He might be right? But it's just one opinion based on another guy's (Freud) opinion who based his opinion on another's opinion.
On Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 12:16 AM, Eccentrics.R.US <halatmothers...@gmail.com > wrote: > ** > > > I am brand new, but did read a rule that says to keep it Zen and that is > good enuf for me. > > I have only seen 2 posts since I joined up, so have not been lucky enough > to see other > letters on any subjects. I have been researching Pain and then saw this > book of Fabers where he > says separation from the mother, generates a “life-long mourning process,” > triggering an endless > “search for replacement, for someone or something to fill the gap.” and is > what I started my research > with a few years ago. This is the first time I have heard of Faber or his > book, so my interest > is high as there is almost a sort of Synchronicity between his thoughts > and mine. > > I can contact you off list if you like, I have copied and saved your > address for later > reference. > > Thank you > > M > > > On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 10:32 PM, Merle Lester <merlewiit...@yahoo.com>wrote: > >> >> >> >> thank you M.... >> >> i always feel nervous now since the new rules were enforced by the >> moderators as to what was appropriate and what what was not for zen forum... >> >> i nearly thought maybe not to post... feeling the "nervous nellie" >> >> i have had private responses as well in support.. >> >> so thank you for your support M. >> >> i would be interested in your feedback... >> >> merle >> >> >> The Book, The Withdrawal of Human Projection looks like one I would love >> to read and add to my library. >> Amazon has 7 copies left, just wanted to stop by and tell you that this >> was one excellent Posting to the group. >> >> M >> >> >> On Fri, Jul 26, 2013 at 2:12 AM, Merle Lester <merlewiit...@yahoo.com>wrote: >> >> >> >> >> for suresh...merle >> >> Having trouble viewing this email? click >> here<http://www.benchmarkemail.com/c/v?e=31CA55&c=4BF35&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE&relid=2E04A96C> >> *Return to Emptiness: free copy of The Withdrawal of Human >> Projection* >> *COLLEGE INSTRUCTORS may receive a free copy for use in teaching and >> research.** Simply respond to this email indicating you will request >> that your library order a copy.* >> *[image: Developmental Time, Cultural Space]* >> *Pages: *118 pages* >> Publisher: >> *Library of Social >> Science<http://www.benchmarkemail.com/c/l?u=289245A&e=31CA55&c=4BF35&t=0&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE> >> * >> Author: >> *M. D. Faber* >> Date of Publication: >> *June 1, 2013* >> Paperback: >> * List Price $34.95 >> ISBN: 091504207X >> *Hardcover: >> * List Price $39.95 >> ISBN: 0915042088* >> * >> *For information on ordering this book through Amazon, click >> here.*<http://www.benchmarkemail.com/c/l?u=289245B&e=31CA55&c=4BF35&t=0&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE> >> *Because we believe The Withdrawal of Human Projection is an important >> book—and wish to assure that it achieves the widest possible circulation—we >> are offering a free copy to college instructors if you will simply ask >> your library to order a copy. Please respond to this email—write to >> oander...@libraryofsocialscience.com—providing your name and the name of >> your college or university. We will send you a free electronic copy of >> the entire book (identical to the physical copy, including the front & >> back cover).* >> *Professor emeritus of English at the University of Victoria, M. D. >> Faber is a renowned authority on the psychology of religion and author of >> nine books, including Culture and Consciousness, The Psychological Roots >> of Religious Belief, and The Magic of Prayer: An Introduction to the >> Psychology of Faith.** >> * >> *We are immersed within culture >> like fish in the sea* >> We experience culture as if air that we breathe. Or one may say that >> human beings are like fish within water—embraced, encompassed and >> incorporated by “society.” In many post-modern theories, there is barely a >> concept of a self prior to or separate from the symbolic order. Some >> theorists contend that our psyche is constituted by nothing more or less >> than the “discourses that push and pull us.” >> Scholars focus on the inescapable power of discourse, yet rail against >> the dominating, oppressive dimensions of society. The term “hegemony” >> conveys the idea of culture and its ideologies as an omnipresent—and >> potentially destructive—force. >> But what is “culture?” Why is there such an intimate connection between >> our minds and society? In *The Withdrawal of Human Projection, *M. D. >> Faber departs from conventional approaches—providing a psychological >> analysis of our *need or desire for culture. *What motivates us to bind >> ourselves to the symbolic order? >> *How is it possible to separate >> from beloved objects?* >> Faber begins with the child’s attachment to mother and family. We >> experience a deep, profound tie to early love objects. Simultaneously, we >> are compelled to separate from these objects and move into reality—a place >> that does not contain the mother. *How is it possible to achieve >> separation from that to which we are so deeply attached? *This is the >> subject of Faber’s book. >> Separation from our mother and families, Faber says, generates a >> “life-long mourning process,” triggering an endless “search for >> replacement, for someone or something to fill the gap.” The child deals >> with separation by choosing “transitional objects”—blankets, teddy bears, >> story books—that afford the magical or illusory belief that one is “staying >> with the caretaker at the same time he or she is moving away from her or >> giving her up.” We bind to objects that “symbolize and evoke the comforting >> presence of the mother.” >> Our relationship to culture, according to Faber, derives from our >> relationship to transitional objects. Cultural objects are glorified, >> puffed-up transitional objects. We bind ourselves tightly to the cultural >> domain as part of a ceaseless struggle to come to terms with separation and >> loss; to solidify and stabilize the self. >> *Ambivalence* >> Faber hypothesizes that we are tied to the institutions of society out of >> the tie that binds us to parental figures within. Our struggle to establish >> “dual unity” binds us to the objects of our inner world, and hence to an >> overestimation or attachment to cultural objects that become “projective >> exemplifications of either acceptance or rejection; in other words, >> psychological symbols.” >> At the same time that we seek to maintain the tie to mother, we struggle >> to separate. Insofar as cultural objects symbolize mother, our relationship >> to these objects is inherently ambivalent. We simultaneously seek to fuse >> with these objects and to differentiate—separate—ourselves from them. We >> come feel dominated and oppressed—tormented— by the very ideologies, ideals >> and cultural objects to which we have become deeply attached. >> *Because we believe The Withdrawal of Human Projection is an important >> book—and wish to assure that it achieves the widest possible circulation—we >> are offering a free copy to college instructors if you will simply ask >> your library to order a copy. Please respond to this email—write to >> oander...@libraryofsocialscience.com—providing your name and the name of >> your college or university. We will send you a free electronic copy of >> the entire book (identical to the physical copy, including the front & >> back cover).* >> Contemporary scholarship views the power of culture to shape the self as >> inevitable and nearly inescapable. Lacanians state that “is no other but >> the other.” Submitting to culture, we become “subjects of the symbolic >> order.” >> However, there are other perspectives. Books like Freud’s *Civilization >> and Its >> Discontents*<http://www.benchmarkemail.com/c/l?u=289245C&e=31CA55&c=4BF35&t=0&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE>suggest >> a clear distinction between society, on the one hand, and the >> individual, on the other. The fact that human beings suffer from—and can >> perform a critique of—civilization implies that there is a part of the self >> that is *not* bound to civilization. Many social movements subsequent to >> Freud’s book built on the assumption that liberation entails “throwing off” >> the yoke of society. >> *Return to emptiness* >> Faber turns to Buddhism as a method for achieving a "break" from the >> symbolic order. Whereas Descartes said, I think therefore I am, Buddhist >> tradition embraces an idea that is precisely the opposite of this French >> conception. Buddhism—Asian philosophy, generally—contends that thinking >> impedes discovery and understanding of the self. One becomes who one is by >> abandoning thoughts—returning to the space of emptiness. >> Indian philosopher >> Rajneesh<http://www.benchmarkemail.com/c/l?u=289245D&e=31CA55&c=4BF35&t=0&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE>explains: >> “Thoughts are like clouds in the sky; they have no roots in you. >> They come and go. You’re just a victim, and you unnecessarily become >> identified with them.” The self, according to this view, is not the >> thinker, but the being who *experiences and observes thoughts.* >> *Because we believe The Withdrawal of Human Projection is an important >> book—and wish to assure that it achieves the widest possible circulation—we >> are offering a free copy to college instructors if you will simply ask >> your library to order a copy. Please respond to this email—write to >> oander...@libraryofsocialscience.com—providing your name and the name of >> your college or university. We will send you a free electronic copy of >> the entire book (identical to the physical copy, including the front & >> back cover).* >> Within the symbolic order, identity is achieved through “identification.” >> We find it natural and normal to define our selves in terms of our >> relationship to cultural ideas and objects. People identify with nations, >> with a political position (“left” or “right”), with an ethnic group, a >> baseball team (becoming a “Yankee fan” or a “Met fan”), religious belief >> systems, a musical performer (becoming a Lady Gaga fan), with an actor or >> actress, or an ideology (libertarianism or socialism). >> Identifications are the foundation for what Faber calls “ordinary >> consciousness.” We define ourselves by projecting existence into cultural >> objects. Our attachment to these objects replicates attachment to infantile >> love objects. Living through identification, human beings imagine that they >> cannot do without—live without—these beloved cultural objects. >> Buddhism seeks separation from the symbolic order: abandonment of >> cultural objects: return to our “original nature.” The idea of “emptiness” >> lies at the heart of Buddhism. Zen master Shunryu >> Suzuki<http://www.benchmarkemail.com/c/l?u=289245E&e=31CA55&c=4BF35&t=0&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE>explains >> that emptiness is not merely a state of mind, but the “original >> essence of mind which Buddha experienced.” Emptiness is the pure, inner >> space where language, discourse and society cannot enter. >> *Liberation from the Symbolic Order* >> Buddhism—separation from the symbolic order—implies the possibility of >> liberation from ideologies and hegemonic societal structures. Charlotte >> Joko >> Beck<http://www.benchmarkemail.com/c/l?u=289245F&e=31CA55&c=4BF35&t=0&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE>states >> that the purpose of Buddhist practice is to “die slowly, step by >> step, gradually disidentifying with wherever we’re caught in.” As we >> identify ourselves with less and less, we can “include more and more in our >> lives.” >> Disidentification means withdrawing psychic energy from cultural objects >> to which we had been attached. Many of us are so deeply invested in culture >> that we can hardly conceive or imagine such a state of being. We all are >> “fans”—people who are fanatically committed or devoted to cultural objects. >> We imagine that we benefit enormously by virtue of our relationship to >> society. Yet, we often feel tormented. Culture (e. g., the mass-media) >> presents an endless, eternal stream of gratification. We feel that we are >> energized by this connection. >> Perhaps, however, an image from *The >> Matrix*<http://www.benchmarkemail.com/c/l?u=2892460&e=31CA55&c=4BF35&t=0&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE>depicts >> the true state of affairs. Human beings are batteries—perpetually >> feeding the symbolic order. We are *tied to society by an umbilical >> cord, *precisely as an unborn child is tied to its mother. We feel we >> are being nourished by the images that enter from the Matrix. In reality, >> we are feeding the Matrix with the substance of our bodies. >> *Because we believe The Withdrawal of Human Projection is an important >> book—and wish to assure that it achieves the widest possible circulation—we >> are offering a free copy to college instructors if you will simply ask >> your library to order a copy. Please respond to this email—write to >> oander...@libraryofsocialscience.com—providing your name and the name of >> your college or university. We will send you a free electronic copy of >> the entire book (identical to the physical copy, including the front & >> back cover).* >> *EXCERPTS FROM THE WITHDRAWAL >> OF HUMAN PROJECTION >> >> M. D. Faber on Money, Capitalism and Consumerism* >> The drive for wealth is closely bound up with the drive for omnipotence. >> *Money denies dependence. *Because money functions as an agent of >> control at the deep psychological level, providing the dependent >> personality with the dream of unlimited power, wealth becomes in the >> transitional mode a means of accomplishing one's total independence. Were >> one to possess the object entirely one would not need the object any more. >> The capitalist, in his insatiable greed, is willing to sacrifice human >> beings, the very "flesh and blood, nerves and brains" of working people in >> order to maximize his profit, which is derived from human labor. Like the >> Aztecs of old, the owners of industries, of mines and factories, are >> "prodigal with human lives," casual about "wasting" the men and women to >> whom they believe they have some sort of natural right. "When profits are >> at stake," writes Marx, "killing is no murder," just as in the religious >> sacrifice of human beings killing is also no murder but a "religious" >> action. >> Because interest leads to money after a period of waiting—and because >> money is a symbol rooted in the drive to control and reunite with the >> internalized object—interest becomes a psychological scheme to fill time >> with the magical presence of the maternal figure. One is making money as >> time passes, and to this extent the emptiness of time is denied, the >> absence of the object is denied; indeed, the emptiness of time and the >> object's absence are only *illusions.* >> Time is not simply passing, it is breeding money, which makes one secure >> in its passing. Thus the interest in interest attests to the individual's >> desire to be imaging unconsciously the object of one's security *all the >> time, *just as the child has the mother *all the time *at the level of >> his primary, internalized *holding. *The feed of cash proceeds >> uninterruptedly at the level of transitional need. One "goes through life" >> with his lips at the breast. >> Our passionate chase after *goods *is, first. our attempt to discover >> new forms of attachment" in our alienated, kin-less culture, our paradise >> *lost. *We shop, buy, *consume, *feed ourselves "products," in a >> pathetic, obsessive struggle to deny the absence of those flesh-and-blood >> contacts that formerly tied people together and provided them with precious >> compensation for the *loss *of the object. Second, we make our obsessive >> economic activity, our endless oral frenzy, a part of the "national >> purpose," or indeed the national purpose *itself *("the richest country >> in the world!")—in an effort to convince ourselves that we do in fact live >> in a genuine society, a truly cohesive group, a shared community of emotion >> and purpose. We know deep down, however, that loneliness and isolation are >> the rule. >> >> * The Withdrawal of Human Projection: >> Separating from the Symbolic Order* >> *Table of Contents* >> *Foreword by Richard A. Koenigsberg* >> >> *Acknowledgements* >> >> *Part One: The Transitional Nature of Ordinary Consciousness * >> >> 1. The Process of Mind-Body Conversion >> 2. From the Cradle >> 3. The Internalization of the World >> 4. The Mirror >> 5. The Dark Side of the Mirror: Splitting >> 6. The Agony of Differentiation >> 7. The Sands of Time and the Container of Space >> 8. The Stimulus Itself >> 9. The Ward >> 10. The Tie to the Culture >> 11. The Oedipus, and After >> 12. Notes and References Part One >> >> *Part Two: The Cultural Sphere * >> >> 1. Some Background >> 2. The Religio-Economic Realm >> 3. Money and Magna Mater >> 4. The Sacrificial Way to the Object >> 5. Sacred Lucre >> 6. Psychodynamic Extrapolations >> 7. The Metaphors of Marx >> 8. The Interest in Interest >> 9. The Vicious Circle and the Bad Parent >> 10. More Opiates, More Anxieties >> 11. Lurking Ambivalence >> 12. Goods and More Goods >> 13. Notes and References Part Two >> >> *Part Three: Disrupting the Tie to the Inner World* >> >> 1. A Glance Backward, A Glance Forward >> 2. The Meaning of Non-Ordinary Moments >> 3. The Emergence of the Non-Ordinary World >> 4. Solidifying One's Change >> 5. Transforming the Past at the Mind-Body Level >> 6. Notes and References Part Three >> >> >> *Because we believe The Withdrawal of Human Projection is an important >> book—and wish to assure that it achieves the widest possible circulation—we >> are offering a free copy to college instructors if you will simply ask >> your library to order a copy. Please respond to this email—write to >> oander...@libraryofsocialscience.com—providing your name and the name of >> your college or university. We will send you a free electronic copy of >> the entire book (identical to the physical copy, including the front & >> back cover).* >> This message was sent to bmles...@tpg.com.au by >> oander...@libraryofsocialscience.com >> Unsubscribe<http://www.benchmarkemail.com/c/su?e=31CA55&c=4BF35&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE&relid=2E04A96C>| >> Manage >> Subscription<http://www.benchmarkemail.com/c/s?e=31CA55&c=4BF35&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE&relid=2E04A96C>| >> Forward >> Email<http://www.benchmarkemail.com/c/f?e=31CA55&c=4BF35&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE&relid=2E04A96C>| >> Report >> Abuse<http://www.benchmarkemail.com/Abuse?e=31CA55&c=4BF35&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE&relid=2E04A96C> >> >> >> <http://www.benchmarkemail.com/sign-up/email?utm_source=cus-foot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ft-logo-footer&e=31CA55&c=4BF35&l=4E9ADE8&email=ixXm0ij%2BbPTN6%2BIQ4YtZ3gUPiXYo5miE&relid=2E04A96C> >> 92-30 56th Ave Ste 3E, Elmhurst, NY, 11373 >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > > -- *Larry Maher*
