Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes

embarking upon important moral questions: “Socrates, do not

do this”. That is why their efforts and sacrifices constitute per-

manent assistance in the battle against evil.

Difficult and laborious times give rise to values which fi-

nally conquer evil and produce better times. The succinct and

accurate analysis of phenomena, made possible thanks to the

conquest of the expendable emotions and egotism characteriz-

ing self-satisfied people, opens the door to causative behavior,

particularly in the areas of philosophical, psychological, and

moral reflection; this tips the scale to the advantage of good-

ness. If these values were totally incorporated into human-

kind’s cultural heritage, they could sufficiently protect nations

from the next era of errors and distortions. However, the col-

lective memory is impermanent and particularly liable to re-

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

89

move a philosopher and his work from his context, namely his

time and place and the goals which he served.

Whenever an experienced person finds a moment of relative

peace after a difficult and painful effort, his mind is free to

reflect unencumbered by the expendable emotions and outdated

attitudes of the past, but aided by the cognizance of bygone

years. He thus comes closer to an objective understanding of

phenomena and a view of actual causative links, including such

links which cannot be understood within the framework of

natural language. He thus meditates upon an ever-expanding

circle of general laws while contemplating the meaning of

those former occurrences which separated the periods of his-

tory. We reach for ancient precepts because we understand

them better; they make it easier for us to understand both the

genesis and the creative meaning of unhappy times.

The cycle of happy, peaceful times favors a narrowing of

the world view and an increase in egotism; societies become

subject to progressive hysteria and to that final stage, descrip-

tively known to historians, which finally produces times of

despondency and confusion, that have lasted for millennia and

continue to do so. The recession of mind and personality which

is a feature of ostensibly happy times varies from one nation to

another; thus some countries manage to survive the results of

such crises with minor losses, whereas others lose nations and

empires. Geopolitical factors have also played a decisive role.

The psychological features of such crises doubtless bear the

stamp of the time and of the civilization in question, but one

common denominator must have been an exacerbation of soci-

ety’s hysterical condition. This deviation or, better yet, forma-

tive deficiency of character, is a perennial sickness of societies,

especially the privileged elites. The existence of exaggerated

individual cases, especially such characterized as clinical, is an

offshoot of the level of social hysteria, quite frequently corre-

lated with some additional causes such as carriers of minor

lesions of brain tissue. Quantitatively and qualitatively, these

individuals may serve to reveal and evaluate such times, as

indicated in history’s Book of San Michele 29. From the perspec-

29 Axel Munthe, (1857-1949) physician, psychiatrist, and writer, was born in

Oskarshamn, Sweden. He was educated at the University of Uppsala and at

90

THE HYSTEROIDAL CYCLE

tive of historical time, it would be harder to examine the re-

gression of the ability and correctness of reasoning or the in-

tensity of “Austrian talk”, although these approximate the crux

of the matter better and more directly.

In spite of above-mentioned qualitative differences, the du-

ration of these time-cycles tends to be similar. If we assume

that the extreme of European hysteria occurred around 1900

and returns not quite every two centuries, we find similar con-

ditions. Such cyclical isochronicity may embrace a civilization

and cross into neighboring countries, but it would not swim

oceans or penetrate into faraway and far different civilizations.

When the First World War broke out, young officers danced

and sang on the streets of Vienna: “Krieg, Krieg, Krieg! Es

wird ein schoener Krieg ...”. While visiting Upper Austria in

1978, I decided to drop in on the local parson, who was in his

seventies by then. When I told him about myself, I suddenly

realized he thought I was lying and inventing pretty stories. He

subjected my statements to psychological analysis, based on

this unassailable assumption and attempted to convince me that

his morals were lofty. When I complained to a friend of mine

about this, he was amused: “As a psychologist, you were ex-

tremely lucky to catch the survival of authentic Austrian talk