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Life and Life Energy

Chapter 8 :Work in Progress

(This chapter has been placed on Ferment Magazine as a work in progress. It will be completed after I return from

France in early August 2013)

Roy Lisker

Chapter 8 is presented in the form of a series of tables

with interpretations. They portray the global structure of

the psyche, based on the 3 pure emotional states,

themselves based on attachments to the present, future

and past. Any real living person will always abide in a

extremely complex mixture of these states which very often

cannot be entangled: every emotional bias, passion,

relationship, thought will of necessity be composed of

thousands of minute contributions by each of the three

states.

In these tables, each state is interpreted on the basic

of 3 phases, whether temporal, ontological, physical,

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archetypal, or sensational. A commentary follows each

table. The categories of phases are:

1. Anxiety, Anger, Depression

2. Father, Mother, Son

3. Past, Present, Future

4. Internal Ontological Categories Non-Being,

Becoming, Being

5. External Ontological Categories

6. Energy Cycles: Potential, Kinetic and Cyclic

Table I

Past Present Future

Anxiety NeutralBackground

(Irresponsibility)

Pleasure(Vices;Drugs)

Suffering (Worry)

Anger Pain(Memory of

past suffering

NeutralBackground(Impatience)

Pleasure(Ambition, Vengeance)

Depression Pleasure(Fantasy,Dreams,

Nostalgia)

Pain(Grief; sense

of loss; rejection)

NeutralBackground

(Neglect)

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Interpretation: The grounds for defining 3 categories of

personalities associated with a given emotional state, is

that each of them is tied in with the temporal phases of

past, present and future. All feelings (emotions) are in fact

3-fold.

For example, feelings of hope, despair or anxiety are

the product of interpretations of the potential future of

some given reality. Regret, remorse, guilt, nostalgia, grief

are the product of something that once existed in the past

but is irrevocably lost; while love, passion, disgust,

rejection, embarrassment or indifference are the

emotional reactions to some present situation.

Thus “anxiety” is in fact a combination of 3 feelings:

indifference to the past, passion for the present and worry

about the future. “Anger” is likewise, “worry” about the

past (memories of past sufferings, fear of embarrassment),

“indifference” for the present, “passionate commitment”

to the future (ambition). And “depression (melancholy)”

combines nostalgia for the past, rejection of the present,

indifference towards the future.

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With respect to the causal chain that leads from one

state to the next: Anxiety about the future causes one to

drug or numb painful fears by an indulgence in present

sensual delights (“Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow

we die”).

Anger at some past insult, slight or abuse leads to

(present) schemes, plans and strategies for “restoring the

balance” (vengeance, triumph) in the future.

Finally, the depressed state causes one to cling to

the ‘after

image’ of a past state, relationship or treasure, relative to

which the present is at most a painful reality, while one

loses interest in the future until the past is restored.

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Table II

The Family Triad in the Adjustment Process

Father(Non-Being)

Mother(Becoming)

Child(Being)

Anxiety Externalized“Dignity” is burdensome

NaturalIdentification“Mothering

Type”

AttachedPossessivene

ss

Anger NaturalIdentificationJehovah the“Avenger”

AttachedJealousy

External onlyInsists on

being ruler,not subject

Depression Attached:Clinging

ExternalizedHunger, Rejected

NaturalIdentification “Obedience”

Interpretation :

The terms “Father”, “Mother” “Son” don’t refer to

actual persons, either in fact or fiction, but to underlying

categories of psychological relationships and experiences.

Their manifestations are both external and internal . For

example, when it is stated that the anxious personality

pictures the Father as external , and that the angry

personality has assimilated the internal Father , one

means something like the following:

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The anxious person may admire (or despise) the kind of

person who acts on “principles”, however, he has no

intention of adhering to it as a model. In the lifestyle

based on worry, fear and concern for the future, the key

concept is not that of “principle”, but rather “expediency”.

The attitudes tend to be utilitarian, practical, business-

oriented, sentimental and even somewhat “kitsch”. What is

“good” is what “works”. It comes as no surprise that is

past and gone tends to be dismissed, treated an irrelevant

contemplation of “monuments of its own magnificence”.

The external Father is linked with the internalized

Mother . Indeed, the “pangs of anxiety” are somewhat

more than analogous to the acute anguish of a mother in

the throes of labor. What metaphor of anxiety can be more

poignant than the fear that a child may miscarriage, be

stillborn, come into the world with a host of birth

anomalies. Thus, the anxious personality type is, above all,

maternal : nurturing, tender and violent in turn,

possessive, spoiling, all the characteristics of an over-

anxious, over-solicitous mother.

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How does the anxious personality type relate to the

Child? Well, just like the physical mother, the axious

personality is attached to the child. The relationship can

be summed up in the single word “possessiveness”, which

characterizes all notions of attachment.

***************************************************************

**

The angry personality has a natural identification with, and

assimilation of the Father (non-Being) . It tends to be

defensive, suspicious, paranoid when pathological, quick

to action, even rash, never satisfied, macho, disciplined.

This dominant father delights in taking charge, in decision

making, fights fiercely in defense of its family or nation,

real or invented. It is inclined to hypocrisy yet also free

from self-satisfaction or conceit (an anxious trait).

What is meant by the external child ? The angry

personality type is characterized by a lack of compassion, a

kind of spiritual blind spot with regard to the cruelty of

the suffering it may inflict on others. In some sense, the

“child” has been rejected, if not totally abandoned .

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As for its relationship towards the Mother : envy,

jealousy and vengefulness rise naturally in the heart of

someone fearful that what he believes that he “owns” may

be taken away from him or lost. This complex of attitudes

may be summed up in the expression attachment to the

Mother .

*****************************************************

Finally one looks at the relationships of the

depressive personality to the 3 persons of Father, Mother

and Child. It should be emphasized that, when dealing with

the 3 types of persons, one is really speaking about the

same set of psychological relationships, cast in the 3

temporal modes of Past, Present and Future.

The depressed personality feels, above all, that he or

she has been rejected, either by loved ones, the society, or

the universe itself. Unhappiness and heartbreak are its

normal emotional companions. Hence, one speaks of the

depressed personality as someone for whom the Mother ,

the source of nurturing, has been externalized .

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This can be seen as equivalent to attachment to the

Father as the representative for Non-Being : the very

language signifies that which is alien from Being, that

which has rejected Being.

One thinks of the prolonged grief at the loss of a loved

one, notably one’s own child. The possessiveness of the

mother, has been transformed into the stricken grief of the

child who has lost its dearest possession, whether a toy, or

a family relationship, through divorce for example. The

word “Child” is of course metaphorical: one can speak of a

“child-like state” engendered by the loss of one’s own

children.

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Table III

Past Present Future

Anxiety InactionConsidered a

“waste of time”Weak

conscience

ReactionCraving for

SensualGratification

ActionTerror ,

coupled with denial, of Future Possibilities

Anger ActionCover ups

Terror, coupled with

DenialOf Identity formed by

past actionsShame

InactionPresent

Sacrificed toExpedience

Delayed gratification

ReactionAmbition

PowerEnvy

Vengeance

Depression ReactionDreams

Imagination

ActionParalysed by

LossGrief

Denial of present

necessitiesNeglect

InactionWithdrawal

Lived Fantasy Life

Interpretation :

Like the primary colors, there are 3 primary emotional

states. These are related to the temporal modes of Past,

Present and Future.

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Anxiety is a state of Attachment to the Child. In terms

of the temporal modes these diversifies into Passion

(Reaction) for the Present (gratification); Rejection

(Action) of the Future; Ignorance (Inaction) of the Past

Anger is a state of Attachment to the Mother. In terms

of the temporal modes, this diversifies into Passion

(Reaction) for the future (ambition); Rejection (Action) of

the Past; Ignorance or Indifference (Inaction) toward the

Present

Depression is a state of Attachment to the Father. In

terms of the temporal modes this diversifies into Passion

(Reaction) towards the Past (Nostalgia, Melancholy);

Rejection (Action) of the Present (Withdrawal); Ignorance

or Indifference (Inaction) towards the Future.

As one can see, an “emotion” can be decomposed into

3 distinct mental sensations, which is why one easily

becomes confused in describing them or identifying them.

Think of a machine, or something like a Carnot cycle,

going through its successive stages. Through “attachment

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to the child”, the anxious personality derives pleasure from

whatever gratifies body and psyche; obviously the future

will be looked upon with considerable foreboding, as a

kind of demonic presence eager to snatch away whatever

pleasure there is in life. The past is not visible, tangible

nor present; why should one be concerned by it. One

robbed a house and used the money to go to a movie; when

sitting in the theater enjoying the film, why worry about

the fate of the person who has to cope with the

consequences of losing his money. Yet, at the same time,

the future looms close by in all its potential horror: the

police investigation, the need to avoid the neighborhood

where the breakin took place, the strong likelihood of

being arrested and thrown in jail.

One can construct similar narratives around the other

two situations. The depressed personality is “attached to

the Father”. He turns to authority for protection while

withdrawing from his potential for violence. By cutting

down his activity in satisfying immediate obligations and

needs (going to the doctor, earning income, voting,

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repairing a house that is falling apart), he can take delight

in imagining possible, improbable or exotic futures,

“Moscows” where every possibility is fulfilled. Yet, as he

intends to do very little in bringing this about, one can say

that he is “ignorant” or even “indifferent” to the real

future.

Finally, there is the personality consumed with anger,

a state which finds itself compelled to take action to ward

off a painful confrontation with the future. What does it

mean to say that the angry personality is “attached to the

Mother”? We can give a tiny acknowledgement to Sigmund

Freud here, and concede that in 1 of the 9

temporal/emotional states there is some barren truth in

his “Oedipus Complex”.

Through “attachment to the Mother”, he comes into

conflict with the Father, whether it be an actual father, a

brother or other sibling, God or his various avatars, or

even himself. As I state in my essay on the plays of

Sophocles, the “mother” signifies “Conception”, in its

manifold senses as insemination, pregnany or giving birth;

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conceiving or development inventions; all works of the

imagination, and so on. The angry person sacrifices all of

these to the over-arching goal of obtaining power,

dominance and above all control.

The “inability to conceive” connotes sterility, even as

the “inability to give birth” (respectively the initial and

final stages of the rebirth process) connotes paralysis of

the will. The third inability, that of the anxious personality,

is that of “inability to bond”,to bring together the products

of the rebirth process in a wholesome union

(The construction of Chapter 8 was brought to this

point on May 12, 2013. It will be resumed and completed

in early August)

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Table IV

Ontological Categories

Non-Being Becoming Being

Anxiety ExternalCannot enforce

DisciplineSpoiling

Corrupting

InternalizedIdentification

MutabilitySentimentalit

y

RejectedWill not be

tied down to a fixed identity

Anger InternalizedIdentification

“Warrior”

Rejected “Toughness”

ExternalTreacheryHypocrisyBetrayal

Depression RejectedPassivity

Pain(Grief; sense

of loss; rejection)

InternalizedIdentification

“Law Abiding”

Interpretation

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Table V

External Attachment

Non-Being Becoming Being

Anxiety Background Rejected(Competition

)

InfatuationSentimentalit

yAnger Rejected

(Competition)

Infatuation(Oedipus)

Background“Ruler, not

Citizen”Depression Infatuation Background Rejected

(Competition)

Interpretation

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Table VI

Energy Cycles

Past Present Future

Anxiety Source ofFuel

Potential-KineticCycle

Action:Consumption

ofKinetic Energy

Exhaustion of resources

DissipationEntropy

AngerKinetic Cycle Reaction:

Absorption of energy

Capacitance

DischargeRapid release

of Kinetic EnergyForce

DepressionPotential Inaction:

InertiaPotential EnergyStorage Recharging

Interpretation

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