If one thing is certain, it is that patriotism and anti-patriotism go beyond the realm of rationality and are based above all on temperament, which is shaped primarily by experience. In short, a patriot is someone whose sense of belonging manifests itself, while an anti-patriot is someone who feels out of place. They are different psychological attitudes, based on different sensations, and that is all they are: psychological attitudes arising from sensations.
Tag: psychology
A Solid Knowledge of Man
The greatest value of psychology, and even of philosophy, consists in providing a solid knowledge of man so that the individual who studies them can safely employ himself in the conduct of his own life or, in other words, so that he can safely employ himself in the conscious direction of his own will. The study of man is valid as long as it allows the student to understand himself, discover himself and, finally, be what he wants to be. When he connects with his own will, the time comes when study is limited to providing reasons for its reaffirmation.
It Does Not Seem Possible for This Process…
It does not seem possible for this process of individuation to take place without it being preceded by a crisis, a discomfort in relation to the environment which, for many, stimulates a feeling of identification. In order to perceive oneself, the individual has to differentiate, and this differentiation seems to be evidenced most often in conflict, which leads to an inner anguish yearning for affirmation. If this process, as is generally agreed, drives the expansion of consciousness, stimulating it seems more sensible than repressing it, and repressing it only seems to curb a fundamental stage in the development of the being.
The Pontiffs of Human Lucidity
Few works elicit such hearty laughter as those of these “men of science” like Max Nordau and Cesare Lombroso, who arrogate to themselves the role of pontiffs of human lucidity and supreme judges of mental sanity. Finally, one should admire them for their audacity in packing the greatest geniuses of human history, from Mozart to Shakespeare, and calling them all degenerate lunatics. They are the real fathers of modern psychiatry, which has in the jester the perfect model of mental sanity. An ordinary man can easily identify the original as sick, but it takes a visionary to see in creativity itself a mental disorder. Like talented clowns, these men deserve from us nothing but effusive applause and enormous gratitude.