Luciano Duarte | Literature and philosophy

The “Motivational Therapy”

It is amazing to see that exactly in the century immediately following the eruption of the geniuses of modern psychology, the so-called “motivational therapy” is so successful. “Overcoming problems”: this is the impossibility—when we consider real psychological traumas—transformed into a product in the marketing era. When the means for a drastic deepening in the understanding of the psychology of the human being, of the origin of traumas arise, and when there is the possibility of using cognition to alleviate their unwanted effects, reduce their means of action—and never overcome them, eliminate them—man turns his back on knowledge and opts for the path of childhood, exchanges analytical prudence for happy psychology, psychology whose practice is summed up in “thinking positive” and acting like a child in the face of the traumas that overwhelm, sometimes without emitting a signal. Everything seems evidence that geniuses, when they appear, do it in vain…

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The Human Being Does Not Change His Essence

“Becoming a better person” demands a merciless and continuous inner annihilation, a humility and a self-denial that borders on repugnance, a superhuman effort to silence the insistent and natural voice of vanity, which manifests itself as soon as the being recognizes his capacity to think. Since this is an almost unfeasible task, since it demands the confrontation of hard battles that never end, it is wise to say that, after adulthood, the human being does not change his essence, even if he wants to, even if he tries, even if he believes.

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What Is Called “Society” Requires the Representation of a Role

What is called “society” requires the representation of a role from everyone. And freedom begins after this refusal. Brilliantly exposed by Jung is the irreconcilable clash between the collective and the individual psyche, which leads the human being to one between two alternatives: either to repress his individuality and become a socially accepted sheep or to break with society and suffer the consequences of this decision. There is no escape, the existence of “society” induces an active posture, if not of acceptance, of refusal. So we can see which decision is the easiest and infinitely more profitable. On the other hand, it remains evident which human beings are intellectually worthy of respect—and which are not.

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The Lyrical Love Poetry Is Doomed to Disappear

The lyrical love poetry, if not dead, is doomed to disappear. This is undoubtedly the conclusion that screams after an accurate observation of the last decades. What happened was not a change in the character of relationships, but a definitive burial of how much served as inspiration for the verses that no longer touch. I could cite current thinking, the socially accepted psyche preacher of detachment. But this is too fragile, only applicable as a mask of the individual psyche and only relevant as a manifestation of hypocrisy. What happens, however, is that people have become dishes on a menu always online and accessible to a touch. Distance, fear of loss, and especially lack of means and options have always acted as fortifiers of a relationship, despite appearances. The lament, in a verse, is nothing but the expression of affection for someone who looks special and irreplaceable. Today, all this is over. And if the present century seems to have evolved, we will see how it will react when exposed to the terrible and immense emptiness opened up by the mass loss of affective bonds—once the fulcrums of meaning,—by the endorsement of false solutions and the gradual dehumanization of human beings. I imagine frightened children clogging up the psychological clinics…

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