Is reverse evolution possible? Not really, but it might seem so of late in the human community. Ironically, “regression” is a defense mechanism we use, mostly unconsciously, for false-self (ego) protection. So in our “crazier-by-the-moment” global community we are trying to protect ourselves from facing the reality of our current behavior by trying to escape to the past. Nevertheless, that’s what many of us do especially when we are not aware of the long-term consequences of our behavior.
The level of fear in the Global Village seems to be increasing leading to heightened insecurity and sometimes anger in portions of our population. Many adults are reverting to emotionally and socially childish behavior which is a point in their development when they felt safer or more powerful. The male of our species seems to be particularly paranoid these days and more apt to engage in regression.
The identity that many global communities assign to males is unnatural because it is not in harmony with their True self. The conflict caused by the contrast between the True self and false self-identity causes emotional pain and stress which in turn can lead to unnaturally violent reactions and even psychopathological behavior.
The 20-year-old film “Fight Club” starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton was about just such a group of men who turn to violence to express their fear and dissatisfaction with the roles assigned to them by the American patriarchy. “But it definitely seems like ‘Fight Club’ is still the perfect analogy for our times because in the process of trying to ideate or iterate yourself into a perfect man, A.K.A. Tyler Durden/Brad Pitt, you lose yourself. And you get very sick in the process.” (1)
Fast forward to Martin Scorsese’s “Joker” starring Joaquin Phoenix to round out the case we are making for the ubiquity of regression among males in the Global Village. It seems that the genre of superhero films coming out of Hollywood supports our contention. “And it has habituated adult audiences to stories that belong—with, yes exceptions—to the state of arrested development [regression] in which far more of Western culture than just Hollywood is trapped.” (2)
Will the American male be able to succeed in discovering an identity that will enable him to avoid self-destruction? Click on the link below as we all engage in that search.
Insight # 163:
The man of Tao remains unknown. Perfect virtue produces nothing.
‘No-self is True-self.’ And the greatest man is Nobody. (3)
Link:
- “Me Tarzan, You Jane” in this blog or in print version, Who Am I? The Second Great Question Concerning the Nature of Reality (2013), by Roy Charles Henry, pages 152-157.
References:
- New York Times, The. “Spotlight.” October 7, 2019, page 3.
- Douthat, Ross. “Against the Superhero Regime.” The New York Times Sunday Review. October 27, 2019, page 9.
- Teasdale, Wayne. The Mystic Heart. Novato, California: New World Library, 1999, page 151.
