For some time I've been interested in what I call the "Unreality Imperative,"
which I describe as the strong urge to distort or deny aspects of reality --
creating and/or accepting "unreal beliefs" -- because confronting them
and seeing certain aspects of reality for what they are is considered
too "uncomfortable," "threatening," or "painful."
'Wings of Illusion'
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0879756241/qid=935359080/sr=1-3/002-
8544952-6361852>
and 'The Corruption of Reality'
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0879759356/qid=935359080/sr=1-1/002-
8544952-6361852>
by John Shumaker are two important and relevant books.
Schumaker uses the term "paranormal belief imperative" to include religious/
paranormal belief. I use the wider ranging "unreality imperative" and argue
that some areas not covered by Schumaker also belong in the unreality
domain.
Schumaker's basic thesis is that certain aspects of reality are unpalatable
to human consciousness/intelligence. To cope with this, we developed a
"counter-intelligence" that enables us to escape harsh reality with unreal
beliefs such as religion, the paranormal, etc. (It also seems to me that
much of political language and belief belongs to the "counter-intelligent"
unreality domain.)
Much of "culture" is a result of the unreality imperative. Many humans are
to some extent slaves of their culture. Schumaker calls culture, "the master
hypnotist."
Schumaker claims that human nature is paradoxical in that we are
creatures of opposites. The same person can behave in a highly
intelligent manner on some occasions, while behaving stupidly on
other occasions. In 'The Corruption of Reality,' Schumaker backs
up the possibility of such opposite behavior by citing relevant brain
research. He claims we have both intelligence and "counter-intelligence"
(stupidity circuits?).
This could account for the phenomenon of someone manifesting great
intelligence in some areas of life, while appearing not quite so intelligent
in other areas.
So far, I've paid very little attention to DENIAL, specifically identifying
the different mechanisms of denial people typically use to "escape"
from reality. Obviously, denial is a central aspect of the unreality
imperative.
A trenchant example of denial is the victim of a serial wife-beater
who believes some "miracle" will change him. So she stays with
him suffering repeated beatings year after year, until eventually
he kills her. Deadly denial of reality!
Some consider the major function of those who call themselves
"government" to be the provision of defense. On September 11th,
a massive failure in the provision of defense occurred. Nevertheless,
afterward, "faith in government" soared. This seems to me to involve
denial of reality.
I love the "I AM A MURDERER" <http://209.41.174.82/murder.html>
page because it so starkly focuses on the issue of denial. (My
suggested solution to the "abortion dilemma" is to develop the
technology to remove a fetus from a mother's womb and have it
survive and grow in another woman's womb or in a "mechanical
womb." But this isn't really relevant to my current enquiry.)
Does anyone know of a comprehensive classification/taxonomy
of different forms and mechanisms of denial?
Frederick Mann
"You cannot reason a person out of a position he did not reason
himself into in the first place." -- Jonathan Swift
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