Rinzai Did Nothing Wrong.

I thought I recognized this jerk and then I found this joke. Let’s read his famous quote, the very definition of a sin, made darker and more blatant by the irony of ignorance and of denial: “I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.” Let us paraphrase that, shall we? “Why’s it murder that I killed those people? It’s the State that’s killing me for doing so!” “Why is it rape I had my way with her? It is the prison system that rapes me!” “Why is it torture that I hurt those people to get what I wanted? What is greater torture than to be denied?” “Why is it crime of war we bombed that country? *Our* country does not recognize their independence!!” Go ahead and tell me, once again, that it’s not *greed* that you are sitting, like a bloated dragon-hoarder, on the wealth you stole — I’m sorry: “earned” — with no intent to benefit your fellows. Go ahead and tell us it is *we* who are r...

There is no shortage of contemporary dialogue about the villainy of narcissism, yet this only proves to be the case when the tradition of objective moral criticism has run dry and when psychology has filled the void. What there has not yet been sufficient conversation in addressing is that narcissism rarely is exclusively a personal phenomenon, since there are social forces which produce it, and psychology is one such force. Certainly NOT another narcissistic self-insertion for Ms. Gao . Egalitarian psychology, conspiring with politics, commits the most atrocities in this regard, since it is emblematic of the “leveling” that Kierkegaard described nearly two hundred years ago. What is a more barbaric rule than “treat all others with respect, though they’ve not earned it?” What is more repulsive as a style of parenting than to deny that one’s own child is special? Love must always manifest in love for the distinctions; it is hatred which aspires to subvert all difference and unify all th...

The fact remains that, if an action is *intrinsically* contemptible or vile, then it will be recognized as such by anyone with clear discernment. Those who will be most disgusted are not those most guilty but the ones most innocent. The Jungians suggested that this was because the innocent suppress their own repugnant tendencies. Yet even those who have become aware of such repugnant tendencies will feel disgust in seeing them incarnate in the flesh, for those will be the ones best armed not only to perceive them but to fight them. No: the Villain isn't always you. It is not you as individual. It is not even you as member of society. It is not your society itself. Not everything revolves around you. Neither is the Hero always you; that's just a goal to strive for. Why? It is because, while your mythology may be what Jung calls a "projection" of collective psychic forces, it remains a symbol with a meaning in **the World.** All peoples have mythologies they turn to in ...

For every brilliant idea, there appears to be a legion of impostors waiting to appropriate it to their private purposes. Such is the matter with the modern theory of "projection". The untempered propagation of this theory, well beyond the bounds of psychoanalytic practice, has resulted in another in a growing, endless line of neoliberal excuses that remain characteristic of postmodern life. Where everything is exoteric and available, it tends to be quite cheap in both availability and quality, for those unwilling to put in the effort to investigate the matter deeply tend to peddle it as something easy and, as such, destructive.   [ Don't forget to click the Link below for Coda .] Life is always difficult, and any ideology which seeks to burden it with undue ease can only lead to its becoming tragic. Flaws of character remain the province of the tragedy; philosophies of transformation, such as Jungian psychology, were aimed at self-improvement and perfection of the Soul, w...