PSYCHOSIS AND POLITICS

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I recently was re-reading James Glass' book, Delusion: Internal Dimension
of Political Life, one of the best books ever written on psychology and
politics (it is available on-line from Powell's Book Store at

http://www.powells.com/search/DTSearch/search?author=James%20Glass

There is one clinical report in his book (a study of the relationship
between schizophrenic thought and political thought) that I found particularly
interesting.

Professor Glass delineates the symptoms of a patient called "Mary." He
notes, for example, that she once told him that "she kept Stalin, Mao, and Lenin
alive in a crypt located deep in the Kremlin wall." He then goes on to say
that "What it meant for Mary to keep Stalin, Mao, and Lenin alive in a crypt
lacked any consensual validation."

What is implied by this statement is that if this idea did have
consensual validation it would no longer be psychotic.

Indeed, a similar idea does possess consensual validation. For nearly
eighty years, Lenin has been buried in a mausoleum. It is as if the belief and
faith of the Russian people (and all of us) function to "keep Lenin alive in a
crypt located deep in the Kremlin wall."

In some sense we don't "really" believe that Lenin is alive. Yet in
another sense we do. The discipline called "history" (and many other disciplines)
articulate our fantasy that we can KEEP CERTAIN HUMAN BEINGS ALIVE THROUGH OUR
CONTINUAL REMEMBRANCE OF THEM.

In a post a few weeks ago I said, "Just because something exists, that
doesn't make it real."

The first step in awakening from the nightmare of history consists of
deciding that just because many persons believe and embrace a cultural idea
doesn't mean that this idea is not psychotic.

With regards,

Richard Koenigsberg

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

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<HTML>    I recently was re-reading James Gla=
ss' book, Delusion: Internal Dimension of Political Life, one of the=20=
best books ever written on psychology and politics (it is available on-line=20=
from Powell's Book Store at 
 
http://www.powells.com/search/DTSearch/search?author=3DJames%20Glass 
 
    There is one clinical report in his book (a study of the=20=
relationship between schizophrenic thought and political thought) that I fou=
nd particularly interesting. 
 
    Professor Glass delineates the symptoms of a patient call=
ed "Mary." He notes, for example, that she once told him that "she kept Stal=
in, Mao, and Lenin alive in a crypt located deep in the Kremlin wall." He th=
en goes on to say that "What it meant for Mary to keep Stalin, Mao, and Leni=
n alive in a crypt lacked any consensual validation." 
 
    What is implied by this statement is that if this idea <B=
>did have consensual validation it would no longer be psychotic. 
 
    Indeed, a similar idea does possess consensual val=
idation. For nearly eighty years, Lenin has been buried in a mausoleum.=20=
It is as if the belief and faith of the Russian people (and all of us) funct=
ion to "keep Lenin alive in a crypt located deep in the Kremlin wall." 
 
    In some sense we don't "really" believe that Lenin is ali=
ve. Yet in another sense we do. The discipline called "history" (and many ot=
her disciplines) articulate our fantasy that we can KEEP CERTAIN HUMAN BEING=
S ALIVE THROUGH OUR CONTINUAL REMEMBRANCE OF THEM. 
 
    In a post a few weeks ago I said, "Just because something=
exists, that doesn't make it real." 
 
    The first step in awakening from the nightmare of history=
consists of deciding that just because many persons believe and embrace=20=
a cultural idea doesn't mean that this idea is not psychotic. 
 
With regards, 
 
Richard Koenigsberg 
 
Richard A. Koenigsberg, Ph. D. 
Library of Social Science</HTML>

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