The human body, the body politic (and war)

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The "body politic" is the fantasy of many bodies united to form one,
omnipotent body. Perhaps this is the basis of our attachment to culture. We
imagine that we are fused with many other beings (and things). By attaching
to this fantasy of union with an omnipotent body, we are able to separate
from the body of mother.

The new omnipotent body (the body politic) is the lure that draws us
away from mother's body. We dream of partaking of the primal narcissistic
condition again, but now in connection to the idea of one's nation or
culture.

One can discern the fantasies that sustain this ideology in the
writings of many nationalistic thinkers. Jules Michelet, for example, called
the French nation a "living person which the child touches and feels on every
side. He cannot embrace her, but she embraces him, warms him with her great
soul diffused throughout that multitude." He stated that the citizen of the
nation should not only see and learn his country, but "feel her as
Providence, recognize her as mother and as nurse, by her strengthening milk
and vivifying warmth."

Sri Aurobindo wrote of India as a place in which "you all meet and that
is your common Mother...That is not merely a division of land but it is a
living thing. It is the Mother in whom you move and have your being." He
called the Indian nation a "mighty association which unites the people of
East and North Bengal and defies partition, because it embraces every son of
the land, --brother and brother massed inseparably together."

We used to speak of "applied analysis," meaning that we derive concepts
from the analytic situation and then "apply" them to other phenomena. Of
course, we do not abandon the personal experience of psychoanalysis. However,
it is also possible to directly analyze unconscious fantasies through
observations of their DERIVATIVES IN CULTURE.

I call this methodology "analysis of metaphor." By observing the images and
metaphors bound to specific cultural objects, one is able to discern the
unconscious fantasies that define these objects and cause us to be attached
to them. Ideologies and cultural objects embody, contain and reflect
unconscious fantasies.
We perceive the fundamental fantasy of nationalism in the passages above. The
fantasy of the body politic means MANY BODIES UNITED TO FORM ONE BODY. It is
the fantasy of being physically connected to the body of others, and to the
body of the mother.

In Nazism, the Western fantasy of the body politic reached its
apotheosis. Hitler insisted on the absolute unity of the German people. It
was necessary that all Germans think and feel as one, that all of them be
bound together to create ONE OMNIPOTENT BODY, the German nation. "In order to
bring men gradually nearer to each other they must be thrown into the melting
pot, the nation," Hitler said, "that they may be purified and welded one to
another."

What was (is) forbidden was (is) to dare to be SEPARATE from this
absolute unity. Separation disturbs the fantasy of fusion with the bodies of
the other(s). The "foreign(er)" is perceived and experienced as "not self,"
outside of the symbiotic orbit." The mission of Nazism, creation of a "true
community of the German Volk" could be achieved in Hitler's view, only if the
Movement worked to "uncompromisingly exterminate the things which tear our
Volk apart."

The beginning of violence, the source of rage, lies in the anxiety that
the omnipotent body (politic) may be disintegrated, that one's own body will
become separate/separated from the body of culture (mother).

The impulse toward war originates in the need to destroy that which is
perceived to be separate, that would dare to separate (from mother). That
which is separate disintegrates the illusion that we all are united as one
body.

With best regards,

Richard Koenigsberg

Richard Koenigsberg, Ph. D.
Director, Library of Social Science

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<HTML>      The "body politic" is the fantasy of many bodies united to form one, omnipotent body. Perhaps this is the basis of our attachment to culture. We imagine that we are fused with many other beings (and things). By attaching to this fantasy of union with an omnipotent body, we are able to separate from the body of mother. 
 
      The new omnipotent body (the body politic) is the lure that draws us away from mother's body. We dream of partaking of the primal narcissistic condition again, but now in connection to the idea of one's nation or culture. 
 
      One can discern the fantasies that sustain this ideology in the writings of many nationalistic thinkers. Jules Michelet, for example, called the French nation a "living person which the child touches and feels on every side. He cannot embrace her, but she embraces him, warms him with her great soul diffused throughout that multitude." He stated that the citizen of the nation should not only see and learn his country, but "feel her as Providence, recognize her as mother and as nurse, by her strengthening milk and vivifying warmth." 
 
      Sri Aurobindo wrote of India as a place in which "you all meet and that is your common Mother...That is not merely a division of land but it is a living thing. It is the Mother in whom you move and have your being." He called the Indian nation a "mighty association which unites the people of East and North Bengal and defies partition, because it embraces every son of the land, --brother and brother massed inseparably together." 
 
      We used to speak of "applied analysis," meaning that we derive concepts from the analytic situation and then "apply" them to other phenomena. Of course, we do not abandon the personal experience of psychoanalysis. However, it is also possible to directly analyze unconscious fantasies through observations of their DERIVATIVES IN CULTURE. 
 
I call this methodology "analysis of metaphor." By observing the images and metaphors bound to specific cultural objects, one is able to discern the unconscious fantasies that define these objects and cause us to be attached to them. Ideologies and cultural objects embody, contain and reflect unconscious fantasies. 
We perceive the fundamental fantasy of nationalism in the passages above. The fantasy of the body politic means MANY BODIES UNITED TO FORM ONE BODY. It is the fantasy of being physically connected to the body of others, and to the body of the mother. 
 
      In Nazism, the Western fantasy of the body politic reached its apotheosis. Hitler insisted on the absolute unity of the German people. It was necessary that all Germans think and feel as one, that all of them be bound together to create ONE OMNIPOTENT BODY, the German nation. "In order to bring men gradually nearer to each other they must be thrown into the melting pot, the nation," Hitler said, "that they may be purified and welded one to another." 
 
      What was (is) forbidden was (is) to dare to be SEPARATE from this absolute unity. Separation disturbs the fantasy of fusion with the bodies of the other(s). The "foreign(er)" is perceived and experienced as "not self," outside of the symbiotic orbit." The mission of Nazism, creation of a "true community of the German Volk" could be achieved in Hitler's view, only if the Movement worked to "uncompromisingly exterminate the things which tear our Volk apart." 
 
      The beginning of violence, the source of rage, lies in the anxiety that the omnipotent body (politic) may be disintegrated, that one's own body will become separate/separated from the body of culture (mother). 
 
      The impulse toward war originates in the need to destroy that which is perceived to be separate, that would dare to separate (from mother). That which is separate disintegrates the illusion that we all are united as one body. 
 
With best regards, 
 
Richard Koenigsberg 
 
 
Richard Koenigsberg, Ph. D. 
Director, Library of Social Science</HTML>

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