THE MADNESS
OF GEORGE W. BUSH:
A REFLECTION
OF OUR COLLECTIVE PSYCHOSIS
by Paul Levy
George W.
Bush is ill. He has a psycho-spiritual dis-ease of the soul,
a sickness that is endemic to our culture and symptomatic of
the times we live in. It’s an illness that has been with us
since time immemorial. Because it’s an illness that's in the
soul of all of humanity, it pervades the field and is in all
of us in potential at any moment, which makes it especially
hard to diagnose. Bush's malady is quite different from
schizophrenia, for example, in which all the different parts
of the personality are fragmented and not connected to each
other, resulting in a state of internal chaos. As compared
to the dis-order of the schizophrenic, Bush can sound quite
coherent and can appear like such a "regular," normal guy,
which makes the syndrome he is suffering from very hard to
recognize. This is because the healthy parts of his
personality have been co-opted by the pathological aspect,
which drafts them into its service. Because of the way the
personality self-organizes an outer display of coherence
around a pathogenic core, I would like to name Bush's
illness ‘malignant egophrenic (as compared to schizophrenic)
disease,’ or ‘ME disorder,’ for short. If ME disorder goes
unrecognized and is not contained, it can be very
destructive, particularly if the person is in a position of
power.
In much
the same way that a child's psychology cannot be understood
without looking at the family system he or she is a part of,
George Bush does not exist in isolation.
We can view Bush and his entire Administration (Cheney,
Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, etc), as well as the corporate,
military industrial complex that they are co-dependently
enmeshed with, the media that they control, the voters that
support them, and ourselves as well, as interconnected parts
of a whole system, or a "field." Instead of relating to any
part of this field as an isolated entity, it’s important to
contemplate the entire interdependent field as the ‘medium’
though which malignant egophrenia manifests and propagates
itself. ME disease is a field phenomenon, and needs to be
contemplated as such. Bush's sickness is our own.
THE
DISEASE IS NON-LOCAL
Being a
field phenomenon, malignant egophrenia is non-local in
nature, which means that it is not bound by the limitations
of time or space. Being non-local, this disease pervades and underlies the
entire field and can therefore manifest anywhere, through
anyone and at any moment. The disease's non-local nature
makes the question of who has the disease irrelevant, as we
all have it in potential. It is more a question of whether
or not we are aware of our susceptibility to fall prey to
the disease.
This awareness itself
serves as an immunization that protects us from the
pernicious effects of the illness, thereby allowing us to be
of genuine help to others.
Bush,
like all of us, is both a manifestation of this deeper field
and simultaneously an agent effecting this field. He’s
become so fully taken over by the disease, all the while not
suspecting a thing, that he’s become a "carrier" for this
deadly disease, thus infecting the field around him. He’s
become a portal through which the field around him "warps"
in such a way as to feed and support his pathogenic process.
A non-local, reciprocally co-arising and interdependent
field of unconscious denial and cover-up gets constellated
around Bush to enable and protect his pathology. People who
support Bush are actually complicit with and enabling Bush’s
madness in a co-dependent, self-reinforcing feedback loop
that is ‘closed,’ which is to say it is insular and not open
to any feedback from the ‘real’ world.
Bush
supporters are not merely disinterested in seeing that they
are in denial of reality; on the contrary, they actively
don’t want to look at this, which is to say they resist
self-reflection at all costs. Bush and his supporters
perversely interpret any feedback from the real world which
reflects back their unconsciousness as itself evidence that
proves the rightness of their viewpoint. All of Bush’s
supporters mutually reinforce each other’s unconscious
resistance to such a degree that a collective,
interdependent field of impenetrability gets collectively
conjured up by them that literally resists consciousness.
People
who don't recognize Bush's illness and support him are
unconsciously colluding with and enabling in the co-creation
of the pathological field that is incarnating itself into
the human family. People who support Bush become unwitting
agents through which this non-local disease feeds and
replicates itself. By supporting Bush they are collaborating with and becoming
parts of the greater, interconnected and self-organizing
field of the disease.
The
situation is very analogous to when seemingly good, normal,
loving Germans supported Hitler, believing he was a good
leader trying to help them. The German people didn't realize
that the virulent pathogen malignant egophrenia had taken
possession of Hitler and was incarnating itself through him.
By not seeing this and supporting Hitler, they became agents
used by this non-local, deadly disease to propagate itself.
This was a collective psychosis, and this is what is taking
place in our country right now.
This is
exactly what Jung was warning us about when he said "The
gigantic catastrophes that threaten us today are not
elemental happenings of a physical or biological order, but
psychic events. To a quite terrifying degree we are
threatened by wars and revolutions which are nothing other
than psychic epidemics. At any moment several millions of
human beings may be smitten with a new madness, and then we
shall have another world war or devastating revolution.
Instead of being at the mercy of wild beasts, earthquakes,
landslides, and inundations, modern man is battered by the
elemental forces of his own psyche."
THE LIE
It is not
that the threat of terrorism is unreal, but that Bush's
policies in dealing with terrorism are actually fueling the
fire. The way Bush is fighting terrorism is actually the
very act which is invoking and creating more of it in the
first place. It is as if he is fighting against his own
shadow, which is a battle that can never be won. Bush is so
dissociated from the darkness within himself that he splits
off from it and tries to destroy it. Bush’s inner process,
because of the position of power he finds himself in, is
getting dreamed up and played out on the world stage. ME
disease is unique in that it collapses the boundary between
inner and outer. Egophrenia is an inner disease of the soul
that expresses itself via the medium of the outside world.
We could even say that the inner core of egophrenia actually
in-forms and gives shape to the outer universe so as to
express itself.
By
creating more of the very thing he is fighting against, Bush
is enacting the repetition compulsion
of the traumatized soul. In Bush’s case, it is the
repetition compulsion gone awry, to daemonic proportions,
getting acted out on the world stage. To quote noted
psychologist Rollo May, the daemonic is "any natural
function which has the power to take over the whole person
[or whole nation]…..the daemonic can be either creative or
destructive [i.e, demonic]…..violence is the daemonic gone
awry."
The
daemonic aspect of the disease develops a certain autonomy
and literally possesses the person or group, as it is
self-generating, self-perpetuating and self-organizing in
nature, like a closed and negative feedback loop. The person
who is taken over doesn't suspect a thing, as the field
secretly conspires and colludes with and enables their
psychosis. For example, Bush, in his delusion, imagines he
is divinely guided. His supporters want to believe this to
feed their own adolescent fantasies of wanting to have a
divinely inspired leader to take care of and protect them.
Because of this need they invest, so to speak, in Bush’s
delusion, which just confirms to Bush all the more that he
indeed is God’s instrument. Bush and his followers are
co-dependently and reciprocally feeding and supporting each
other’s unconscious narcissistic needs in a truly
pathological, and ultimately self-destructive co-dependent
relationship.
At the
root of Bush's pathology is a deep dissociation. Like the
terrorists, he has split-off from his own darker half,
projecting the shadow ‘out there,’ and then tries to destroy
this dis-owned shadow. By projecting the shadow onto each
other, Bush and the terrorists are each seeing their own
shadow reflected in the other. They see each other as
criminals, as the incarnation of evil. By projecting the
shadow like this, they locate the evil ‘out there,’ which
ensures that they don't have to recognize the evil within
themselves. It's interesting to note that the inner meaning
of the word mirror is ’shadow holder.’ Ironically, by
fighting against their own shadow in this way, they become
possessed by the very thing they are trying to destroy,
thereby perpetuating a never-ending cycle of violence. To
quote C. G. Jung, one of the greatest psychologists of the
twentieth century, "The psychological rule says that when an
inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside,
as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains
undivided [not in touch with both the light AND dark parts
of themselves] and does not become conscious of his inner
opposite, the world must perforce act out the conflict and
be torn into opposing halves."
Jung
simply refers to projecting the shadow as “the lie." It’s
interesting to note that one of the inner meanings of the
word Devil is ‘the liar.’ Projecting the shadow, to quote
Jung, "deprives us of the capacity to deal with evil." Jung
stresses the importance of consciously developing what he
calls our "imagination for evil," which is to consciously
recognize our potential for evil. This recognition means
embracing and integrating our dark side into our wholeness,
which is made up of both light and dark. If we have no
imagination for evil, to quote Jung, "evil has us in its
grip…….for only the fool can permanently disregard the
conditions of his own nature. In fact, this negligence is
the best means of making him an instrument of evil."
By
projecting the shadow, Bush is unwittingly being a conduit
for the deepest, archetypal evil to possess him from behind,
beneath his conscious awareness, and to act itself out
through him. At the same time, ironically enough, he
identifies with the light and imagines that he is divinely
inspired. To quote Jung, a person in a position of power who
has become dissociated like Bush “even runs the grave risk
of believing he has a Messianic mission, and forces
tyrannous doctrines upon his fellow-beings.” He then
believes that any action he desires is justified in the name
of God, as he can rationalize it as being God's will. Unable
to self-reflect, he is convinced of the rightness of his
viewpoint, which he considers non-negotiable. This is a very
dangerous situation, as Bush has become unconsciously
identified with and possessed by the hero, or savior
archetype. This figure is religious in nature, as it derives
from the transpersonal, archetypal dimension of the
collective unconscious. Being inflated with the hero
archetype, he (archetypically) wants to save the world from
evil and to liberate the planet.
This is
the height of irony since, in reality, Bush is acting as an
unwitting conduit for evil by instigating wars and taking
away people's freedoms. This incongruity brings into bold
relief the severe schizoid split that characterizes Bush's
condition. His inflation blinds him to the real consequences
of his actions and is one of the easier to recognize aspects
of his pathology. Being inflated due to an unconscious
identification with an archetype is, in essence, an
expression of having forfeited one's humanity, a state in
which humility becomes impossible.
Bush has
fallen into a state that is the embodiment of arrogance.
Succumbing to the temptation of power, Bush has become
corrupt, which is the inevitable consequence when one
prefers power over truth. He has fallen into a vicious cycle
where he has become addicted to power. Bush and his regime
are compulsively driven to do everything and anything they
can to hold onto the position of power they find themselves
in. Not only do they not see the depraved nature of the
situation they have fallen into, they don't want to see it.
Being in the role of having power, there is a
counter-incentive to self-reflect, which just reinforces the
strength of the pathogen.
The
inner name of ME
disease is ‘Mad Emperor’ disease, as it is what happens when
a person in a position of power falls prey to and become
seduced by that power. As Al Gore points out, people who are
after dominance and power “satiate their hunger for more
power still by striking a Faustian bargain. And as always
happens- sooner or later- to those who shake hands with the
devil, they find out too late that what they have given up
in the bargain is their soul.”
At the
root of Bush’s process is an unwillingness and seeming
inability to experience his own sense of sin, guilt and
shame, as if he is afraid of being exposed, of being found
out. He’s clearly unable to feel any remorse and experience
his own weakness and vulnerability, his own sense of
failure. This threatens his narcissism too much. One aspect
of Bush’s pathology is ‘malignant narcissism,’ as he reacts
sadistically to others who mirror back his guilt and don’t
support and enable his narcissism.
This
inability to experience his shame and guilt sets in motion a
self-perpetuating cycle of denial, cover-up and projecting
the shadow, all of which are based on a lie. Bush then falls
into an endless loop of hiding from his own lie, which is to
say, from himself. This process allows Bush to become a
conduit for egophrenia to take him over and incarnate its
malignant aspect through him.
Jung
comments on this resistance to self-reflection and endless
cycle of self- deception by saying "Hysterical
self-deceivers, and ordinary ones too, have at all times
understood the art of misusing everything so as to avoid the
demands and duties of life, and above all to shirk the duty
of confronting themselves. They pretend to be seekers after
God in order not to have to face the truth that they are
ordinary egoists."
Falling
victim to one's own deception as Bush has can have a very
mesmerizing and gripping effect on others, as he appears so
convinced of what he is saying and is able to project this
conviction. To quote Jung, "Nothing has such a convincing
effect as a lie one invents and believes oneself, or an evil
deed or intention whose righteousness one regards as
self-evident…..things only become dangerous when the
pathological liar is taken seriously by a wider public. Like
Faust, he is bound to make a pact with the devil and thus
slips off the straight path.” Bush has the seductive
coherence of someone who is fanatically identified, like the
typical fundamentalist, with only one side of an inherently
two-sided polarity. Thomas Merton, commenting on the case of
the obviously demented Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann,
points out "One of the most disturbing facts that came out
in the Eichmann trial was that a psychiatrist examined him
and pronounced him perfectly sane."
A key
feature of malignant egophrenia is that it is very hard to
recognize when someone is a carrier, because the person can
seem so normal and even endearing. The person afflicted can
be very ‘charming’ and have a certain type of charisma that
can entrance those who don't see through their subterfuge.
Concerned about nothing other than himself, a person
stricken with egophrenia is in reality indifferent to other
people’s suffering, all the while professing his compassion,
like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Just like
Hitler struck a chord deep in the German unconscious, Bush
is touching something very deep in the American psyche. Bush
is acting out on the world stage an under-developed
psychological process that deals simplistically with issues
such as good and evil. It’s as if he hasn't grown out of and
fully differentiated from the realm of mythic, archetypal
fantasy that is typical of early adolescence. This immature
aspect of Bush's process speaks to and resonates with those
voters who support him, as it is a reflection of their own
under-developed inner process.
Whereas
Hitler’s evil was more overt in its cruelty and sadism,
Bush’s dark side is much more hidden and disguised, which
makes it particularly dangerous. People who vote for Bush
are somehow blind to what is very obvious to others. It’s as
if they’ve become hypnotized and fallen under the spell that
Bush is casting. Why would people vote for someone stricken
with malignant egophrenia? People who support Bush are
suggestible and susceptible to the same malady that Bush is
embodying, as if they have a predisposition for it (based on
their own trauma, dissociated psyche and tendency to project
the shadow). Supporting Bush is a sign that a person not
only doesn't see the deadly illness that is incarnating
itself through Bush, but is an expression that this disease
has taken up residence in their being and is using them to
do its bidding.
A
COLLECTIVE PSYCHOSIS
It is a
very dangerous situation we are in- because of the position
of power Bush and the religious right find themselves in,
they can literally dream up and create the very apocalypse
that they are imagining is prophesized, like a
Self-fulfilling prophecy. In a perversely self-reinforcing
feedback-loop, the more death and destruction happens, the
more this confirms to them the truth that their deluded
end-time scenario is actually happening as prophesized. In a
diabolical self-validating vicious cycle, Bush and the
religious right are ignoring the role they are playing in
creating exactly what they are using as evidence to prove
the rightness of their viewpoint. ME disease is a world
where up is down, as its flawless illogic is convoluted and
inverted at its core.
Malignant
egophrenia is crazy-making. It induces a very hard to
recognize form of insanity. When we fall prey to egophrenia,
we are unable to recognize that we are taken over, as we
become bewitched by our own projections, accusing other
people of doing what we ourselves are doing. For example,
Bush is talking about himself when he accuses Saddam Hussein
of being “a man who has defied the world,” and “a man who
has made the United Nations look foolish.” Part of the
disease is that when we point at it and call it by its true
name - as being a form of insanity called ignorance - people
who are stricken with the disease will see us as the one's
who are crazy. Unless we recognize the insidious nature of
this disease, there is a crazy-making field around it that
will make us a part of itself. Collective psychosis is like
that.
There is
only one reason why the mainstream psychiatric community is
not studying this contagious psychosis as it spreads through
Bush, his regime, and the surrounding field.
They are not studying this
disease because they haven't yet recognized that the disease
even exists. To the extent that any of us are unaware that
this non-local pathogen pervades the field we become hooked
by it through our own unconscious blind-spot.
By not recognizing the
nature of the disease, the mental health community becomes
its unwitting agents, helping the disease to propagate. What
clearer sign do we need of a collective psychosis than when
our mental health system itself, whose job it is to monitor
such phenomenon, not only doesn't recognize that there is a
collective psychosis running rampant in our society, but are
themselves infected with it?
The
DSM-IV, the psychiatric diagnostic manual, is continually
expanding and including new diagnoses as we deepen our
understanding of and map the contours of the human psyche.
The problem is that the DSM-IV is an expression of an ‘old
paradigm’ way of thinking in that it looks at mental illness
as it exists in individuals, regarding the individual as an
object existing separate from the field around them. This is
based on an illusion, for the individual is embedded in the
greater field (family system, society, and planetary
culture) and is an expression of this multi-textured field.
The individual and the field around them interpenetrate and
condition each other so fully that they can't even be
regarded as two separate aspects that have become joined
together, but rather must be seen as inseparable parts of a
greater whole. Egophrenia expresses itself non-locally
throughout the entire field. Consequently, instead of being
viewed through the lens of the fragmented, separate self, it
requires a more holistic vision that recognizes the
existence of the interdependently co-arising field. It’s not
a question of integrating ME disease into the existing
DSM-IV, but instead of radically expanding, up-leveling and
re-visioning our understanding of the nature of illness
itself.
It’s
profoundly important that the mental health community at
large recognize this age-old disease with which we are all
afflicted. Doing this changes this community from being part
of the problem to part of the solution. The disease
literally feeds on our unawareness of it. The recognition of
the disease is itself the beginning of the cure. By
recognizing the nature of this collective psychosis, we snap
out of being part of it. Malignant egophrenia, unrecognized
and misdiagnosed until now, has wreaked havoc all throughout
human history, and is at the very root of our current world
crisis. To the extent we are unaware of the nature of this
collective psychosis, it has us in its grips and will
unconsciously get acted out through us in a destructive
manner. The choice is truly ours.
One of
the signatures of ME disease is that it hooks people through
their unconscious blind-spot, so when people are afflicted
by this deadly disease they are truly asleep to what is
getting acted out through them. Bush himself is being
manipulated, used and victimized, like a puppet on a string,
by a deeper matrix of cover-up and deceit that has been
perpetrated by him and his very regime, and has now taken on
an autonomous life of its own. This disease, if it gets out
of control, means self-destruction for both victim and
perpetrator. There are no winners. The entire interconnected
web that supports Bush can be recognized to be tentacles of
this virulent, non-local pathogen that, to the extent that
it is not seen, is potentially gaining more and more
sovereignty. Like a sci-fi movie, we have dreamed up a
higher-dimensional Frankenstein monster that has taken on a
life of its own and truly threatens all of us.
THE
IMPORTANCE OF NAMING THE DISEASE
Malignant
egophrenia is both an expression of and at the root of the
extreme polarization and dissociation in both the human
psyche and the world process at large. The disease is
archetypal in nature, which is to say that it has eternally
re-created itself and played itself out over the course of
history. We can even say that it’s the ‘bug’ in the system
that has in-formed and given shape to all of the conflict
and disharmony of human relationship. ME disease is as old
as the human species. However, we’re now at the point in our
evolution where we can finally recognize it, see it, give it
a name and diagnose it.
Malignant
egophrenia is truly diabolical in nature and is what the
ancient, indigenous cultures would call a demon. Jung warned
us that a difficult task lay ahead of us after the mass
insanity of the second World War. He points out that after
the ‘demons’ abandoned the German people, these negative
energies weren't banished. To quote Jung "the demons will
seek a new victim. And that won't be difficult. Every man
who loses his shadow, every nation that falls into
self-righteousness, is their prey." Projecting the shadow
literally opens the door for malignant egophrenia to take up
residence in our being.
What the
ancient people called demons Jung calls autonomous
complexes, which are
split-off parts of the psyche that can possess a person and
seemingly develop an independent will and quasi-life of
their own. These autonomous complexes can't stand to be seen
in much the same way a vampire can't stand the light.
Malignant egophrenia will shape-shift and do everything in
its power to resist being seen. It’s elusive, mercurial and
very much a trickster. The disease obfuscates
itself, creating any number of distractions to hide behind,
and will even react violently to being seen, for being seen
takes away its omnipotence and autonomy.
When we
see a demon we know its name.
Naming it is exorcistic,
as it dis-spells the demon's power over us. To name
something is to symbolize it. The word ‘symbolic,’ which
means that which unites, is the antidote and antonym to the
word ‘diabolic,’ which means that which divides and
separates. George Bush claimed to be "a uniter, not a
divider." However, he has only united one thing- the entire
world against us. To see this diabolical aspect of what is
coming through Bush, namely, that he is an instrument that
is creating separation, is itself to be seeing with symbolic
awareness.
Naming
the disease, we are able to (alchemically) contain it, so
that it can't possess us from behind and act itself out
through us unconsciously. Once the disease is named, it’s
anchored to consciousness so that it can't vaporize back
into the unconscious. This de-potentiates the disease,
beginning the process of re-integrating it back into the
profound unity of the psyche. The energy that was bound up
in the compulsion to endlessly re-create the disease becomes
liberated and available for creative expression. The
prescription for this disease is simply for enough of us who
see it to connect with each other in lucid awareness so that
it can be contained, metabolized and healed. We can put our
collective realization together and dream a much more
grace-filled universe into incarnation. This is an
evolutionary impulse from the universe in which we are
invited to participate.
Encoded
in the disease is its own medicine. Hidden in the daemonic
is our guiding spirit, our true genius and inner voice. This
is why Jung calls the daemonic the "not yet made real
creative." The fact that such a dark shadow is emerging in
our world is an expression that light is nearby, as shadows
are themselves an expression of light.
Demons are actually
blessings in drag. Lucifer is truly the bringer of light.
A MODERN DAY
PLAGUE OF EGYPT
Malignant
egophrenia is manifesting itself, both literally and
symbolically, hidden yet visible for all who have eyes to
see, simultaneously veiling and revealing itself.
Symbolically encoded in egophrenia's literal manifestation
is the key to its re-solution.
Symbols are the language of dreams. A symbol brings together
and reconciles two contraries into a greater whole. A symbol
reflects and effects a change in and of consciousness
itself. A symbol is both the expression of as well as the
doorway into a more transcendent, higher-dimensional part of
ourselves.
People
don't see egophrenia because they don't recognize the
symbolic dimension of existence, but rather are absorbed in
the literal dimension of reality. It is very convincing to
(only) take things literally and see these literal facts as
"the (one) truth," as events in this world ARE literally
happening. They're as real as real can be. This can be very
entrancing, particularly with the evidence right in front of
our face. People are dying. Seeing symbolically doesn't
negate the literal dimension but instead complements and
completes it, as both are true simultaneously. The literal
and symbolic dimensions of reality interpenetrate each other
so fully that they can't be seen as two separate things that
are joined together, but rather are interdependent parts of
a greater whole. The birth of symbolic awareness not only
more fully completes our picture of the nature of the
universe we live in, but gives us access to the way to
actually deal with this deadly disease. Egophrenia is truly
initiatory, as it is a wake up call to symbolic awareness,
which is a higher dimension of our being. All that is needed
for malignant egophrenia to reveal its blessing is for us to
recognize its revelatory function.
Jung says
"Everything could be left undisturbed did not the new way
demand to be discovered, and did it not visit humanity with
all the plagues of Egypt until it finally is discovered."
Malignant egophrenia is a modern day plague of Egypt. If we
don't see what it is symbolically revealing to us, malignant
egophrenia will destroy us. It's a gesture from the
universe, beckoning us, demanding us to integrate it and
thereby receive its blessing. By prompting, pressuring and
challenging us to come to terms with it and receive its
gifts, malignant egophrenia has the potential to awaken us,
thereby furthering the evolution of the species.
The fact
that malignant egophrenia is manifesting in fully visible
form in our world right now is an expression that this
particular energy is available for assimilation in a way
un-imaginable until now. When an unconscious content is
ready to be integrated, it always gets dreamed up into fully
materialized form. This is the dimension in which the energy
bound up in the infinitely regressing feedback loop of the
disease can be accessed and redeemed.
This
quantum leap in consciousness that is being offered us by
egophrenia is fully imaginable into actualization in this
very moment. If we can make use of its lessons, ME disease
becomes a portal into a more whole and integrated part of
our being, both individually and collectively.
Egophrenia is introducing
and initiating us into the dreamlike nature of reality,
where this universe is like a mass shared dream that we are
all collaboratively dreaming up into full-bodied
materialization together. This is to have the realization
that we are interconnected and not separate from one
another, as if we are parts of and contained in a greater
being. We wouldn’t be able to have this expansion of
consciousness without egophrenia, which means that
egophrenia is a
‘potential’ blessing in a very convincing disguise that it's
not.
Being a
non-local field phenomenon, the malignant egophrenia
epidemic is something all six billion of us are
collaboratively creating and dreaming up together. Bush is
an embodied, mirrored reflection of a part of ourselves,
just like we, reciprocally, are a reflection of a part of
him. His disease is our disease. Bush and his regime are a
living, full-bodied reflection of our collective shadow, as
we are of theirs. We have all dreamed them up to play out
these archetypal roles, in full living color, so that we can
see and integrate these parts of ourselves. Embracing these
parts of ourselves that we see so clearly reflected in Bush
and Co. is the first step towards healing the situation.
This is because it dispells the polarization and separation
which is the root factor preventing reconciliation. Bush and
Co. are playing out roles that exist deep inside the
collective psyche of all of humanity. If Bush and Co.
weren’t around, there would be someone else sent by ‘central
casting’ to pick up and play out these very same archetypal
roles. Compassion spontaneously arises when we truly
recognize these fear-ridden parts of ourselves.
GENUINE
COMPASSION AS ACTIVISM
The
malignant egophrenia epidemic is happening right in front of
us. It is self-evident for all who have eyes to see. If we
don't look at what’s happening, if we turn away, ignore it,
and contract against it, we are lying to ourselves. Then
we’re colluding with and unknowingly feeding the disease.
Our looking away is a form of blindness. Our looking away is
a form of ignorance. Our looking away, our contraction, IS
itself the disease. Our resulting complacency and inaction
is, in fact, an expression of our lack of compassion. To
quote Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. "One who passively
accepts evil [allowing it to happen] is as much involved in
it as the one who perpetrates it."
There is
a great danger when we see evil, though. To quote Jung, "It
is a fact that cannot be denied: the wickedness of others
becomes our own wickedness because it kindles something evil
in our hearts…..the sight of evil kindles evil in the soul."
Malignant egophrenia forces upon us the responsibility to
come to terms with the evil inside our own hearts. If we
solidify Bush as being evil and react with righteous
indignation, we are guilty of the very same thing we’re
accusing Bush of (i.e, projecting the shadow). We then
become a conduit for the very evil we’re reacting to.
Who among us has not been
guilty of being a channel for ME disease at one time or
another? If,
when we see this virulent pathogen, we contract against it
and react in any way, be it in judgment, hatred, anger or
revulsion, we’re helping to perpetuate the diabolical
polarization that is the signature of the disease. Our
reacting in this way, which is typical of many political
activists, is itself an expression that we ourselves have
the disease, or to say it more clearly, the disease has us.
This
disease literally has the potential to humble us. We may
think- not us, we could never catch this disease. However,
this very arrogance opens us up to being hooked by the
pathogen. We may think- let's step out of our arrogance, for
who are we to know anything? Let's be an enlightened
bodhisattva and not judge what Bush is doing, for who are we
to judge? Or let's be an enlightened psychiatrist and not
diagnose, name or pathologize Bush in any way, for we don't
want to cast any spells. However, to have these attitudes is
to fall under the seductive spell of the bug, causing us to
disconnect from and give away our power. In this way,
we forsake one of our greatest spiritual treasures, the act
of discernment. Being a spiritual warrior embraces and
includes the most extreme discernment, which is the ability
to differentiate and is a function of seeing clearly.
Discernment is different that when we are unconsciously
caught in judgement, which is a reaction to and contraction
against something. Wielding the wisdom of discernment is an
expression of having genuine compassion.
Compassion is sometimes fierce, though. Sometimes it says
"no," and sets a boundary. Genuine compassion is not always
smiley-faced, otherwise known as "idiot compassion," which
just enables and reinforces asleepness. Genuine compassion
is not passive. It propels us to act for the benefit of all
beings. True compassion demands us to be willing to
consciously step into our power, mediated through the heart,
and to find the courage to speak our true voice: The
malignant egophrenia epidemic has induced a form of criminal
insanity in the entire Bush regime that we are all complicit
in by allowing it to happen.
With Bush
as president it’s as if we’re in a car going over the speed
limit being driven by a drunk adolescent who has fallen
asleep at the wheel. It’s our responsibility to recognize
the extreme danger of our situation and come together to do
something about it, whatever that might be. If not, if we
continue to passively and helplessly watch what is playing
out in front of our very eyes, then we have no one to blame
but ourselves. To quote Abraham Lincoln, "We- even we here-
hold the power, and bear the responsibility." Now is the
time to join together and creatively express our true voice.
As the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. says "Our lives begin
to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
Our only limitation is in our own imagination.
Malignant
egophrenia is a true ‘reconciling symbol,’ in that it unites
the opposites. Malignant egophrenia is both a deadly disease
and the highest blessing co-joined in one phenomenon. Is it
a wave or a particle? It is a true ‘coincidentia oppositorum,’
a conjunction of opposites, an expression of divinity. The
question is, do we recognize what is being symbolically
shown to us by egophrenia, or not? The inner meaning of the
word apocalypse is ‘something hidden being revealed.’ Will
these apocalyptic end times we are in be an initiation into
a more expansive part of our being? Or will it destroy our
species? The choice is truly ours. All that is needed is for
enough of us to recognize what is being revealed, and to
creatively act out of this realization.
