The connection with abused children is very helpful. I remember one of the cracks for me was seeing an interview with the writer Amos Oz who's a major establishment figure in "Israel" (now dead, methinks). He said, by way of explaining Israeli violence - (i will paraphrase) an abused child might go one of two ways, they might choose to live a life of virtue and self reflection trying to bring something positive into the world because they understand how negative behaviour makes the world a bad place. They might otherwise just succumb to their trauma and pass on their pain in the form of more violence and abuse.
It was presented as an excuse as in, ho hum, a good chunk of Israeli society is of the second type so ho hum, there you go, that's how the world turns.
What seemed a bit too obvious to me was that while it's good to empathise with an abused person's circumstances even when they do wrong, they should still be made to face the consequences. Wheras Oz thought the supposed trauma lets them iff the hook.
Not at all long winded, and thank you for the considered comment. I absolutely agree with you and it is interesting that tis writer Amos Oz uses it as a kind of vindication. Quite apart from the fact that 2nd and 3rd generation holocaust survivor offspring, often part of a privileged diaspora do not really have that trauma and that many are just non-religious zionists anyway, the fact is that as you say, there should be consequences because we all have a choice how to process and handle our trauma. Do we internalise and transmute it into something of value - or do we externalise it and lash out at others? It is a very important question.
I always thought psychopaths were born not made. Your analysis suggests otherwise. The psychopath who damaged my life, so far as I know, did not have a troubled start to life. Therefore he was born to it. Nonetheless it has now become obvious that a whole society can be psychopathic. It must therefore be made not born.
I think people, including myself, have always generally overestimated the role of individual genetics and predisposition in being truly evil - maybe because the alternative is hard to stomach. In the famous Milgram experiment and other similar experiments, people were asked to estimate in advance, how far people will go to obey an authority when inflicting harm on participants, and the estimations were minuscule (and attributed to temperament) - the actually reality was a majority. Nonetheless, I absolutely think it is a combination of both, and people can be radicalised. But more importantly there is an ongoing reciprocal interaction between brain and environment - so even a tiny predisposition can be triggered by environmental factors, and then behaving accordingly can exacerbate the "predisposition" - i.e. change the biology. With respect to personality disorders like malignant psychopathic narcissism, one explanation is children who receive total gratification of every impulse - i.e. they never learn boundaries. Therefore the surface view - someone who had a "nice" childhood - can be deceiving.
I am Irish Catholic American and 9th of 10 kids. 4 of my brothers and I served in the US military; 1 in Vietnam. We condemn Zionist Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.
Thanks for your today's very strong article !!! 👍👍👍 🔥🔥🔥
PsychSphere indeed. For sure you follow Aaron Mate' Sr. here on Substack or other platforms. He's the wizard of dealing with trauma and the weirdest evil growing from it if not dealt-with properly.
What is most horrific about all these atrocities is the deafening silence of the Goy ...
Stay strong and safe at all times, something obviously getting more difficult in the UK by the day.
Thank you Klaus, I didn't know Aaron Mate talks about that, I will take a look. Yes, it is getting difficult to trust in any institution or values. Thank you for your kind words, stay safe and strong too.
It’s unbearable. But somehow we keep on going after 20 months. If the Palestinians keep on going we have to keep on going. If there is a ‘God’s chosen people’ it is the Palestinians.
Yes you are 100% right. I even wrote a post on that, on how they are chosen people. The world is upside down now, it's literally like everyone's masks have fallen off - and the truth is really really ugly. Eons of "evolution" and this is what it has come to.
“What began as a colonial land grab almost a century ago, ratcheting up over the years, became not only a real, deep, internalized sense of entitlement to the Palestinians land – but an intense burning hatred of the Palestinians, who with their beauty, richness of tradition and true ownership, had everything that the “Israeli’s” aspired to but will never, ever have: true humanness and authenticity.”
One of the beautiful things about human beings is that each mind is unique. It is a physical impossibility for two people to experience the same thing and interpret that experience exactly the same. Some people see this as a blessing, others, a curse. In this, the only limits calculated are those that count the current known number of human minds. If one believes that consciousness remains after gravity has pulled our body back to mother earth, then the limits are exponentially expanded. Notice, I didn’t use the word limitless.
When I think about 8.1 billion minds, each providing a different interpretation of love, I smile. When I think about 160 thousand minds whose creative potential has been extinguished in Gaza (Lancet estimates), I cry.
Those that insist on violently forcing their interpretation of events on others, E.g. -‘Why can’t people just accept that we zionist are gods and masters of the universe?’-, loath the pure beauty multiplicity. In this, they turn their own minds into a perpetual torture chamber of anger, fear, and anxiety where, the “other” becomes the “enemy” because they will not accept their divinity.
Trust me, I know. I was raised in the conservative Roman Catholic Tradition. We adopted the same disease; being conditioned from infancy to believe that we were the sole owners of the keys to paradise (heaven). And from infancy, learned to create a tidy little torture chamber in our own minds to visit when others did not see things our way; while always under the view of an invisible, punitive, and judgmental god.
Thank you again Guy for your kind words. Thank you also for your invaluable thoughts and insights, all true, and I replied on your repost. I also automatically link things happening into my view of the universe as a system - of course that is easy to do from my comfortable armchair, but we all need to have some way to process what is going on. Although it is an instinctive process, I don't believe in a finite, I am not religious but I believe in a divine consciousness of multiple dimensions within which this tiny earth spins precariously on its axis and yet follows a kind of ordained path in some ways; and within each person are universes, all of which recombine in the eternal consciousness after we leave these physical vessels.
That was just beautiful. Thank you, Sobia. Your are always so sensible. "There is a universe outside of us and one within us, and it would do one good the explore both." - The poet U.N. Known. The brilliant evolutionary cosmologist Brian Swimme when discussing the origin of the universe indicated that had the "big bang" happened one nanosecond sooner or later we would not exist. "It just seemed like the universe knew what it was doing," He states.
Thomas Aquinas (1251AD) figuratively baptizes Aristotle when he appropriated the Greek Philosophers teachings to explain Medieval Christology. There were no good translations of Aristotle's works in France/Italy at the time, so the Catholic Aquinas and other Catholic scholars were pinched to use the translations that were provided by the Muslim mystic genius Averroes. Aquinas, at first, was mesmerized by Averroes commentary on Aristotle. In his later years he begins to back away from Averroes.
It was Averroes who introduced and expanded on the idea of a Universal Consciousness in the West. (Chinese/Indian philosophers had already been living in this mind set for over 1800 years.) I have written some about this already. It is coming back to the forefront due to the advanced understandings of Astro and Quantum physics. Remember, in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, thoughts are objects that have physical mass. Scientist are just now discovering that this is the case. It's becoming more clear each day that we are hard wired and driven to connect/communicate with others with or without words. "Preach the gospel [of life], if necessary use words." -Francis of Assisi claims.
As it goes, Aquinas started to talk about Universal Consciousness and of course many in the Catholic Church Hierarchy soundly condemned Aquinas's interpretations as heretical and he was transferred from his seat as a senior theologian at the Catholic University in Paris. Some of his writings were considered an anathema for the next 200 years. In 1879, Pope Leo the 13th, names Aquinas writings as the definitive understanding of Catholic doctrine and ordered mandatory teaching of Aquinas in the seminaries.
When I awaken each morning, in that instant between awake and thought, I am certain that something astoundingly wonderful is afoot. My apologies if you have already walked this literary path. Peace, G
Thank you for your thoughts and fascinating references Guy - everybody has their own trajectory and way of connecting the references so it is always interesting to see their path of thought and learning. I wasn't aware of the Averroes connection, and the link with Aquinas and Aristotle. Thank you for that. I have though read tons of quantum physics related material and books that explore the connections between quantum physics, consciousness, meditation and so on. It is indeed astoundingly wonderful, and the synchronicities and interconnections between us and our universe - or lets say universal consciousness - are profound. Sometimes it seems there is a whole layer or web of "reality" beneath the surface reality, which is connected in ways our conscious minds cannot comprehend (apart from during an LSD trip or something) - and when we momentarily plug into this however that happens, we encounter those strange coincidences. Now and again that layer of reality erupts into our lives or trembles just below it. "Be still and know that I am God" seems so true in those moments we become aware of it.
That may be so, but it is a legal registered corporation in Israel under their law and Israel operates it pretending to be Palestinian. Clearly the name works for Israel, for them to create disinformation and so to give them an excuse for their crimes.
Speaking as an abused child, we grow up and have choice. Sure, I didn't have good parenting models and yes, I made mistakes. Name a parent that doesn't. It's a choice to do unto others and pretending otherwise is enabling. Imo.
The connection with abused children is very helpful. I remember one of the cracks for me was seeing an interview with the writer Amos Oz who's a major establishment figure in "Israel" (now dead, methinks). He said, by way of explaining Israeli violence - (i will paraphrase) an abused child might go one of two ways, they might choose to live a life of virtue and self reflection trying to bring something positive into the world because they understand how negative behaviour makes the world a bad place. They might otherwise just succumb to their trauma and pass on their pain in the form of more violence and abuse.
It was presented as an excuse as in, ho hum, a good chunk of Israeli society is of the second type so ho hum, there you go, that's how the world turns.
What seemed a bit too obvious to me was that while it's good to empathise with an abused person's circumstances even when they do wrong, they should still be made to face the consequences. Wheras Oz thought the supposed trauma lets them iff the hook.
Sorry, that's long winded.
Not at all long winded, and thank you for the considered comment. I absolutely agree with you and it is interesting that tis writer Amos Oz uses it as a kind of vindication. Quite apart from the fact that 2nd and 3rd generation holocaust survivor offspring, often part of a privileged diaspora do not really have that trauma and that many are just non-religious zionists anyway, the fact is that as you say, there should be consequences because we all have a choice how to process and handle our trauma. Do we internalise and transmute it into something of value - or do we externalise it and lash out at others? It is a very important question.
I always thought psychopaths were born not made. Your analysis suggests otherwise. The psychopath who damaged my life, so far as I know, did not have a troubled start to life. Therefore he was born to it. Nonetheless it has now become obvious that a whole society can be psychopathic. It must therefore be made not born.
I think people, including myself, have always generally overestimated the role of individual genetics and predisposition in being truly evil - maybe because the alternative is hard to stomach. In the famous Milgram experiment and other similar experiments, people were asked to estimate in advance, how far people will go to obey an authority when inflicting harm on participants, and the estimations were minuscule (and attributed to temperament) - the actually reality was a majority. Nonetheless, I absolutely think it is a combination of both, and people can be radicalised. But more importantly there is an ongoing reciprocal interaction between brain and environment - so even a tiny predisposition can be triggered by environmental factors, and then behaving accordingly can exacerbate the "predisposition" - i.e. change the biology. With respect to personality disorders like malignant psychopathic narcissism, one explanation is children who receive total gratification of every impulse - i.e. they never learn boundaries. Therefore the surface view - someone who had a "nice" childhood - can be deceiving.
I am Irish Catholic American and 9th of 10 kids. 4 of my brothers and I served in the US military; 1 in Vietnam. We condemn Zionist Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.
Thank you!
Thanks for your today's very strong article !!! 👍👍👍 🔥🔥🔥
PsychSphere indeed. For sure you follow Aaron Mate' Sr. here on Substack or other platforms. He's the wizard of dealing with trauma and the weirdest evil growing from it if not dealt-with properly.
What is most horrific about all these atrocities is the deafening silence of the Goy ...
Stay strong and safe at all times, something obviously getting more difficult in the UK by the day.
Thank you Klaus, I didn't know Aaron Mate talks about that, I will take a look. Yes, it is getting difficult to trust in any institution or values. Thank you for your kind words, stay safe and strong too.
He's talking about Gabor Mate, Aaron's father. Gabor Mate has written books on trauma. His parents were victims of the German holocaust.
I thought as much. Yes, he was a doctor and psychotherapist, very compassionate man.
Exactly this. These are the darkest times of my lifetime.
Thank you. Me too, so much.
It’s unbearable. But somehow we keep on going after 20 months. If the Palestinians keep on going we have to keep on going. If there is a ‘God’s chosen people’ it is the Palestinians.
Yes you are 100% right. I even wrote a post on that, on how they are chosen people. The world is upside down now, it's literally like everyone's masks have fallen off - and the truth is really really ugly. Eons of "evolution" and this is what it has come to.
Thanks, Sobia for another fine work of art.
“What began as a colonial land grab almost a century ago, ratcheting up over the years, became not only a real, deep, internalized sense of entitlement to the Palestinians land – but an intense burning hatred of the Palestinians, who with their beauty, richness of tradition and true ownership, had everything that the “Israeli’s” aspired to but will never, ever have: true humanness and authenticity.”
One of the beautiful things about human beings is that each mind is unique. It is a physical impossibility for two people to experience the same thing and interpret that experience exactly the same. Some people see this as a blessing, others, a curse. In this, the only limits calculated are those that count the current known number of human minds. If one believes that consciousness remains after gravity has pulled our body back to mother earth, then the limits are exponentially expanded. Notice, I didn’t use the word limitless.
When I think about 8.1 billion minds, each providing a different interpretation of love, I smile. When I think about 160 thousand minds whose creative potential has been extinguished in Gaza (Lancet estimates), I cry.
Those that insist on violently forcing their interpretation of events on others, E.g. -‘Why can’t people just accept that we zionist are gods and masters of the universe?’-, loath the pure beauty multiplicity. In this, they turn their own minds into a perpetual torture chamber of anger, fear, and anxiety where, the “other” becomes the “enemy” because they will not accept their divinity.
Trust me, I know. I was raised in the conservative Roman Catholic Tradition. We adopted the same disease; being conditioned from infancy to believe that we were the sole owners of the keys to paradise (heaven). And from infancy, learned to create a tidy little torture chamber in our own minds to visit when others did not see things our way; while always under the view of an invisible, punitive, and judgmental god.
Peace, Guy
Thank you again Guy for your kind words. Thank you also for your invaluable thoughts and insights, all true, and I replied on your repost. I also automatically link things happening into my view of the universe as a system - of course that is easy to do from my comfortable armchair, but we all need to have some way to process what is going on. Although it is an instinctive process, I don't believe in a finite, I am not religious but I believe in a divine consciousness of multiple dimensions within which this tiny earth spins precariously on its axis and yet follows a kind of ordained path in some ways; and within each person are universes, all of which recombine in the eternal consciousness after we leave these physical vessels.
That was just beautiful. Thank you, Sobia. Your are always so sensible. "There is a universe outside of us and one within us, and it would do one good the explore both." - The poet U.N. Known. The brilliant evolutionary cosmologist Brian Swimme when discussing the origin of the universe indicated that had the "big bang" happened one nanosecond sooner or later we would not exist. "It just seemed like the universe knew what it was doing," He states.
Thomas Aquinas (1251AD) figuratively baptizes Aristotle when he appropriated the Greek Philosophers teachings to explain Medieval Christology. There were no good translations of Aristotle's works in France/Italy at the time, so the Catholic Aquinas and other Catholic scholars were pinched to use the translations that were provided by the Muslim mystic genius Averroes. Aquinas, at first, was mesmerized by Averroes commentary on Aristotle. In his later years he begins to back away from Averroes.
It was Averroes who introduced and expanded on the idea of a Universal Consciousness in the West. (Chinese/Indian philosophers had already been living in this mind set for over 1800 years.) I have written some about this already. It is coming back to the forefront due to the advanced understandings of Astro and Quantum physics. Remember, in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, thoughts are objects that have physical mass. Scientist are just now discovering that this is the case. It's becoming more clear each day that we are hard wired and driven to connect/communicate with others with or without words. "Preach the gospel [of life], if necessary use words." -Francis of Assisi claims.
As it goes, Aquinas started to talk about Universal Consciousness and of course many in the Catholic Church Hierarchy soundly condemned Aquinas's interpretations as heretical and he was transferred from his seat as a senior theologian at the Catholic University in Paris. Some of his writings were considered an anathema for the next 200 years. In 1879, Pope Leo the 13th, names Aquinas writings as the definitive understanding of Catholic doctrine and ordered mandatory teaching of Aquinas in the seminaries.
When I awaken each morning, in that instant between awake and thought, I am certain that something astoundingly wonderful is afoot. My apologies if you have already walked this literary path. Peace, G
Thank you for your thoughts and fascinating references Guy - everybody has their own trajectory and way of connecting the references so it is always interesting to see their path of thought and learning. I wasn't aware of the Averroes connection, and the link with Aquinas and Aristotle. Thank you for that. I have though read tons of quantum physics related material and books that explore the connections between quantum physics, consciousness, meditation and so on. It is indeed astoundingly wonderful, and the synchronicities and interconnections between us and our universe - or lets say universal consciousness - are profound. Sometimes it seems there is a whole layer or web of "reality" beneath the surface reality, which is connected in ways our conscious minds cannot comprehend (apart from during an LSD trip or something) - and when we momentarily plug into this however that happens, we encounter those strange coincidences. Now and again that layer of reality erupts into our lives or trembles just below it. "Be still and know that I am God" seems so true in those moments we become aware of it.
I need not even speak, I'm in the caboose and your the engineer.
Haha! I doubt it! :)
Why excuse it; surely, it has to be confronted, outed and shamed?
‘Slaughter of innocents’ - that resonates through history; odd, no? And yet the guilty claim innocence😵💫
Yes, it is sadly a pattern.
Plus, Hamas is the property of Israel and so controlled by them.
Hamas was promised to them 3000 years ago.
That may be so, but it is a legal registered corporation in Israel under their law and Israel operates it pretending to be Palestinian. Clearly the name works for Israel, for them to create disinformation and so to give them an excuse for their crimes.
Yes exactly. Created by them and works to their advantage.
Speaking as an abused child, we grow up and have choice. Sure, I didn't have good parenting models and yes, I made mistakes. Name a parent that doesn't. It's a choice to do unto others and pretending otherwise is enabling. Imo.
Shadiya you're absolutely correct, it is a choice, and we must be careful of what we enable.