There are at least two factors leading to the imminent second civil war in the United States of America. The first one was pointed out by Erich Fromm who had studied the rise of fascism in Germany and who wrote about its dangers when he arrived to the United States. He wrote about it in his book "Escape from Freedom" published in 1941. In this book, Fromm describes the predicament on the individual who is confronted with feelings of isolation and insignificance. Two paths open up before him: one of them leading to biophilia ...
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There are at least two factors leading to the imminent second civil war in the United States of America. The first one was pointed out by Erich Fromm who had studied the rise of fascism in Germany and who wrote about its dangers when he arrived to the United States. He wrote about it in his book "Escape from Freedom" published in 1941. In this book, Fromm describes the predicament on the individual who is confronted with feelings of isolation and insignificance. Two paths open up before him: one of them leading to biophilia and democracy if the individual engages his higher faculties of critical thinking and creativity. The other one leads to necrophilia and destructiveness and takes the form of authoritarianism. These two tendencies emerged in the political battlefield with two distinct groups in electoral politics. One of them took the side of Senator Bernie Sanders, on the side of socialism and biophilia. The second one took the side of Trump and authoritarianism, the side of necrophilia. The second sign of alarm was pointed out by Fromm's colleagues from the School of Frankfurt who came to the United States after the Second World War and conducted the monumental study on "authoritarianism" lead by Theodore Adorno. THE F SCALE AND TRUMP'S AMERICA-The following paragraph comes from Wikipedia and summarizes the work of Theodor Adorno called The Authoritarian Personality written in 1950"The Authoritarian Personality "invented a set of criteria by which to define personality traits, ranked these traits and their intensity in any given person on what it called the 'F Scale' (F for fascist)."The personality type Adorno et al. identified can be defined by nine traits that were believed to cluster together as the result of childhood experiences. These traits include conventionalism, authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression, anti- intellectualism, anti-intraception, superstition and stereotypy, power and "toughness," destructiveness and cynicism, projectivity, and exaggerated concerns over sex." This "F scale" explains, in great detail, the essential reason of Trump's electoral victory: 9 key factors in the personality type of the 52 million Americans who voted for him, trends that cluster together as a result of childhood experiences.This book dives into each one of these key factors from the perspective of someone who scores high in the "F scale" that is, with high fascist traits. Understanding these key factors are at the heart of community health work and the ability to become a community hero who speaks for the dreams of the community, a humanitarian revolution of resilience.A dream can be the difference between hope and despair among our young people. Intergenerational wisdom, preserved throughout Indian Country, reminds us, time and again, of the tremendous power of personal and collective dreams. We could say, that our life remains incomplete until we have embraced our dream. Our greatest teachers are the ones who help others get in touch with their dreams. Just see a younger person bringing their dream to realization: there is joy, and passion and life flourishing. And that energy is contagious. Our dreams are often the way in which we get in touch with the whispers of our heart, our deepest longings. And our traditional healers advise us well when they tell us that we should listen to our hearts. In a world that has become one-sided, the language of the heart has become a forgotten language. The loss of our dreaming self has caused much turmoil in the world. To get a sense of its proportion just imagine a bird trying to fly with one wing. Its flight is erratic, painful, and ultimately fatal. Now see the same bird using both of its wings. The flight is peaceful, harmonious, and joyful. That is what our life is meant to be. That is why we have a heart and a mind. The dreaming self is the missing wing of our world. Become whole. Befriend yourself. All you have is two wings but with them you can rise above.
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