Hi all,
I am mostly preoccupied at the moment working on Friday’s article, which involves Pluto in Capricorn and family abuse dynamics. Lately I think that it’s possible that we’re in a wake-up moment: that this is what it feels like to let go of the long slumber of the 21st century: of fear and enmity and the systematic stripping of our human rights; only to be left with credit cards that we’re no longer sure will work tomorrow. Whatever you may say about this on an economic level, there is an emotional dimension to it as well.
 |
At the beginning of the Bush presidency there was much analysis of his language, basic posture and actions being that of an abuser. Like most survivors of longterm abuse, we “got used to it,” we made the adaptations that were expected of us, and we tried to move on — dragging the past behind us, often ignorant of what it really was about. The interesting thing about abuse survivors is that they (we) are so often wracked with guilt — and this happens to be, on one level, the essence of Capricorn: the guilt associated with supposed obligation, and with breaking free of it.
I have suggested on a number of occasions that if you want to see what material you’re going to be working with during Pluto in Capricorn, study the era from late 2001 through 2005 and investigate what that tells you. Decide what you accomplished, what you did not accomplish and most of all, what you learned.
And please consider this equation, from my article How To Be Your Own Lover, that deconstructs guilt. This segment was co-written with Joseph Trusso, my longtime Holistic Therapist and mentor, whose background is (among other things) in Gestalt therapy. In taking on Pluto in Capricorn, we will need to challenge and overthrow the guilt of our families, of our society. It is what is paralyzing us against standing up against injustice, against the lack of emotional freedom we feel, and ultimately it’s what’s going to mess up our children. I am curious to read your comments below as I craft Friday’s article.
Fritz and Laura Perls, early pioneers of Gestalt Therapy, taught that guilt is resentment turned against itself. Generally speaking, children, being the powerful yet powerless little critters they are, take upon themselves the notion of “fault and blame.” They cannot imagine adults (who are personifications of the gods and goddesses) making an error. If they do, it’s still the “fault” of the child. “If only I would’ve done this or that, daddy wouldn’t hit me.” “If I was more quiet, mommy wouldn’t drink.” And so on. Since they are at “fault,” they are “guilty,” and since they cannot rage against the adults very successfully or have a real impact on the direction of events, they turn the resentment at being pruned, modified, corrected, disciplined, strongly directed, or dictated to, back at themselves.
That is guilt. It’s fair to say that our lives, so often filled with the idea that we cannot influence the direction of events, so often caught in the web of control, of bosses, of taxes, of children, and yes, of our sexual relationships, are often holographic copies of these original crushing relationships with parents and teachers. Yet as adults, the programming, the patterns, are contained within us. They are internalized. Check it out: do we have especially creative jobs? Dare we say what we feel, go where we want, be who we are, or have sex with who we desire? Or are we pruned, modified, dictated to, and denied out of existence by our own self-control?
sorry… that book is ‘a language older than words’
just wanted to mention, if you’re interested in looking at our society through the metaphor of abuser-abused, Derrick Jensen does a pretty good job at this. I’ve read EndGame (both volumes) where he analyzes our situation (as ‘civilization’) where most everyone is practically ‘insane’ (ie killing our planet that gives us life) and that we live in an abusive relationship with those in authority who make the decisions and have the military and police and etc (I may not be doing justice here to what he is saying, so you’d have to go read him yourself if you’re interested). then another of his books, which I haven’t read, I believe is more directly about relationships of abuse, beginning with his own childhood and family situation, and going out from there
I’m wondering if there’s anyone who’s excited about The Fall? Personally, I’m loving it and believe it’s just what The Doctor ordered….at least 30 or so years ago. But we’ve never been truly into Preventative Care in this culture, have we? I’m excited to finally know that change is going to come. Change as in The Action (because it’s *not* An Issue) It will. For it is a force waaaay bigger than any of us talking heads. And although we’re still caught up in our control freak arrogance, digging the grave (what with the bailoutbandaids and all) and worse is certainly still yet to come from such reactions….but, overall, yes, I believe it is for our better, for our Evolution. A wake-up call, indeed, to say the least. It is exciting to think about All The Possibilities… even though it’s the shits that it had to happen in our lifetimes! Does anyone find it exciting? And full of so much opportunity? Creative opportunity (with, of course, macro and micro being one and the same) I don’t believe for a moment that This Route of Pain was a requisite; however, it is in keeping with certain aspects of “human nature”—-for ex. our avoidance addictions and our blatant arrogance. But thank God/Goddess or Whom/Whatever you’d like that’s it’s all a tumblin’ down. Be thankful. Indeed, Pride cometh before The Fall…uh, but maybe we now we’ll examine: what exactly did we have to be proud of? We can do sooooooooooo much better as a species, let alone as “Americans”~ perhaps, once a Real Rock Bottom has been hit, we’ll take the opportunity to reflect, to learn and then to consciously build from our learning rather than from our arrogance. It seems to be a fair ways off yet, but I do have Hope.
Because I lived through 911, I am better prepared for this. The last time there was a blinding trauma in the US, I was racked with a terrorized blend of fear and shame. I couldn’ t bear to think that this was somehow my fault, somehow my country’s fault. We had done some awful, awful thing to these saudis, our “policies” were unfair, we killed native Americans, we supported Israel, we brought this horrible fate upon ourselves and there was more to come.
Victims of torture have said that the worst part was not the pain. It was the shame and the loneliness.
I was well and truly terrorized in exactly the way I was meant to be terrorized. I stopped going to grad school. I wasn’t sure if there was going to be a point anymore.
So Eric I’ve been watching the words that are being woven into the text of the TV news. I’ve been waiting to hear that the “subprime crisis” is my fault. I am thinking about young stupid families with kids and four thousand dollar mortgages and payments on their equity line they used to buy a big screen plasma and a second SUV and thinking, don’t you let those fuckers tell you that this bullshit is your fault. You were doing *exactly* what you were told to do without a single mistake.
I am thinking about student loans, this insane tax people have to pay just to make it to the lie of the middle class.
I have the same feeling I did back then, in the days after 911. A sense of sliding reality, a sensation like vertigo, a clear message from somewhere that the whole game has changed, or at least a new phase of the old one has begun.
I do not believe a single thing coming from my television anymore. I almost think — ah, well, they do this in Indonesia, shoot off a whole crapload of M-80’s to scare the population. They go hide in their houses, bury their guns, sew the cash into the sofa. Pretty soon the Islamists or the Communists or the Fascists will come along to tell us what to do to make the pain and the shame and the guilt and the fear go away.
We’ll get some Pamphlets. We’ll go on a Plan. Daddy’s gonna make it all right.
~j
Actually – I have to correct that post. It’s not just Icesave but also Kaupthing in Iceland. And the amount the councils, charities etc have invested is reported to be billion +. News is that they will support the charities but not the councils.
This may not be directly related to this post – but I feel compelled to put it up regardless. Yesterday in the UK, our government put up ВЈ500 billion as a bailout for banks in the country. That is apparently the entire budget of our national health service. Incredible and scary. Especially when you think that earlier in the week they were talking about sums around ВЈ50 billion. People can hardly pay their fuel bills and keep warm, never mind pay their mortgages – but they get sod all, while we can find a third of our country’s budget, just like that, to save the banks who for the most part got us here.
They are also guaranteeing private savers in banks to the tune of ВЈ50,000 (previously only up to ВЈ35,000). So if the bank (to quote Rachel) goes ‘tits up’ people can claim that amount back. That included some 300,000 people who had saved in Icesave, now gone bust, in Iceland. With Icelands economy gone in a puff of smoke and no funds to pay their own guarantee limit of ВЈ16,000 – our government stepped in. However, in a bizarre twist tonight, it transpires that over 20 regional council authorities, including some police and public transport organisations, have also invested millions in Icesave. Millions. And they are stuffed under the current scheme as the guarantee scheme only tends to private individuals.
The banks are just the tip of it. Everything else is yet to come.
“In taking on Pluto in Capricorn, we will need to challenge and overthrow the guilt of our families, of our society. It is what is paralyzing us against standing up against injustice, against the lack of emotional freedom we feel, and ultimately it’s what’s going to mess up our children.” -EF
“are we pruned, modified, dictated to, and denied out of existence by our own self-control?” -EF
“if we as individuals are hobbled literally and energetically by debt and abusive patterns, how does that same concept apply to the US as a collective” -KJ
Thank you for putting this spin on the question of Liberty. Its very empowering yet I’m not at all sure how I will apply it. There is a sense of real urgency we are facing as a country. It effects our sense of personal and financial value. It affects the rest of the world directly too. Clearly when we widen the lens it is a human problem and is creating problems for all the creatures and the earth. What to do with this?
I would also like to throw into the mix the idea of social structures and psychological stress as studied by Robert Sapolsky in Baboons. We have our human conundrum and our animal conundrum. Consider this: we have Neolithic bodies that in a world of our own making feel obsolete and cumbersome (dare I say extremely vulnerable). How does alienating this body (our home here on earth) also contribute to our sense of guilt and at the same time produce wildly brilliant technology? Can we evolve fast enough and what does this evolution of Man the grand animal look like?
“What’s the punch line here? Physiologically, it doesn’t come cheap being a bastard 24 hours a day.” Robert Sapolsky
http://killerstress.stanford.edu/
only to be left with credit cards that we’re no longer sure will work tomorrow.
Heh!
Two of mine have been stopped this week due to potential fraud scares ….
Hmmm interesting article given what I went through during the first entry of Pluto into Capricorn this year….
Eric, it’s interesting that in a piece about the emotional dimensions of the economy, you used the phrase “dragging the past behind us”, because that’s exactly what financial debt is.
Just as with the internalized patterns of emotional abuse from our childhood, financial indebtedness paralyzes us, weights us down, disables us. It’s like trying to run with a ten-ton anchor chained to your leg. And that anchor is your past — things that were bought, consumed, done, thought, decided, given, that were over and done with a long time ago — except they’re not. If you’re in debt, you are not in charge of your life; you are not free to run and play and create as you will. In essence, you are “owned” by those to whom you owe the debt.
Of course, we can “macro” this … if we as individuals are hobbled literally and energetically by debt and abusive patterns, how does that same concept apply to the US as a collective (remembering that we are in trillions of dollars of debt to foreign lenders, foremost among them China and Japan)?