Depth Psychology perspective
This section of the website presents a preview of how Piracy may be viewed from the perspective of Depth Psychology.
Pirating and the pirated in "everyday" life (a Freudian interpretation)
According to Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the founder of psychoanalysis, our everyday lives leave us cut off from our greater potential and, struggling to repress our instinctual nature, we are imprisoned by the restraints of society. Using pirate jargon to paraphrase and summarize Freud's philosophy it could be said that: We would really like to be running around like a bunch of pirates. However, the freedom to express our instinctual drives is pirated from us by the prohibitions imposed by society. If anyone has a problem with this arrangement they will run into a variety of sanctions. Treatment, which runs the gamut from prescription medications to incarceration, can be extensive and expensive. Then, the patient will be doubly pirated by having to seek and pay the doctors, who make out (monetarily) like pirates.
According to Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the founder of psychoanalysis, our everyday lives leave us cut off from our greater potential and, struggling to repress our instinctual nature, we are imprisoned by the restraints of society. Using pirate jargon to paraphrase and summarize Freud's philosophy it could be said that: We would really like to be running around like a bunch of pirates. However, the freedom to express our instinctual drives is pirated from us by the prohibitions imposed by society. If anyone has a problem with this arrangement they will run into a variety of sanctions. Treatment, which runs the gamut from prescription medications to incarceration, can be extensive and expensive. Then, the patient will be doubly pirated by having to seek and pay the doctors, who make out (monetarily) like pirates.
The Breast as treasure chest (Melanie Klein)
Melanie Klein (1882-1960) traces the individual's strong feeling of love and hate back to the baby's first object relationship - Mother. These feelings are particularly associated with the breast. The good breast is seen as the source of life, nurturance, and pleasure. Indeed, the breast is felt to be a great treasure! If the breast is not available, the infant experiences a primal terror of annihilation; it fears that this loss may mean death. The baby feels robbed and plundered, furious, full of hate, and is motivated to aggressively get the breast back. It is ready to desperately slash and tear in order to regain the treasure. As a person grows up, other objects that are felt to give out goodness and pleasure may symbolically come to represent the breast. In this view, robbery and attacks can be seen as an effort to acquire precious possessions, which are an extension of the good breast. Adventurers searching the world for treasure of new lands are really seeking for a new breast. In the Kleinian approach, the treasure chest is more than just a box of booty; it represents the source of life itself.
Melanie Klein (1882-1960) traces the individual's strong feeling of love and hate back to the baby's first object relationship - Mother. These feelings are particularly associated with the breast. The good breast is seen as the source of life, nurturance, and pleasure. Indeed, the breast is felt to be a great treasure! If the breast is not available, the infant experiences a primal terror of annihilation; it fears that this loss may mean death. The baby feels robbed and plundered, furious, full of hate, and is motivated to aggressively get the breast back. It is ready to desperately slash and tear in order to regain the treasure. As a person grows up, other objects that are felt to give out goodness and pleasure may symbolically come to represent the breast. In this view, robbery and attacks can be seen as an effort to acquire precious possessions, which are an extension of the good breast. Adventurers searching the world for treasure of new lands are really seeking for a new breast. In the Kleinian approach, the treasure chest is more than just a box of booty; it represents the source of life itself.
It's better to be a plunderer than a plundee
James Grotstein (1925-1915) addresses the issues of anger and hate. Hate is a more severe manifestation of anger, more perseverating, and implies a personal (narcissistic) injury. He traces these feelings back to infancy when the baby is vulnerable from the time it first enters the world. The birth cry can be seen as an angry response to losing the comfort of the womb. It is at the mercy of the mother (or other caregivers) to which anger is a response if it is not provided perfect room service. The result is anxiety that can be experienced by the child as an actual fear of dying. If a correction is not forthcoming the infant takes it personally, feels humiliated, and suffers a loss of self esteem. It can only assume that the mother does not love him and therefore wants the suffering to continue. The child is then in a position to exercise all of the horrific, demonic, and tortuous creations of its infantile fantasy. It literally wants to destroy the bad mother in order to preserve and restore the good mother. The reaction is hostility and hatred.
According to Grotstein, hate is not a primary emotion. Hate is a reaction to feeling helpless and vulnerable. What the individual really wants is to be loved, to get attention and care. The hate that is expressed is actually an attempt to restore lost self-esteem and regain a sense of security. In the extreme case, for example when the individual has felt that death is inevitable, death might seem preferable and even the threat of death would not act as a deterrent for whatever desperate action might be enacted by persons in this situation. Anything sounds better than this living death. Summing up, rather than suffer the humiliation and defeat of feeling pondered, it is preferable to turn it around by aggressively becoming there plunderer. That is to say: It's better to be a plunderer than a plundee!
James Grotstein (1925-1915) addresses the issues of anger and hate. Hate is a more severe manifestation of anger, more perseverating, and implies a personal (narcissistic) injury. He traces these feelings back to infancy when the baby is vulnerable from the time it first enters the world. The birth cry can be seen as an angry response to losing the comfort of the womb. It is at the mercy of the mother (or other caregivers) to which anger is a response if it is not provided perfect room service. The result is anxiety that can be experienced by the child as an actual fear of dying. If a correction is not forthcoming the infant takes it personally, feels humiliated, and suffers a loss of self esteem. It can only assume that the mother does not love him and therefore wants the suffering to continue. The child is then in a position to exercise all of the horrific, demonic, and tortuous creations of its infantile fantasy. It literally wants to destroy the bad mother in order to preserve and restore the good mother. The reaction is hostility and hatred.
According to Grotstein, hate is not a primary emotion. Hate is a reaction to feeling helpless and vulnerable. What the individual really wants is to be loved, to get attention and care. The hate that is expressed is actually an attempt to restore lost self-esteem and regain a sense of security. In the extreme case, for example when the individual has felt that death is inevitable, death might seem preferable and even the threat of death would not act as a deterrent for whatever desperate action might be enacted by persons in this situation. Anything sounds better than this living death. Summing up, rather than suffer the humiliation and defeat of feeling pondered, it is preferable to turn it around by aggressively becoming there plunderer. That is to say: It's better to be a plunderer than a plundee!
The Pirate in the mirror: Pirating to fulfill narcissistic needs
Heinz Kohut (1913-1981) is best known for his development of self psychology.
Heinz Kohut (1913-1981) is best known for his development of self psychology.
The Self as buried treasure
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
The Inner pirate
Relating to God: the ultimate pirate
Telos: Destined to be a pirate
These theories are explored in greater detail in Pirate: Quest for the Mystic Bootye
More to come:
Cognitive Behavioral Methods in Piracy
More to come:
Cognitive Behavioral Methods in Piracy