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The Guilty Conscience.

by
Dean Gotcher

"The guilty conscience is formed in childhood by the incorporation of the parents and the wish to be father of oneself." "What we call 'conscience' perpetuates inside of us our bondage to past objects now part of ourselves: the superego 'unites in itself the influences of the present and of the past [the child's carnal nature, i.e., "feelings," i.e., his or her love of pleasure and hate of restraint—experienced in the past as well as being experienced in the present].'" (Norman O. Brown, Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History)

"The personal conscience is the key element in ensuring self-control, refraining from deviant behavior even when it can be easily perpetrated." "The family, the next most important unit affecting social control, is obviously instrumental in the initial formation of the conscience and in the continued reinforcement of the values that encourage law abiding behavior." (Dr. Robert Trojanowicz, The meaning of "Community" in Community Policing)

Kurt Lewin, explaining how the guilty conscience is created and how it can be negated, i.e., replaced with the "super-ego," wrote: "The negative valence of a forbidden object which in itself attracts the child thus usually derives from an induced field of force of an adult." "If this field of force loses its psychological existence for the child (e.g., if the adult goes away or loses his authority) the negative valence also disappears." (Kurt Lewin; A Dynamic Theory of Personality) According to Kurt Lewin, since the guilty conscience, what he called a "negative valance," is the result of the father's/Father's threat of punishment for doing wrong or for disobeying, what Lewin called "an induced field of force of an adult," preventing the child from having or doing what he desires to do or from having what he wants to have in the 'moment,' what Lewin called "a forbidden object which in itself attracts the child," by simply removing, in the mind of the child, the father's/Father's authority, i.e., by putting the child in a "safe zone, space, or place," where he can question, challenge, defy, disregard, attack authority, negating that which is "negative" without fear of reprimand, i.e., "if this field of force loses its psychological existence for the child (e.g., if the adult goes away or loses his authority" the guilty conscience is negated in the process, i.e., "the negative valance also disappears."

In two sentences Kurt Lewin explained how the guilty conscience is 'created' and how it can be negated, i.e., how it can be replaced with the "super-ego"—which incorporates the child's carnal "feelings" of the 'moment,' i.e., his "attraction" toward "a forbidden object," in deciding right from wrong, i.e., how he should think and act in the current situation. If you follow Lewin's line of 'reasoning,' a "positive" environment would be one which is 'liberated' from the father's/Father's authority, not making people "feel bad," i.e., feel guilty for doing wrong, disobeying, sinning and a "negative" environment would be one which includes the father's/Father's authority, making people "feel bad," i.e., feel guilty for doing wrong, disobeying sinning. Thus by simply insisting upon having a "positive" environment, the father's/Father's authority is negated, allowing all participants to do wrong, disobey, sin with impunity, i.e., with no sense of guilt. The scriptures warn us: "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:14-15 "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." Ecclesiastes 11:9

By focusing upon the "feelings," i.e., the "sensuous needs" and "sense perception" of the child, making right and wrong subject to the child's "sense experience," 'justifying' the child's carnal nature, not only is the father's/Father's authority negated, the guilty conscience for doing wrong, disobeying, sinning is negated as well. (Karl Marx, MEGA I/3) This is why Georg Hegel built his ideology upon the carnal nature of the child, making it the foundation for 'reasoning.' "The child, contrary to appearance, is the absolute, the rationality of the relationship; he is what is enduring and everlasting, the totality which produces itself once again as such [once he is 'liberated' from the guilty conscience, i.e., the father's/Father's authority]." (Georg Hegel, System of Ethical Life) Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud followed in suet, with Marx setting out to negate the father's/Father's authority in society, i.e., 'liberate' the children from the father's/Father's authority in society and Freud setting out to negate the father's/Father's authority in the individual child, i.e., 'liberate' the child from the affects the father's/Father's authority has had upon him in his feelings and thoughts on a personal level—through "group psychotherapy" both being accomplished at the same time. (Georg Hegel, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud)

The role of the facilitator of 'change' is to 'change' the "guilty conscience" into the "super-ego," moving the child's loyalty from the father/Father and his/His authority to "the group," i.e., to society. The father's/Father's authority (known as the Patriarchal paradigm—a paradigm is how a person feels, thinks, and acts, and relates with others, as well as responds to authority) is based upon the father/Father 1). preaching commands and rules to be obeyed as given and teaching facts and truth to be accepted as is, by faith, discussing any commands, rules, facts, and truth not understood (at the father's/Father's discretion), 2). rewarding the child who obeys or does things right, 3). chastening the child who disobeys or does things wrong (that he might learn to control, discipline, humble, deny his "self" and obey or do what is right), and 4). casting out the child who disrespect the father's/Father's authority. which initiates and sustains the "guilty conscience" in the child for disobeying or doing wrong. By the child humbling and denying his "self" in order (as in "old" world order) to do the father's/Father's will, learning to discipline and control (reprove and rebuke) his "self" in order to do right and not wrong according to the father's/Father's commands, rules, facts, and truth he becomes mature, making himself in the image of the father/Father, evaluating his "self," others, and the world around him from the father's/Father's commands, rules, facts, and truth. When he disobeys or does wrong (or is tempted to do wrong) he then experiences a "guilty conscience," i.e., the father's/Father's voice within him, passing that voice on to others as he relates or refuses to relate with them based upon their behavior, i.e., their doing right or wrong according to his father's/Father's standards. According to those of dialectic 'reasoning' this not only "represses" the child, preventing him from being his "self," i.e., normal, i.e., of the world only, but also "alienates" him from the other children of the world, creating "neurosis" in the child, with the child wanting to please the father/Father while still wanting (by nature) to please his "self" as well. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:16, 15

"Neurosis" according to them, is the result of the child being caught between his desire to be his "self" and having to humble, deny, control, discipline his "self" in order to do the father's/Father's will. Negate the father's/Father's authority in the child's feelings, thoughts, and actions, and in his relationship with others and the world, "aligning" him with the other children in the room, and the guilty conscience is negated, replaced with the "super-ego" making him "normal" again, i.e., the same as all the children of the world. It is why the classroom now begins with dialogue, i.e., with the child's "feeling," i.e., desires, i.e., "self interests" of the 'moment' instead of with the commands, rules, facts, and truth of the father/Father, 'liberating' the child's feelings, thoughts, and actions, as well as how he relates with the other children in the classroom, i.e., 'liberating' his "self" along with the other children in the classroom from the father's/Father's authority (their is not father's/Father's authority in dialogue, only opinion, i.e., the child's "feelings" and "thoughts," subject to his "self interest" of the 'moment'), negating the "guilty conscience" for doing wrong/sinning in the process.

The facilitator of 'change's,' i.e., the "group psychotherapist's," i.e., the Transformational Marxist's agenda (all three being the same) is to 'change' the child's "guilty conscience" into a "super-ego." By moving communication from the preaching, teaching, and discussion of commands, rules, facts, and truth— to be accepted as is, by faith and applied in life—to the dialoguing of opinions—to the child's "thoughts" (opinion) of the 'moment,' which are subject to his "feelings" of the 'moment, i.e., to his carnal desires of the 'moment'—the "guilty conscience" is 'change' into the "super-ego"—where the child's "feelings" of the 'moment,' i.e., his carnal desires, i.e., his "self interest," i.e., "human nature" rules in making decisions, over (and therefore against) the father's/Father's authority. By asking all participants to be "positive," i.e., tolerant of deviance, i.e., tolerant of those doing wrong, disobeying, or sinning and not "negative," i.e., not judging one another according to the father's/Father's commands, rules, facts, and truth, the father's/Father's authority is replaced (negated) by the child's "feelings" of the moment—especially regarding his desire for affirmation, i.e., approval by others (not only approving his "self" but approving his "self interest," i.e., his carnal desires of the 'moment' as well—something the father/Father would not do if it was wrong, done in disobedience, or sinning). Thus the "guilty conscience" for doing wrong, disobeying, sinning, which is engendered by the father's/Father's authority, is replaced with (negated by) the "super-ego," which is engendered by "the group's" affirmation, engendering "worldly peace and socialist harmony" as the outcome (even being done in "the name of the Lord" when applied in the "church").

"... the 'external restrictions' [doing right and not wrong, good and not evil, according to the parent's or the father's/Fathers, i.e., God's standards, reinforced by chastening or the threat of judgment (damnation)] first the parents and then other societal agencies have imposed upon the individual 'interjected' into the ego [resulting in the child embracing the father's/Father's will as his own, making his will, doing the father's/Father's will] and become its 'conscience' [engendering a "guilty conscience" for disobedience or failing to please the parents, i.e., the father/Father]; henceforth, the sense of guilt permeates the mental life." "The id carries the memory traces of the dominion ... forward into every present future: it projects the past into the future." (Herbart Marcuse, Eros and Civilization: A philosophical inquiry into Freud)

"Bloom's Taxonomies" (revised by Marzano and Webb over the years—with Common Core being the work of Webb) are required learning for teacher certification and application for school accreditation today, in "Christian" schools as well. They are now being used by curriculum developers for homeschooling material. They read in part:

"In the more traditional society [a closed society where the children under the parent's or Godly authority] a philosophy of life, a mode of conduct, is spelled out for its members at an early stage in their lives." "A major function of education in such a society is to achieve the internalization of this philosophy [inculcating the Patriarchal Paradigm or accepting right and wrong as established by God or parent]." (David Krathwohl, Benjamin Bloom et al., Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals: Handbook 2, Affective Domain)

"This is not to suggest that education in an open society [in a transformational society where the children are guided by their "natural inclinations," in harmony with others around them] does not attempt to develop personal and social values." "It does indeed." "But more than in traditional societies it allows the individual a greater amount of freedom in which to achieve a Weltanschauung1 [world view or paradigm]" "1Often this is too challenging a goal for the individual to achieve on his own, and the net effect is either maladjustment [the person remain individualistic without a conscience] or the embracing of a philosophy of life developed by others [the person follow after a higher authority, such as a Hitler, without a conscience]. Cf. Erich Fromm, 1941; T. W. Adorno et al., 1950" (David Krathwohl, Benjamin Bloom et al., Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals: Handbook 2, Affective Domain) Fromm and Adorno were two Marxist (Transformational Marxists), who's ideology Bloom used to build his Taxonomy upon.

"'the superego. . .is conceived in psychoanalysis as functioning substantially in the same way as conscience [only instead of one influencing your decision, the one above (of righteousness), it is two or more, i.e. the many below (of sensuousness)].' Superego development is conceived as '. . . the incorporation of the moral standards of society…' Internalization (incorporating as one's own [incorporating one's own "feelings" and "thoughts" of the 'moment']) is thus a critical element in superego development and in the development of conscience. Therefore the levels of the Taxonomy should describe successive levels of goal setting appropriate to superego development." (David Krathwohl, Benjamin Bloom et al., Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals: Handbook 2, Affective Domain) In other words education today is about negating the authority of the Father, i.e. the voice of the Father in the child, i.e. the conscience, and replacing it with the authority of the "village," i.e. the voice of the collective, the "group," i.e. the "super-ego."

"Freud's concept of superego definition, … that the child internalizes the father figure to form the superego [he is speaking of a deformed super-ego or an undeveloped conscience, where the consciences is still tied to the one above the child's "feeling" and "thoughts," restraining his Id and Ego, i.e. to the parent (his commands), instead of to the many, to society (where it is subject to his own personal "feelings," emotions, "lusts")] as a way of resolving the pressures of exigencies of the family." ibid The "pressures of exigencies of the family" being the issue of necessity, in order for the family to survive, thus deforming the development of the child's "super-ego," loosing his identity of "self," abdicating it to the father/Father.

" . . . the impact of Sigmund Freud's work on modern culture . . . the connection between the suppression of children (both within the home and outside) . . . the psychological dynamics of the life of the child and the adult alike." (Theodor Adorno, The Authoritarian Personality)

"It is a function of the ego to make peace with conscience, to create a larger synthesis within which conscience, emotional impulses, and self operate in relative harmony." "When this synthesis is not achieved, the superego has somewhat the role of a foreign body within the personality, and it exhibits those rigid, automatic, and unstable aspects discussed above [it remains a "guilty conscience," the person still being an individual under his parent's or God's rule, thereby not being readily adaptable to a 'changing' society]." ibid.

"It is not individualism [the conscience, i.e., obeying the father/Father] that fulfills the individual, on the contrary it destroys him. Society [the "super-ego," i.e., "building relationships upon self interest"] is the necessary framework through which freedom and individuality are made realities." (Karl Marx) "Only within a social context individual man is able to realize his own potential as a rational being." (Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right)

According to those of dialectic 'reasoning,' the father's/Father's commands, rules, facts, and truth—being out of touch with the child's "feelings of the 'moment,'" i.e., "out of touch with the times"—makes the father/Father not only "irrational," it makes his/His authority "irrelevant" in the 'changing' times as well. It is the same "reasoning" as what happened in the garden in Eden.

"If the guilt accumulated in the civilized domination of man by man can ever be redeemed by freedom, then the 'original sin' must be committed again: 'We must again eat from the tree of knowledge in order to fall back into the state of innocence." (Herbart Marcuse, Eros and Civilization: A philosophical inquiry into Freud)

"To experience Freud is to partake a second time of the forbidden fruit" (Norman O. Brown, Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History)

"In the process of history man gives birth to himself. He becomes what he potentially is, and he attains what the serpent—the symbol of wisdom and rebellion—promised, and what the patriarchal, jealous God of Adam did not wish: that man would become like God himself." (Erick Fromm, You shall be as gods: A radical interpretation of the old testament and its tradition)

"If the school is to be a dynamic force in the community, it must give attention both to the development of leader skills within the school and to the discovery of development of leaders in the community. . . . The leader has skills in human relations and can manage the interplay of individual differences so that human energy may be controlled in pursuit of common goals. . . Leadership of this type [is] based on liberation rather than domination." "[Kurt] Lewin emphasized that the child takes on the characteristic behavior of the group in which he is placed. . . . he reflects the behavior patterns which are set by the adult leader of the group." (Wilbur Brookover, A Sociology of Education) By changing the classroom environment (curriculum) from "authoritarian" to "relationship building" the child will replace his individualism, under God with collectivism, i.e., for the "good" of "the group", i.e., "the people."

"The conception of the ideal family situation for the child: uncritical obedience to the father and elders, pressures directed unilaterally from above to below, inhibition of spontaneity and emphasis on conformity to externally imposed values." "The power—relationship between the parents, the domination of the subject's family by the father or by the mother, and their relative dominance in specific areas of life also seemed of importance for our problem." (T. W. Adorno, The Authoritarian Personality) The Marxist Adorno, along with Fromm, was Bloom's world view, i.e., Weltanschauung.as sighted above.

". . . a tendency to transmit mainly a set of conventional rules and customs, may be considered as interfering with the development of a clear-cut personal identity in the growing child [his carnal nature]." ibid.

"To create effectively a new set of attitudes and values, the individual must undergo great reorganization of his personal beliefs and attitudes and he must be involved in an environment which in may ways is separated from the previous environment in which he was developed....many of these changes are produced by association with peers who have less authoritarian points of view, as well as through the impact of a great many courses of study in which the authoritarian pattern is in some ways brought into question while more rational and nonauthoritarian behaviors are emphasized." (David Krathwohl, Benjamin Bloom et al., Taxonomy of Educational Objectives Book 2: Affective Domain)

"… few individuals, ... can maintain their objectivity [maintain their loyalty to their parent's or God's commands] in the face of apparent group unanimity [the group of people having dialogued their opinions to a consensus]; and the individual rejects critical feelings toward the group at this time to avoid a state of cognitive dissonance [where his is caught between his belief (his desire for approve from God or parent) and his action (his desire for approval from "the group"]. To question the value or activities of the group, would be to thrust himself into a state of dissonance [tension; fear of rejection, fear of social alienation as well as a lose of opportunity to have that which God or parent did not want him to have]. Long cherished but self-defeating beliefs and attitudes [beliefs and attitudes which the child holds close too, in love and obedience to his parents, which get in the way of his natural, carnal, worldly desires, the parents "Because I said so" inhibiting his "human nature," thus making him "self-defeated," carnal inhibited] may waver and decompose in the face of a dissenting majority." (Irvin Yalom, Theory and Practice and Group Psychotherapy)

"The individual [the policeman, the minister, the legislator, the educator, etc] accepts the new system of values and beliefs [right and wrong is not determined by God or the parent but by "the group," i.e. by society] by accepting belongingness to the group." (Kurt Lewin, in Kenneth Benne, Human Relations in Curriculum Change)

"Whenever re-education involves the relinquishment of standards [relinquishment of standards of the traditional home or God] which are contrary to the standards of society at large [The question is: "Who is determining these standards and how are they being determined?" The citizens (parents) themselves or the so called social scientists (facilitators of 'change'), i.e. the Transformational Marxists] the feeling of group belongingness seems to be greatly heightened if the members feel free to express openly the very sentiments [resentment for having to obey parents or God (or their constituents) when their commands block personal, carnal desires, yet because of the conscience, still retaining sentiment and respect (and fear) for the office of authority of the parents or citizens] which are to be dislodged through re-education." ibid.

"Re-education must be clever enough in manipulating the subjects to have them think that they are running the show." "The objective sought will not be reached so long as the new set of values is not experienced by the individual as something freely chosen." ibid.

"In the area of human relations, individual and group process becomes the curriculum [the paradigm]." "A change in curriculum [a paradigm 'shift,' i.e. a 'change' in the environment in which a person learns how to determine what is right and what is wrong] is a change in the people concerned—in teachers, in students, in parents, and other laymen, and in administrators." "Curriculum change means that the group involved must shift its approval from the old [from the one above, i.e. from the parent or God; maintaining a "top-down" world order of do right not wrong, i.e. a system of righteousness] to some new set of reciprocal behavior patterns [to the many below, i.e. to the collective, initiating and sustaining an "equality" world order of unrighteousness, i.e. as long as we all "feel good" about the desired outcome]." ibid.

"What better way to help the patient recapture the past than to allow him to re-experience and reenact ancient feelings toward parents in his current relationship to the therapist? The therapist [the facilitator of 'change,' i.e., the "teacher"] is the living personification of all parental images. Group therapists refuse to fill the traditional authority role: they do not lead in the ordinary manner, they do not provide answers and solutions, they urge the group to explore and to employ its own resources. The group [must] feel free to confront the therapist, who must not only permit, but encourage, such confrontation. He [the patient] reenacts early family scripts in the group and, if therapy is successful, is able to experiment with new behavior, to break free from the locked family role he once occupied. … the patient changes the past by reconstituting it." (Irvin Yalom, Theory and Practice and Group Psychotherapy)

"Freud commented that only through the solidarity of all the participants could the sense of guilt be assuaged." (Norman O. Brown, Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History)

"In order to effect rapid change, . . . [one] must mount a vigorous attack on the family lest the traditions of present generations be preserved. It is necessary, in other words, artificially to create an experiential chasm between parents and children—to insulate the children in order that they can more easily be indoctrinated with new ideas." "If one wishes to mold children in order to achieve some future goal, one must begin to view them as superior. One must teach them not to respect their tradition-bound elders, who are tied to the past and know only what is irrelevant." ". . . any intervention between parent and child tend to produce familial democracy regardless of its intent." "The consequences of family democratization take a long time to make themselves felt—but it would be difficult to reverse the process once begun. … once the parent can in any way imagine his own orientation to be a possible liability to the child in the world approaching." "… Once uncertainty is created in the parent how best to prepare the child for the future, the authoritarian family is moribund, regardless of whatever countermeasures may be taken." "The state, by its very interference in the life of its citizens, must necessarily undermine a parental authority which it attempts to restore." "Any non-family-based collectivity that intervenes between parent and child and attempts to regulate and modify the parent-child relationship will have a democratizing impact on that relationship." "For however much the state or community may wish to inculcate obedience and submission in the child, its intervention betrays a lack of confidence in the only objects from whom a small child can learn authoritarian submission, an overweening interest in the future development of the child―in other words, a child centered orientation." (Warren Bennis, The Temporary Society)

"There are many stories of the conflict and tension that these new practices [in the classroom] are producing between parents and children [when the children get home]." (David Krathwohl, Benjamin S. Bloom, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. The Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook 2: Affective Domain, p. 83)

© Institution for Authority Research, Dean Gotcher 2017 - 2019