virus: Re: re: Emotions, truth, and enlightenment...

Brett Lane Robertson (unameit@tctc.com)
Wed, 23 Jul 1997 18:53:28 -0500


It seems there are two parts to (anonymous') argument. The first is that
the emotions are a kind of spiritual disease, with no redeeming features
whatsoever- a perversion of the way God intended us to be. The second is
that the emotions can delude us, and generally be very dangerous in our
lives. Obviously, we can agree to this second part, without accepting the
first; or, in fact, without dismissing the value of emotions altogether.
(Deleted)

In response,

I cannot speak for anonymous or his paradigm (a model that is self contained
and which generates answers based on a coherent philosophy, metaphysic, or
world-view). I can say that my paradigm (the "Time Chain") indicates that
there was a spiritual upheaval during the period of human development which
occurred between the discovery of "object permanence" and "medicine", and
that this "perversion of the way God intended us to be" created emotions to
"delude" ourselves and which are "very dangerous in our lives."

To explain how this portion of the time chain functions structurally: After
"possessions" are obtained, they used to establish a feeling of "safety"
based on their being available as "rewards" and "punishments". (Can you
accept the inherent logic of that statement?). "Governments" were
established to keep the safety, and "religion" to promote this safety. With
"rules" and "protective magic", the institution of the "tribe" was formed.

The formation of a tribe created a logical flaw--a spiritual illness(this
was a group that functioned as an individual: What of the survival of the
individual, was it to be sacrificed for the good of the group? What of the
survival of the group--acting as individual--would it likewise be
sacrificed; it must but cannot--can the individual sacrifice itself to save
itself?). While hunting used to be about keeping, and preserving was a form
of promoting...the masculine "protection" and feminine "nurturing"
qualities; now, with an understanding of impending reward and punishment,
hunting was a form of security and preserving a way of maintaining health.
"Medicine" was the next development.

Medicine paradoxically undid object permanence through bad magic and
anarchistic rules--chaos--in an attempt to return one to a feeling of safety
or mystification within which there were no external rewards or punishments
only the magical appearance of the object which was required at the exact
moment it was to be used (non-object permanence, the medicine wheel). BOTH
MEN AND WOMEN BECAME WARRIORS AS MEN WERE HUNTING SECURITY AND WOMEN
PRESERVING SAFETY. THE SPIRITUAL ILLNESS WAS THIS, THAT THE ROLE OF THE
FEMININE WAS DESTROYED WHEN THE LOCUS OF "SELF" SHIFTED FROM INTERNAL (SELF
AS OBJECT--ID), TO EXTERNAL (SELF AS SUBJECT--EGO).

The tribe as a collective for safety (internal) became the tribe as a
starting point for the seeking of rewards and punishment..."property",
"community", "war", and "school". Medicine implied that the body was not
safe...object permanence implied that it was. This paradoxical
understanding created the concept of "faith"--an internal system of
justification which struggled to maintain that OUR government and religion
were about "acceptance", "kindness", "levelheadedness", "peace", "joy",
"prosperity", and "love"; THEIRS was about "envy", "greed", "shame",
"guilt", "lust", "gluttony" and "hate"...this justified our "patience" and
their "sloth". THIS IS THE EITHER/OR US/THEM SPLIT WHICH CAUSES EMOTIONAL
UNREASON. IT MIMICS OUR OWN FEELINGS OF INSECURITY...A DIRECT RESULT OF THE
INABILITY TO FIND COOPERATION BETWEEN OUR ID AND EGO ON A TRANSPERSONAL LEVEL.

Brett

Returning,
rBERTS%n
Rabble Sonnet Retort
Think of your family tonight. Try to crawl home after the
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