2021 Mind & Spirit Posts
Soul Values: Art
POSTED JANUARY 3, 2021
Thomas Moore's soul value of Art encompasses all arts, all creative pursuits. Both the appreciation and the practice of Art can be part of more soulful living. Art is closely related to two other of Moore's soul values already discussed - Beauty and Contemplation. Much of our enjoyment of art comes from a recognition of the beauty of a work, and oftentimes we have deeper insights into ourselves when we experience great art. The production of art - whether it be a painting, playing an instrument, writing a poem, to name a few - is one of the most creative things that a person can do.....READ ON THE SOUL VALUES POSTS page.
Understanding the Fascist Mind
POSTED JANUARY 10, 2021
Fascism - a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. - Merriam-Webster
Anyone watching the events unfold in Washington D.C. last week who thinks that "it can't happen here" is fooling himself. A more competent demagogue with a more pliant military may have pulled it off. If you had the feeling that you were watching some kind of 1930's putsch, you were not alone. As the Wall Street Journal reported, amidst the shock registered by democracies around the world, was the reaction from Germany's foreign minister Heiko Maas, who "appeared to draw a parallel with Hitler’s power grab: “Violent actions come from inflammatory words—on the steps of the Reichstag and now in the Capitol,” he said, in reference to the burning of republican Germany’s parliament building in 1933. “Disregarding democratic institutions has devastating consequences.”
It's not just violent far-right extremists that signed on to the election fraud fallacy. Seventy percent of Trump voters believe it. The implications for democracy are chilling when "the majority of supporters of one of the American political parties doubts the legitimacy of an election for a peaceful transfer of power. Many members of that party in Congress have signed on to the insistence of a charismatic leader that right is wrong and that up is down." [3]
Ever since World War II when Nazis and Fascists subjugated much of Europe, psychologists have tried to understand the fascist mind and why some people are attracted to this ideology of the far-right.
One of the earliest attempts to understand the psychology behind fascism was a personality test designed by Theodor W. Adorno in 1947 to measure the authoritarian personality - the California F-scale. The F-scale test measures responses on several different components of authoritarianism, such as conventionalism, authoritarian aggression, superstition and stereotypy, power and "toughness," destructiveness and cynicism, projectivity, and sex. The test aims to measure prejudice and anti-democratic tendencies at the personality level. [1] Here is an online version of a modified F-scale test if you would like to take it. (Try not to be put off by the website's attempt at humor.)
Today's fascists - both in Europe and in the US - are not bent on world domination as were their predecessors. But other elements are there: identify enemies and demonize the "Other", paint the dominant cultural group as victims, accept state violence to suppress dissent, assault the truth and replace it with a nationalist narrative about the decline of the country and the need for a strong leader to return it to greatness.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on Benito Mussolini and a professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University says that asking how fascism has changed during its century of existence is perhaps the wrong question. “It’s more striking what hasn’t changed —the hyper-nationalism, the leader cult, the idea that this is a leader who is going to save us, the fear of white population decline, anti-feminism, anti-left, things like that,” she says. “None of those things have changed.” [sidebar]
In the United States today, people fearful of a multiracial democracy have turned to Donald Trump, identifying with him and his rhetoric. In a Psychology Today article, Timothy Pytell explains the psychological reasons for this identification and attachment:
Theodor Adorno [creator of the California F-scale], working off a Freudian vision, [claimed] that a leader taps the unconscious desires of his followers by exploiting “his own unconscious outward” - life has taught him how “to make rational use of his irrationality.” In this sense, Trump is selling his followers a figure of identification through which they can live out their unconscious desires. He says publicly the content of their unconscious. This creates a profound attachment that rational argument cannot break. In this way, the more criticism Trump receives, the deeper the attachment.
At its core, fascism is a dangerous manifestation of the "us vs. them" mindset. It is similar to racism but with many other contributing elements. In his book How Fascism Works, Jason Stanley explains "the politics of us vs. them." [Sidebar] Common elements of fascist ideology wherever it shows itself include:
Creation of a mythic, ideal past
Propaganda using the language of various ideals to unite people behind otherwise objectionable ends
Anti-intellectualism - attacking and devaluing education and expertise. In fascism there is only one legitimate viewpoint. Critical thinking is dangerous to the cause.
Reality itself is cast into doubt. Reasoned debate is replaced by fear and anger. Conspiracies and lies are given more credence than facts. What results is mass delusion such as that experienced by 70% of Trump supporters who believed in spite of all evidence to the contrary that the election was stolen.
In contrast to the "all men are created equal" ideal, i.e., the equality of respect pre-supposed by liberal democracies, fascist ideology posits hierarchies of power and dominance imposed by nature.
Fascist ideology stokes the feeling of victimhood in the dominant group. Even small gains towards equality by minority groups are exploited as threats to the majority's social, economic, political, and cultural status.
Law & order rhetoric is "explicitly meant to divide citizens into two classes: those of the chosen nation, who are lawful by nature, and those who are not, who are inherently lawless."
Fear of interbreeding and race mixing magnified by sexualizing the threat of the other.
Anti-city rhetoric. Cities are the source of corrupting culture, often produced by Jews and immigrants. The countryside is pure.
In times of crisis and need, the state reserves support for members of the chosen nation, for "us" and not "them."
Is there a solution?
Three thoughts in closing:
Poets, teachers and enlightened political philosophies have spoken of the unity of mankind for millennia. [sidebar] Getting people to feel this in their gut is one way to overcome the fear of the Other that is at the heart of the appeal of fascism. It will take strong religious and political leaders and educators at all levels to overcome the demagoguery flooding the minds of the peoples of the world. Without a xenophobe in the White House, the suffering of strangers - particularly refugees - might trigger empathy in the American people. After all, we can be so much better than what we have shown the world these last four years.
Besides the dehumanization of the Other, there are other factors playing a role in the rise of fascism - specifically economic inequality and poverty. "Tackling [these root causes] means fighting inequality and poverty, ensuring that no one is left behind, and the ones feeling left behind have someone speaking for them." [2]
Thomas Jefferson is reputed to have said that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Last week, the United States received a "shot across the bow." We would be well advised to take to heart the words of a poem at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum [sidebar]. The post-truth era is uniquely prone to extremist right-wing ideology, and 21st century social media is efficient in organizing extremists. Holding those accountable for the assault on our democratic institutions is essential if we are to avoid something worse. [sidebar]
References: [1] Wikipedia [2] European Economic and Social Committee [3] Psychology Today
First they came...
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
-Martin Niemöller, a Lutheran pastor, at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
What to think about before you sleep
POSTED JANUARY 30, 2021
Consciousness is the way we experience the world, and the nature of consciousness is at the heart of the ancient mind-body problem. What is the relationship between the thought and consciousness of the human mind and the chemistry and electrical impulses of the physical brain? How does subjective consciousness relate to the objective world? (Scientific American, Oct. 2008)
If these questions aren't difficult enough to answer, scientists since Freud have been trying to understand the subconscious and unconscious elements of the mind - both of which influence our behavior.* Freud and many others have written about the meaning of dreams and the role of the subconscious. It is also no secret that sleep plays an important role in good physical and mental health.
Considering all this, what we think about immediately before we go to sleep is quite important. These thoughts could affect our sleep, our dreams and our subconscious.
Almost two thousand years ago, the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca wrote, "Every night before going to sleep, we must ask ourselves: What weakness did I overcome today? What virtue did I acquire?" - a positively-focused examination of conscience, as it were. Today psychologists, philosophers, motivational speakers and spiritual writers offer similar advice. While they differ in their particular recommendations, the need for thinking positive thoughts at bedtime is a constant.
Below are suggestions from several writers on how to de-stress before sleep, program your subconscious, and control your dreams.
De-stress before sleep
The cares of the day and the worries for tomorrow can keep us awake and prevent us from getting that all-important "good night's sleep." Julia Guerra at Elite Daily provides us with "6 Things To Think About Before Bed That Won’t Just Send You Into A Stressful Spiral." [sidebar]
Think about being awake - a reverse psychology trick where you focus on quietly staying awake, instead of worrying about not falling asleep.
Focus on your breathing - "breathe deeply and concentrate on the sound and sensation of your breathing." The singular focus allows you to tune out unhelpful thoughts.
Write out tomorrow's to-do list. Putting thoughts to paper is a great way to literally write off your worries and get to bed on time.
Explore your hobbies. “The key is to find something positive, but not crucial, to your life and well-being, and to focus on that."
Imagine your bedroom as a retreat. "If you think about your room as a relaxing space, those positive, soothing vibes will soon catch on and transform the way you snooze throughout the night."
Accept that you can't control what already is. The best thing you can do for a busy mind is write down your concerns in a journal and, literally and figuratively, close the book: just let it go.
Program your subconscious
Edith Moscowitz at Vortex-Success writes of the importance of programming your subconscious mind. In order "to make a deep long-term change in the patterns you have, ideas, perceptions, worldviews, customs, and beliefs – you must change the paradigms you have in your subconscious mind." To do this, you must know exactly what you want to improve and then examine the subconscious patterns that stop you. "Apply the subconscious shifting methods before sleep....EEG studies show that in the 15-minute window between wakefulness and sleep, the brain waves slow down... In this stage, the subconscious mind’s tunnel is 'open' to receive messages." Moscowitz provides different methods by which we can achieve this. [sidebar]
The self-help and spiritual author Wayne Dyer warns against negative thoughts before sleep since such thoughts will program your subconscious in an unhelpful way. In his post "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep", he explains why the last five minutes of your day before you enter sleep are the most important. Drawing on the Tao Te Ching, the Book of Job and Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Dyer prepared a 5 minute meditation of positive affirmations to program the subconscious properly which is embedded below.
Use your subconscious mind to control your dreams
One of the most famous dreams in the history of science is the vision of Ouroboros – the snake consuming its own tail – that revealed the shape of the benzene ring to German chemist Friedrich August Kekulé.
Our subconscious mind can control our dreams, and because we can program our subconscious mind, we are able to control our dreams too. Wisdom Post [sidebar] provides some tips on how to do this. For example, if you want to solve problems through your dreams via your subconscious mind (like Kekulé's ouroboros), the first thing you need to do is to think about the problem before you sleep. You can use this same dream incubation technique to dream about the things that you want in life. Other tips include not jumping out of bed directly when you are awake, recording your dreams and taking note of how you feel, practicing affirmations, and getting more sleep.
*The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but most psychologists make a distinction: "With some introspection you can likely identify from where your thinking, impulse, or motivation is subconsciously derived. But with what’s unconscious to you - the bottom-most part of the iceberg—it will be much more difficult to ascertain the origins of present-day behavior that literally don’t make much sense to you." (Psychology Today)