According to some psychoanalytical theorists (such as Lacan and certain object relations theorists), the early stage of childhood development can be considered as “psychotic” when compared to adult rationality and the equilibrium of the normal adult’s ego state. I believe this view of childhood degeneracy is founded in the Judeo-Christian ideology of "original sin", which psychoanalysis roughly parallels in a secular mode, at least in the sense that it posits the existence of essential qualities that need to be expunged from one's nature in order to become good, honest and above all, "sane".
See also:
I don't think there is anything fundamentally wrong with the early childhood state of consciousness. Rather, it is the lack of awareness of just how much of this early consciousness remains with us into adulthood that is at fault, in terms of much that passes for goodness and rectitude in the world, but is actually distortion of reality and/or repression. I disagree with the Judeo-Christian stream of thought that anything in human nature ought to be expunged or put into a controlling strait-jacket by a 'psychotherapist'. Rather, what is required is that we become aware of the deeper elements of the psyche and how they operate socially and individually.
The early stage of consciousness and its psychological dynamics of thanatos and eros remain with us as adults, as part of the unconscious mind, influencing political processes and governing the processes of creative and innovative thought. This is my view. Whereas the artist, in expressing his or her creativity, experiences “unconscious” ego dedifferentiation, the shaman’s approach to knowledge and creativity is more extreme. The author of Black Sunlight (Marechera), as represented by his protagonist, Chris, experiences the paranoid-schizoid dimensions of existence via conscious acts of transgression that set into motion the psychological processes linking self-destruction to self-regeneration.
As Anton Ehrenzweig says, in his book, The Hidden Order of Art, an artist [footnote: in a deeper sense, one would consider the role of shaman] who is capable of experiencing ego dedifferentiation ( (his word for temporary undifferentiated unity with the world) goes deeply enough into the psyche that he or she gains access to eros” (“the life instinct supporting the child’s object relationships and control of reality” ( p 284)):
It is this paradoxical effect of “soul loss” that ultimately renders Black Sunlight a psychologically redemptive – and, overall, healing – book. Those who creatively undergo ego decomposition will not stay on the surface of reality (kept there by the pathological disturbances that prevent a clear appraisal of what it means to be alive.) Clear thinking, about who one is, is made possible by sinking to the depths of the psyche in order to lose one’s developmentally engendered neuroses.
As Anton Ehrenzweig says, in his book, The Hidden Order of Art, an artist [footnote: in a deeper sense, one would consider the role of shaman] who is capable of experiencing ego dedifferentiation ( (his word for temporary undifferentiated unity with the world) goes deeply enough into the psyche that he or she gains access to eros” (“the life instinct supporting the child’s object relationships and control of reality” ( p 284)):
The fragile link or short-circuit which transforms unconscious undifferentiation into conscious abstraction holds together widely divergent poles of mental life. (p 284)
It is this paradoxical effect of “soul loss” that ultimately renders Black Sunlight a psychologically redemptive – and, overall, healing – book. Those who creatively undergo ego decomposition will not stay on the surface of reality (kept there by the pathological disturbances that prevent a clear appraisal of what it means to be alive.) Clear thinking, about who one is, is made possible by sinking to the depths of the psyche in order to lose one’s developmentally engendered neuroses.
See also:
No comments:
Post a Comment