Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Erich From on the relationship between Church & State
"Society, though, is not made up of heroes. As long as the tables were set
for only a minority, and the majority had to serve the minority's purposes
and be satisfied with what was left over, the sense that disobedience is sin
had to be cultivated. Both state and church cultivated it, and both worked
together, because both had to protect their own hierarchies. The state
needed religion to have an ideology that fused disobedience and sin; the
church needed believers whom the state had trained in the virtues of
obedience. Both used the institution of the family, whose function it was
to train the child in obedience from the first moment it showed a will of its
own (usually, at the latest, with the beginning of toilet training). The self-
will of the child had to be broken in order to prepare it for its proper
functioning later on as a citizen.
Sin in the conventional theological and secular sense is a concept within
the authoritarian structure, and this structure belongs to the having mode
of existence. Our human center does not lie in ourselves, but in the
authority to which we submit. We do not arrive at well-being by our own
productive activity, but by passive obedience and the ensuing approval by
the authority. We have a leader (secular or spiritual, king/queen or God) in
whom we have faith; we have security . . . as long as we are—nobody. That
the submission is not necessarily conscious as such, that it can be mild or
severe, that the psychic and social structure need not be totally authoritarian, but may be only partially so, must not blind us to the fact that we
live in the mode of having to the degree that we internalize the authoritarian
structure of our society.:severe, that the psychic and social structure need not be totally authoritarian, but may be only partially so, must not blind us to the fact that we
live in the mode of having to the degree that we internalize the authoritarian
structure of our society."
for only a minority, and the majority had to serve the minority's purposes
and be satisfied with what was left over, the sense that disobedience is sin
had to be cultivated. Both state and church cultivated it, and both worked
together, because both had to protect their own hierarchies. The state
needed religion to have an ideology that fused disobedience and sin; the
church needed believers whom the state had trained in the virtues of
obedience. Both used the institution of the family, whose function it was
to train the child in obedience from the first moment it showed a will of its
own (usually, at the latest, with the beginning of toilet training). The self-
will of the child had to be broken in order to prepare it for its proper
functioning later on as a citizen.
Sin in the conventional theological and secular sense is a concept within
the authoritarian structure, and this structure belongs to the having mode
of existence. Our human center does not lie in ourselves, but in the
authority to which we submit. We do not arrive at well-being by our own
productive activity, but by passive obedience and the ensuing approval by
the authority. We have a leader (secular or spiritual, king/queen or God) in
whom we have faith; we have security . . . as long as we are—nobody. That
the submission is not necessarily conscious as such, that it can be mild or
severe, that the psychic and social structure need not be totally authoritarian, but may be only partially so, must not blind us to the fact that we
live in the mode of having to the degree that we internalize the authoritarian
structure of our society.:severe, that the psychic and social structure need not be totally authoritarian, but may be only partially so, must not blind us to the fact that we
live in the mode of having to the degree that we internalize the authoritarian
structure of our society."
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The Visionary Podcast - July 19 2007
Caroline welcomes back two long-time allies, political participants, Jamie Yeager (writer for the Texas Observer, Press Secretary to Eugene McCarthy) and Pat Ewing (Chief of staff for Al Gore) who have both been on this show many times, but never together- until now. May we examine all that we know about the Constitution, that we may all put our hands back on the tiller of this country. Yea! impeachment.
Passage read by a caller from Erich Fromm's 'To Have or To Be':
"Society, though, is not made up of heroes. As long as the tables were set
for only a minority, and the majority had to serve the minority's purposes
and be satisfied with what was left over, the sense that disobedience is sin
had to be cultivated. Both state and church cultivated it, and both worked
together, because both had to protect their own hierarchies. The state
needed religion to have an ideology that fused disobedience and sin; the
church needed believers whom the state had trained in the virtues of
obedience. Both used the institution of the family, whose function it was
to train the child in obedience from the first moment it showed a will of its
own (usually, at the latest, with the beginning of toilet training). The self-
will of the child had to be broken in order to prepare it for its proper
functioning later on as a citizen.
Passage read by a caller from Erich Fromm's 'To Have or To Be':
"Society, though, is not made up of heroes. As long as the tables were set
for only a minority, and the majority had to serve the minority's purposes
and be satisfied with what was left over, the sense that disobedience is sin
had to be cultivated. Both state and church cultivated it, and both worked
together, because both had to protect their own hierarchies. The state
needed religion to have an ideology that fused disobedience and sin; the
church needed believers whom the state had trained in the virtues of
obedience. Both used the institution of the family, whose function it was
to train the child in obedience from the first moment it showed a will of its
own (usually, at the latest, with the beginning of toilet training). The self-
will of the child had to be broken in order to prepare it for its proper
functioning later on as a citizen.
America Is F*cked.......(Graphically at least)
America Is F*cked.......(Graphically at least) from Jess Gibson on Vimeo.
There is an underlying message of the attitude that is at fault here ... shortcuts and cheating have become the norm - there is no pride in anything done yet there is an almost violent reaction if that is questioned. From top to bottom ... as the saying goes - "Everybody's doing it" ... my response: "that doesn't make it right".
Frontline - The Suicide Tourist
Running across the You Don't Know Jack movie information reminded me of this Frontline from last spring ... something I feel is an important issue - suffering is almost exalted in this country - the harder the better (shows what you're made of) or it shows your devotion to some kind of sadistic creator somehow. These brave people take this issue head on and decided to share it with the rest of the world ..
Monday, January 10, 2011
Dr Thomas Szasz on Psychiatry
Would say I'd take this with a grain of salt - not in disbelief - rather interesting but possibly inflammatory (from the comments on YouTube it's already quite 'heated') ... I agree to a point - but then we should never hand over our mind to someone who claims they 'know better' out of hand.
Question everything - including yourself
Question everything - including yourself
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