Racism: Guilt as Hatred: As an Escape from Self
Synopsis:
We will show how racism, chauvinism, xenophobia, bigotry, prejudice, group identification, and pride are fed by guilt and institutions that inhibit, disempower, and repress critical and creative abilities, while supporting an external order that on the surface appears to support the aspirations of those who conform to the status quo, but in reality only support more neurosis, oppression, suffering, obsequiousness, bondage, and related maladies of institutionalized and conditioned ignorance.
Guilt, Denial, Escapism, and Self Deceit in Support of Mass Illusion and Institutionalized Racism
Hatred, blame, condemnation, demonization, chauvinism, and even persecution of others very often masks a preexisting guilt which is a denial of responsibility -- an escape from "Self".
For example, some one is driving their automobile and is not looking to the left when he/she crosses an intersection and thus runs into another auto. The driver who is in denial will blame the other driver for going too fast or their mind will conjure up other defenses which would shift the responsibility, fault, or guilt off of oneself and unto the other.
Many people who have a low sense of self esteem are in a chronic state of shifting guilt toward the other and this can take many forms like demonization of a whole race, nationality, or even gender.The mental pain of accepting "self" as it is -- the pain of self acceptance (albeit most likely based on an illusory "self") creates a milieu where avoidance, denial or (more simply put) ignorance appears less painful and more attractive. Here we numb out the mental pain, by attacking a stimuli, a symbolic representation, or the messenger. In simple situations of guilt, such as the European invasion, rape, plunder, and genocide of North America, the guilt is straightforward i.e., deny that it ever happened, demonize the indians, demean nature, tell lies and live in a fairy tale world, blame the victim and/or the messenger. Similarly the rape, plunder and genocide of Africa and Africans. This is rather straight forward and very common denial, i.e., the lies and deceit are not hard to see through. The emotional and social repercussions of this are evident in everyday life, schools, history books, political policies, and social interaction.
But here we expose a more hidden type of guilt, that of the victim. What happens when one is frustrated at putting together a functional response to a an event that is perceived as being unjust or criminal? When the pain of the "crime" is too intense, one often numbs it out, avoids it, disbelieves it, becomes horrified, or goes into shock. (see the trauma/body-psychotherapy pages for more on this). One in this situation often becomes very ripe for demagoguery, revenge, or murderous bloodlust as an attempt to discharge the pain and hence any burden of self responsibility or guilt. Unfortunately this discharge method usually is only temporary and often counterproductive. (More on this on the Yoga Trauma Pages).
Let us now look at what happens when one is not allowed to express either their revenge --where justice is something which is an unfinished item painfully staring us in the face.
For example if I am a black man in North America, I may feel burdened by not being able to have alleviated the bondage, intimidation, fear, and rage that my father suffered in a white supremacist society. To alleviate my frustration, pain, and guilt (as inability to alleviate the suffering) I may express, anger, rage, or hatred toward whites in general as a bioenergetic means of discharge. What if this form of simple discharge is forestalled for example because of social reasons or logic? The frustration often gets internalized as self hatred or in some cases in altruistic idealism (more rare). More often the inability to mediate the sorrow, creates further withdrawal, alcoholism, addiction, depression, or other forms of compensatory neurosis.
Likewise if I was a Red man in North America, I am burdened and pained by the genocide of my people, a wrong down to my elders and tribe as well as to future generations. I have personal guilt in this because I was and still am not able to alter this (it not only happened but I am frustrated at changing it or even further preventing it). In this milieu I may choose to discharge this pent up frustration in the form of anger, rage, or race hatred or if that opportunity does not present itself in terms of self hatred, self abuse (after all we must have deserved this), grief, depression, alcoholism, etc. Similarly if I was a female whose forbears were intimidated, exploited, enslaved, and compromised by abusive males for thousands of years, I similarly may have rage, anger, and unfinished business with the male sex in general. That is one avenue, but another (albeit from the same causal stimuli) I may also have issues of inadequacy, self hatred, self abuse, inhibition, and depression as a result.
Similarly there is guilt with all victimized groups (such as Jewish survivors of the Nazis concentration camps, Palestinian terrorists, Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during WW2 and so forth which manifests neurotically as escape from Self responsibility by blaming some other group of people (in racism, national hatred, chauvinism, xenophobia, etc) and/or blaming themselves. In all these situations, the resolution or remediation of the pain (usually as a sense of justice) lingers as unfinished business.
As we saw earlier, it is common to discharge this feeling in blaming and demonizing "others", xenophobia, or even homophobia. After all if "they" (the enemy) are "bad" or "wrong", then the logic goes "I" am good or "right".
This neurotic knee jerk venting in racism, chauvinism, or group pride in general is frequently capitalized by demagogues who feed off of this preexisting bio-psychic need. This urge will never successfully be appeased,this way (although it can be discharged in such compensations), because the urge ultimately comes from a denial of love -- only an affirmation of love will thus fulfill it. Here we must discern between discharging/dissipating an compulsion from that of reintegrating and resolving a conflict as a healthy and creative evolutionary activity.
In other words, until we wake up to where our Heart and well being lies -- where our fulfillment lies, we will not be able to achieve true contentment and creative fulfillment which must be discerned from mere satiation, self gratification, or discharge. But before we go there we should look at the ground work which has institutionalized and created the need for blame, anger, hatred, condemnation, and marginalization of the other in the first place. Worse the need for marginalization stems from the same urge to ridicule, demean, discredit, ignore, eliminate, and in extreme cases kill or wipe out the opposition (which often resides as the truth which attacks the conditioned mask of Self (as denial and pride).
Racism and Chauvinism Are Based in The Authoritarian (Neurotic and Dysfunctional) Family
The desire to set order in our lives through external means of controlling not only our own physical lives, but the lives of others is too often a trans-generational disease. In fact families as well as institutions often are dedicated in establishing this order, i.e., those who conform to it are rewarded while those who disobey are punished, brutalized, castigated, destroyed, condemned, exiled, banned, demonized, or other wise marginalized and ignored. The particular blindness what reinforces this particular mode of ignorance is rooted in a fearful false identification, i.e., that one's status, privilege, sense of security, order, self worth, or meaning would be challenged -- Thus one confuses an opportunity at self growth and evolution in terms of newness, strangeness, mystery, and the unknown (welcoming the new known) as a personal threat to self (as false identity). Here again it is the mask and/or group identification (in terms of status, security, power, and acceptance) which is being threatened not the Self. Here we can easily see both the self defeating mechanisms where group pride can further reinforce the illusions/delusions built on guilt and neuroses, but also where early childhood training that doles out conditional love as acceptance for obsequiousness and subservience -- loyalty and allegiance -- not only creates "good soldiers" for the corporate state (or any totalitarian society) but also severely intimidates and inhibits one from critical and creative thought, self empowerment, honesty, and integrity.
For those not familiar with this unfortunate dysfunctional family drama, the examples of simple rejection and acceptance may serve to illustrate the dynamic. You as a child do what mom/dad or teacher/authority figure desires or else, you are rejected, denied love, punished, or left unloved and unprotected -- in angst and unhappy. On the other hand if the child pleases (obeys), conforms to, or otherwise meets the expectation of mom/dad or teacher/authority figure, then he/she is rewarded, loved, feel like they belong and are protected, and have a sense of place, self worth, and well being. Thus one is conditioned at an early age to be in chronic need of praise, recognition, acceptance, and validation by others by parents who hold back love in an attempt to condition, mold, shape, and control the child, while the parents/teachers or priests justify their guilt by claiming that this conditional love (training) is in the best interest of the child. Where it fails, it is because the child is inherently evil, but when it is successful the parent/teacher takes responsibility. In either case this is a manifestation of transgenerational spiritual disenfranchisement -- separation from indigenous space. In the common family these games of transactional dramas occur daily and without acknowledging the rules or context of the game. In actual practice, the games are usually more complex and convoluted, at the center is fear, angst, insecurity, and scarcity -- at its core vacuous falsehood, illusion, and self deceit.
Within this fundamentally insecure milieu of Self estrangement one can now easily see how guilt, race hatred, national hatreds, war, religious hatreds, intolerance, prejudice, bigotry, and false identifications are further instituted. Yes, then the institutions of the family (if based on estrangement from Nature, creation, Indigenous Space, and the True Self) -- if they are based on false order and security rather than the Implicate/Indigenous Order which exists within and outside all of creation, then these forms the emotional basis and provides the fire of political institutional conspiracies for status quo forces (as well as demagogues) to manipulate. In other words, people can be misled (and have been so for thousands of years ) only after they have become crippled emotionally -- only after they have become fodder for the domination of an external authoritarian or totalitarian order and this conditioning starts in early childhood (or even in the womb) and then is continued through status quo authoritarian institutions which reward consent and punish disobedience or dissent.
The negative conditioning rewards memorization, conformity, close-mindedness, ability to follow directions, jump through hoops, fealty, allegiance, loyalty, and obedience, depending upon its "order" through the ordering and control of the physical surroundings (such as things and people), while the opposite type of training would reward open-mindedness, ability for critical thought, creative thought, self empowerment, self exploration, experimentation, and similar activities based on the principles of inter-dependence and co-evolution as an extended relationship with Self in all our relationships in Indigenous time. The former (more common) approach is fear based and mostly unconscious and rife with denial (supported through defensive self justification) while the latter is more subtle, deeper, richer and more fertile. The former is sterile and brings more suffering repression and death, while the latter is organic, life affirming, healing, and based on unconditional Love as our Natural condition -- as Self.
From here one can easily see where dysfunctional families composed of one race, religion, nationality, or fixed belief may raise unwittingly racist, prejudiced, bigoted, xenophobic, and chauvinistic children, hence the grounds of racism often becomes established in infancy.
The Institutionalization of Racism through Status Quo Institutions Based on Fear
Here we have only summarized the links between guilt and racism and its basis in the dysfunctional authoritarian family. This would not be so bad, if the greater society did not further institutionalize and reinforce that reactive modality of false identification, guilt, strife, disparity, repression, and angst, but it does so only because it is composed and ordered by its own victims who in turn seek compensation, solace, and consolation in the scarce, coarse, empty hearted, and fear filled world compromise, adaptation, and sublimation. That they teach and force their children to follow this "way" of suffering, also serves to justify their own guilt for themselves not questioning it, challenging it, and destroying it, but rather propagating and preserving it. For such people "their way" becomes the only way, while if some one challenges that, they are simply "wrong", which changes to "bad' or "evil" very quickly and so in the circle of self denial, escape from freedom, and self imposed spiritual alienation and ignorance becomes closed and with that again the neurotic needs for group identifications, pride, demonization of others, racism, chauvinism, war, etc.
Where to Go and How to Get There: Arriving into Indigenous Space
So to sum up we have seen here and in other articles how negative conditioning (in the family or in the institutions, which are reflections of a larger/extended dysfunctional family be it terms of a national or group character (or other similar false identifications) creates the necessary environment for inhibition, guilt, racism, sexism, bigotry, national hatred, exploitation, abuse -- suffering and mutually supported mass ignorance in general. We have seen how this scarcity fear based consciousness has an obviously large psychological, social, political, and educational as well as economic (in terms of neurotic self gratification through consumerism) impact upon our lives, but we yet to begin extending this life affirming principle of mutual abundance and co-creation into the spheres of education agricultural, health, and other institutions. In fact all of human activity is altered by our consciousness, just as human consciousness is affected by his/her experiences/environment, i.e., conditioning. Our meaning in life, i.e., a meaningful, loving, and creative life will be shown to be the fulfilling life which rights all wrongs and sets the "record" straight.
So if we are subjected to negative conditioning, we must free ourselves from that through waking up. We must also help wake up our neighbors. Free from its noxious influence we are then enabled to act creatively, non-neurotically, with wisdom and love -- truly intelligently. Institutions created by such people who honor these principles would tend to be less self serving, exploitive of others, and less intimidating, yet there always lies the danger of the corruption of any external institution (becoming self serving and thus another source of external authoritarianism). So it is wise not to become dependent upon any external institution and/or to give it too much importance (or else we risk becoming subverted/corrupted by it). In other words, once mankind has freed himself from the bonds of ignorance -- of separation from the Heart, then abundance, fulfillment, Peace, and Love will reign in all his activities (as well as institutions) -- in ALL OUR RELATIONS.. Creativity will create itself -- evolution will evolve by itself in joy -- The End will take care of itself in Love and Peace, but how to get there is most often is anguished about.
So today healers, psychologists, educators, spiritualists, grass roots social institutions, community and spiritual organizations, and CO-creators most often find their hands full just trying to treat and reverse the psychological residues of such negative conditionings. Thus it is advantageous at the same time to attempt dismantling the process of negative programming in our youth and society so that tomorrow's adults will not have such a difficult recovery process (and will not further serve the oppression which created them). This is being done by only a handful of developmental psychologists, educators, indigenous people, and Heart Centered awakened beings, but their work proves that the mankind's future is what we make of it today in ALL OUR RELATIONS.
For this process to be successful for those of us who are already disconnected from the Heart, a requisite amount of self awakening is required. Although critical thought (knowing what is wrong/illusory, identifying propaganda, and lies, seeing through the facades and masks, etc.) is a necessary and healthy first step, one must be able to go through that rebellious state into creative thought (self empowered pro-creative affirmation) as a Heart felt interconnection- one's innate connection with Creator/Creation must be empowered.
The reason this universal spiritual experience must be re-owned, is because simply knowing who the enemy is, does not preclude one from becoming the new oppressor/dictator -- the new totalitarian order or surrogate father -- the new "right" (as history has too often shown). Beyond simply seeing through the lie (clouds), one must glimpse the truth (pure sky) -- one must own their vision. This is particularly important for the new generation as a whole. Some one else's wrong, does not make me right. Once we know who we are in terms of Integrity -- as our True nature or Natural Self, then we are Whole and our actions will reflect this wholesomeness naturally. In this way (knowing our true vision) we affirm our collective vision (as all our relations) and are able to fulfill our collective evolutionary dream -- the transpersonal Self as the Beauty path. In the Light of this True Collective Vision of the Real People (Ongwhehonwhe) no guilt, racism nor hatred can survive. In the Universal Home of the Heart, only Love Is.
Love is All there is
All there is, is Love
Ongwhehonwhe Green Indigenous Politics and the politics of Consciousness
Accessing Trauma as Samskaras: Understanding Trauma in Daily Life: The Relationship between Trauma in Body Psychotherapy and the Formation of Samskaras (triggers) in Yoga Philosophy
Denial, Dysfunction, Character Armoring, Trauma, and Delusion in Modern America: An in-depth articulation of the symptomatic mechanisms of post traumatic stress, guilt, and denial and how that in turn becomes manure for mass hysteria, demagoguery, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism utilizing viewpoint of trauma healing from a body based (body psychotherapy) perspective.
Authority, Dogma, and Indigenous Space
The Racist and Oppressive Politics as Reflected in Hemp
Call to Unite All Races in the Rainbow Vision
Ongwhehonwhe's Trauma Link Page