Violence in the shadows
There are various forms of violence; science categorizes them by the human unconscious motivation.
Playful violence is not motivated by hate or the urge to destroy but in the pursuit of displaying skill. However, there is often unconscious aggression and destructiveness hidden behind the explicit logic of the game.
Reactive violence is that which is employed in defense of life, freedom or dignity. It is rooted in fear, which can be imagined or real, it can be conscious or unconscious. This form of violence is in the service of life and not destruction. It implies certain proportionality between means and end.
Often the perceived threat is a result of outside manipulation by political or religious leaders. Reactive violence is often that which is vigorously defended as being necessary. We do not want to be facing the possibility that our violence is without reason. We always want to be confident that we are independent thinkers capable of distinguishing truth from fiction. We vehemently deny any hint of having been manipulated into violence by our leaders.
Frustration is often the cause for reactive violence. Also this form of violence can be induced as a result of envy and jealousy.
Revengeful violence induced by revenge is reaction to something already having happened. The strength of the revenge motive is in “inverse proportion to the strength and productiveness of a group or of an individual.” The impotent individual has but one recourse for reestablishing his lost self-esteem, “an eye for an eye”. The person who lives productively is not driven to such extremes; s/he can easily forget such insults because living productively provides immunity against the emotion of revenge.
“Psychoanalytic material demonstrates that the mature, productive person is less motivated by the desire for revenge than the neurotic person who has difficulties in living independently and fully, and who is often prone to stake his whole existence on the wish for revenge.”
A shattering of faith is a motive for revengeful violence, which often occurs in the life of a child. The infant and developing child starts life often with a strong sense of faith in the mother’s warmth and care. This can express it self with any and all relatives, but this faith is often shattered at an early age. This faith in life can be harmed by what we might think of as small things such as the death of a friend or pet. We might consider such matters to be the common disillusionments of life but, to the child, what matters is the sharpness and severity of the particular disappointment.
Quotes from “The Heart of Man”—Erich Fromm
Congratulations on your 100th thread coberst
If anyone is interested, coberst's stats are:
Off topic 97 threads
Creation/evolution 1 thread
Puzzling questions 1 thread
Relativity 1 thread
coberst averages out at 1 new thread every 5 posts, so shows almost as little interest in his own discussions as everyone else does
100th thread award
If anyone is interested, coberst's stats are:
Off topic 97 threads
Creation/evolution 1 thread
Puzzling questions 1 thread
Relativity 1 thread
coberst averages out at 1 new thread every 5 posts, so shows almost as little interest in his own discussions as everyone else does
100th thread award
NOM
That was kind of you to go to such trouble for me.
That was kind of you to go to such trouble for me.
I was bored yesterday and so I counted your threads, found that you were on 99. Couldn't resist 
QUOTE (N O M+Mar 6 2007, 11:33 PM)
I was bored yesterday and so I counted your threads, found that you were on 99. Couldn't resist
This is a constructive means for aleviating boredom.
Hobbies are ways in which many individuals express their individuality. Those matters that excite an individual interest and curiosity are those very things that allow the individual him or her to self-understanding and also for others to understand them. Interests define individuality and help to provide meaning to life. We all look for some ideology, philosophy or religion to provide meaning to life.
When examining psychosis the psychiatrist advises either the establishment of an interpersonal evolvement or for finding interests and perhaps new patterns of thought. Many of us find that our work provides that means for identity and personal fulfillment.
None of us have discovered our full potentialities or have fully explored in depth those we have discovered. Self-development and self-expression are relatively new ideas in human history. The arts are one means for this self-expression. The artist may find drawing or constructing sculptures as a means for self-discovery. The self-learner may find essay writing of equal importance. Consciousness of individuality was first become a possibility in the middle Ages. The Renaissance and further the Reformation enhanced the development of individual identification.
The word “individual” moved from the indivisible and collective to the divisible and distinctive. In this we see the development of an understanding of self-consciousness thus illustrating the dramatic change taking place in our developing understanding of the self as a distinct subject not just a cipher in a community. This was part of the Renaissance.
I recommend that each of us develop the hobby of an intellectual life. We could add to our regular routine the development of an invigorating intellectual life wherein we sought disinterested knowledge; knowledge that is not for the purpose of some immediate need but something that stirs our curiosity, which we seek to understand for the simple reason that we feel a need to understand a particular domain of knowledge.
This is a constructive means for aleviating boredom.
Hobbies are ways in which many individuals express their individuality. Those matters that excite an individual interest and curiosity are those very things that allow the individual him or her to self-understanding and also for others to understand them. Interests define individuality and help to provide meaning to life. We all look for some ideology, philosophy or religion to provide meaning to life.
When examining psychosis the psychiatrist advises either the establishment of an interpersonal evolvement or for finding interests and perhaps new patterns of thought. Many of us find that our work provides that means for identity and personal fulfillment.
None of us have discovered our full potentialities or have fully explored in depth those we have discovered. Self-development and self-expression are relatively new ideas in human history. The arts are one means for this self-expression. The artist may find drawing or constructing sculptures as a means for self-discovery. The self-learner may find essay writing of equal importance. Consciousness of individuality was first become a possibility in the middle Ages. The Renaissance and further the Reformation enhanced the development of individual identification.
The word “individual” moved from the indivisible and collective to the divisible and distinctive. In this we see the development of an understanding of self-consciousness thus illustrating the dramatic change taking place in our developing understanding of the self as a distinct subject not just a cipher in a community. This was part of the Renaissance.
I recommend that each of us develop the hobby of an intellectual life. We could add to our regular routine the development of an invigorating intellectual life wherein we sought disinterested knowledge; knowledge that is not for the purpose of some immediate need but something that stirs our curiosity, which we seek to understand for the simple reason that we feel a need to understand a particular domain of knowledge.
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