Sundered are the peacemakers: Trump and Putin speak across a neurological fault line, where the left and right hemispheres wage their dissonant struggle over time, history, and truth.
Well woven neuro-cultural analytical overview that knits the paradox nicely, whilst minimising the contradictions…thank you…it’s a dance with the devil & the damsel, in themselves spawned by the marriage of Jekyl & Hyde lurking in the shadows, anima wrestling with animus, lurching along the cliff of disaster in the un-aligned ongoing pursuit of a perfect world soul…which archetype will each persona manifest in its collective course of individuation…??…Gaia weeps in anguish, whilst Sol sighs in resignation…where will this errant human evolution flow next…!?
Thanks! Unfortunately this piece not doing so well in terms of numbers. I think Substack is kind of dying or fading away a bit. In any case I luckily don't have to worry about numbers. I appreciate your comment!!
Beautifully written and very insightlful. The West, and in particular the US, has made this mistake you mention at the end, time and time again. However, I do see Europe as having less flexibility than the US to adapt and to change to the new paradigm that is imposing itself. The US is younger and fresher, more inexperienced, less seasoned, more powerful, less anchored to the rest of the world, and more able to walk away. I will address this in one my next articles.
Thanks! I agree that Europe will struggle even more turning their ship around. The first move is to untether from the US. I look forward to reading your article.
Förresten är min fru svensk och jag bodde i några år i Lycksele och Saltsjöbaden. Jag brukade tala svenska ganska bra, tills franskan tog över. Nu bor jag i Bryssel. Hennes bror Mats var en viktig person i Frihetsfronten.
Yes, indeed, in my view, Europe has been living its universalism vicariously, through the US, all these decades. Those days are soon over, to their great trauma. Europe always had a more nuanced left + right-hemisphere approach than the US (especially the contribution of the German-speaking world, MittelEuropa, less so the Latins and UK), but Europe has been losing that right-hemisphere approach with Germany's defeat first in WWI and then in WWII, and now with its complete subservience to the US.
Oj det var en överraskning, oväntat! Kul att höra att du har en koppling till Sverige. Jag bor i Versailles just nu; hör gärna av dig om du har vägarna förbi Paris.
Yes, I agree, Germanic idealist thought exemplified by Hegel was exceedingly right-hemisphere loaded while (this isn't quite fair) Anglo-Saxon empirical thinking, while often penetrating and provocative, is more left-loaded. There are still brilliant European thinkers (ironically several of Asian decent (Yuk Hui and Byung-Chul Han come to mind)) but they are suppressed by a philistine general culture in thrall to the US.
Det vore jättekul att träffas på riktigt. Jag ska vara i Paris runt jul, förmodligen några dagar precis före. Min son pluggar i Cergy – han är i Peru just nu, men kommer tillbaka i mars, så jag kommer att vara i området då och då. Jag hör av mig när jag har fastare planer!
Indeed, Hegel is the foremost example of this phenomenon, but it expresses itself in many fields. There is a chapter in Tragedy and Hope (Quigley) on Germany which very eloquently brings this idea across and explains it.
Dagarna före Jul passar mig perfekt. Jag skickar dig min personliga kontaktinfo så kan vi höras av när det nalkas.
The result of exclusive focus on details , oblivious of the wider context, historical, moral and other is essentially a form of mental imbalance, illness and decay. Western “leaders” in particular suffer from this illness and appear merely as petulant children to those with a broader focus.
Such people are also able to harness a broader perspective to focus on details in a way detailed obsessives are not. Russia, China, Iran seem to produce such mental types. Europe and America, by and large produce obsessive and shallow pedants, entirely lacking contextual skills.
One point to think about: probably right hemisphere views can understand left hemisphere view better than vice versa. I do think the Russians don't fully get the Americans, and I will write about that, but they certainly do understand the Americans better than the Americans understand the Russians!
Yes, absolutely, this asymmetry is fundamental. It comes down to the critical difference between strategic empathy--the capacity to know your enemy, to understand their mindset and motives--and strategic narcissism--the tendency to devalue an opponent, projecting one's own faults onto them and ultimately gaslighting oneself in the process.
While the Russians certainly have their information campaigns, they are far less engaged in a systematic devaluation of the American psyche. The U.S., by contrast, often seems trapped in pushing a rigid caricature of Russia, an idée fixe that prevents any genuine understanding or knowledge.
Well woven neuro-cultural analytical overview that knits the paradox nicely, whilst minimising the contradictions…thank you…it’s a dance with the devil & the damsel, in themselves spawned by the marriage of Jekyl & Hyde lurking in the shadows, anima wrestling with animus, lurching along the cliff of disaster in the un-aligned ongoing pursuit of a perfect world soul…which archetype will each persona manifest in its collective course of individuation…??…Gaia weeps in anguish, whilst Sol sighs in resignation…where will this errant human evolution flow next…!?
So well written, one of your best pieces (next to the world island and GRC articles).
Thanks! Unfortunately this piece not doing so well in terms of numbers. I think Substack is kind of dying or fading away a bit. In any case I luckily don't have to worry about numbers. I appreciate your comment!!
Beautifully written and very insightlful. The West, and in particular the US, has made this mistake you mention at the end, time and time again. However, I do see Europe as having less flexibility than the US to adapt and to change to the new paradigm that is imposing itself. The US is younger and fresher, more inexperienced, less seasoned, more powerful, less anchored to the rest of the world, and more able to walk away. I will address this in one my next articles.
Thanks! I agree that Europe will struggle even more turning their ship around. The first move is to untether from the US. I look forward to reading your article.
Förresten är min fru svensk och jag bodde i några år i Lycksele och Saltsjöbaden. Jag brukade tala svenska ganska bra, tills franskan tog över. Nu bor jag i Bryssel. Hennes bror Mats var en viktig person i Frihetsfronten.
Yes, indeed, in my view, Europe has been living its universalism vicariously, through the US, all these decades. Those days are soon over, to their great trauma. Europe always had a more nuanced left + right-hemisphere approach than the US (especially the contribution of the German-speaking world, MittelEuropa, less so the Latins and UK), but Europe has been losing that right-hemisphere approach with Germany's defeat first in WWI and then in WWII, and now with its complete subservience to the US.
Oj det var en överraskning, oväntat! Kul att höra att du har en koppling till Sverige. Jag bor i Versailles just nu; hör gärna av dig om du har vägarna förbi Paris.
Yes, I agree, Germanic idealist thought exemplified by Hegel was exceedingly right-hemisphere loaded while (this isn't quite fair) Anglo-Saxon empirical thinking, while often penetrating and provocative, is more left-loaded. There are still brilliant European thinkers (ironically several of Asian decent (Yuk Hui and Byung-Chul Han come to mind)) but they are suppressed by a philistine general culture in thrall to the US.
Det vore jättekul att träffas på riktigt. Jag ska vara i Paris runt jul, förmodligen några dagar precis före. Min son pluggar i Cergy – han är i Peru just nu, men kommer tillbaka i mars, så jag kommer att vara i området då och då. Jag hör av mig när jag har fastare planer!
Indeed, Hegel is the foremost example of this phenomenon, but it expresses itself in many fields. There is a chapter in Tragedy and Hope (Quigley) on Germany which very eloquently brings this idea across and explains it.
Dagarna före Jul passar mig perfekt. Jag skickar dig min personliga kontaktinfo så kan vi höras av när det nalkas.
The result of exclusive focus on details , oblivious of the wider context, historical, moral and other is essentially a form of mental imbalance, illness and decay. Western “leaders” in particular suffer from this illness and appear merely as petulant children to those with a broader focus.
Such people are also able to harness a broader perspective to focus on details in a way detailed obsessives are not. Russia, China, Iran seem to produce such mental types. Europe and America, by and large produce obsessive and shallow pedants, entirely lacking contextual skills.
I agree!
One point to think about: probably right hemisphere views can understand left hemisphere view better than vice versa. I do think the Russians don't fully get the Americans, and I will write about that, but they certainly do understand the Americans better than the Americans understand the Russians!
Yes, absolutely, this asymmetry is fundamental. It comes down to the critical difference between strategic empathy--the capacity to know your enemy, to understand their mindset and motives--and strategic narcissism--the tendency to devalue an opponent, projecting one's own faults onto them and ultimately gaslighting oneself in the process.
While the Russians certainly have their information campaigns, they are far less engaged in a systematic devaluation of the American psyche. The U.S., by contrast, often seems trapped in pushing a rigid caricature of Russia, an idée fixe that prevents any genuine understanding or knowledge.
I've explored these concepts generally in a previous post here: https://www.beyondwasteland.net/p/cluster-b-team
Yes , fully agree, and I' ll read with pleasure the article you linked.