Researchers claim there’s a one-in-ten chance that one of the individuals depicted in Beckman’s art is a psychopath. Others state the correct number is closer to three. Whatever the case, Western society is being debased by psychopaths and the rot exists in both the physical and metaphysical domains. First, the physical.
I shall accept the denomination of pathocracy for a system of government…wherein a small pathological minority takes control over a society of normal people….if an individual in a position of political power is a psychopath, he or she can create an epidemic of psychopathology in people who are not, essentially, psychopathic…Under such conditions, no area of social life can develop normally, whether in economics, culture, science, technology, administration, etc. Pathocracy progressively paralyzes everything.
Andrzej Łobaczewski, Political Ponerology
Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by a range of traits, including manipulativeness, narcissism, lack of empathy and disregard for moral and social norms. Psychopathic individuals often exhibit superficial charm, cunning behavior, and a propensity for exploitation.
Łobaczewski’s assertion that individuals in positions of political power, if psychopathic, are capable of creating an epidemic of psychopathology in non-psychopathic individuals explains a good deal about the source of spiritual decay of our society.
While direct transmission of psychopathy is unlikely, several mechanisms can account for psychopathological influences:
Normalization of Unethical Behavior - Psychopathic leaders may engage in unethical practices, corruption, or abuse of power without remorse or consequences. When such behavior goes unchecked or becomes normalized, it can influence societal norms and values, eroding trust, empathy, and ethical behavior among the general population.
Emotional Contagion - Psychopathic leaders often possess charismatic qualities that can influence the emotions and behaviors of others. Their ability to manipulate and exploit emotions may create an environment where fear, anger, or hostility are fostered, potentially leading to increased psychopathological symptoms in individuals susceptible to emotional contagion, e.g. “Useful Idiots.”
Disruption of Moral Compass - Psychopathic leaders may engage in rhetoric or actions that undermine moral principles and ethical values. When individuals witness leaders displaying moral ambiguity or engaging in morally objectionable behavior, it can challenge their own moral compass, leading to a potential erosion of moral standards and an increase in psychopathological symptoms.
Moreover, the pervasive undermining of moral principles such as we witness today causes what’s known as moral injury.
Moral injury is the damage done to one’s conscience or moral compass when that person perpetrates, witnesses, or fails to prevent acts that transgress one’s own moral beliefs, values, or ethical codes of conduct.1
New Gleichschaltung
It is important to approach the topic of moral injury, or for that matter any other topic, with caution if drawing historical parallels between pre-Holocaust Nazi Germany of the 1930s and present-day Western countries, particularly America. Ears perk, eyes squint, faces frown. True, there are vast differences in historical context, political systems, and societal dynamics, yet these comparisons are frequently made. And many are plausible.
The German word gleichschaltung in today’s parlance characterizes the government’s efforts to get all parties on the same page, particularly its media propaganda outlets, and gaining complete control over all aspects of society.
That said, it should be duly noted that analogies of America to Nazi Germany during and after Trump’s presidency became a popular left wing leitmotif. See here, here and here, for example.
Such analogies actually can be useful, inasmuch as they trumpet early warnings of real dangers or disturbing trends. These include, among others, mass formation, a contemporary case of Gleichschaltung; the rise of authoritarianism coupled with an erosion of democratic norms, such as free speech; a Big Lie D’jour (Covid, Climate Change, Jan. 6th “Insurrection”) amplified ad nauseum by the lapdog media; censorship, incessant government and academia propagandizing along with the palpable influence of wokeism, transgenderism and other faddish ideologies gussied up and rebranded as “democratic socialist” dogma, to mention a few, plus the incessant tactics of fear and divisiveness.
By the way, Nazi Germany held strong anti-capitalist beliefs and advocated a staunchly socialist political philosophy: the National Socialist German Workers Party. The National Socialist government was autocratic and totalitarian.
Totalitarianism is a political system whereby a centralized state apparatus attempts to control virtually all aspects of life. “Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state,” as the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini succinctly put it.
While totalitarianism can emerge under the guise of various political ideologies, in the 20th century it was communism and fascism that provided the ideological support for this type of rule. Communism and fascism are often viewed as being on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but in the manner they were put into practice in the 20th century both of these systems display the characteristics of the totalized, all-controlling state. Both use force and propaganda to attain power, crush economic and civil liberties, smother culture, partake in mass-surveillance, and terrorize the citizenry with psychological warfare and eventually mass-imprisonment and mass-murder.
George Orwell, 1984
It is difficult to come to terms with the collective insanity and gradual descent into secular totalitarianism, with barely a whimper of resistance, that we witness today in America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Western Europe. Could this possibly occur if our spiritual house was in proper order? Where is the Church?
Just as in Nazi Germany, people are sorely afraid to speak out.
Totalitarian leaders, whether of the right or of the left, know better than anyone else how to make use of…fear…They thrive on chaos and bewilderment… The strategy of fear is one of their most valuable tactics.
Joost Meerloo, Rape of the Mind
As for the church, history reveals that the Vatican conspired with Hitler.2 Once again, the Vatican is conspiring with Western governments that preen in anticipation of a totalitarian New World Order.3
…the final goal of world revolution is not Socialism or even Communism, it is not a change in the existing economic system, it is not the destruction of civilization in a material sense; the revolution desired by the leaders is a moral and spiritual revolution, an anarchy of ideas by which all standards set up throughout nineteen centuries shall be reversed.
Secret Societies and Subversive Movements, Nesta H. Webster
Commentator Wayne Allyn Root writes that those exposed to the mostly peaceful demonstrations of 2020 - “seeing police stations burned or seized by radicals; or seeing their town's downtown business district taken hostage by thugs, finally understand how Jews felt in Nazi Germany during the infamous Kristallnacht in 1938.
“This is exactly how it started in Nazi Germany all those decades ago:
Windows shattered, stores looted and burned.
Blackshirts roaming the streets demanding people kneel at their feet.
Censorship, book burning, snitching by neighbors and co-workers.
Media propaganda and manipulation.
The police and "good people" doing nothing to help.
“Amazingly, it's happening here today. And far too many political leaders, media and good people are telling us it is acceptable.”
Just as in 1930s Germany, the populace of Western Civilization itself is continuously and intentionally being subjected to moral injury during this bleak period of dark Orwellian dystopia.
Turning to metaphysics, we previously noted in The Archetype of the Apocalypse:
.. archetypes of the Collective Unconscious also boast agency. This dynamic attribute is often overlooked and underappreciated. An archetype is a living, psychic organism inhabiting simultaneously both the collective psyche of humankind and one’s own personal psyche. We may further assert that since archetypes have intentionality, they themselves are consequently conscious.
In these times, it is the agency of archetypes that concerns me most.
Hitler, for example, was possessed of the archetype of providence, which, in retrospect, was a destructive, hate-filled entity masquerading as his personal destiny. The combination of Hitler’s psychopathy,4 low self-esteem and general lack of self-awareness energized, activated and sustained this archetype, which ultimately destroyed not only him but 3% of world population (over 70-million souls).
I hereby put forward the notion that a similar yet far more destructive archetype (or perhaps a constellation of archetypes) is being energized and activated today. It has attributes similar to the demiurge, the god of chaos. Alternatively, it could be a suppressed god or goddess of old, e.g. an archetypal form from antiquity such as Leviathan/Tiamat.
The [old] gods have become diseases… disorders in the brains of politicians and journalists who unwittingly let loose psychic epidemics on the world.
Carl Jung, Alchemical Studies
At any time this powerful archetype could activate sequential possessions writ large, a frightening prospect. Its global footprints and destructive intent are unmistakable, as signs of a psychic epidemic abound.
This spiritual malignity, created by a dearth of spiritual awareness, cannot be reversed, only ameliorated.
I believe it is safe to assume that humanity has again managed to work our way onto the precipice of unmitigated spiritual warfare.
Archangel Saint Michael, defend us in the battle and tremendous struggle we carry on against the Principalities and Powers, against the rulers of the world of darkness and pernicious spirits of evil.
Scapegoating Francis - How the revolution of Vatican II serves the New World Order, Catholic Identity Conference (2020)
"with barely a whimper of resistance" is what I find to be the most terrifying aspect of this entire mess.
You nailed it! Thank-you!!!
This evil can no longer be ignored/tolerated.
https://open.substack.com/pub/dee746/p/hang-em-high?r=1g1b1r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
A little something on moral injury to help us understand as well
https://open.substack.com/pub/dee746/p/moral-injury?r=1g1b1r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web