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Life and Life Energy
Chapter 8 :Work in Progress
(This chapter has been placed on Ferment Magazine as a work in progress. It will be completed after I return from
France in early August 2013)
Roy Lisker
Chapter 8 is presented in the form of a series of tables
with interpretations. They portray the global structure of
the psyche, based on the 3 pure emotional states,
themselves based on attachments to the present, future
and past. Any real living person will always abide in a
extremely complex mixture of these states which very often
cannot be entangled: every emotional bias, passion,
relationship, thought will of necessity be composed of
thousands of minute contributions by each of the three
states.
In these tables, each state is interpreted on the basic
of 3 phases, whether temporal, ontological, physical,
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archetypal, or sensational. A commentary follows each
table. The categories of phases are:
1. Anxiety, Anger, Depression
2. Father, Mother, Son
3. Past, Present, Future
4. Internal Ontological Categories Non-Being,
Becoming, Being
5. External Ontological Categories
6. Energy Cycles: Potential, Kinetic and Cyclic
Table I
Past Present Future
Anxiety NeutralBackground
(Irresponsibility)
Pleasure(Vices;Drugs)
Suffering (Worry)
Anger Pain(Memory of
past suffering
NeutralBackground(Impatience)
Pleasure(Ambition, Vengeance)
Depression Pleasure(Fantasy,Dreams,
Nostalgia)
Pain(Grief; sense
of loss; rejection)
NeutralBackground
(Neglect)
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Interpretation: The grounds for defining 3 categories of
personalities associated with a given emotional state, is
that each of them is tied in with the temporal phases of
past, present and future. All feelings (emotions) are in fact
3-fold.
For example, feelings of hope, despair or anxiety are
the product of interpretations of the potential future of
some given reality. Regret, remorse, guilt, nostalgia, grief
are the product of something that once existed in the past
but is irrevocably lost; while love, passion, disgust,
rejection, embarrassment or indifference are the
emotional reactions to some present situation.
Thus “anxiety” is in fact a combination of 3 feelings:
indifference to the past, passion for the present and worry
about the future. “Anger” is likewise, “worry” about the
past (memories of past sufferings, fear of embarrassment),
“indifference” for the present, “passionate commitment”
to the future (ambition). And “depression (melancholy)”
combines nostalgia for the past, rejection of the present,
indifference towards the future.
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With respect to the causal chain that leads from one
state to the next: Anxiety about the future causes one to
drug or numb painful fears by an indulgence in present
sensual delights (“Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow
we die”).
Anger at some past insult, slight or abuse leads to
(present) schemes, plans and strategies for “restoring the
balance” (vengeance, triumph) in the future.
Finally, the depressed state causes one to cling to
the ‘after
image’ of a past state, relationship or treasure, relative to
which the present is at most a painful reality, while one
loses interest in the future until the past is restored.
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Table II
The Family Triad in the Adjustment Process
Father(Non-Being)
Mother(Becoming)
Child(Being)
Anxiety Externalized“Dignity” is burdensome
NaturalIdentification“Mothering
Type”
AttachedPossessivene
ss
Anger NaturalIdentificationJehovah the“Avenger”
AttachedJealousy
External onlyInsists on
being ruler,not subject
Depression Attached:Clinging
ExternalizedHunger, Rejected
NaturalIdentification “Obedience”
Interpretation :
The terms “Father”, “Mother” “Son” don’t refer to
actual persons, either in fact or fiction, but to underlying
categories of psychological relationships and experiences.
Their manifestations are both external and internal . For
example, when it is stated that the anxious personality
pictures the Father as external , and that the angry
personality has assimilated the internal Father , one
means something like the following:
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The anxious person may admire (or despise) the kind of
person who acts on “principles”, however, he has no
intention of adhering to it as a model. In the lifestyle
based on worry, fear and concern for the future, the key
concept is not that of “principle”, but rather “expediency”.
The attitudes tend to be utilitarian, practical, business-
oriented, sentimental and even somewhat “kitsch”. What is
“good” is what “works”. It comes as no surprise that is
past and gone tends to be dismissed, treated an irrelevant
contemplation of “monuments of its own magnificence”.
The external Father is linked with the internalized
Mother . Indeed, the “pangs of anxiety” are somewhat
more than analogous to the acute anguish of a mother in
the throes of labor. What metaphor of anxiety can be more
poignant than the fear that a child may miscarriage, be
stillborn, come into the world with a host of birth
anomalies. Thus, the anxious personality type is, above all,
maternal : nurturing, tender and violent in turn,
possessive, spoiling, all the characteristics of an over-
anxious, over-solicitous mother.
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How does the anxious personality type relate to the
Child? Well, just like the physical mother, the axious
personality is attached to the child. The relationship can
be summed up in the single word “possessiveness”, which
characterizes all notions of attachment.
***************************************************************
**
The angry personality has a natural identification with, and
assimilation of the Father (non-Being) . It tends to be
defensive, suspicious, paranoid when pathological, quick
to action, even rash, never satisfied, macho, disciplined.
This dominant father delights in taking charge, in decision
making, fights fiercely in defense of its family or nation,
real or invented. It is inclined to hypocrisy yet also free
from self-satisfaction or conceit (an anxious trait).
What is meant by the external child ? The angry
personality type is characterized by a lack of compassion, a
kind of spiritual blind spot with regard to the cruelty of
the suffering it may inflict on others. In some sense, the
“child” has been rejected, if not totally abandoned .
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As for its relationship towards the Mother : envy,
jealousy and vengefulness rise naturally in the heart of
someone fearful that what he believes that he “owns” may
be taken away from him or lost. This complex of attitudes
may be summed up in the expression attachment to the
Mother .
*****************************************************
Finally one looks at the relationships of the
depressive personality to the 3 persons of Father, Mother
and Child. It should be emphasized that, when dealing with
the 3 types of persons, one is really speaking about the
same set of psychological relationships, cast in the 3
temporal modes of Past, Present and Future.
The depressed personality feels, above all, that he or
she has been rejected, either by loved ones, the society, or
the universe itself. Unhappiness and heartbreak are its
normal emotional companions. Hence, one speaks of the
depressed personality as someone for whom the Mother ,
the source of nurturing, has been externalized .
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This can be seen as equivalent to attachment to the
Father as the representative for Non-Being : the very
language signifies that which is alien from Being, that
which has rejected Being.
One thinks of the prolonged grief at the loss of a loved
one, notably one’s own child. The possessiveness of the
mother, has been transformed into the stricken grief of the
child who has lost its dearest possession, whether a toy, or
a family relationship, through divorce for example. The
word “Child” is of course metaphorical: one can speak of a
“child-like state” engendered by the loss of one’s own
children.
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Table III
Past Present Future
Anxiety InactionConsidered a
“waste of time”Weak
conscience
ReactionCraving for
SensualGratification
ActionTerror ,
coupled with denial, of Future Possibilities
Anger ActionCover ups
Terror, coupled with
DenialOf Identity formed by
past actionsShame
InactionPresent
Sacrificed toExpedience
Delayed gratification
ReactionAmbition
PowerEnvy
Vengeance
Depression ReactionDreams
Imagination
ActionParalysed by
LossGrief
Denial of present
necessitiesNeglect
InactionWithdrawal
Lived Fantasy Life
Interpretation :
Like the primary colors, there are 3 primary emotional
states. These are related to the temporal modes of Past,
Present and Future.
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Anxiety is a state of Attachment to the Child. In terms
of the temporal modes these diversifies into Passion
(Reaction) for the Present (gratification); Rejection
(Action) of the Future; Ignorance (Inaction) of the Past
Anger is a state of Attachment to the Mother. In terms
of the temporal modes, this diversifies into Passion
(Reaction) for the future (ambition); Rejection (Action) of
the Past; Ignorance or Indifference (Inaction) toward the
Present
Depression is a state of Attachment to the Father. In
terms of the temporal modes this diversifies into Passion
(Reaction) towards the Past (Nostalgia, Melancholy);
Rejection (Action) of the Present (Withdrawal); Ignorance
or Indifference (Inaction) towards the Future.
As one can see, an “emotion” can be decomposed into
3 distinct mental sensations, which is why one easily
becomes confused in describing them or identifying them.
Think of a machine, or something like a Carnot cycle,
going through its successive stages. Through “attachment
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to the child”, the anxious personality derives pleasure from
whatever gratifies body and psyche; obviously the future
will be looked upon with considerable foreboding, as a
kind of demonic presence eager to snatch away whatever
pleasure there is in life. The past is not visible, tangible
nor present; why should one be concerned by it. One
robbed a house and used the money to go to a movie; when
sitting in the theater enjoying the film, why worry about
the fate of the person who has to cope with the
consequences of losing his money. Yet, at the same time,
the future looms close by in all its potential horror: the
police investigation, the need to avoid the neighborhood
where the breakin took place, the strong likelihood of
being arrested and thrown in jail.
One can construct similar narratives around the other
two situations. The depressed personality is “attached to
the Father”. He turns to authority for protection while
withdrawing from his potential for violence. By cutting
down his activity in satisfying immediate obligations and
needs (going to the doctor, earning income, voting,
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repairing a house that is falling apart), he can take delight
in imagining possible, improbable or exotic futures,
“Moscows” where every possibility is fulfilled. Yet, as he
intends to do very little in bringing this about, one can say
that he is “ignorant” or even “indifferent” to the real
future.
Finally, there is the personality consumed with anger,
a state which finds itself compelled to take action to ward
off a painful confrontation with the future. What does it
mean to say that the angry personality is “attached to the
Mother”? We can give a tiny acknowledgement to Sigmund
Freud here, and concede that in 1 of the 9
temporal/emotional states there is some barren truth in
his “Oedipus Complex”.
Through “attachment to the Mother”, he comes into
conflict with the Father, whether it be an actual father, a
brother or other sibling, God or his various avatars, or
even himself. As I state in my essay on the plays of
Sophocles, the “mother” signifies “Conception”, in its
manifold senses as insemination, pregnany or giving birth;
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conceiving or development inventions; all works of the
imagination, and so on. The angry person sacrifices all of
these to the over-arching goal of obtaining power,
dominance and above all control.
The “inability to conceive” connotes sterility, even as
the “inability to give birth” (respectively the initial and
final stages of the rebirth process) connotes paralysis of
the will. The third inability, that of the anxious personality,
is that of “inability to bond”,to bring together the products
of the rebirth process in a wholesome union
(The construction of Chapter 8 was brought to this
point on May 12, 2013. It will be resumed and completed
in early August)
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Table IV
Ontological Categories
Non-Being Becoming Being
Anxiety ExternalCannot enforce
DisciplineSpoiling
Corrupting
InternalizedIdentification
MutabilitySentimentalit
y
RejectedWill not be
tied down to a fixed identity
Anger InternalizedIdentification
“Warrior”
Rejected “Toughness”
ExternalTreacheryHypocrisyBetrayal
Depression RejectedPassivity
Pain(Grief; sense
of loss; rejection)
InternalizedIdentification
“Law Abiding”
Interpretation
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Table V
External Attachment
Non-Being Becoming Being
Anxiety Background Rejected(Competition
)
InfatuationSentimentalit
yAnger Rejected
(Competition)
Infatuation(Oedipus)
Background“Ruler, not
Citizen”Depression Infatuation Background Rejected
(Competition)
Interpretation
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Table VI
Energy Cycles
Past Present Future
Anxiety Source ofFuel
Potential-KineticCycle
Action:Consumption
ofKinetic Energy
Exhaustion of resources
DissipationEntropy
AngerKinetic Cycle Reaction:
Absorption of energy
Capacitance
DischargeRapid release
of Kinetic EnergyForce
DepressionPotential Inaction:
InertiaPotential EnergyStorage Recharging
Interpretation
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