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The above-mentioned quote by the US-American poet and historian Carl August Sandburg does not correspond to reality: man, whether young or old, cannot say “No, I’m not going to war!”, he has to follow.

To this day, this human way of reacting cannot be explained because man has not yet recognised himself – not himself, not his nature, not his mental make-up and not his ways of reacting. Based on depth-psychological knowledge, we know today that early childhood education has had such an effect on their emotional life that they have to leave.

This is not free will. But people can recognise themselves bit by bit with expert help, become aware of their unconscious emotional parts and change their behaviour for the good of humanity. If one can make friends with these psychological thoughts, they will give courage and not stir up new fears.

War is not an inevitable fate; it is  “good business”, a defeat for humanity

Whether World War I or World War II, whether the Vietnam War or the West’s current proxy war against Russia: time and again mothers send their sons to the “field of honour” and afterwards wear a black armband “in proud mourning”. Youth dies before it can begin to live (1).

War is a great misfortune for all of us. Pope John Paul II said on 13 January 2003: “War is never an inevitable fate. War always means defeat for humanity.” To conquer other peoples and dominate them is good business. Never before have the states of the world spent so much money on armaments, forged so many deadly weapons as today. The profits of the global arms industry are astronomical.

Militarism has always played a fatal role in the lives of peoples. The struggle of man against man has always challenged the achievements of culture. The warlike way of life has a brutalising effect and the consequence is usually a relapse into barbarism, which is noticeable in all areas of social life.

Unfortunately, humanity is unable to banish this age-old evil from the world. Power-political, economic and social reasons constantly feed the spirit of violence and lead to destructive wars. In view of the immense human and material sacrifices reported in the history of war, the exhortation of high-minded people who proclaimed the ideal of a peaceful world arose from time to time. The idea of eternal peace is surely as old as humanity itself.

Today we see that war only accomplishes works of destruction; we must never expect our salvation from it. Historical observation even shows that the decline of culture has always been associated with wars. And although this fact is sufficiently well known, no university teacher, no philosopher, no psychologist calls out to the youth: “Don’t go!”

Men of all ages, unfortunately, cannot help it. Education has so affected their emotional life that they have to go. Just as they had to follow father and mother in childhood, they follow political authorities as adults. They carry this feeling of absolute obedience from childhood with them into old age, but they are not aware of it. That is why we cannot and must not condemn them. And the parents, unfortunately, did not know that the upbringing of absolute obedience was a mistake. They usually meant well, but in their ignorance and because of their own childhood experiences, they put their children in distress through questionable educational methods.

The good news is that with the help of a psychotherapeutic professional, people can recognise themselves bit by bit, become aware of their unconscious emotional parts and change their behaviour.

Depth psychology and the dynamics of the unconscious as an essential, highly effective part of life.

In pre-psychological times shaped by the religious Middle Ages, no human being knew anything about himself, about his feelings and about his life. It was only with Ludwig Feuerbach (1804 to 1872) and Karl Marx (1818 to 1883) that people began to see themselves as beings of nature and to observe themselves (2). A short time later, a certain doctor, Siegmund Freud (1856 to 1939), made the discovery in Vienna that humans have an unconscious. That was over 100 years ago.

Unfortunately, as a child of his time, Freud did not understand the world and people. He was conservative and a good patriot. So he thought that Austria-Hungary should win the First World War. The others should perish. In a sense, his psychoanalysis sank; it became a medical thing.

But through the scientific findings of depth psychology, we now know that people can be helped, that they can reorient themselves and change their feelings. The teachings of the individual psychologist Alfred Adler (1870 to 1937) have become a cornerstone of depth psychology and it is impossible to imagine psychological research without them. The further development of depth psychology has proved Adler right on many points. For Adler, character is a creative product of the child, arising from the confrontation with early childhood circumstances, especially the educational influences that are most decisive for the formation of character.

The fundamental insight of depth psychology is the assumption of a dynamic unconscious as an essential and highly effective part of the psychic life of man. For this reason, man cannot say “No, I’m not going to war!” Early childhood education has shaped his emotional life in such a way that he must follow the authority that calls him to arms. Since these are unconscious emotional parts from childhood, his behaviour is not the result of free will. Therefore, he cannot be condemned.

Unfortunately, there are still few psychologists today who take up people’s cause.

But this is not intentional. The knowledge of the young person who turns to the study of psychology falls on the old ground. He is religious, national, patriotic and believer in the state. He usually stands on the standpoint of preserving this system.

Dear readers, I hope we understand each other and that you can come to terms with the psychological train of thought. Only when the inner feeling has arisen in people that one can always say NO and does not have to follow anyone, only then comes the action.

The dynamics of the unconscious in the love relationship between man and woman.

In this context, the author recalls psychotherapeutic conversations during his training and in his own practice. These conversations were also about the dynamics of the unconscious.

Young men turned to the psychotherapist seeking help because they were ruining love with their girlfriends and wives with their attitude of resentment and rejection. Because of their childhood experiences with parents and siblings, they could not affirm the woman, could not put themselves on a par with her. They wanted to be more valid than women and always have the last word; women, on the other hand, were supposed to be good and obey. These men thought self-critically that they were probably being unreasonable because they were harming themselves.

But they were not unreasonable. They were behaving very reasonably because their actions corresponded to their emotional situation. Due to childhood experiences such as being spoiled, coddled and preferred as male offspring, they could not affirm women and wanted to be more valid than them.

Again, parents in their ignorance made the mistake of favouring sons over female siblings and spoiling them. In doing so, they put them in this situation as adults. But instead of being angry and resentful towards the parents, it is very important to understand and reconcile with them.

Therefore, the young men were advised to muster strength and courage to become aware of the unconscious feelings from childhood with the help of a psychotherapeutic professional so that the love relationship can be saved. Since they could not help their irritated behaviour – it was not free will – they should not blame themselves either. They should, however, become aware that there is something here that they cannot master.

A healthy emotional basis had to develop in these men too before they could put themselves on an equal footing with the woman and all other people.

Demands on education

Since we human beings are the product of our experiences in childhood, as adults we only have at our disposal what we have experienced and learned from those in our relationships in terms of trust, courage and knowledge. Parents and siblings are our world. This is where children get their roadmap, so to speak, their compass for life. By the time they get to kindergarten, they already know, they already have an attitude and an opinion about themselves and other people.

Educational methods of the past created the type of person that could cause the tragedy of history. The authoritarian principle, for centuries regarded as the unquestionably valid basis of educational behaviour, already throttled people’s sense of community in their childhood years and equipped them with that readiness for aggression through which a violent world could remain in a state of violence.

Through the findings of scientific psychology we know today that man is to such an extent the product of his upbringing that we may cherish the hope that through better, that is, psychological methods of education we will be able to train people who will be immune to the entanglements of the mania for power. By renouncing exclusive authority and the use of force in the home and school and adapting to the child’s soul with true understanding, pedagogy will produce a type of person who does not have a “subject mentality” and who will therefore no longer be a docile tool for those in power in our world.

The school also has a great task and responsibility. First and foremost, it has to convey the conviction that experiential knowledge, understanding and reason always and everywhere take precedence. From the very beginning, it should teach young people values that correspond to our present day and that are still valid in adulthood. In addition, it should provide young people with a psychological education, the knowledge of themselves and their concerns.

Furthermore, the school has to strengthen the young people’s own strength and self-confidence and divert attention from their own beloved salvation to the salvation of the general public, to the necessity of helpfulness.

The democratisation of education, understood as respect for the child’s personality and as friendly devotion of the educator to his pupil on the basis of consistent guidance without coercion and violence, is called upon to make one of the most valuable contributions to the building of a humane social order.

The unconscious emotional impulses from childhood, which the adult has forgotten and which often do not allow him to become happy, can be clarified psychotherapeutically by a capable depth psychologist and thus get to know himself. It is always possible to grow out of old negative thoughts and feelings and finally decide whether one wants to go to war – or better not.

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Dr. Rudolf Lothar Hänsel is a doctor of education (Dr. paed.) and a graduate psychologist (Dipl.-Psych.). For many decades he was a teacher (headmaster) and trained educational specialists. As a retiree, he worked as a psychotherapist in his own practice. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Notes

1. https://www.globalresearch.ca/youth-died-before-they-could-begin-live/5776057

2. http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=28358&css; https://www.globalresearch.ca/how-with-whom-can-we-reorganise-society/5800536

Featured image is from The Unz Review