Pynchon and Catholicism

[Mark Kohut]

I agree so absolutely that we have mind-merged.

Mary Trump's book is maybe the best on Trump
because it sees the whole sick man and in his family relationship.....and
her psychological training
keeps her keenly sure-footed with every psychological word.....She clearly
judges him per the major
Psycological Qualites/ Sicknesses book---we all know it, right?---but
carefully says she cannot go as far as
calling him sociopathic......

On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 5:34 AM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Projection has so clearly become seen as Trump's main reflex.  It doesn't
> seem controversial now.
>
> On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 4:16 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hey, I'm no trained psychoanalytic reader of history. Projection, is that
>> what trained depth psychologists in the Freudian tradition do? I dunno,
>> mate.
>>
>> I think Eric says Catholic 'hate' is not pan, was mixed with some
>> self-love---love is strange---and therefore had more grace in the everyday.
>>
>> I can't see Trumpism quite anywhere here but elaborate? I did see Trump
>> in Eric's words when he wrote of how when we lost our communal sense of
>> identity, and grew up feeling alienated, weak and helpless like Mickey,
>> we could not stand that psychic pain so we filled ourselves with endless
>> scorn for
>> weak others--projection fer sure-- and endless greed. Our things and
>> money  were our psychic good drives by analogy.
>>
>> One can see how, if TRP was influenced by this work, it led to
>> discovering Norman O Brown's work. (This book is 1941!)
>>
>> On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 5:01 AM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> So, to condense, Eric argues that Catholic pan-hate resulted in less
>>> self-hate?  Isn't that what is called "projection" these days?
>>>
>>> Doesn't that define Trumpism?
>>>
>>> David Morris
>>>
>>> On Sun, Sep 27, 2020 at 3:36 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Eric Fromm in *Escape From Freedom* says that the feeling of
>>>> 'predestination" ala Luther and Calvin although present in
>>>> Acquinas' Catholicism because of the understanding of God's omniscience is
>>>> very different, producing avery different
>>>> character structure overall.
>>>>
>>>> He quotes Acquinas cutely: Aquinas saying doing extra good things
>>>> sort speeds up predestination of oneself. (my paraphrase).
>>>>
>>>> Anyway, unlike the self-hating Protestants---they had to in order to
>>>> hate so many others so totally, Eric says--Catholics hated themselves less
>>>> (in general).
>>>
>>>
>>>