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The Negation of Negation.

by
Dean Gotcher

For the child, the father's/Father's authority (which restrains him from doing "his own thing") is negative. At first, through dialoguing with his "self," he finds a place where he can justify to his "self" his love of pleasure and hate of restraint, i.e., an environment of "positivity." It is only when he can find a "positive" environment where he, along with others can dialogue his opinion (openly share his "feelings," i.e., his love of pleasure and hate of restraint without restraint, i.e., without fear of judgment and condemnation) and arrive at a consensus, i.e., that of negating the father's/Father's authority not only in himself but in "the group" and the world as well, thereby 'driven' by his carnal nature, he finds 'purpose' in life, working with others 'creating' a "new" world order where his/their carnal nature, i.e., "human nature" rules only, negating the negation, i.e., negating the father's/Father's authority and the guilty conscience which gets in the way.

It is the negation of the guilty conscience (for doing wrong, disobeying, sinning) that "the negation of negation" is really after, having to negate the father's authority in order to get there. As Kurt Lewin explained it, first explaining how the guilty conscience is first 'created,' only by removing the father's/Father's authority can the guilty conscience, what he called the "negative valance," be negated.

"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 Lewin, since the guilty conscience, what he called a "negative valance," is the result of the father's/Father's authority to punish (to chasten) or threaten to punishment (threaten to chasten) the child for doing wrong or for disobeying, holding the child accountable for his actions (obedience or disobedience)—what Lewin called "an induced field of force of an adult," preventing the child from having or doing what desires to do or preventing him from having what he wants to have (desires or "lusts" after) 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/place/space," where he can question, challenge, defy, disregard, attack authority 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 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.'" (Norman O. Brown, Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History)

"by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil." Proverbs 16:6

No longer fearing judgment and damnation, we now see a people rising up doing wrong, disobeying, sinning without having any sense of guilt.

"The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good. He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil." Psalms 36:1-4

© Institution for Authority Research, Dean Gotcher 2018