living embodied reflection of
our
collective shadow. We have all dreamed them up to play out these roles,
in
full living color, so that we can see and integrate these parts of
ourselves. To see this is to recognize our true face in the disease,
which
liberates its blessing aspect. Like Christ says in the Gnostic Gospels
"I am
a mirror (shadow holder) to you that know me." Compassion spontaneously
arises when we recognize these fear-ridden parts of ourselves.
GENUINE COMPASSION AS ACTIVISM
The malignant egophrenia epidemic is happening right in front of us, for
all
who have eyes to see. If we don't look at whatOs happening, if we turn
away,
ignore it, and contract against it, we are lying to ourselves. Then weOre
colluding with and unknowingly feeding the disease. Our looking away is a
form of blindness. Our looking away is a form of ignorance. Our looking
away, our contraction, IS itself the disease. Our resulting complacency
and
inaction is, in fact, an expression of our lack of compassion. To quote
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. "One who passively accepts evil
[allowing it
to happen] is as much involved in it as the one who perpetrates it."
There is a great danger when we see evil, though. To quote Jung, "It is a
fact that cannot be denied: the wickedness of others becomes our own
wickedness because it kindles something evil in our heartsE..the sight of
evil kindles evil in the soul." Malignant egophrenia forces upon us the
responsibility to come to terms with the evil inside our own hearts. If
we
solidify Bush as being evil and react with righteous indignation, we are
guilty of the very same thing weOre accusing Bush of (i.e, projecting the
shadow). We then become a conduit for the very evil weOre reacting to.
Who
among us has not been guilty of being a channel for ME disease at one
time
or another? If, when we see this virulent pathogen, we contract against
it
and react in any way, be it in judgment, hatred, anger or revulsion,
weOre
helping to perpetuate the diabolical polarization that is the signature
of
the disease. Our reacting in this way, which is typical of many political
activists, is itself an expression that we ourselves have the disease,
or to
say it more clearly, the disease has us.
This disease literally has the potential to humble us. We may think- not
us,
we could never catch this disease. However, this very arrogance opens us
up
to being hooked by the pathogen. We may think- let's step out of our
arrogance, for who are we to know anything? Let's be an enlightened
bodhisattva and not judge what Bush is doing, for who are we to judge? Or
let's be an enlightened psychiatrist and not diagnose, name or
pathologize
Bush in any way, for we don't want to cast any spells. However, to have
these attitudes is to fall under the seductive spell of the bug, causing
us
to disconnect from and give away our power. In this way, we forsake one
of
our greatest spiritual treasures, the act of discernment. Being a
spiritual
warrior embraces and includes the most extreme discernment, which is the
ability to differentiate and is a function of seeing clearly.
Discernment is
different that when we are unconsciously caught in judgement, which is a
reaction to and contraction against something. Wielding the wisdom of
discernment is an expression of having genuine compassion.
Compassion is sometimes fierce, though. Sometimes it says "no," and sets
a
boundary. Genuine compassion is not always smiley-faced, otherwise known
as
"idiot compassion," which just enables and reinforces asleepness. Genuine
compassion is not passive. It propels us to act for the benefit of all
beings. True compassion demands us to be willing to consciously step into
our power, mediated through the heart, and to find the courage to speak
our
true voice: The malignant egophrenia epidemic has induced a form of
criminal
insanity in the entire Bush regime that we are all complicit in by
allowing
it to happen.
To quote Thomas Jefferson "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." To
quote Thomas Paine "It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country
from his government." Being truly patriotic and compassionate in our
current
situation involves doing everything and anything we can, however big or
small, to remove Bush and his regime from office, for their good, as
well as
our own.
We, as a people, need to recognize the severity of the crisis our
country is
in. And then we need to act. ItOs an extremely dangerous situation that a
person who is possessed by the virulent pathogen malignant egophrenia
happens to be in the commander's seat of the most powerful country in the
world. WhatOs more, heOs steering the ship to shipwreck, or as the
retired
Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni, who headed Central Command before
becoming President Bush's personal emissary to the Middle East, put it,
"over Niagara Falls." With Bush as president itOs as if weOre in a car
going
over the speed limit being driven by a drunk adolescent who has fallen
asleep at the wheel. ItOs our responsibility as awake adults to recognize
our situation and to do something about it. If not, if we continue to
passively and helplessly watch what is playing out in front of our very
eyes, then we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is what Al Gore
was
trying to tell us in his speech when he ended with the quote by Abraham
Lincoln, "We- even we here- hold the power, and bear the responsibility."
Now is the time to act before it is too late. As the Reverend Martin
Luther
King Jr. says "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about
things
that matter."
A healer, Paul Levy is a spiritual and political activist. He is in
private
practice, helping other people who are also spiritually awakening to the
dream-like nature of reality. He can be reached at
paul@awakeninthedream.com. Please feel free to pass this article along
to a
friend if you feel so inspired.
(C) 2004 Paul Levy
<g.
you can't fool all of the people , all of the time.
.
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| Title: Re: Public is silent as America becomes a tyranny |
06 Jan 2005 12:55:33 PM |
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This is why the Repug's claims that the Iraq war was to free the people
and bring democracy to Iraq is pure unadulterated *****.
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