Vrecknidj
Prolific Member
Has anyone here read this book?
I'm curious about your opinions if you have.
Dave
I'm curious about your opinions if you have.
Dave
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OK, it's on.
Alice Miller: The Body Never Lies
- Thread starter Vrecknidj
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Vrecknidj
Prolific Member
Since no one apparently has read this, let me pull a few excerpts from the book.
Page 91 (referring to a passage on Saddam Hussein's childhood)
"There is conclusive evidence that the character of a tyrant will not change as long as he lives, that he will abuse his power in a destructive way as long as he encounters no resistance. The point is that his genuine aim, the unconscious aim concealed behind all his conscious activities, remains the same: to use his power to blot out the humiliations inflicted on him in childhood and denied by him ever since. But this aim can never be achieved. The past cannot be expunged, nor can one come to terms with it, as long as one denies the suffering it involved."
Page 39 (general commentary on Christianity)
"The strange idea of having to love God so that He does not punish me for my rebelliousness and disappointment, but instead rewards me with the love that forgives all, becomes just as much the expression of our childish dependence and insecurity as the assumption that, like our parents, God is in desperate need of our love. But is this not a completely grotesque idea? A higher being dependent on inauthentic feelings dictated by morality is strongly reminiscent of the insecurity displayed by our frustrated and disoriented parents. Such a being can be called God only be people who have never questioned their own parents or thought about their dependency on them."
Dave
Page 91 (referring to a passage on Saddam Hussein's childhood)
"There is conclusive evidence that the character of a tyrant will not change as long as he lives, that he will abuse his power in a destructive way as long as he encounters no resistance. The point is that his genuine aim, the unconscious aim concealed behind all his conscious activities, remains the same: to use his power to blot out the humiliations inflicted on him in childhood and denied by him ever since. But this aim can never be achieved. The past cannot be expunged, nor can one come to terms with it, as long as one denies the suffering it involved."
Page 39 (general commentary on Christianity)
"The strange idea of having to love God so that He does not punish me for my rebelliousness and disappointment, but instead rewards me with the love that forgives all, becomes just as much the expression of our childish dependence and insecurity as the assumption that, like our parents, God is in desperate need of our love. But is this not a completely grotesque idea? A higher being dependent on inauthentic feelings dictated by morality is strongly reminiscent of the insecurity displayed by our frustrated and disoriented parents. Such a being can be called God only be people who have never questioned their own parents or thought about their dependency on them."
Dave
Vrecknidj
Prolific Member
And, one more, from the Preface, page 14
"...I use the word 'unconscious' exclusively to refer to repressed, denied or disassociated content (memories, emotions, needs). For me, a person's unconscious is nothing other than his/her biography, a life story that, although stored in the body in its entirety, is accessible to our consciousness only in a highly fragmentary form. Accordingly, I never use the word 'truth' in a metaphysical sense. The meaning I give it is invariably that of a subjective entitiy, related to the actual life of the individual concerned. This is why I frequently speak of 'his' or 'her' truth, meaning the true story of the person in question, as evidenced by and reflected in his/her emotions. In my terminology, emotion is a more or less unconscious, but at the same time vitally important physical response to internal or external events--such things as fear of thunderstorms, rage at having been deceived, of the pleasure that results from a present we really desire. By contrast, the word 'feeling' designates a conscious perception of an emotion. Emotional blindness, then is usually a (self-)destructive luxury that we indulge in at our cost."
I found the passage "...stored in the body in its entirety..." absolutely compelling.
Dave
"...I use the word 'unconscious' exclusively to refer to repressed, denied or disassociated content (memories, emotions, needs). For me, a person's unconscious is nothing other than his/her biography, a life story that, although stored in the body in its entirety, is accessible to our consciousness only in a highly fragmentary form. Accordingly, I never use the word 'truth' in a metaphysical sense. The meaning I give it is invariably that of a subjective entitiy, related to the actual life of the individual concerned. This is why I frequently speak of 'his' or 'her' truth, meaning the true story of the person in question, as evidenced by and reflected in his/her emotions. In my terminology, emotion is a more or less unconscious, but at the same time vitally important physical response to internal or external events--such things as fear of thunderstorms, rage at having been deceived, of the pleasure that results from a present we really desire. By contrast, the word 'feeling' designates a conscious perception of an emotion. Emotional blindness, then is usually a (self-)destructive luxury that we indulge in at our cost."
I found the passage "...stored in the body in its entirety..." absolutely compelling.
Dave
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hmmm, sounds potentially interesting. The title makes it seem like it's about body language or lie detection. Does it touch on those subjects?
The excerpt on page 39 is something I've certainly considered before, although I think there are different ways of looking at it. Words like "childish" and "insecurity" often make something sound worse than it really is, and I don't think a Christian's "relationship" with God is necessarily as dysfunctional as that excerpt makes it seem.
The excerpt on page 39 is something I've certainly considered before, although I think there are different ways of looking at it. Words like "childish" and "insecurity" often make something sound worse than it really is, and I don't think a Christian's "relationship" with God is necessarily as dysfunctional as that excerpt makes it seem.
Vrecknidj
Prolific Member
I haven't finished it yet. There are passages that make her sound particularly harsh of Christianity, but there are other parts that don't quite come across that way.
Dave
Dave