Psychic Bisexuality and the Four Humours.

I've recently come across the four humours in two different contexts and I thought I'd share them and contrast them.

The first comes from Hegel's lecture notes included in the Philosophy of Mind. He writes:

"The main difference between these temperaments is based on whether a person gives himself up to the matter in hand or whether he is concerned about his own individuality. The former case occurs with the sanguine and phlegmatic temperaments, the latter with the choleric and melancholic"  (p. 53).

What is interesting here is that "concerned with individuality" can be taken in the introverted sense of imbuing one's work with one's own understanding of it. Jung uses introvert to refer to rationalist in Psychological Types and contrasts it to extrovert empiricism. The former wants to force reality to bend to laws and categories that are based upon human reason, while the latter eschews this but has his own value in finding examples that disprove the potentially Procrustean tendency of the rationalist and in collecting new data that can be systematized by the introvert. However, Hegel's meaning of "concern" can also mean what I have drawn attention to as the competition and desire to be regarded as the most skilled or most beautiful or tasteful. This means that the competition in egoism produces a wider interest in the work because one wants to be admired, as opposed to people who simply do the work and aren't compelled to investigate it more or be comprehensive because they don't get their self-esteem through being regarded as powerful.  

On the TV tropes site they draw attention to this side of ambition and desire to lead under the heading of extroversion.

As a note, Jung's use of Introvert and Extrovert is confused. He oscillates between introvert as anal-schizoid vs. Extrovert as genital-psycho-neurotic and Introvert as Adler's will to power vs. Extrovert as the hysteric wanting to be interesting and being other-focussed. Because he's not clear about it, no wonder it's misused.  

Extroversion at tvtropes.com seems to be used in its common language sense of social/high-profile vs. shy/loner/socially awkward.  

Choleric (yellow bile): Extroverted and task-oriented. Mainly seeks success and completion of tasks, and likes to be in charge of successful projects. Exhibits leadership, dominance, ambition, and charisma; also tactical and very passionate. On the flip side, highly prideful, easily angered or upset and may show arrogance, narrow-mindedness, obsession, and a Hair-Trigger Temper — but known for not showing any kinds of emotion otherwise. Rather than forgive, tendency to snap and move on while kicking to the curb; tendency to blame others. Likes to be independent and have control over others; could be The Bully or a Bad Boss if in charge. The most likely to be things such as The Leader, The Neidermeyer, Anti-Hero, or The Lancer. If The Smart Guy, it's by being crafty and cunning. If female, will be a fierce Lady of Waror a Tsundere.

·   Will often correspond with the Realist when in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.

I don't think the distinction of social/high-profile vs. shy/loner/socially awkward is helpful. It's more like Reich's distinction between genital vs. neurotic character and there is no reason why the high ideals and good manners that the tropers define the melancholic by can't translate into them being engaged in being social or having a high profile.

Back to Hegel...

"The sanguine person forgets himself in what he is doing, and more specifically in such wise that by virtue of the superficial versatility of his nature, he involves himself in a variety of affairs; the phlegmatic person, on the contrary, steadfastly applies himself to one object." (p. 53).

I think this is an important point. The tendency of he hysteric as the OA libidinal position, and not a term that seeks to encompass the the anti-sex potential of the OE compulsive along with the OA position, has been recognized for a long time to result in dilettantism. Jung has called it the impulse to be interesting. Hans Sachs has mentioned it under the type of person who creates the impression of knowledge but has only superficial understanding that comes from having identified with another person and imitating him or her. Although I have identified it as the masculine form of altruism and Sachs, in line with the misogyny of early analysts, attributed it to women and showed the tendency of them to have sexual relations with their educators. However, this also shows up with boys and male teachers in ancient Greece and there are many superficially educated men or male dilettantes. Wes Anderson and Rushmore comes to mind as an example. Nietzsche writes of the actor type frequently in his work and doesn't connect it to the feminine.

Looking at the Sanguine as the object altruist, the tv tropes site does connect it to the phlegmatic as people-oriented. If we drop their extroverted and introverted designations then people-oriented could be used as altruism. Task-oriented could also bring up the aspect of competition and power that I mentioned for Hegel's designation of "concerned with individuality". However, to do this I am obviously stretching their meaning. They are commenting on work specifically and not the ego drive relations. They write

Sanguine (blood): Extroverted and people-oriented. Generally likes socialization, fun crowds, and showcases of people's talents; highly opposed to dwelling on the past. Exhibits optimism, compassion, good cheer, a love of fun, enthusiasm. On the flip side, they may be impulsive, self-indulgent, lustful, Drama Queens, or even be a space case. Tendency to anger-burst, followed by "forgive and forget"; tendency to move on rather than blame anyone. Can often be a Keet, The Loonie, Spirited Competitor, Boisterous Bruiser, Blood Knight,The Pollyanna, Gentleman and a Scholar, Gossipy Hen, or Motor Mouth; or if female, a more plucky/outgoing Proper Lady, Kawaiiko, Genki Girl, or The Chick.

·   Will often correspond with the Optimist when in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.

Hegel's comment on the phelgmatic having one object I have related to the same Sachs article in the tendency of the SA to work for the egoism of a specific person or group. In the object drives the SA in proto-phallic defusion will be a relationship in which she will be the mother's missing phallus (ie supply the missing glory or recognition for the mother's phallic image-ego). The SA is the helper or assistant to the person's ambitions or career and rounds out the missing aspects of their character. In the ego drives the person may carry on the legacy of the father (-substitute) in devoting themselves to his work or interests. The SA at this stage still doesn't have aggression for her own self-interest but can be an aggressive defender of another. 

The tropers write:

Phlegmatic (phlegm): Introverted and people-oriented. The dreams and passions of this temperament are mainly the spread of kindness, forgiveness, and restoration of peace and harmony. Generally calm, rational, quiet, and reliable; but also docile and timid, lazy, and frequently hides all emotions (other than sympathy). Tends to be dependent on others, either by choice or because of insecurity. This temperament is a people person but sometimes expresses these traits in an awkward fashion. Tendency to perhaps brood temporarily, but then "forgive and forget"; tendency to blame self. Can often be Weak, but Skilled, The Heart, Wide-Eyed Idealist, or a more relaxed version of The Smart Guy and, if female, may be an Emotionless Girl, Yamato Nadeshiko, or more submissive Proper Lady.

   Will often correspond with the Apathetic when in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.

I think that the tv tropes connections are good for the most part and thus provide illustrations of psychic bisexuality but not all. In particular the designation of apathetic for phlegmatic doesn't sit well with me. It's the subject altruist who cares the most for people who is bound to flip into cynic or misanthrope as a reaction formation. Additionally, Reich's connection of the masochist to complaining is important here. The object altruist and the designation of melancholic will relate to an apathy about being too good for the men and community around her. Although there may be antagonism with men a la penis envy and complaining about sexuality in compulsive hysteria (i.e. men being dogs who only care about sex and untrustworthy) the self-love aspect takes them away from the world and into themselves and having pride means they don't get involved in things. Their sense of being attractive is enough self-esteem and if they aren't then the sense of their superior ability to judge beauty and their 'inner values' are enough. 

     

Hegel goes on...

"But in choleric and melancholic persons it is, as we have already indicated, the clinging to subjectivity that predominates; however, these two temperaments in turn distinguished from each other by the fact that in the choleric, versatility predominates, and in the melancholic, apathy; so that in this connection the choleric temperament corresponds to the sanguine and the melancholic to the phlegmatic" (p.53).

I think that is interesting in that the versatility of the OA comes from identification with many others which isn't in the SE. However, the general anal drive to omnipotence or omniscience in the SE does push them to become more comprehensive and subject egoism in general, and more so with schizoid features, will push towards self-sufficiency. Additionally, as I mentioned, the self-esteem from beauty compensates the OE and reduces her interests to her specialized "inner values" or whatever interest gives her an edge in regard to being desirable. 

As I said above, I don't think that all of their examples are correct, but in a general way the phenomenology is correct in the tv trope characterization. Also, the language is more accessible than Hegel's and Hegel's account gives no examples for someone new to characterology to sink their teeth into.  

Melancholic (black bile): Introverted and task-oriented. These characters can be extremely passionate and have high ideals. The intentions and longings found in this temperament are mainly the making and following of rules, good manners being among those rules. These characters focus on the world of internal thought and the best way to apply those thoughts. Independent, courteous, organized, highly refined, hard-working, analytical; but also a detached, neurotic,  obsessive perfectionist whose insanely high standards can lead to depression. Rather than forgive, tendency to withdraw and brood; tendency to blame others, self, and "all of the above" (sometimes all at once). Prone to gluttony or coveting. Often The Sneaky Guy or a very serious form of The Smart Guy. Can often hide in a sour shell and, if female, be a more brooding loner-type Ice Queen, Dark Action Girl, The Ophelia, Femme Fatale or Mysterious Woman. Those melancholics who have taken to lives of action can be the Byronic Hero or a Manipulative Bastard. I Work Alone may also come into play.

·   Will often correspond with The Cynic when in a Four Philosophy Ensemble.

Egoism, Altruism, and Group Psychology.

My previous post on altruism and the other world has been coalescing with older posts. I've pointed out that because paternity isn't known in early cultures that the biological father would have to follow the model of the spiritual father or 'procreator'. This relates to the phallus being a symbol of the negation of the mother (or mother's body). It's not that males aren't naturally superior it's that they are the not-mother that the phallus comes to be identified with the perfection (negatively created) that the child follows to escape the mother. Thus, the primal father or a biological father for an individual child isn't needed for the father function to come up. Additionally, in the Antigone myth and complex I pointed out that the trauma incurred is that Polynices (understood as an aspect of Antigone) never got his agreed upon turn to rule and wasn't treated as equal to his brother.

All of these ideas have begun circling around Freud's work on the army and church in Group Psychology and Analysis of the Ego. These two groups, as I understand them, represent the two different paths that defusion at the phallic Oedipus complex can go based upon active-egoism and passive-altruism. Freud even sees this:

It is to be noticed that in these two artificial groups each individual is bound by libidinal ties on the one hand to the leader (Christ, the Commander-in-Chief) and on the other hand to the other members of the group. How these two ties are related to each other, whether they are of the same kind and the same value, and how they are to be described psychologically—these questions must be reserved for subsequent enquiry (ibid., p. 95)

Fusion to the phallic Oedipal father imago for the subject altruist, as I've posted many times before, is related to the altruist being able to be assertive for her own desire, happiness, and well-being. If there is defusion then she returns to passive phallic drives to sacrifice herself for the another person's egoism or devote herself to the flourishing of a small group or business, defend another person or group, rescue or 'fix' others, (etc.). In fusion there is a sense that she has the goodwill of her employers, teachers, or father-substitutes and that they want to foster independence in her and they are fair. 

However, since the Oedipus complex father imago of the procreator needn't be tied to one's father, head of family, or mother's desire, it appears like early cultures had a totem above the tribe as the father and the tribe was conceived of as a family. Thus, it appears that the link between the phallic oedipal father imago and the recognition of the individual family as a model can potentially become unhinged and the individual can slide back to the procreator as something spiritual or, as I mentioned in the last post, of the 'other world'. 

Freud observes both this 'surrogate family' sense, the democratic (i.e. altruistic) leanings of the church, and the importance that the leader is fair and loves all equally (contra the real world father substitute who made the altruist feel inadequate or like she was less than others (the boys who possess a penis which is conflated with the phallus):

In a Church (and we may with advantage take the Catholic Church as a type) as well as in an army, however different the two may be in other respects, the same illusion holds good of there being a head—in the Catholic Church Christ, in an army its Commander-in-Chief—who loves all the individuals in the group with an equal love. Everything depends upon this illusion; if it were to be dropped, then both Church and army would dissolve, so far as the external force permitted them to. This equal love was expressly enunciated by Christ: ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’ He stands to the individual members of the group of believers in the relation of a kind elder brother; he is their substitute father. All the demands that are made upon the individual are derived from this love of Christ's. A democratic strain runs through the Church, for the very reason that before Christ everyone is equal, and that everyone has an equal share in his love. It is not without a deep reason that the similarity between the Christian community and a family is invoked, and that believers call themselves brothers in Christ, that is, brothers through the love which Christ has for them. There is no doubt that the tie which unites each individual with Christ is also the cause of the tie which unites them with one another (Group Psychology, p. 93-4).

         

Freud goes on to contrast the role of aggression and fear in the two groups. In regards to the army he sees the leader of supreme importance in managing fear or panic: 

The loss of the leader in some sense or other, the birth of misgivings about him, brings on the outbreak of panic, though the danger remains the same; the mutual ties between the members of the group disappear, as a rule, at the same time as the tie with their leader. The group vanishes in dust, like a Prince Rupert's drop when its tail is broken off (ibid., p.97)

While the army is about co-ordinating aggression and killing others in this world and managing individual fear, the church seems the opposite. In the church you are supposed to hold back aggression and it is what shows up when the religious community breaks down:

The phenomenon which accompanies the dissolution that is here supposed to overtake a religious group is not fear, for which the occasion is wanting. Instead of it ruthless and hostile impulses towards other people make their appearance, which, owing to the equal love of Christ, they had previously been unable to do (ibid., p. 98).

    

Freud also has another point to make about the church:

Therefore a religion, even if it calls itself the religion of love, must be hard and unloving to those who do not belong to it. Fundamentally indeed every religion is in this same way a religion of love for all those whom it embraces; while cruelty and intolerance towards those who do not belong to it are natural to every religion. However difficult we may find it personally, we ought not to reproach believers too severely on this account; people who are unbelieving or indifferent are much better off psychologically in this matter [of cruelty and intolerance]. If to-day that intolerance no longer shows itself so violent and cruel as in former centuries, we can scarcely conclude that there has been a softening in human manners. The cause is rather to be found in the undeniable weakening of religious feelings and the libidinal ties which depend upon them. If another group tie takes the place of the religious one —and the socialistic tie seems to be succeeding in doing so— then there will be the same intolerance towards outsiders as in the age of the Wars of Religion; and if differences between scientific opinions could ever attain a similar significance for groups, the same result would again be repeated with this new motivation (ibid., 98-9).

This follows the devotion to an individual that is possible at phallic defusion. The altruist can't be assertive for herself but she can defend and work for the egoism of the object. The all male character of the army and para-military groups also makes it clear that competition, jealousy, and rivalry over sexual objects is defended against. 

The dichotomy here seems very simple:

army: express aggression to outside groups and defend against aggression inside

church: express love to one's group and defend against outside ones 

To this we can add from my last post.

Membership to a religion allows the altruist to express her hostility towards others through identifying with the punishment they will receive from God.

Membership to an army or conquering group allows access to the 'spoils' of war, the 'rape and pillage' that takes place in which the egoist gains access to his "love" through its displacement onto possessions or things (including 'ass', 'tail', or the woman reduced from Oedipal level love object to pre-oedipal thing). 

Additionally, while the army is formed under the banner of the good and just there are groups that, in comparison, form under 'evil'. Pirates, criminal gangs, etc. still take a similar framework to the army and show, as Fairbairn observed, that if the father imago becomes associated with its 'bad aspect' then one will chose to belong to evil rather than be alone. I imagine that various pagan cults that continued to exist through Christian times also provided the alternative to the church. Even though 'evil' may still characterize the choice to move from dominant culture to sub-culture and choosing the imperatives to enjoy the body instead of renouncing it, the acts the pagans would perform hardly seem worthy of the name in comparison with what criminal groups would do.

Again, I am only pointing out the pre-oedipal regressions of the egoist and altruist here and the groups also have to contend with a great variety of character structures. 

I do have one final thought. Scanning the 7 deadly sins I don't want to underestimate the church as an organization that 'saves the will' in the sense that neurosis is a practical nihilism in which the person does nothing. For example, the phobic altruist or the depressed altruist who may be guilty of 'sloth' or 'gluttony' may, through the church, be brought to exercise their will and fight against their self-destructive, dissociative, and isolating tendencies. Additionally, regarding the army it seems to me that many egoistic defensive reactions can be sublated and their destructiveness and paranoia can be kept out of the community at large and displaced onto the cultural Other.        

 

displaced aggression and affection

I saw 12 Years A Slave last night and I was reminded of something I've observed before concerning the use of religion, and specifically those with an afterlife, to provide a displacement for aggression.

The sadistic punishments and tortures of hell aren't dreamt up by egoists but by the altruists who, as Nietzsche points out, are impotent and unable to be direct in their aggression in the world.

I've written before that I conceive of object relations and the ego and object drives/ego ideal to be the same thing (except in the sense in which Kleinians use it to refer to the interpretation of parental imagos). I've also acknowledged that the primacy of the relationship means that aggressive and affectionate drives may be, but aren't necessarily, displaced onto idiosyncratic objects or zones in childhood development. In an older post I wrote:

Externalization of aggression onto objects makes them into weapons, as Klein shows (feces as missiles, urine as poison), and following the same logic, externalization of libido onto things makes them greedily desired. Does the masculine always externalize on things, while the feminine projects onto objects [people]? 

I think the altruist displacing or externalizing aggression into the 'other world' is an extreme event brought up by severe abuse. However, understanding this has also made me sensitive to the more common aspect of producing monsters in the 'other world' not to punish others in hell but in order to take away blame for the cruelty and malice in this world by people who the altruist is close to but also from just her general attitude that "deep down" all people are good.

(Then, as a compromise formation with egoism, aren't monsters also objects of power and perfection that can be contemplated and overcome by human heroes because of carefully accorded weaknesses?)

Additionally, doesn't idealization, awe, and "the magic" accorded to the object in altruism also become displaced onto other parts of the "other world" where mystical places can heal, angels exist, and the "veil between the two worlds is thin". This externalized impulse, as I remarked on with commodity fetishism, can occur with other cultures and/or a preoccupation with the past or future. For example, an American altruist can "romanticize"Argentina and believe the all the women there are beautiful or that their style of features makes them more attractive than at home and he can read stories about Argentina, buy certain commodities, etc. to indulge in this fantasy. Another example, is for him to daydream about being around in the 60s and buying things or listening to music from that time and imagining that he would have found acceptance there and people were better and more authentic then.  

In the same post I pointed to the trope of the Dwarves and Elves. The former are obsessed with finding precious things and manufacturing them to perfection. The latter live in harmony with nature and are often depicted as able to heal or help humans while choosing to hide from them.

Does this mean that the egoistic with its desire to control/possess will settle for things (possessions) when relationships aren't forthcoming, and that the altruistic with its desire to merge/resonate with will create another world, or allow another culture to provide the basis for, a place where magic exists if it can't be found in his or her relationships or a place that destruction can exist so that his or her relationships can be maintained?

Is the transitional object the commodity or thing that is chosen over the relationship to a person a compensation for the lack of relationship for the egoist? Is it a fetish object that allows for contact with the 'other world' where the relation can be pleasurably be contemplated/produce pleasurably phantasies for the altruist?

E: people to things

A: people to the 'other world'

What comes is better than what came before.

Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground were an important part of adolescence (which some may argue I'm still going through).

I was always impressed that he could have a song as epic as Heroin and as delicate as Sunday Morning on the same album.

I've never much cared for his arty/experimental side which is how many people like to talk about him. I don't think I have ever put a song from White Light/ White Heat on a mix and I've always thought he would leave real gems off of albums because he was too self-conscious of having heart.

I thought I'd include one of them:

Object Egoist- Hysteria pt. 2- the Electra complex

In a previous post I pointed to the portrayal of the hysteric in the work of Charles Dickens.

http://psychoanalysis-tcp.blogspot.com/2013/01/object-egoist-hysteria.html

I compared the portrayal to Freud's character sketch of Dora but I now want to put some more distance between the two.

Firstly, Pip's sister "mother Gargery" is married and the hysterical passions she gives herself over to regarding her "humiliation" at not having a husband who stands up for her good name is about an equality in marriage.

I have mentioned before that the repression of the id object-choice (as opposed to its instinctual renunciation) means that the individual moves to rigidly toward the ego ideal. The man who represses his homosexual feelings for his brother becomes rigidly heteronormative and against gay men. In this case Pip's sister moves to easily towards "femininity" and towards the ideal of marriage and her sacrifices as "the woman".

In contrast, hysteria in the object egoist at the phallic narcissistic has to do with the experience/injury of complete disregard for her as an agent because she is a woman. This results in her seeking to revenge herself upon men.

I have previously posted on how at the phallic stage the egoist becomes masochistic about his image, and that he can become generous and perform "altruistic" acts, but that these acts are for his image. His generosity to intimates keeps them in his power, and his reputation is increased by generosity to strangers. The same thing comes to light for the object egoist.

Kohut gives a good description:

Such women may later develop into responsible, socially concerned, intellectually and culturally ambitious persons who struggle valiantly to overcome their resentment against younger men and to transform it into attitudes of protection and guidance toward them. To the work of an analyst such women often bring significant assets in the realm of moral firmness and intellectual ability… [but] they tend toward the substitution of what seems to them the all-too-passive attitude of the analyst (who is content to assist the patient in removing obstacles that stand in the way of liberating his own personality, his own potentialities, and his own initiative) by the more active stance of the educator, admonisher, and guide (Analysis of the Self, p.113-4). 

 Kohut sees this character being formed in latency,  this has to do with his stance against the drives and ego psychological commitments to the value choosing that goes on post-oedipus.

While at the phallic level the Electra complex will center around the OE giving the impression that she is more moral or of better taste or judgment than the "mother-substitutes" who have the good reputation for such things (or, like the Don Juan of Achievement, be driven to do many things in the public to show this).

Regression to the anal level becomes a criticism of one's culture and a put down of those who have reputation in it. The only people of importance are the anal fathers who are the pillars of the society. Only an anal father is a potential love object for the OE and no one else is worthy of her. Similarly, she holds an ideal of judgment that puts her into competition with "first ladies", famous historical figures, or celebrities that align with her form of judgment.

In the Electra complex the object drive form will result in sadistic feelings both the beloved and the object he loves or has betrayed one for. Ruining their reputations will be the response. If this is coupled with the anal form then references to the physical body appear. The sadism becomes physically destructive and the actual murder of the two is a possibility. Additionally, instead of the "castration anxiety" of desiring castration in which a lover will establish himself as 'the authority' the regression to the anal stage also adds the physical component of rape.

How often do such women become the wretched victims of a passion for men who ill-treat them, thus fulfilling the women's unconscious desires for castration or rape. I have also observed how frequently—indeed, almost invariably—women whose whole life is modeled on the lines of masculine sublimation-tendencies [i.e. egoism, not altruism] are markedly masochistic in their sexual experiences (Deutsch, The Significance of Masochism in the Mental Life of Women, p. 55).

The Electra complex the ego drive form is described above. It will result in sadistic feelings towards a mother-substitute who one is in competition with and the father as the depersonalized form of reputation in the community and can similarly regress to the anal stage. I have two further points I want to make. This triangulation is represented in Arachne and Athena with the reputation of Arachne for her weaving showing the depersonalized father. Also, the regression to the urethral or anal trito stage is possible. The bad conscience at the anal trito could show up in the masochistic sexual desires Deutsch speaks of and be contrasted to the anal Oedipal rape. Also, in a former post on the anal trito I have shown that several analysts have pointed out that the urethral stage is in fact the one for so called anal traits. I believe that there is also a case for excessive cleanliness and washing to be related to urethral impulses. Just as criminality vs. wanting to catch criminals is an anal trito issue for the subject egoist so too would the object egoist have a double possibility of expression at this stage. However, I'll have to wait a while longer before I attempt the formulation.
  

Physiognomy is not destiny!

Conversation with someone who was very self-critical has prompted me to point out that a person may possess some deficits in development (lack of aim-inhibition to form the trito stage) or some adaptations that respond to seduction or rejection (deutero stages) but, he or she may have overcome their limitations.

Psychoanalysts, or other 'therapists' for that matter, don't have a monopoly on wisdom. Having a relationship with a wise friend or teacher who can point out one's unrealistic expectation or one's fear or one's rigid way of responding in a certain circumstance in an empathic way could allow one to go beyond one's character.

However, when it comes to defenses (paranoia, melancholia, etc.) against defusions ("castration" anxiety in different stages or trito defusions of conscience) pointing out the lack of reality is not helpful at all. Even the wise encounter the "narcissistic barrier" here and unintuitive understanding of psycho-dynamics is required.      

Odyssey- The Lotus-Eaters- auto-erotic trito pt 1.

The Lotus-Eaters in the Odyssey is a very short piece but it does contain an important reference to the body.

I sent forth some of my comrades to go and learn who the men were, who here ate bread upon the earth; two men I chose, sending with them a third as a herald. So they went straightway and mingled with the Lotus-eaters, and the Lotus-eaters did not plan death for my comrades, but gave them of the lotus to taste. And whosoever of them ate of the honey-sweet fruit of the lotus, had no longer any wish to bring back word or to return, but there they were fain to abide among the Lotus-eaters, feeding on the lotus, and forgetful of their homeward way. These men, therefore, I brought back perforce to the ships, weeping, and dragged them beneath the benches and bound them fast in the hollow ships; and I bade the rest of my trusty comrades to embark with speed on the swift ships, lest perchance anyone should eat of the lotus and forget his homeward way. So they went on board straightway and sat down upon the benches, and sitting well in order smote the grey sea with their oars.

The men who ate of the lotus and became 'forgetful' are 'bound fast'.

I've made the parallel between the cyclops Polyphemus eating men and the figure of Cronos who is generally the father figure of the Volar stage (which I was previously referring to as the oral stage, but which is also called the stage of [primary] narcissism). I've linked Cronos, whose name literally stands for time, to the omnipotence of wishes in which defusion from the ego ideal means that the child rivals the perception of the efficacy of its acts as they would appear 'after time'. I've mentioned before that I understand Uranus as representing the space and the world in general and that rivalry with the father substitute at the auto-erotic means to create one's own possible worlds or to contain the world inside of oneself. I've linked this to art and how the artist can create some fantasy world and satisfy his drives through what takes place in it. I've also linked Freud's conception of 'oceanic oneness' to this stage.

In an old post I brought up the myths of Eos and Endymion which follows Uranus' reign chronologically and which deals with abstract nature entities that place it in the auto-erotic ontology. Being bound within a space is also conspicuous here:   

Hyperion, brother of Cronus, ‘he who goes above’ is a sun god. He is father to Helius (a better known sun god) Selene (the moon) and Eos (the dawn)

Selene fell in love with  handsome shepherd Endymion. He was seduced while he slept in his cave and Selene had 50 daughters with him. At Selene’s request Zeus allowed Endymion to pick his fate and he chose to sleep forever and never grow old.

Eos loved Trojan prince Tithonus “Eos, poor foolish lady, neglected to ask that her lover might never be subject to aging… no more could he lift his bones to totter, decrepit and feeble. At last the goddess agreed on this as the plan she must follow: she closed him up in his room, and locked up the glorious portal. Inside, his piping old voice droned endlessly. Gone is the vigor he used to enjoy, and the use of his limbs once handsome and supple” Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite (218-238).

The auto-erotic takes its name from Freud's observation that the primitive ego would take its own body as its first object. Again, the infant is connected to its mother's breast and face, and Uranus would relate to the formation of mnemic traces of the outside world but the interactions the infant has are still instinct (as opposed to ego drive). The pre-Uranus world I understand to be the study of Frances Tustin's amodel autistic sensations. 

A Jungian writes about the 'separation of the world parents' as the birth of ego consciousness which is only consciousness of instinct:

Besides disentangling itself from its fusion with nature… the ego, having now opposed itself to the nonego as another datum of experience, begins simultaneously to constellate its independence of nature as independence of the body… Man’s will to dominate nature is but an extension and projection of that fundamental experience of the ego’s potential power over the body, discovered in the voluntariness of muscular movement… In the beginning, the realm of the ego consciousness and the spiritual and psychic realm are indissolubly united with the body. Instinct and volition are as little divided as instinct and consciousness…. Only with the separation of the World Parents was the world made dual… This separation is due to the fundamental cleavage into a conscious portion of the personality, whose center is the ego, and a far greater unconscious portion (Neumann, The Origins and History of Consciousness, p. 109-16).

This connection between ego consciousness and auto-erotic pleasure in the body and also being separate from the body is a dynamic that has appeared in one of my patients and I believe also gets played out in the phantasy shown in the Alien movie franchise. The alien is "bound" within a body and needs to get out. (There is also the relation to the face, in which the alien latches onto it, and at this point I have a hunch, but only a hunch that the face is the earlier deutero stage). 

The Alien movie also features a robot and has a strong theme of a profit motive without "feeling" that helped me connect the relation of the perceptual consciousness at this stage in opposition to the body to the primitive 'affect block' of the obsessional. (Sometimes it is referred to as alexithymia in contemporary discourses). In an older post I quoted Reich on the masochist:

Just as the complaining represents a disguised demand for love and the provocation, a desperate attempt to force love, the total formation of the masochistic character represents an abortive attempt to rid oneself of anxiety and unpleasure… the feeling of suffering corresponds to a concrete fact, namely the continually high-pitched inner excitement and predisposition to anxiety. We shall understand the situation better when we compare it with the affect-block of the compulsive neurotic character. Here the binding of anxiety has been carried out with complete success, with the forfeiture of psychic mobility. But the inner tension is completely consumed by a well-functioning character apparatus. There is no restlessness. 245-6  

The high-pitched inner excitement Reich is describing as accompanying the masochist's complaining need not be in confluence with that specific defusion. Just as the affect block of the active-masculine is wide-ranging because of the primitive level of development it comes from, I believe we should treat the inner excitement of the passive-feminine. Specifically, I think Ripley, the hero of the film, is a good example of the defusion here. There is too much intensity in how she approaches others and, for lack of a better word, she's annoying. In Star Wars as well, Luke has a similar quality of being too intense and the badly written dialogue of Star Wars greatly emphasizes what could be called the autistic quality to be captured with this early defusion.

Back to the clinic, in a couple patients who have this intensity I have noted a similarity in their lips, which seem to go straight across and don't have any dip on the top lip.

    

Miley Cyrus is also a good illustration of this underlying high-pitched, annoying baseline interaction with others. I remember seeing a clip of Hannah Montana and having a quick dislike to her in what I consider to be an objective counter-transference that other people would have naturally with her as well.

I'm going to try to enter into the auto-erotic deutero and castration anxiety soon. For the moment,  that the auto-erotic trito seems to occupy an interesting spot with Klein and the early epistemophillic drive that I'll also have to follow up on. Following the other paradigms in which the volar trito has the first measured ego ideal, and the anal trito has the first form of teleology in individual will, the auto-erotic trito would be the "part-" expression of the epistemological functions being expanded on in the volar stage.   

The affect-blocked obsessional often has a compensation in perception in which he has a penchant for detail observing as spelled out by Shapiro in Neurotic Styles. I think that this block and cognitive style represent someone who is capable of being alone and I think the passive-feminine manifestation would be in someone who is mystical and I think that this stage is a good place to talk about solipsistic philosopher and the mystic who lives in isolation and experiences oceanic oneness. The idea of the body being the prison of the soul is very strong in Plato as is the idea of contemplating objects in some kind of Form or essence they have. Additionally, the survivalist who will enter into nature alone is salient here...  

(as a note, I had previously included these types within the volar (oral, narcissism) stage defusions but have since recognized that 'the world' is the earlier auto-erotic stage ontology) 

I also wish I could add more clarity between the libidinal positions (SE OA & SA OE) but I need more data.