"a collective psychosis, a dream that many persons are having at once"

[Glenn Scheper]

I saw fit to contradict the good doctor this morning, to wit:

PHILLITCRIT at lists.village.virginia.edu
Re: PLC: Making Conscious the Unconscious

> The basic principle of psychoanalysis is that there are no such things
as "accidents."
> This is the principle of psychic determinism. 

That seems very wrong to me! As a layman twenty years off meds,
not in remission, but thoroughly adroit at being schizo-type;
I give this quite contrary advice in my rather long web essay:

Assuming one survives that, the next problem is, "What is truth?"
The direct intuitions do not correspond to everything taught to
us during our youth. Most who are not transcended, would call me
defective. When I first transcended, I was immobilized from the
importance of doing the right thing, of having the right thought,
of making the right choice at every instant. But I recognized
that there exists a double standard, creating a double bind due
to contradictory laws. That makes for an existential crisis.

Several insights into truth might reduce this existential crisis:
First, truth is not some specific content. Truth is just valuable
information. One must acknowlege that garbage information exists.
Garbage information must be ignored, otherwise one is led astray
by ideas of reference, a psychological expression for a delusion
in which information refers to oneself. I know the condition well:
the radio talks to you personally, the devil's face appears in a
carpet, every "No right turn" sign indicts your irremediable sin.
The little bit that I trust I know is laced with garbage information
and more is always bubbling up on the periphery: Tread carefully!

Second, truth is personally constructed and personally valued.
Lacan describes a "Master discourse," part of which is to deny
there is any other truth except one's own. Such a stance causes
persons having influence to abuse other persons. Such a stance
also causes an ignorant person to remain ignorant, unteachable.
One who suffers abuse eventually learns that honesty is not even
a good policy, but appearance of honesty is socially profitable.

Third, there may very well be some kind of absolute truth hidden
in sacred texts, but that would be a technical usage of the word,
truth, not to be confused with everyday facticity or accountability.
 
Yours truly,
Glenn Scheper
http://home.earthlink.net/~glenn_scheper/
glenn_scheper + at + earthlink.net
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