"The equivalent of commodity fetishism in the psychological life of the individual is narcissism. Here the term does not only denote adoration of one’s own body or one’s person. It stands for a serious pathological condition well-known to psychoanalysis. An adult preserves the psychological structure of the first years of his childhood, when there is no distinction between the self and the world. Every external object is experienced by the narcissist as a projection of his own self.” Anselm Jappe (The Writing on the Wall) "No one should underestimate the dangers of courting the displeasure of a savage and jealous God.” Andrew Scull (Madness in Civilization) "To lull public attention, … [Read more...]

"Most octopuses live only a year or two, depending on the species.Humans, obviously, live much, much longer. And because length of life and intelligence seem connected in some way, a question naturally arises. What use is intelligence in such a very short life, especially since, as Godfrey-Smith puts it, “the machinery of intelligence is expensive, both to build and to run”? This conundrum has led to some questionable conclusions, including “a hypothesis of ‘accidental intelligence,’” as though octopuses had mistakenly developed “‘too much brain’ for animals living such brief and asocial lives.” But if their intelligence is accidental, then in what sense is human intelligence not accidental? … [Read more...]

"[He sa]id [to me], “John, wh[y] are you doubting and [fearful]? For you are not a stranger [to this like]ness. Do not be faint[hearted]! I am the one who dwells with [you (pl.) always. I am the [Father.] I am the Mother. [I] am [the Son. I am the one who exists for ever, undefil[ed and un]mixed. N[ow I have come] to instruct you [about what] exists and what [has come] into being and what mu[st] come into being, so that you will [understand] the things which are invisible a[nd those which] are visible, and to t[each you] about the perfe[ct Human" Apocryphon of John (The Berlin Codex, Nag Hammadi II) "Woe to you, my Princess, when I come. I will kiss you quite red and feed you … [Read more...]

"Processes near and far in space and time all unfold in the same direction. All animals, us humans included, get older in the same direction. We never meet anyone getting younger.” Julian Barbour (The Janus Point) “Could there be a more uncomfortable position intellectually than that of floating in the thin air of unproved possibilities, not knowing whether what one sees is truth or illusion? This is the dream-like atmosphere of the I Ching.” Carl Jung (Introduction to The I Ching or Book of Changes) "To say “it exists” is to reify. To say “it does not exist” is to adopt the view of nihilism. Therefore a wise person Does not subscribe to “it exists” or “it does not … [Read more...]

"Even the sympathetic curiosity of the wisest discerner of men does not suffice to divine how this or that woman gets along with the solution of this enigma and the enigma of this solution; what dreadful, far-reaching suspicions must awaken thereby in the poor unhinged soul; and forsooth, how the ultimate philosophy and scepticism of the woman casts anchor at this point! Afterwards the same profound silence as before: and often even a silence to herself, a shutting of her eyes to herself. Young wives on that account make great efforts to appear superficial and thoughtless; the most ingenious of them simulate a kind of impudence. Wives easily feel their husbands as a question-mark to their … [Read more...]

"In Roman Catholic mythology, there exists a figure which has always moved me; namely the child in limbo, the unbaptised child who.can neither go to Heaven, nor to Hell, nor to Purgatory. This child wanders back and forth in all eternity between Heaven and Hell. Since it is not baptised it cannot go to heaven, and having died at birth, it had no opportunity to sin, so it cannot go to Hell. The figure of the child in limbo was, even for conservative Catholics, too much to swallow, and it has therefore been omitted from most Catholic churches. And yet the following book deals with the part of our psyche which could be represented by the unbaptized child in limbo; unbaptized meaning that part … [Read more...]

“From ancient times the saying comes, There is no death; there is no life. Indeed, the skies are cloudless And the river waters clear.” Yoshimoto (Samurai 1185 -1333. Zen Death Poems, Yoal Hoffman, tr) "What makes the patient with a character disorder a patient at all? In fact, this, as well as the related question — when is analysis terminated? — reveal the inner limits of psychoanalysis. The theory of the individual becomes a theory of society. The psychoanalytic theory of narcissism is entangled in the same web. Narcissism is a character disorder, often surfacing with such vague symptoms as "emptiness" and "futility." Moreover, the narcissistic patient is often not dysfunctional … [Read more...]

"There is a world elsewhere." Shakespeare (Coriolanus) " but the beauty is not the madness Tho my errors and wrecks lie about me. and I cannot make it cohere" Ezra Pound (Canto 116) "One of the arguments put forward in propaganda for colonizing Ireland in 1594, Virginia in 1612 (and on many similar occasions), was that 'the rank multitude' might be exported, 'the matter of sedition . . . removed out of the City." Christopher Hill (Change and Continuity in Seventeenth-Century England ) If I were granted the opportunity to direct another Shakespeare play, it would be Coriolanus. I have long meditated on this late and somewhat problematic (in the … [Read more...]