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Introduction
In the dark season, the longing for light is very great, as darkness can have a strong effect on the human mind. Night and darkness are not things that bring people joy.
This metaphor of light from the Bible can also be applied to dark socio-political times: the longing for a bright future for society as a whole grows stronger from day to day.
It was an exchange of views with a good friend that made me realise this. At the same time, I remembered the encounters with my psychology teacher, who ended every private or public conversation on an optimistic note or brought it to an end himself. As I was not aware of the implications of this positive dialogue, I did not mention this explicitly in my new book (1).
Admonitions of the Human Sense of Community
For example, at the end of the article “Psychology of Violence. On the role of power in the life of the individual and the community”:
“One can well suppress the admonitions of the human sense of community; one can never completely eradicate them, for the gift of evolution consists in the moral consciousness of the individual, in the realisation of the responsibility of all towards all. Our task for the future seems to be above all the cultivation and strengthening of community feelings. No means must be too small, no endeavour too arduous, in order to better integrate man into the social structure, to teach him that violence and power can only lead him to his doom.” (2)
A news item I read or saw recently fits in with this: Palestinian and Israeli citizens mourned together for the many deaths caused by the terrible Middle East war and prayed together for a speedy peace.
Humanity’s Will to Survive
While my friend said that only even greater suffering would make people stop and look for the light, I myself believe that we will to survive – the desire to survive as a human species – is a “gift” of evolution and that humanity will therefore slowly move towards the light again, towards an existence worth living.
Even if awake citizens can feel that a human life is worth nothing and that there is probably a secret political plan behind the current atrocities of war, they will not give up. The statesmen of the Western and Eastern world are moving very slowly and hesitantly to end the human nightmare “without ifs and buts”.
Since humanity has so far succeeded in freeing itself from the Dark Ages and very slowly growing into today’s age of reason (???), it will also succeed in one day putting the current socio-political darkness behind it and striving for human light.
My psychology teacher put it this way in his article “Man in the Light of Modern Psychology”:
“With the dawn of the modern age, man reflected on himself and set about recognising and shaping his position in the world as a whole with new courage.” (3)
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Dr Rudolf Lothar Hänsel is a school rector, educationalist and qualified psychologist. After his university studies, he became an academic teacher in adult education. As a pensioner, he worked as a psychotherapist in his own practice. In his books and specialist articles, he calls for a conscious ethical and moral education of values as well as an education for public spirit and peace. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Notes
(1) Hänsel, Rudolf (2023). Making the results of psychological research your own! Insights from the encounter with the psychologist Friedrich Liebling and his liberal psychotherapy. Grafoprint d.o.o. Gornji Milanovac, Serbia
(2) Polybios (1954). Psychology of violence. On the role of power in the life of the individual and the community. Volume 2. No. 7, p. 203
(3) Hänsel, Rudolf (2023). Making the results of psychological research your own! Insights from an encounter with the psychologist Friedrich Liebling and his liberal psychotherapy. Grafoprint d.o.o. Gornji Milanovac, Serbia, p. 17
