Rationality and Irrationality, Man and Gods: Which God(s) Would You Like To Study?
Every time I start an essay on man's rationality,
Or at least his capability for rationality,
I get stuck,
And hit the brakes.
Why?
Because their is much more excitement and drama,
In pursuing man's irrationality...
Or at least his or her seeming irrationality...
However, irrationality is a very relative concept.
Irrationality becomes completely rational,
Or at least understandable,
And maybe sometimes 'bizarrely rational',
As soon as you understand,
Which God a person is worshipping,
Which God a person is pursuing,
Which God a person wants to be.
Which God would you sooner learn about?
Apollo -- the Greek God of rationality and ethics?
Or Dionysus (Nietzsche's infatuation -- and mine) -- the Greek God of pleasure and dance, and wine and group celebration, and sexuality and orgasm...pretty much everything Freud summed up in 'The Id'?
Or Freud's later infatuation (and mine): Narcissus -- the God of Ego, and Self-Inflation, and Self-Assertion, and Self-Absorption, and 'Will to Power', and 'Will to Fame and Ambition', and 'Will to Possess and Conquer', and 'Will To Revenge', and 'Will To Selfishness'...
Dionysus and Narcissus usually get along pretty well together...
Even throw Eros and Aphrodite into the mix (God and Goddess of Love),
And you still have a greaty party...
It's only Apollo who puts a damper on things,
And aims to spoil the party, spoil the fun,
Particularly when it starts to get completely out of hand,
And threatens to run completely amok,
Throwing chaos into law and order, ethics and morality...
Eros and Aprhodite -- these are interesting Gods too...
If you've been hit by the 'love bug', then you are chasing
Eros and/or Aphrodite,
While Dionysus and Narcissus are the Gods of...
Shall we say, the more sensual, sexual, and seedier side of love...
I.E. 'Lust'?
Or is it a complicated chemical mix of...
Sensuality, sexuality, love and lust, obsession, compulsion, addiction...
When all three or four of them come together in the same ignited package,
Eros/Aphrodite, Dionusus, and Narcissus,
Swarming Together,
To lift us up,
And/or bring us down,
What do we call them?
'The Terrific Threesome'?
Or 'The Terrible Threesome?
Or Both?
Obsession, compulsion, addiction, love, lust, sexuality, rejection, betrayal, abandonment, jealousy, envy, anger, grief, rage, aggression, violence, crimes of passion, crimes of transference, identification, projection, compensation, inferiority feelings, superiority striving, the 'darkness of the shadow', sexual fetishes, power and sex, domination and submission, sadism and masochism, exhibitionism, voyeurism, seduction, manipulation, coercion, force, serial crimes, serial rapes, serial killings...
Who would you sooner learn about?
Apollo?
Or Dionysus, Narcissus, Eros, and Aphrodite?
Wrapped together in one chemically charged package...
Transference. Transference Complexes, Transference Games, The Exciting Object, The Rejecting Object, Narcissitic Traumacies, Narcissistic Compensations, Narcissistic Identifications, Identification with The Aggressor, Identification With The Rejector, Identification With The Abandoner, Identification With The Distancer, Identification With The Betrayor, Identification With The Violator, Identification With The Abuser...
The first God -- Apollo -- was the God of The Enlightenment Period,
But I think you can begin to understand why,
Apollo, by himself, was not enough,
To define or describe or summarize,
Human Behavior...
Enter the Dragon,
The Transference Dragon,
Enter...The last four Gods -- Dionysus, Narcissus, Eros, and Aphrodite...
These were the Gods of The Romantic Period
The Fascinating Four,
Dionysus, Narcissus, Eros, and Aphrodite...
Did much to help describe...
The 'Other Side of Human Nature'...
The darker,
Sexier,
Seedier,
More romantic,
More sensual,
More spiritual,
More unpredictable,
Side of human behavior...
Which God(s) would you like to study?
Or would you like to study them all?
-- dgbn, Dec. 17th, 2008.
-- David Gordon Bain.
