In childhood, a modern person travels an enormous distance between stone-age primitive creature and responsible
contemporary citizen. When confronted with the awesome power of civilization whose first
representatives are parents, teachers, priests (and, later on, police officers, legislators and
bosses)the child faces, psychologically, the same situation as its tribal ancestors, namely,
conform to the dictates of civilization or die. The helplessness of childhood makes the threat of
bodily harm or loss of love, which is used by the parents and others to enforce civilized
morality and civilized education, a traumatic experience. The developing little person becomes
afraid to express its own tribal nature. There is much fear that lies at the bottom of becoming
a civilized adult.
When the child becomes aware of ideas and impulses that oppose the dictates of civilization,
s/he experiences anxiety, which is the signal for danger. It is not the insights and urges
themselves that the child fears, but rather the reaction to them on the part of those in charge.
Since the child cannot escape from those who control its life, s/he runs away from dangerous
thoughts and feelings. In other words, the child institutes repression of its primitive self. Tribal
ideas are now isolated, cut off from awareness, and unable to properly influence the future
course of events.
-----------------------------------
The False SelfWe have internalized our masters, which is a well-known psychological response to trauma.
When faced with overwhelming terror, the human mind splits, with part of itself modeling itself
after the oppressor. This is an act of appeasement:
Look, the mind says in effect, I am like you, so do not harm me. As a result of the civilizing
process, together with this psychological defense mechanism known as identification with the
aggressor, we now hear the alien voices of the various representatives of civilization in our
heads. Because of these alien ego-identifications we no longer hear our own tribal/primal
voice. In order for deep thinking to commence again in the human mind, it is necessary to
break down these internal authorities, overcome the resistances, that prevent tribal ideas from
coming to consciousness. The modern problem is not simply that we do not listen to primal
ideas, but rather that primal ideas are unable to come to consciousness at all, because of the
internal counterforces, or ego-alien identifications, that contradict and overpower them.
These ego-alien identifications, built up over the course of a lifetime, cohere and form a
distinct, circumscribed personality, or false self, that represents and enforces the rules and
regulations of civilization. This false self is observable in the frozen facial expressions,
stereotypic gestures, and unexamined behavioral patterns of the general public. This false self
determines much of our everyday lives, so that we are seldom the origin of our actions. We
lapse into the false self at the first sign of danger, under stress, or simply because it is the
path of least resistance. In this unthinking mode of social role playing, we internally reproduce
our own oppression.
Trauma is a necessary part of civilizing someone, because a natural, maturing individual will
not otherwise accept the ideals of civilization. These ideals - hierarchy, property, the State, for
example - are so contrary to our tribal nature that they must be forcibly thrust into the human
mind. This causes the mind to rupture, to divide its territorythat is, to surrender a part of itself
to the invading enemy. For this reason, the false self is never really integrated into the human
mind, but instead occupies the mind, as a foreign body, standing apart from and above
normal/healthy mental life.
The Original SelfBeneath the false self, there still lives the original identity of the person. This original self is
older than, and other than, the foreign personality that has been imposed upon it. This original
self or primitive ego is the person one was in childhoodbefore the mind was ruptured by the
trauma of civilizationand the person one still is at the core of one's personal identity. This
original self is closely connected to the oldest layer of the psyche. It is an individually
differentiated portion of the primitive mindthe first, personal organization of the primitive mind.
As such, it has direct access to primal wisdom, an internally directed perceptivity, that permits
the entry into consciousness, as well as the passage into activity, of tribal ideas.
In civilization, this original self is caught in the middle of a war between the status quo false
self and the uprising of the tribal self. Even when an individual succeeds in holding its own
personal identity, refusing to slip into the false self, the primal voice may remain unheard,
smothered by the false self. As a distinct, circumscribed personality, the false self achieves a
counter-will of its own that is always operational in the sick mind, at least in terms of
repressing tribal ideas. Tribal ideas threaten civilization, so they cannot pass through the
censorship of the false self, which functions specifically to ward off all serious challenges to
civilization.
Furthermore, the false self tends to become more autonomous and extensive, owing to
improved forms of social control and manipulation of consciousness in the modern
worldadvertising, for example. Once the mind is broken, the false self, backed by the
relentless power of civilization, takes over our lives. The original or primary self has become
autistic, or severely withdrawn from active engagement with social reality. However, there
remains some awareness, at least sometimes, of our primary identity beneath the false self,
and so there is hope for lifting the repressionsset down most effectively in childhoodon
primitive mental processes.
The True Self
Through identification, which is a normal psychological basis of personality development, the
original identity of the person is stretched into something more and greater, on its path to the
true self. This process of identification becomes pathological only when the continuity of the
personality is not preserved, i.e. when there is a splitting in two of the mind, giving rise to a
new psychic structurea false self. This rupture of the mind is unfortunately precisely what
occurs through compulsory training and education of contemporary civilized human beings. In
contrast, the development of the natural and sane human mind does not entail any sharp
delimitations between its various stages and functions. The true self is a continuation and
culmination of the original self; it develops out of the original self, just as the original self
develops out of the tribal self. In sum, psychical reality consists of the tribal self, together with
the original self, and the dynamic interplay between them is responsible for the development
of the true self. The true self is something that unfolds/progresses. Traumatic civilization has
not eliminated the original self, but it has stopped the flow of tribal ideas into consciousness,
which arrests or distorts the higher/maturer development of the personality. In order to resume
deep thinking in the human mind, so that we can become our true self, it is necessary to push
back and ultimately dissolve civilization, internally and externally.
--------------------------------------
The Path to InsanityBasic, vital needs or tribal needs are not being satisfied in civilization, and this produces
frustration, which in turn activates aggression. As civilization progresses toward global
interlock among new technological forms, we are removed farther and farther from the simple
and basic joys of lifesitting in a shaft of sunlight, conversing around a fire, food-sharing,
walking, the blue sky overheadand so frustration and aggression also progress. More and
more of a person's concern and compassion for others and the natural world are withdrawing,
and re-focusing on the self, in order to neutralize the growing frustration and anger within. This
is the psychological explanation for the culture of selfishness that is underway everywhere in
the modern worldthe first step on the road to insanity.
The second step, which is now on the horizon, is megalomania, a severe pathological state of
consciousness in which the steady withdrawal of love from others and nature gives rise to the
deluded mental condition of exalted self-importance. The megalomaniac feels more and more
powerful, euphoric, and in control of things (due to an abnormally inflated self-love), while in
reality s/he is becoming more and more isolated, impotent, and out of control (due to an
excessive loss of love for others and nature). This pathological condition of megalomania is
fueled by inner hatred, which is desperately seeking pacification by consuming more and more
of a person's available love, but it fails entirely to deal with the root-cause of our mental
illnessnamely, unmet primitive needs.
If people cannot access the tribal ideas that inform them of basic needs, then they cannot find
the proper targetnamely, civilizationfor their frustration and aggression. As a result, rage is
trapped in our minds and bodies and is destined to reach heights that are psychologically
unbearable for any individual, which leads to madness. Insanity, the third and final stage of
civilization, occurs when the original self becomes a tortured prisoner within the walls of its
own fears, frustrations, and hostility. It is now extremely difficult, if not impossible, to reach and
influence the original self with any rational message.
The Path to SanityCivilization has enslaved us in the chains of dependency, isolation, and artificiality. All that we
have suffered in civilization still exists in our mindsfor nothing vanishes from the human
mindand it is accumulating into rage. The mechanism that civilization employs in order to
prevent this rage from discharging itself against its sourcenamely, civilizationis the
establishment of a dictatorship in our heads, a false self, that re-directs this rage toward the
citizen in the form of self-blame. According to the false self, each individual is to blame for its
own misery. The false self gets the energy it needs to punish and enslave us from our own
blind frustration and aggression. Without conscious commitment to a tribal ideal, a firm hold
on basic truth, by which to evaluate, condemn, and go against civilization, a person is at the
mercy of its own mounting disappointment and aggression that the false self is designed to
turn inward.
The tribal ideal is a staff for strengthening the original self and fighting off the false self. By
upholding a tribal ideal, sometimes through the spoken word, sometimes through action, and
sometimes through silence, we build self-respect on a solid foundation; for at the core of our
being we are still fiercely independent, intelligent creatures, with strong affective ties to small
human groups and large natural/wild places.
The importance of this self-respect as a prime motivator of human nature can hardly be
overstated; it may enable an individual to defy civilization, even in the face of the hatred of the
whole modern world. When an individual acquires fundamental self-respect, then s/he will be
made a fool no longer, and all the blows of civilization are nothing but the battlescars of a
proud warrior. Civilization is powerless against it, because a person who has re-claimed
fundamental self-respect cares nothing about the laws and standards of civilization.
This self-respect leads to genuine self-love, the second and decisive step on the path to
sanity, for self-love (and happiness in large measure) consists in becoming one's own ideal
again, as in childhood. This self-love eventually overflows and becomes love for others and
for external nature. Concern for life on Earth is the result of a surplus of love, or as Nietzsche
put it, abundance in oneself the over-great fullness of life the feeling of plenitude and
increased energy.; In other words, caring for life on Earth flows from an unbroken and
expanding primary and healthy narcissism. Without this caring that flows from self-love,
science and ethics will preach in vain for the preservation of biological diversity, ecological
integrity, and real wilderness.
The megalomaniac or pathological narcissist has no love for others or for nature, because
s/he needs all available psychic energy, and even more, in order to stave off a false self that is
becoming more demanding and brutal. In megalomania, the backward flow of love, away from
others and nature and toward the self, is a defensive reaction to the underlying reality of
intensifying personal hurt and hatred: the original self is becoming weaker, and the false self
stronger, because the gross injury to the psyche of the human being, by the trauma of
civilization, festers.
http://www.primitivism.com/machine-heads.htm
by Ibon » Mon 11 May 2009, 12:42:47 
Who am I trying to save ? The ones that when I tell them about peak oil say "interesting" then they go back to argue about what car is more cool ? 