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Life and Life Energy
Chapter 8 :Work in Progress
(This chapter has been placed on Ferment Magazine as
a work in progress. It will be completed after I return from France in early
August 2013)
Roy Lisker
Chapter 8 is presented in the form of a series of tables with
interpretations. They portray the global structure of the psyche, based on
the 3 pure emotional states, themselves based on attachments to the
present, future and past. Any real living person will always abide in a
extremely complex mixture of these states which very often cannot be
entangled: every emotional bias, passion, relationship, thought will of
necessity be composed of thousands of minute contributions by each of
the three states.
In these tables, each state is interpreted on the basic of 3 phases,
whether temporal, ontological, physical, archetypal, or sensational. A
commentary follows each table. The categories of phases are:
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1. Anxiety, Anger, Depression
2. Father, Mother, Son
3. Past, Present, Future
4. Internal Ontological Categories Non-Being, Becoming, Being
5. External Ontological Categories
6. Energy Cycles: Potential, Kinetic and Cyclic
Table I
Anxiety
Anger
Depression
Past
Present
Future
Neutral
Background
(Irresponsibility)
Pain
(Memory of past
suffering
Pleasure
(Vices;Drugs)
Suffering
(Worry)
Neutral
Background
(Impatience)
Pleasure
(Ambition,
Vengeance)
Pleasure
(Fantasy,
Dreams,
Nostalgia)
Pain
(Grief; sense of
loss; rejection)
Neutral
Background
(Neglect)
Interpretation: The grounds for defining 3 categories of personalities
associated with a given emotional state, is that each of them is tied in
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with the temporal phases of past, present and future. All feelings
(emotions) are in fact 3-fold.
For example, feelings of hope, despair or anxiety are the product of
interpretations of the potential future of some given reality. Regret,
remorse, guilt, nostalgia, grief are the product of something that once
existed in the past but is irrevocably lost; while love, passion, disgust,
rejection, embarrassment or indifference are the emotional reactions to
some present situation.
Thus “anxiety” is in fact a combination of 3 feelings: indifference to the
past, passion for the present and worry about the future. “Anger” is
likewise, “worry” about the past (memories of past sufferings, fear of
embarrassment), “indifference” for the present, “passionate
commitment” to the future (ambition). And “depression (melancholy)”
combines nostalgia for the past, rejection of the present, indifference
towards the future.
With respect to the causal chain that leads from one state to the next:
Anxiety about the future causes one to drug or numb painful fears by an
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indulgence in present sensual delights (“Eat, drink and be merry for
tomorrow we die”).
Anger at some past insult, slight or abuse leads to (present)
schemes, plans and strategies for “restoring the balance” (vengeance,
triumph) in the future.
Finally, the depressed state causes one to cling to the ‘after
image’ of a past state, relationship or treasure, relative to which the
present is at most a painful reality, while one loses interest in the future
until the past is restored.
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Table II
The Family Triad in the Adjustment Process
Anxiety
Anger
Depression
Father
(Non-Being)
Externalized
“Dignity” is
burdensome
Natural
Identification
Jehovah the
“Avenger”
Attached:
Clinging
Mother
(Becoming)
Natural
Identification
“Mothering
Type”
Attached
Jealousy
Externalized
Hunger,
Rejected
Child
(Being)
Attached
Possessiveness
External only
Insists on being
ruler,not subject
Natural
Identification
“Obedience”
Interpretation :
The terms “Father”, “Mother” “Son” don’t refer to actual persons,
either in fact or fiction, but to underlying categories of psychological
relationships and experiences. Their manifestations are both external and
internal . For example, when it is stated that the anxious personality
pictures the Father as external , and that the angry personality has
assimilated the internal Father , one means something like the following:
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The anxious person may admire (or despise) the kind of person who
acts on “principles”, however, he has no intention of adhering to it as a
model. In the lifestyle based on worry, fear and concern for the future,
the key concept is not that of “principle”, but rather “expediency”.
The attitudes tend to be utilitarian, practical, business-oriented,
sentimental and even somewhat “kitsch”. What is “good” is what
“works”. It comes as no surprise that is past and gone tends to be
dismissed, treated an irrelevant contemplation of “monuments of its own
magnificence”.
The external Father is linked with the internalized Mother . Indeed, the
“pangs of anxiety” are somewhat more than analogous to the acute
anguish of a mother in the throes of labor. What metaphor of anxiety can
be more poignant than the fear that a child may miscarriage, be stillborn,
come into the world with a host of birth anomalies. Thus, the anxious
personality type is, above all, maternal : nurturing, tender and violent in
turn, possessive, spoiling, all the characteristics of an over-anxious, oversolicitous mother.
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How does the anxious personality type relate to the Child? Well, just
like the physical mother, the axious personality is attached to the child.
The relationship can be summed up in the single word “possessiveness”,
which characterizes all notions of attachment.
*****************************************************************
The angry personality has a natural identification with, and assimilation
of the Father (non-Being) . It tends to be defensive, suspicious, paranoid
when pathological, quick to action, even rash, never satisfied, macho,
disciplined. This dominant father delights in taking charge, in decision
making, fights fiercely in defense of its family or nation, real or
invented. It is inclined to hypocrisy yet also free from self-satisfaction or
conceit (an anxious trait).
What is meant by the external child ? The angry personality type is
characterized by a lack of compassion, a kind of spiritual blind spot with
regard to the cruelty of the suffering it may inflict on others. In some
sense, the “child” has been rejected, if not totally abandoned .
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As for its relationship towards the Mother : envy, jealousy and
vengefulness rise naturally in the heart of someone fearful that what he
believes that he “owns” may be taken away from him or lost. This
complex of attitudes may be summed up in the expression attachment to
the Mother .
*****************************************************
Finally one looks at the relationships of the depressive personality
to the 3 persons of Father, Mother and Child. It should be emphasized
that, when dealing with the 3 types of persons, one is really speaking
about the same set of psychological relationships, cast in the 3 temporal
modes of Past, Present and Future.
The depressed personality feels, above all, that he or she has been
rejected, either by loved ones, the society, or the universe itself.
Unhappiness and heartbreak are its normal emotional companions.
Hence, one speaks of the depressed personality as someone for whom
the Mother , the source of nurturing, has been externalized .
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This can be seen as equivalent to attachment to the Father as the
representative for Non-Being : the very language signifies that which is
alien from Being, that which has rejected Being.
One thinks of the prolonged grief at the loss of a loved one,
notably one’s own child. The possessiveness of the mother, has been
transformed into the stricken grief of the child who has lost its dearest
possession, whether a toy, or a family relationship, through divorce for
example. The word “Child” is of course metaphorical: one can speak of a
“child-like state” engendered by the loss of one’s own children.
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Table III
Past
Present
Future
Anxiety
Inaction
Considered a
“waste of time”
Weak conscience
Reaction
Craving for
Sensual
Gratification
Anger
Action
Cover ups
Terror, coupled
with Denial
Of Identity
formed by past
actions
Shame
Reaction
Dreams
Imagination
Inaction
Present
Sacrificed to
Expedience
Delayed
gratification
Action
Terror ,
coupled with
denial, of Future
Possibilities
Reaction
Ambition
Power
Envy
Vengeance
Depression
Action
Paralysed by
Loss
Grief
Denial of
present
necessities
Neglect
Inaction
Withdrawal
Lived Fantasy
Life
Interpretation :
Like the primary colors, there are 3 primary emotional states. These
are related to the temporal modes of Past, Present and Future.
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Anxiety is a state of Attachment to the Child. In terms of the
temporal modes these diversifies into Passion (Reaction) for the Present
(gratification); Rejection (Action) of the Future; Ignorance (Inaction) of
the Past
Anger is a state of Attachment to the Mother. In terms of the
temporal modes, this diversifies into Passion (Reaction) for the future
(ambition); Rejection (Action) of the Past; Ignorance or Indifference
(Inaction) toward the Present
Depression is a state of Attachment to the Father. In terms of the
temporal modes this diversifies into Passion (Reaction) towards the Past
(Nostalgia, Melancholy); Rejection (Action) of the Present (Withdrawal);
Ignorance or Indifference (Inaction) towards the Future.
As one can see, an “emotion” can be decomposed into 3 distinct
mental sensations, which is why one easily becomes confused in
describing them or identifying them. Think of a machine, or something
like a Carnot cycle, going through its successive stages. Through
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“attachment to the child”, the anxious personality derives pleasure from
whatever gratifies body and psyche; obviously the future will be looked
upon with considerable foreboding, as a kind of demonic presence eager
to snatch away whatever pleasure there is in life. The past is not visible,
tangible nor present; why should one be concerned by it. One robbed a
house and used the money to go to a movie; when sitting in the theater
enjoying the film, why worry about the fate of the person who has to
cope with the consequences of losing his money. Yet, at the same time,
the future looms close by in all its potential horror: the police
investigation, the need to avoid the neighborhood where the breakin
took place, the strong likelihood of being arrested and thrown in jail.
One can construct similar narratives around the other two
situations. The depressed personality is “attached to the Father”. He
turns to authority for protection while withdrawing from his potential
for violence. By cutting down his activity in satisfying immediate
obligations and needs (going to the doctor, earning income, voting,
repairing a house that is falling apart), he can take delight in imagining
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possible, improbable or exotic futures, “Moscows” where every
possibility is fulfilled. Yet, as he intends to do very little in bringing this
about, one can say that he is “ignorant” or even “indifferent” to the real
future.
Finally, there is the personality consumed with anger, a state which
finds itself compelled to take action to ward off a painful confrontation
with the future. What does it mean to say that the angry personality is
“attached to the Mother”? We can give a tiny acknowledgement to
Sigmund Freud here, and concede that in 1 of the 9 temporal/emotional
states there is some barren truth in his “Oedipus Complex”.
Through “attachment to the Mother”, he comes into conflict with
the Father, whether it be an actual father, a brother or other sibling, God
or his various avatars, or even himself. As I state in my essay on the plays
of Sophocles, the “mother” signifies “Conception”, in its manifold
senses as insemination, pregnany or giving birth; conceiving or
development inventions; all works of the imagination, and so on. The
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angry person sacrifices all of these to the over-arching goal of obtaining
power, dominance and above all control.
The “inability to conceive” connotes sterility, even as the “inability
to give birth” (respectively the initial and final stages of the rebirth
process) connotes paralysis of the will. The third inability, that of the
anxious personality, is that of “inability to bond”,to bring together the
products of the rebirth process in a wholesome union
(The construction of Chapter 8 was brought to this point on May 12,
2013. It will be resumed and completed in early August)
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Table IV
Ontological Categories
Non-Being
Becoming
Being
Anxiety
External
Cannot enforce
Discipline
Spoiling
Corrupting
Internalized
Identification
Mutability
Sentimentality
Rejected
Will not be
tied down to a
fixed identity
Anger
Internalized
Identification
“Warrior”
Rejected
“Toughness”
Depression
Rejected
Passivity
Pain
(Grief; sense of
loss; rejection)
External
Treachery
Hypocrisy
Betrayal
Internalized
Identification
“Law Abiding”
Interpretation
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Table V
External Attachment
Non-Being
Becoming
Being
Anxiety
Background
Anger
Rejected
(Competition)
Rejected
(Competition)
Infatuation
(Oedipus)
Depression
Infatuation
Background
Infatuation
Sentimentality
Background
“Ruler, not
Citizen”
Rejected
(Competition)
Interpretation
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Table VI
Energy Cycles
Past
Anxiety
Source of
Action:
Fuel
Consumption of
Potential-Kinetic Kinetic Energy
Cycle
Kinetic Cycle
Anger
Potential
Depression
Interpretation
Present
Reaction:
Absorption of
energy
Capacitance
Inaction:
Inertia
Future
Exhaustion of
resources
Dissipation
Entropy
Discharge
Rapid release of
Kinetic Energy
Force
Potential Energy
Storage
Recharging
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