Outstanding James...
Thank you for your posts.
I was recently reading John Steiner's (psychoanalyst London) paper Seeing and Being Seen: Narcissistic pride and narcissistic humiliation. And his description of analysis with a client was remarkable.
"If humiliation is too painful and separateness becomes unbearable, the patient
may be able to recreate a sense of proximity by using the eyes to obliterate the
awareness of separateness. The mechanism relies on the ability of the eye to take
over some of the functions which previously relied on the proximity senses, and
which are associated with part object relationships. In particular, projection and
introjection now come to be mediated by the eyes, and gaze becomes capable of
penetrating and can be used not only to observe the object as a whole but also to enter
the object and identify with it. The excitement associated with entry transforms the
child’s position from that of an observer into that of a voyeur and the identification
can lead to a further transformation in phantasy from a watcher at a distance to that
of a participator in bodily contact. It is as if vision is then used as a proximity sense
enabling a part object relationship to be re-established."
The above quote and entire paper reminded me of the Sanford book you referenced in your post.
The catalyst for me to investigate this business of projection was sparked by a conversation I was having with a colleague. He had met Warrne Buffett who was giving a lecture where he attended college, earning his MBA. After the lecture students were given the opportunity to meet WB. My colleague said that his 'gaze' was penetrating. He felt disarmed and that WB was looking into his soul, and sizing him up somehow. He felt extremely intimidated because this 'aggressive WB' was so contrary to the 'affable WB' presenting to the group. Immediately I thought to myself, 'how narcissistic'. I think I Googled some combination of 'gaze' 'narcissism' and 'eyes' which turned up Steiner's paper. Interestingly, Neptune is in WB's 8th house if I recall (rectified by Hiroki). All this stuff seems so deeply unconscious and related to the 12th house... the rabbit hole...
Klein may have embodied this animus concept. "Strongly opinionated, and demanding loyalty from her followers, Klein established a highly influential training program in psychoanalysis. She is considered one of the co-founders of object relations theory." Although object relations theory is arguably distinct from the Jungian thought construct of anima/animus I can 'see' how they are related. But nevertheless, this poise served Klein who obviously was fighting to 'be seen' in a man's world.
I think this challenge for women continues in today's world where women more or less compete in masculine terms... I am thinking of Danika Patrick and any number of athletes who carry the animus projection to extreme... slowly by slowly we evolve... when will the matriarchal re-emerge? Not any time soon... and certainly not in the upcoming election...
"Initially, man must have learned to identify the circle from the pupils of maternal eyes, and then from reading eyes of others. Above, over seeing all, there were the moving disks of the godly Sun and the Moon." (NT Solar Arcs page 1)
Just a few thoughts... hope it isn't too far askew and off topic... in any event I enjoyed your commentary...
All the best,
HVA
