The passive form of the symbiotic union is that of submission, or if we use a clinical term, of masochism. The masochistic person escapes from the unbearable feeling of isolation and separateness by making himself part and parcel of another person who directs him, guides him, protects him; who is his life and his oxygen, as it were. The power of the one to whom one submits is inflated, may he be a person or a god; he is everything, I am nothing, except inasmuch as I am part of him. As a part, I am part of greatness, of power, of certainty. The masochistic person does not have to make decisions, does not have to take any risks; he is never alone—but he is not independent; he has no integrity; he is not yet fully born. In a religious context the object of worship is called an idol; in a secular context of a masochistic love relationship the essential mechanism, that of idolatry, is the same. The masochistic relationship can be blended with physical, sexual desire; in this case it is not only a submission in which one’s mind participates, but also one’s whole body. There can be masochistic submission to fate, to sickness, to rhythmic music, to the orgiastic state produced by drugs or under hypnotic trance—in all these instances the person renounces his integrity, makes himself the instrument of somebody or something outside of himself; he need not solve the problem of living by productive activity.
Excerpt From: Fromm, Erich. “The Art of Loving.” iBooks.
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In the Spring of 1970, my older cousin Andre’ Deshong who was also
going through the Caldwell, New Jersey school system began taking more of an
interest in my life and in particular the extent to which I was lacking
in an important sense of black consciousness.
Andre had
recently become involved with a Black Men’s organization (the Congress
of African People (a nationalist organization) located in East Orange,
New Jersey that was inspired by the dramatist, novelist and poet, Amiri
Baraka (LeRoi Jones) from Newark, New Jersey then one of the most
respected and widely published African-American writers. The leader of
this east orange group, Balozi Zayd Muhammad was also the head of the
Pan African Organization (a united organization of groups from the
United States, the West Indies, and the continents of South America and
of Africa and of which the Committee for a United Newark and B.C.D. were
members) an official NGO affiliated with the United Nations.
Upon
my first meeting with the organizations leader; Balozi, I was asked a
number of rather direct questions not recognizing right in that moment
that an elaborate and systematic process of social indoctrination had
begun over the dangers of being overwhelmingly influenced by Western
European Culture and “white people” in general. I had never heard any
one speak in the manner that he did that day about the negative
influences of western civilization and so I was rather intimidated yet
intrigued at the same time. He spoke with the authority of a father
figure explaining to his son some of the cold and hard facts of life.
Eventually,
I would come to see Balozi as a very charismatic, articulate, authority
on African and Black American history with seemingly sincere prophetic
aspirations. At that time, there were ten men living in his home. All of
them had become strongly committed to black activism,
entrepreneurialism, and as they would often say, ‘nation building.’ The
home did not as yet have a local area youth actively being groomed to
become a community organizer and local leader in either one of the two
existing high schools in the town of East Orange. In a rather short
period of time, I would become the first of their many 'student
recruits'.
Balozi went on to inform me that my cousin
Andre had spoken with him about the prospect of my becoming more exposed
to someone with his professional stature, knowledge, interest and
experience in serving as a mentor to black youth. Moreover, he discussed
with me the advantages that existed in gaining ongoing exposure to
several black male role models being right there in the same household
who were attending colleges in the area, not to overlook the broad range
of programming that they had already begun sponsoring in the
surrounding community through their partnering relationship with Amiri
Baraka’s Kawaida, a Black Muslim organization which focused on African
and Black American history, Swahili language, the mother tongue of the
Swahili people, adherence with the teachings of Islam, African culture
and wearing traditional dress and the teaching of high level Martial
Arts training in Chinese Kung Fu.
Surely you can imagine
how overwhelming this must have all been to a fatherless fifteen year
old black kid still completely wet behind the ears. Right there, on that
day, Balozi offered me a seat at his table and he further expressed to me that
he would be willing to become my legal guardian and to mentor me like
his very own son.
Subsequently, to mark what he felt was
our providential meeting and my anticipated acceptance of his offer,
Balozi gave me a new name: Akili. The meaning of the name Akili he
explained is ‘Wisdom, intellect, sense’ in Swahili. With my head
swimming, I left his house that day wondering what had just taken
place?
The most significant take away from all of this
for me was that I no longer had to concern myself with miraculously
changing into being white, republican or Christian to be a person of
worth or to gain economic, intellectual, political, social or spiritual
acceptance and stature in America. It was an absolutely myth defying
day.
Runaway - A biography of a runaway youth,
Chapter 9 Unconscious and black
Chapter 9 Unconscious and black
Jonathan Dunnemann
(2013)
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