{"id":227219,"date":"2023-01-16T12:00:40","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T12:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=227219"},"modified":"2023-01-11T07:15:02","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T07:15:02","slug":"the-psychology-of-veridos-seekers-of-truth-and-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/01\/the-psychology-of-veridos-seekers-of-truth-and-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Psychology of Veridos\u2122 (Seekers of Truth and Justice)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A Study of Moral Heroism of the 5% or less<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

9 Jan 2023 – <\/em>A courageous vocal minority has arisen in the face of relentless opposition, demonization, censorship and punishment to challenge the official Covid narrative, to speak out and work for truth, justice, health and freedom.<\/p>\n

Many have inquired about the psychology of these few I call Veridos\u2122, seekers and speakers of truth. Some say \u201cnobody knows.\u201d I say, \u201cSeek and Ye Shall Find.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the late 1990s I began research on the Courageous Personality, inspired by Daniel Ellsberg[1]<\/a>, the father of Whistleblowers. Dan risked life imprisonment to expose the Pentagon Papers to end Viet Nam War.<\/p>\n

In June, 1995, Dan gave a keynote at the International Psychohistorical Association<\/a> in NYC, where I was giving a workshop. I asked why Dan, of all who knew about the unwinnable Viet Nam War and government lies, was the only one <\/em>with the courage to risk exposing the truth. This led to a touching revelation about his youth[2]<\/a>, excerpted in APPENDIX 1. During a family trip, his father fell asleep at the wheel. The accident killed his mother and sister.<\/p>\n

I was curious. I had no hypothesis and no idea of what I would discover. I assumed that if I explored in depth, patterns would be revealed. I conducted semi-structured interviews with people who take personal risks for truth and justice – truth tellers, code-breakers, history changers, exposers and challengers of corrupt, oppressive, dominating intellectual, political and social systems.<\/p>\n

I explored<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 family of origin, family systems theory, drew genograms<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 depth psychology \u2013 Jung, intersubjective psychoanalytic theory<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 gender perspectives<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 childrearing practices<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 heroes<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 political awakening<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 formative life experiences<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jungian psychological type<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 psychological development and maturity<\/p>\n

I had an \u201cAha!\u201d experience, concluding, among other things, that \u201cthe Courageous Personality\u201d is the psychological opposite<\/em> of \u201cthe Authoritarian Personality<\/a>,\u201d a body of work developed after the Nazi Holocaust to understand genocide, anti-Semitism, fascism, ethnocentrism and anti-democratic attitudes. More on this at the end. (Scroll down to my chart).<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s consider Veridos as a \u201cpsychoclass<\/strong>,\u201d coined by Lloyd DeMause,<\/a> founder of the International Psychohistorical Association<\/a>, described as emerging from a particular style of childrearing<\/em>. Indeed, the childrearing practices moral heroes and authoritarian personalities are quite opposite.<\/p>\n

Verido\u2122<\/strong><\/p>\n

I interviewed Dan Ellsberg, Joseph Rotblat<\/a>, Nobel Peace Prize winner, the only scientist to quit the Manhattan Project after Hitler committed suicide, a woman who hid Jews from the Nazis, judges at the Hague war crimes tribunals, Betty Friedan<\/a>,[3]<\/a> feminist pioneer, Peter Breggin<\/a>, psychiatrist who challenged overdiagnosis ADHD and drugging children, and Israeli and Palestinian pioneers in the peace process, introduced by Dan, who also supported Mordechai Vanunu<\/a>, whistleblower on Israel\u2019s nuclear program, \u00a0who was entrapped and put in solitary confinement for many years, and others.<\/p>\n

I felt a palpable sense that these risk takers did not undergo a conscious, rational, deliberative, decision-making process, nor did they think of themselves as heroes. They could perceive and feel through deceptions and were incapable of holding untruths in their bodies and souls. It was intolerable for them, as for \u201cheretics\u201d in history who were burned at the stake.<\/p>\n

I coined the term \u201cVerido<\/strong>\u201d, to mean an instinctual drive for truth and justice<\/strong><\/em>, like \u201clibido\u201d<\/strong> the instinctual energy and drive for sex. This capacity may be cultivated or squashed with familial and cultural practices of childrearing, education and socialization.<\/p>\n

See my previous Substack, Call Us by Our Names:\u00a0<\/a> Proposed Terminology for Responses to Covid Narrative and Policies for further explanation of Verido, classification and descriptions of Complaints, Conformists, Refuseniks, Remorseniks and Veridos.<\/p>\n

Excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Veridos\u2122,<\/strong>\u00a0maybe\u00a0<\/strong>5% or less initially\u00a0<\/strong>but growing. They see through the deception, investigate it and challenge the official narrative.<\/p>\n

Veridos are truly courageous and incapable of remaining silent. All have been censored, demonized, retaliated against, de-platformed, restricted, lost reputations, jobs and livelihoods, rejected by lifelong friends, relatives and colleagues, excluded from social events. People who have known, even loved and admired Veridos for years and decades believe that they suddenly became crazy, naive or stupid.<\/p>\n

Veridos are called selfish, dangerous, right-wing, Republican, propagandized Trump supporters, patronizingly called \u201cvaccine hesitant\u201d when attempting coercion through rewards, and \u201canti-vaxxers\u201d when shifting strategy from rewards to punishments. Veridos may call themselves dissidents, pariahs, red-pillers, awakened, not drinking the Kool Aid.\u00a0I am calling us Veridos, active seekers of truth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Note<\/strong>: Some who are Veridos in other domains, like the war in Ukraine, may be Compliant and Conformist with Covid, subject to the biggest propaganda campaign in human history, compounded by other dynamics like being frightened to death.<\/p>\n

Before presenting my findings, I wish to highlight the meaning of moral heroes for the collective psyche.<\/p>\n

The Archetype of the Moral Hero<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jung considered moral heroism as an aspect of an \u201curge to life,\u201d the life force, Eros. The hero archetype personifies progressive elements in the collective psyche – forward movement, negative entropy and integration. It is the aspect of the Self that fights against the pulls toward regression, passivity, fear, and the desire to take refuge in the protective nurturance of the Great Mother<\/a>. The collective symbol of the hero embodies the highest aspirations and ideals of a culture.<\/p>\n

Jungian analyst, Dr. Jerome Bernstein<\/a> distinguished between the immature,<\/em> adolescent hero, identified with the warrior, strength, mastery over death, and power and is anti-life and the mature hero<\/strong><\/em>, concerned with moral and ethical issues, committed to the life principle.<\/p>\n

They represent \u201cthe ideal of the Bodhisattva, the symbol of compassion, is the ultimate expression of the underlying concern to lead every being to freedom from suffering, to enlightenment\u201d (Self and Liberation: Jung\/Buddhist Dialogue, ed. Meckel & Moore, p. 286)<\/p>\n

Veridos exemplify high levels of psychological, moral, cognitive and political development, maturity and integration.<\/p>\n

The Archetypal Drama of Liberation from Oppression<\/strong><\/p>\n

Veridos arise in response to domination, destruction, oppression, corruption, ignorance, and deception to stimulate humanity to higher levels of consciousness, creativity and functioning – the stuff of myths and fairy tales.<\/p>\n

Their devotion to relieve suffering transcends ego, the separate sense of self. Each is a developmental force to bring equality, freedom, truth, and justice. Some are moved to live on the front lines. Their work can contribute to conscious evolution<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Veridos are often fired, censored, exiled, imprisoned, killed, denigrated or ridiculed by the regressive forces of oppressive authority that want to keep information from the populace to retain power, because information is power.<\/p>\n

SOME FINDINGS<\/strong><\/p>\n

My observations are based on semi-structured interviews. I did not administer psychological tests. Some patterns emerged. Not every finding applies to every Verido., but in combination they paint a picture. These apply to people courageous in causes other than Covid.<\/p>\n

My hypotheses are based on my observations and intuition. I welcome challenges, alternative theories, validations and examples in the comments. My findings regard<\/p>\n

Family of Origin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Life Experiences \u2013 Discrepant Realities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jungian Psychological Type<\/strong><\/p>\n

Psychological Maturity and Human Development<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Psychological Opposite of the Authoritarian Personality<\/strong><\/p>\n

Psycho-Sociological Observations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Family of Origin Observations<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Mothers (in one case an older sister, in one case a nanny) were described as being ahead of her time, competent, strong, having a mind of her own, open-minded, compassionate, creative, but were somehow unfulfilled (highly likely in previous generations). Their children felt their mother\u2019s frustration of her unlived life<\/em>. They felt delegated to fulfill dreams, to live out her unlived life. Sometimes the father was frustrated.<\/p>\n

As a girl, Betty Friedan prayed for \u201csomeone who loved me best and \u2018a work\u2019<\/em> \u201c<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Families valued equality, justice, freedom<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Clear boundaries, limitations, sometimes a strict but loving father<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Mother was regarded as subject, not object, and affirmed their child\u2019s subjectivity, individuality and uniqueness.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Mutual recognition and close relationship with a member of opposite sex, a sibling, friend, relative. This applies to race in some cases. \u00a0There are developmental connections between consciousness of otherness – the Other Sex<\/em> and the Other Race<\/em>. With unshakable knowledge of the humanity of the Other (sex and race) they could not dehumanize and found dehumanization of others intolerable.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 \u00a0In adolescence they differentiated from family, carved out their own identity and values. They could reject parents\u2019 values without rejecting parents. Family could tolerate difference and negotiate the tension between individuality and connection (neither enmeshed nor disengaged).<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 \u00a0Some did not have heroes. They did not disown the heroic aspect of the Self and engage with it though projection onto external heroes who embody unlived aspects of the self. Some admired Gandhi, King, Malcolm X, Einstein, Paul Robeson.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Capacity for intimacy, depth, richness in relationships, several became co-creative couples.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Some felt special, the \u201cChrist child.\u201d\u00a0 Parents had confidence in them.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 \u00a0Alice<\/a> Miller<\/a> <\/strong>who attended my presentation at the International Psychohistorical Associaton in Amsterdam in 1999, urged me to emphasize that (most) were not punished<\/a> as children.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Child Holocaust survivor, Samuel Oliner and his wife Pearl studied people who rescued Jews in the Altruistic Personality<\/a>. They similarly found that families were close. Parents had moral principles and taught empathy, compassion, equity for all humanity. They had lenient childrearing practices. They did not demand obedience. Hence, they were not submissive to authority.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Rather than physical punishment, parents used reasoning, a sign of respect and trust. By contrast, child-rearing practices in Germany<\/a> before the Holocaust were very strict, demanded obedience, breaking the child\u2019s will, authoritarian and punitive to encourage toughness.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 A secure attachment pattern<\/a>, as opposed to anxious, avoidant and disorganized is established in the first year of life. It optimizes development, empathy, trust, problem-solving, and openness to exploration, associated with taking risks.<\/p>\n

A fortunate beginning in life with a sense of Basic Trust, according to Erik Erikson\u2019s model, provides a basis for psychological health and developing a courageous personality.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Erik<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Chart from Erik Erikson\u2019s Stages of Psychosocial Development Explained<\/a>5 Aug 2020<\/strong>\u00a0by\u00a0Jeremy Sutton, Ph.D.<\/a><\/strong>
\nhttps:\/\/positivepsychology.com\/erikson-stages\/<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

SOME PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Psychological Maturity, Emotional Intelligence, Capacity to Tolerate Ambiguity<\/strong>, to live in and negotiate the tension between the opposites, a sign of psychological health.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 \u00a0Strong egos<\/strong>, not necessarily<\/em> big egos. They operate at a level that transcends ego. (They are not<\/em> necessarily ego-less either.) Jung said that to withstand such overwhelming opposition, the ego must be equal to the whole world. They have a good connection between the ego-Self (higher Self) axis.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not deterred by fear. Do not regress under fear.<\/strong> Some who may function at higher levels regress under fear, lose higher level brain functions and may be vulnerable to psychological manipulation.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Low on hypnotic susceptibility<\/strong> and the Tellegen Absorption Scale<\/a>, <\/em>low on “openness to absorbing and self-altering experiences (Tellegen & Atkinson<\/a>, 1974).<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Jungian Psychological Types<\/a><\/strong>. This was a fascinating and significant discovery. The theory of Psychological Types requires a separate article. Here I will focus on the dimension of Perceiving<\/strong>. Jung\u2019s theory of personality type, was developed, tested and popularized by Myers-Briggs<\/a> typology. There are four dimensions.<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 Introversion \u2013 Extroversion<\/strong> \u2013 how people get energy<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 Judging \u2013 Perceiving<\/strong> \u2013 how people take in information<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 Thinking \u2013 Feeling<\/strong>, Jung called this the \u201cRational Axis\u201d meaning more Judging<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 Intuition \u2013 Sensation<\/strong>, Jung called this the \u201cIrrational Axis\u201d meaning beyond superficial reason, as in more Perceiving<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Veridos take in information more by Perceiving (P)<\/strong> rather than Judging (J)<\/strong>, meaning they have highly developed dominant functions of Intuition and Sensation. They have heightened, fluid perceptive abilities which enables them to take in new information directly and in more detail, and to see through the propaganda and preconceived notions, social conventions and belief systems.<\/p>\n

Intuition <\/strong>is not a hunch or a guess. It is a form of knowledge<\/em>, perceiving through the unconscious, not on the level of concrete reality. Intuitives can see below the surface and intuit into the future. Some can feel when they are being lied to, pick up incongruencies in a story that doesn\u2019t add up, detect something hidden, anticipate trajectories.<\/p>\n

Sensation<\/strong> types perceive empirical reality directly and immediately through their heightened senses. People with strong sensation function are good with directions, mechanical abilities, science, finance, and possibly the arts.<\/p>\n

Jung labeled sensation and intuition as being on the \u201cirrational axis\u201d (not irrational or illogical, but operates beyond and beneath reason). Myers Briggs reframed the \u201cirrational axis\u201d as Perception, as opposed to Thinking and Feeling functions, which Jung framed as the \u201crational axis\u201d Myers Briggs reframed as Judging.<\/p>\n

The rational axis deals with \u201cthoughts, feelings and actions that accord with reason, an attitude based on objective values established by practical experience.\u201d (Carl Jung, Collected works, \u201cDefinitions\u201d)<\/p>\n

It is like the difference between being \u201ctheory driven\u201d (Judging, Rational Axis) with preconceived beliefs, second hand information, and social convention versus \u201cdata driven,\u201d (Perceiving, Irrational Axis), direct, fluid, open to revising beliefs hypotheses and theories according to new information.<\/p>\n

LIFE EXPERIENCES – Discrepant Realities, Ruptures, Paradise Lost, and Failed Enactment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many Veridos had formative life experiences I call \u201cdiscrepant realities.\u201d Others are similarly affected by historical traumas like genocides, massacres, slavery.<\/p>\n

One\u2019s primary experience of humanity, dignity, equality, freedom, security, safety, and love was ruptured in some way, generating a sense of paradise lost, failed enactment, the pain of unnecessary preventable loss and suffering. The discrepancy feels physiologically intolerable.<\/p>\n

Processed by their developed psychological functions of intuition, sensation and feeling, they experience tension between current reality and what is possible, and their inalienable human right. They feel a deep urge to repair and devote their lives to restoring the ideal state. Examples include:<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Paradise lost<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nelson Mandela<\/strong> said, \u201cI wasn\u2019t born with a hunger for freedom. I was born free…\u201d Having lost the freedom he had known, he devoted his life to regaining freedom.<\/p>\n

Nobel Peace Prize winner Joseph Rotblat<\/strong>, born in 1908, grew up in a secure, prosperous household in Russian Poland. With the outbreak of World War 1the family lost everything and went into poverty.<\/p>\n

Camelot Lost, RFK, Jr.<\/strong>, experienced the assassinations of his uncle and father, and his knowledge of hidden forces motivates his fierce courage and relentless dedication and readiness to \u201cdie with my boots on.\u201d We wish him a long, healthy successful life.<\/p>\n

Families of the vaccine and Covid spikeshot injured \u2013<\/strong> Rising from their trauma, grief and loss to speak out and prevent this from happening to others.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Failed Enactment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dan Ellsberg\u2019s Story<\/a> – <\/strong>At 14, on a family trip, Dan\u2019s father fell asleep at the wheel. Their car went off the road, killing his mother and sister. This incident, fused with Dan\u2019s nuclear awareness, led to preoccupations with questions like, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t my father stop the car and take a nap? Why didn\u2019t he ask my mother to drive? Was he too macho to admit to weakness?\u201d (See APPENDIX 1)<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was a \u201cfailed enactment,\u201d an acute sense of inability to prevent a tragedy which can motivate devotion to preventing catastrophes as an adult and to avoid living with regret.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Identifying \u201cthe problem that had no name\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Feminist pioneer Betty Friedan, was the first to name, research and describe \u201cthe problem that had no name,\u201d a malaise felt by privileged women in suburbia in her groundbreaking \u201cThe Feminist Mystique<\/em>\u201d which struck a huge collective nerve. She wrote, \u201dThere was a strange discrepancy between the reality of our lives as women and the image to which we were trying to conform, the image that I had come to call the feminine mystique. I wondered if other women faced this schizophrenic split, and what it meant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veridos, motivated by experiences of loss, betrayal, and failure, experience that a better world is possible. They palpably feel it in their bodies and strive to overcome the discrepancy.<\/p>\n

PSYCHOLOGICAL MATURITY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Around 1990 I was developing a \u201cunified field theory\u201d model of human development, called \u201cEros Development,\u201d inspired by Erik Erikson\u2019s eight stage model, Jane Loevenger\u2019s scale of Ego Development, Piaget\u2019s model of genetic epistemology and others.<\/p>\n

I read a disturbing fact, that 50% of Americans did not achieve \u201cformal operations,\u201d the capacity for abstract thinking. I also read that business school students graduated at a lower level of ego development than when they entered. When listening to political discourse, I began coding development levels. \u00a0Much reflected immature, concrete, black-and-white thinking.<\/p>\n

Veridos exemplify high levels of psychological, moral, cognitive and political development. individuation and self-actualization, Their lives and work are dedicated to stimulating humanity to higher levels of functioning.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Loevenger\u2019s Model of Ego Development<\/a><\/strong> (see full chart below APPENDIX 2<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Loevenger\u2019s stages, from birth, are pre-social (undifferentiated), impulsive, self-protective, conformist, self-aware, conscientious, individualistic, autonomous and then integrated.<\/p>\n

At the conformist stage we identify with our group, act as a member of the group, and treat others as members of groups. I believe that nationalism, submerging one\u2019s identity with the group (as opposed to patriotism perhaps), is associated with the conformist stage of development and below. People who may not feel good about themselves can feel pride and esteem by binding their identity to being part of a group that is good and superior. Those who criticize and blame the group are psychologically threatening at a core level and will be fiercely resisted.<\/p>\n

Stage E4 Conformist<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBelonging to group is paramount; \u201cright\u201d and \u201cwrong\u201d simply determined by social convention; self and others viewed in terms of \u201cfit\u201d with group norms; simplistic and banal inner life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Psychologically, at the conformist stage, one has not yet constructed a concept of the individual. One emerges from the conformist stage with budding self-awareness, followed by conscientiousness, individualism, autonomous and then integrated.<\/p>\n

I hypothesize that Veridos are at least \u201cAutonomous\u201d<\/p>\n

Stage E8 Autonomous<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom from excessive striving and achievement; search for self-fulfillment; recognition of individual human complexity; tolerance for ambiguity and paradox; deepened respect for autonomy of others\u201d<\/p>\n

Stage E9 Integrated<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSelf-actualization; not fully described\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Moral Development\u00a0 Kohlberg & Gilligan\u2019s Six Levels of Moral Development<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 1950s and 1960\u2019s psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg<\/a>, extended Piagetian cognitive development a model of moral development based on interviews with boys about moral dilemmas. Kohlberg\u2019s theory consists of three levels and six stages of moral development.<\/p>\n

See APPENDIX 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

The levels are Preconventional level<\/strong>, Conventional and Postconventional or principled level.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Developmental psychologist Carol Gilligan challenged Kohlberg\u2019s work<\/a> in her classic, groundbreaking book, In a Different Voice<\/a> (1982). Gilligan conducted research with girls and women, discovering that females use different reasoning. While males are concerned with rules, females are more concerned with caring. Gilligan attributes changes in moral reasoning to changes in relational thinking rather than cognitive.<\/p>\n

This is referred to as a Justice vs Mercy<\/a> orientation. Hopefully since the 1980s the gender split is less rigid, and Veridos in particular are crying out for mercy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Kohlberg’s model, moral development is the development of an autonomous self, capable of being motivated by abstract principles understood as a kind of “mathematical” solution to conflicts of interests.<\/p>\n

On Gilligan’s model, moral development is the development of a self-in-relation.\u00a0\u00a0Morality is understood in terms of the preservation of valuable human relations.\u00a0\u00a0Progress from stage to stage is motivated by increasing understanding of human relationships.<\/p>\n

Males and females can possess both justice and care orientations, but one is more prevalent. The more evolved, mature we are, the more likely to integrate both dimensions.<\/p>\n

You guessed it. Veridos are at the highest Post-Conventional stage. See APPENDIX 3<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Individuation<\/a> (Carl Jung and others<\/strong>), self-actualization (Abraham Maslow), Heinz Kohut<\/a>\u2019s \u201cnuclear program of the self.\u201d<\/p>\n

To live according to one\u2019s design, to become whole, realize one\u2019s Self. A goal of Jungian analysis is expanding consciousness by awareness and integration of unconscious contents from one\u2019s shadow, anima\/animus (complex of the opposite sex in one\u2019s psyche), and other unconscious complexes and to develop balance in one\u2019s personality by developing one\u2019s inferior function. Following the horrors of World War II, Jung strongly believed that it was critical for more people to become individuated to resist tyranny, mass psychology and potential destruction of the planet.<\/p>\n

In the last analysis, the essential thing is the life of\u00a0individual. This alone makes history, here alone do the great transformations take place, and the whole future, the whole history of the world, ultimately springs as a gigantic summation from these hidden source in\u00a0individuals.<\/a> — Carl Jung<\/p>\n

Resistance to the organized mass can be effected only by the man who is as well organized in his individuality as the mass itself.<\/a> — Carl Jung<\/p>\n

Individualization does not shut one out from the world, but gathers the world to oneself.<\/p>\n

— Carl Jung<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Differentiation of Self from Family of Origin<\/a><\/strong> (Murray Bowen)<\/p>\n

The goal of Bowen\u2019s family of origin therapy is to establish a sense of self, one\u2019s own personality, and one\u2019s own path despite (family) pressures and expectations, developing one\u2019s ability to hold an \u201cI position\u201d while maintaining relationship rather than disengaging. One is able to resist \u201cgroupthink,\u201d conformity, the need for approval, and to be able to think clearly, handle criticism and conflicts constructively and creatively.<\/p>\n

Veridos: The Psychological Opposite of the Authoritarian Personality<\/strong><\/p>\n

Studies on the Authoritarian Personality have exposed the underlying psychopathology in those who have caused the greatest damage to humankind. I hypothesize that the Courageous Personality is the psychological opposite of the Authoritarian Personality, representing a high level of psychological development and integration.<\/p>\n

Authoritarianism and Human Development<\/strong><\/p>\n

After World War II, many psychologists developed a body of research on psychological forces and conditions that allowed the Holocaust, including Stanley Milgram, on obedience, Phil Zimbardo\u2019s Stanford Prison Experiment, Solomon Asch on pressures to conform, and many others. Adorno, et all developed a theory of the Authoritarian Personality.<\/a> \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Erich Fromm was a prominent social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist and humanistic philosopher. Here are excerpts from his 1957 article on \u201cThe Authoritarian Personality<\/a>.\u201d Note this applies to followers<\/em> of authoritarian leaders (Bolds<\/strong> are mine)<\/p>\n

What they have in common, what defines the essence of the authoritarian personality is an inability: the inability to rely on one\u2019s self, to be independent, to put it in other words: to endure freedom.<\/p>\n

The opposite of the authoritarian character is the mature person<\/strong>: a person who does not need to cling to others because he actively embraces and grasps the world, the people, and the things around him.<\/p>\n

\u2026 the individual\u2019s goal must be to become his own authority<\/strong>; i.e., to have a consciousness in moral issues, conviction in questions of intellect, and fidelity in emotional matters<\/strong>. However, the individual can only have such an inner authority if he has matured enough to understand the world with reason and love. The development of these characteristics is the basis for one\u2019s own authority and therefore the basis for political democracy.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is my comparison of the Authoritarian Personality with the Courageous Personality written around 1997. The left side of the chart is from p.164 in The Authoritarian Personality<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Authoritarian Personality\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Courageous Personality<\/strong><\/p>\n

Identify with ingroup\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Identify with Humanity<\/strong><\/p>\n

inability to identify with humanity\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Inability to dehumanize Other<\/p>\n

ethnocentric, us-them split\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 interest, curiosity, compassion for others<\/p>\n

no individuality in self or other\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 individuated, sees other as individual<\/p>\n

outgroup is offensive, threatening\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 no psychological need to use outgroup<\/p>\n

primitive fears of contamination\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to define self<\/p>\n

unable to criticize ingroup authorities\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 can criticize own group\u2019s authorities<\/p>\n

Stereotypy in thought & experience\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Capacity for Individuated experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

overgeneralizations, all alike\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 perceives individuality<\/p>\n

contradictions in thinking\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 discriminating mind<\/p>\n

Contradiction\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Coherence<\/strong><\/p>\n

Repression\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Self\u2013Awareness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Externalization (Projection)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Internalization<\/strong><\/p>\n

submission to outer authority\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 guided by inner authority<\/p>\n

no inner authority\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 attunement to higher moral authority<\/p>\n

dependent, deny and compensate\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 independent<\/p>\n

unable to criticize ingroup authority\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 can criticize self, parents, own group authority<\/p>\n

Conventionalism\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Genuineness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Conformity\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Spontaneity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rigidity\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Flexibility<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hierarchy of Power\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Equality<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dominance-submission\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Empowers Others<\/p>\n

Conscious-Unconscious Split\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Conscious-Unconscious Integration, Fluidity<\/strong><\/p>\n

needs, weaknesses, impulses denied\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 acknowledgement of weaknesses, impulses<\/p>\n

ego-alien, kept out of awareness\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 self-aware<\/p>\n

narrow constriction of ego\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 strong, expanded ego consciousness<\/p>\n

contradictions between personality\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Integrity of values, morality and \u00a0and morality personality<\/p>\n

Sex role stereotypy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Flexible sex role<\/strong><\/p>\n

idealized, one-sided\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Identification with both parents<\/p>\n

identification with same sex parent<\/p>\n

disowned parts of self are denied, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parts of self are allowed, accepted, integrated<\/p>\n

projected (i.e. for males – weakness,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 self-criticism<\/p>\n

inferiority, hostility, passivity)<\/p>\n

compensatory strength, power\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 little need to compensate<\/p>\n

Anti-Intraception \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Intraception<\/strong><\/p>\n

dislike of subjectivity and imagination\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 comfort with subjective experience, imaginative fantasies, speculations\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0imaginative, tuned into emotions<\/p>\n

focus on concrete, physical reality\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 sees beyond superficial, concrete reality\u00a0observable conditions<\/p>\n

oppose subjective and tender-minded<\/p>\n

OTHER PSYCHO-SOCIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS: Primed to Question<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Previous Knowledge of Corruption, Fraud and Propaganda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since Covid, I reconnected with kindred spirits I knew through other causes, like the 2004 election fraud (Josh Mitteldorf, Mark Crispin Miller), alternative cancer treatments (Beverly Rubick), natural health, propaganda for the invasion of Iraq (Mitch Hall). Before Covid, we saw through deception, questioned authority. Engaged with similar dynamics in the past, Veridos were primed recognize similar patterns. History rhymes.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Health consciousness<\/strong><\/p>\n

A subset<\/em> of Veridos have been \u201chealth nuts\u201d for decades, using preventive, functional, naturopathic, and regenerative medicine, natural remedies, healthy food, immune boosting rather than prescription drugs. Some gave birth at home, raised children naturally and did not vaccinate them.<\/p>\n

At potlucks (Philadelphia and DC), most bring healthy, vegetarian, often organic, and gourmet style food. We have long been healthy foodies who did not conform to the \u201cstandard American diet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the decades I was surprised that many progressive friends did not eat healthy and used the conventional, allopathic medical model that treats symptoms rather than causes, a \u201cpill for an ill\u201d and a \u201cdrug for a bug” without question.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 \u00a0Skepticism and Mistrust<\/strong><\/p>\n

People who have been deceived before know enough distrust the authorities.<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 Blacks familiar with Tuskegee and other secret medical experiments, were possibly aware of the high rates of autism among Black boys vaccinated before the age of 3. Unfortunately, a targeted patronizing propaganda campaign trotting out Black doctors and celebrities, cash and other rewards and incentives was effective in persuading many Blacks to get the Covid shots.<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 Gays who remember Fauci\u2019s actions, conflicts of interest, denial of effective treatments, and deaths from AZT<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Privileged people with loving parents more likely to trust authorities<\/strong><\/p>\n

By contrast to those who grew up with injustice, inequality, and deception, those who grew up with privilege and protective parents have a life experience of trusting authorities and feeling protected. To me, the FDA was protecting us from getting food poisoning at restaurants, thanks to Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle.<\/p>\n

It is frightening and threatening to realize that trusted authorities might be causing harm.<\/p>\n

CONCLUSIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Living in this incredible time of existential danger and great promise, there is value in raising consciousness about the too few courageous people who have made personal sacrifices to speak truth, expose secrets, and challenge oppressive authority to advance the progress of humanity. It seems that they may be 5% of the population or less.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Childrearing – Can we cultivate more Veridos?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Consider Lloyd DeMause\u2019s observation that \u201cpsychoclass\u201d emerged from a particular style of childrearing<\/em>, and Alice Miller\u2019s work on the harms of punishment in childhood, which can make people hypnotically susceptible and obedient to authority. \u00a0The difference in childrearing between Veridos and authoritarians is undeniable.<\/p>\n

The use of harsh physical and psychological punishment in patriarchal authoritarian cultures results in higher incidences of avoidant attachment patterns, associated with more problems in adulthood that negatively impact society.<\/p>\n

Some can be helped with therapy, social support and corrective experiences, but best to prevent. Years ago, realizing the harms of childhood punishment, the German Parliament<\/a> banned corporal punishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cGerman parents nowadays prefer to use dialogue rather than physical punishment to correct wayward children, while traditional virtues such as strict punctuality, orderliness and discipline are no longer considered as important.\u201d German parents go off corporal punishment<\/a><\/p>\n

This should cultivate the development of more Veridos. We could benefit from mass education in childrearing practices.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 Grand Strategy – Can Veridos play a more intentional role in a \u201cgrand strategy\u201d that leverages their gifts since there are too few?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beyond understanding their individual psychology, there is an urgent need to define and establish a high ideal of the mature moral hero and to recognize their potential role in saving humanity.<\/p>\n

Since they are demonized and pathologized as crazy and worse, there is value in identifying and contextualizing their essence and activity as healthy and progressive, to empower them, and increase the extent to which their work is valued in society.<\/p>\n

On the level of collective psyche, we can Increase the psychic energy and charge the archetype of the mature moral hero, cultivating these qualities in people of all ages, as a desirable quality to strive for. See Dr. Phil Zimbardo\u2019s Heroic Imagination Project.<\/a><\/p>\n

Veridos can more consciously craft messaging and frame language to better reach people who are frightened and manipulated, and build a channel to the 40% Conformists.<\/p>\n

Veridos should exemplify post partisanship, transcend party, right\/left divide, resist manipulation that pits us against each other and focus on common ground, collaborating to construct a better future and stop disparaging others.<\/p>\n

We must build on progressive forces that are emerging on the planet to challenge and also to find appealing ways to transcend patriarchal, dominating, regressive, oppressive powers which are highly organized and coordinated to threaten our health and freedoms.<\/p>\n

The immunity of the nation depends entirely upon the existence of a leading minority immune to the evil and capable of combating the powerful suggestive effect.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 C. G. Jung, The Symbolic Life, para. 1400.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MORE JUNG QUOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only a few\u00a0individuals\u00a0succeed in throwing off mythology in a time of a certain intellectual supremacy–the mass never frees itself.<\/a><\/p>\n

Psychology of the Unconscious (ed. Courier Corporation, 2003) – ISBN: 9780486424996<\/p>\n

The mass State has no intention of promoting mutual understanding and the relationship of man to man; it strives, rather, for atomization, for the psychic isolation of the\u00a0individual. The more unrelated\u00a0individuals\u00a0are, the more consolidated the State becomes, and vice versa.<\/a><\/p>\n

For, in order to turn the individual into a function of the State, his dependence on anything beside the State must be taken from him.<\/p>\n

It is the individual’s task to differentiate himself from all the others and stand on his own feet. All collective identities . . . interfere with the fulfillment of this task. Such collective identities are crutches for the lame, shields for the timid, beds for the lazy, nurseries for the irresponsible. .<\/p>\n

The achievement of personality means nothing less than the optimum development of the whole individual human being. It is impossible to foresee the endless variety of conditions that have to be fulfilled. A whole lifetime, in all its biological, social, and spiritual aspects, is needed. Personality is the supreme realization of the innate idiosyncrasy of a living being. It is an act of high courage flung in the face of life, the absolute affirmation of all that constitutes the individual, the most successful adaptation to the universal conditions of existence coupled with the greatest possible freedom for self-determination. To educate a man to this seems to me no light matter. It is surely the hardest task the modern mind has set itself.<\/p>\n

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.<\/p>\n

From The Undiscovered Self<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

From the blurb \u2013 \u201c \u2026 <\/em>Dr. Carl Jung\u2014one of history\u2019s greatest minds\u2014argues that civilization\u2019s future depends on our ability as individuals to resist the collective forces of society. Only by gaining an awareness and understanding of one\u2019s unconscious mind and true, inner nature\u2014\u201cthe undiscovered self\u201d\u2014can we as individuals acquire the self-knowledge that is antithetical to ideological fanaticism\u2026. Jung compellingly argues that only then can we begin to cope with the dangers posed by mass society\u2014\u201cthe sum total of individuals\u201d\u2014and resist the potential threats posed by those in power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, it is becoming ever more obvious that it is not famine, not earthquakes, not microbes, not cancer but man himself who is man\u2019s greatest danger to man, for the simple reason that there is no adequate protection against psychic epidemics, which are infinitely more devastating than the worst of natural catastrophes.<\/em><\/p>\n

The supreme danger which threatens individuals as well as whole nations is a psychic danger. Reason has proved itself completely powerless, precisely because its arguments have an effect only on the conscious mind and not on the unconscious.<\/em><\/p>\n

The greatest danger of all comes from the masses, in whom the effects of the unconscious pile up cumulatively and the reasonableness of the conscious mind is stifled. Every mass organization is a latent danger just as much as a heap of dynamite is. It lets loose effects which no man wants and no man can stop.<\/em><\/p>\n

It is therefore in the highest degree desirable that a knowledge of psychology should spread so that men can understand the source of the supreme dangers that threaten them. Not by arming to the teeth, each for itself, can the nations defend themselves in the long run from the frightful catastrophes of modern war. The heaping up of arms is itself a call to war. Rather must they recognize those psychic conditions under which the unconscious [tsunami-like] bursts the dykes of consciousness and overwhelms it.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

APPENDICES<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dan Ellsberg\u2019s Story <\/strong>Excerpts<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jane Loevenger\u2019s Scale of Ego Development <\/strong>Stages<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Moral Development \u2013 Kohlberg & Gilligan Models<\/strong><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Alice Miller http:\/\/www.alice-miller.com\/en\/<\/a> <\/strong>Child Mistreatment, Child Abuse<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 More on the Authoritarian Personality<\/strong><\/p>\n

6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Heroic Imagination Project<\/strong><\/p>\n

APPENDIX 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dan Ellsberg\u2019s Story <\/strong>– https:\/\/apjjf.org\/-Daniel-Ellsberg\/3201\/article.pdf<\/p>\n

Excerpts<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the Fourth of July, 1946, driving on a hot afternoon on a flat, straight road through the cornfields of Iowa\u2014on the way from Detroit to visit our relatives in Denver\u2014my father fell asleep at the wheel and went off the road long enough to hit a sidewall over a culvert that sheared off the right side of the car, killing my mother and sister.<\/p>\n

My father\u2019s nose was broken and his forehead was cut. When a highway patrol car came by, he was wandering by the wreckage, bleeding and dazed. I was inside, in a coma from a concussion, with a large gash on the left side of my forehead. I had been sitting on the floor next to the back seat, on a suitcase covered with a blanket, with my head just behind the driver\u2019s seat. When the car hit the wall, my head was thrown against a metal fixture on the back of the driver\u2019s seat, knocking me out and opening up a large triangular flap of flesh on my forehead. I was in coma for 36 hours. My legs had been stretched out in front of me across the car and my right leg was broken just above the knee.<\/p>\n

My understanding of how that event came about\u2014it wasn\u2019t entirely an accident, as I heard from my father, that he had kept driving when he was exhausted\u2014and how it affected my life is a story for another time. But looking back now, at what I drew from reading the Pentagon Papers later and on my citizen\u2019s activism since then, I think I saw in the events of August 1945 and July 1946, unconsciously, a common message. I loved my father, and I respected Truman. But you couldn\u2019t rely entirely on a trusted authority\u2014no matter how well- intentioned he was, however much you admired him\u2014to protect you, and your family, from disaster.<\/strong> You couldn\u2019t safely leave events entirely to the care of authorities. Some vigilance was called for, to awaken them if need be or warn others.<\/p>\n

They could be asleep at the wheel<\/strong>, heading for a wall or a cliff. I saw that later in Lyndon Johnson and in his successor, and I\u2019ve seen it since.<\/p>\n

But I sensed almost right away, in August 1945 as Hiroshima and Nagasaki were incinerated, that such feelings\u2014about our president, and our Bomb\u2014separated me from nearly everyone around me, from my parents and friends and from most other Americans. <\/strong>They were not to be mentioned. They could only sound unpatriotic. And in World War II, that was about the last way one wanted to sound. These were thoughts to be kept to myself.<\/p>\n

APPENDIX 2 <\/strong>
\nJane Loevenger Scale of Ego Development<\/strong><\/p>\n

Table 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Levels of Ego Development and Example of a Scored Item (Hy & Loevinger, 1996<\/a>)[4]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Stage<\/strong><\/p>\n

Characteristics<\/strong><\/p>\n

E m2 Impulsive<\/strong><\/p>\n

Focus on physical needs and impulses; dependence on others for control and limits; rules are poorly understood; exploitation of others for one\u2019s own good; Physical and emotional needs are merged; no sense of inner emotional experience<\/p>\n

E3 Self-protective<\/strong><\/p>\n

Capacity to delay immediate gratification; self-serving appreciation for rules; interpersonal wariness<\/p>\n

E4 Conformist<\/strong><\/p>\n

Belonging to group is paramount; \u201cright\u201d and \u201cwrong\u201d simply determined by social convention; self and others viewed in terms of \u201cfit\u201d with group norms; simplistic and banal inner life<\/p>\n

E5 Self-awareness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allowance for qualifications of \u201cright\u201d and \u201cwrong\u201d based on demographic differences; capacity for loneliness and self-consciousness; expanded inner life; relationships experienced in terms of feelings rather than behaviors<\/p>\n

E6 Conscientious<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cRight\u201d and \u201cwrong\u201d and decisions based on personal feeling; capacity for guilt; concern about hurting others; feeling responsible for others<\/p>\n

E7 Individualistic<\/strong><\/p>\n

Greater tolerance for individual differences; differentiation between inner and outer states; emergence of long-term perspective; Interpersonal relationships are deeper and more intense<\/p>\n

E8 Autonomous<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freedom from excessive striving and achievement; search for self-fulfillment; recognition of individual human complexity; tolerance for ambiguity and paradox; deepened respect for autonomy of others<\/p>\n

E9 Integrated<\/strong><\/p>\n

Self-actualization; not fully described<\/p>\n

APPENDIX 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moral Development<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kohlberg & Gilligan\u2019s Six Levels of Moral Development<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Level 1: Preconventional level<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stage 1: Punishment\/obedience orientation<\/p>\n

Stage 2: Instrumental purpose orientation<\/p>\n

Level 2: Conventional level<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stage 3: Good Boy\/Nice Girl orientation<\/p>\n

Stage 4: Law and order orientation<\/p>\n

Level 3: Postconventional or principled level<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stage 5: Social contract orientation<\/p>\n

Stage 6: Universal ethical principle orientation<\/p>\n

GILLIGAN’S SIX STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT (ETHICS OF CARE)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A.\u00a0\u00a0PRE-CONVENTIONAL LEVEL\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

STAGE 1:\u00a0\u00a0Caring for the self.<\/p>\n

STAGE 2:\u00a0\u00a0Stage 1 concern judged to be selfish.<\/p>\n

B.\u00a0\u00a0CONVENTIONAL LEVEL\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

STAGE 3:\u00a0\u00a0Goodness is caring for others, frequently equated with self-sacrifice.<\/p>\n

STAGE 4:\u00a0\u00a0Illogic of the inequality between self and others becomes evident.\u00a0\u00a0Search for equilibrium.<\/p>\n

C.\u00a0\u00a0POST-CONVENTIONAL LEVEL<\/strong><\/p>\n

STAGE 5:\u00a0\u00a0Focus on the dynamics of relationships, to eliminate the tension between self and others.<\/p>\n

STAGE 6:\u00a0\u00a0Care is extended beyond personal relationships to a general recognition of the interdependence of self and other, accompanied by a universal condemnation of exploitation and hurt.<\/p>\n

Males and females can possess both justice and care orientations, but one is more prevalent. The more evolved, mature we are, the more likely to integrate both dimensions.<\/p>\n

APPENDIX 4<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alice Miller Child Mistreatment, Child Abuse<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

What is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Humiliations, spankings and beatings, slaps in the face, betrayal, sexual exploitation, derision, neglect, etc. are all forms of mistreatment, because they injure the integrity and dignity of a child, even if their consequences are not visible right away. However, as adults, most abused children will suffer, and let others suffer, from these injuries. This dynamic of violence can deform some victims into hangmen who take revenge even on whole nations and become willing executors to dictators as unutterably appalling as Hitler and other cruel leaders. Beaten children very early on assimilate the violence they endured, which they may glorify and apply later as parents, in believing that they deserved the punishment and were beaten out of love. They don\u2019t know that the only reason for the punishments they have ( or in retrospect, had) to endure is the fact that their parents themselves endured and learned violence without being able to question it. Later, the adults, once abused children, beat their own children and often feel grateful to their parents who mistreated them when they were small and defenseless.<\/p>\n

This is why society\u2019s ignorance remains so immovable and parents continue to produce severe pain and destructivity \u2013 in all \u201cgood will\u201d, in every generation. Most people tolerate this blindly because the origins of human violence in childhood have been and are still being ignored worldwide. Almost all small children are smacked during the first three years of life when they begin to walk and to touch objects which may not be touched. This happens at exactly the time when the human brain builds up its structure and should thus learn kindness, truthfulness, and love but never, never cruelty and lies. Fortunately, there are many mistreated children who find\u00a0\u201chelping witnesses\u201d<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and can feel loved by them.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.alice-miller.com\/en\/the-roots-of-violence-are-not-unknown\/<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Roots of Violence are NOT Unknown<\/strong><\/p>\n

The misled brain and the banned emotions<\/p>\n

The Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. The development of the human brain is use-dependent. The brain develops its structure in the first four years of life, depending on the experiences the environment offers the child. The brain of a child who has mostly loving experiences will develop differently from the brain of a child who has been treated cruelly.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Almost all children on our planet are beaten in the first years of their lives.<\/strong> They learn from the start violence, and this lesson is wired into their developing brains. No child is ever born violent.<\/strong> Violence is NOT genetic, it exists because beaten children use, in their adult lives, the lesson that their brains have learned.<\/p>\n

3. As beaten children are not allowed to defend themselves, they must suppress their anger and rage against their parents who have humiliated them, killed their inborn empathy, and insulted their dignity. They will take out this rage later, as adults, on scapegoats, mostly on their own children. <\/strong>Deprived of empathy, some of them will direct their anger against themselves (in eating disorders, drug addiction, depression etc.), or against other adults (in wars, terrorism, delinquency etc.)<\/p>\n

APPENDIX 5<\/strong><\/p>\n

More on the Authoritarian Personality<\/strong><\/p>\n

Authoritarian Personality<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

How Theodor Adorno’s F-scale aimed to identify fascism and authoritarian personality.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Authoritarian Personality Type<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Adorno’s theory, the elements of the Authoritarian\u00a0personality type are:<\/p>\n