Apocalypse,
or New Age?
The Emerging Perinatal Unconscious
Book
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by Michael Derzak Adzema, M.A.
PART ONE: SOMETHING'S HAPPENING
Chapter Four:
The Scenery of Our Everyday Reality
Dangling Above an Abyss
Aliens . . . Ooooo . . . Sca-ry.
. . .
Rock Concerts (For Some, Ditto)
Pacifiers, Trolls, Crushing Populations,
and Global Suffocation
Digging One's Way Under Ground
Drugs . . . Ooooo . . . Sca-ry.
. . .
"Most Peculiar, Mama!"
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Chapter Four: The Scenery
of Our Everyday Reality
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DANGLING ABOVE AN ABYSS
Beyond the entertainment media, it seems perinatal themes and elements
are showing up everywhere else in our surrounding environment and culture.
The scenery of our everyday reality consists of pollution of our air, water,
and food; threat of death "at any moment," caused by the knowledge of the
power of nuclear weapons; fantasies of apocalypse of all kinds, magnified,
perhaps, by the ending of a millennium — including fundamentalist Christian
imaginings of an end to human civilization in an apocalyptic "rapture";
New Age fantasies of ecological, spiritual, and social utopias; and so
on. First, let us consider a few of the most blatantly birth-related
of the events around us.
ALIENS . . . . OOOOO . . . . SCA-RY. . . .
.
Alien abduction stories, while a relatively recent addition to our cultural
landscape, are unusual in the rapidity with which they have gained cultural
currency and are telling in the extreme fascination the public has with
them. They have catapulted more than one show — The X Files
being the prime example, of course — to cult-like status. Yet Alvin
Lawson has pointed out how alien abduction stories are replete with perinatal
elements: passing through walls, umbilical beams of connection to the "mother
ship" (i.e., the placenta), either fetal-looking aliens or aliens whose
eyes are most prominent and the lower parts of their faces undistinguished
— similar to the way a newborn might see an obstetrician wearing a medical
mask; and then of course there are the elements of being medically probed,
measured, samples taken from one, and being swooshed from one place to
another with no say on one’s part — all remarkably like the experience
of a newborn, right out of the womb.1
While I do not think that the "alien abduction" phenomenon is just
derivative of birth, as Lawson does, I do believe that we perceive these
events through a veil of birth trauma, the likes of which the world has
never known. (My position is explained in my article, "Alien
Abductors: Angelic Midwives or Hounds From Hell?," which has
been reproduced on this site.)
ROCK CONCERTS (FOR SOME, DITTO)
Lawson has also described perinatal elements in rock concerts.2
Keep in mind that rock music popularity and concert rituals are world-wide
phenomena; youth from nearly all countries are involved in rock culture.
Among other things, Lawson, in his article, refers to placental guitars,
umbilical mikes, and youths jumping into mosh pits — this last of which,
of course, simulates the crushing in the womb. We could also mention
the loud music, fireworks, and flashing and bright explosions of light
at these concerts as perinatal in that they re-create the assault of sensation
that occurs to the newly emerged fetus — an assault which in one’s mind
is like unto a bomb exploding.
The rock groups and their lyrics themselves are often blatantly
perinatal. The most obvious example of this was the group, Nirvana,
who came out with a CD titled "In Utero." The fact that the leader
of the group, Kurt Cobain, committed suicide is a strong indication of
his closeness and access to his perinatal trauma . . . as I will soon explain.
PACIFIERS, TROLLS, CRUSHING POPULATIONS, AND
GLOBAL SUFFOCATION
Turning from rock, we see perinatal BPM III elements in the scenery
of our everyday lives evident in the rising incidence of violence by children
at ever younger ages.
In Europe, as pointed out by Mayr and Boederl, it appears a collective
regression to the perinatal is going on, especially among the youth.3
The forms this "regression" has taken include the surprising popularity
of a pop song, sung by a very young child, expressing the difficulties
of being a baby; the wearing of baby pacifiers as ornaments as a powerful
fashion fad; and being enamored of troll-like dolls, which, according to
the authors indicate a "regression to the womb." (I would say a progression
to the womb, by the way . . . I will soon explain why.)
Additionally, we see the crushing, no-exit, claustrophobic BPM II
elements manifesting in the crushing population densities in major human
cities throughout the world.
One overlooked, but hugely pervasive perinatal element is the increasing
carbon dioxide concentration in our atmosphere called "the greenhouse effect,"
which, combined with decreased oxygen levels, is analogous to the situation
of "fetal malnutrition," described by Briend4
and deMause, that occurs prior to birth, and which is the basis for deMause’s
explanation of poisonous placenta symbolism.
At any rate, by this atmospheric rearrangement I mean that, while
we reputedly have, and need, an oxygen concentration of twenty percent
in our atmosphere, concentrations of oxygen these days, especially in heavily
industrial areas, have been measured at much lower levels. For example,
an industrial section of Gary, Indiana, was recorded at five percent oxygen concentration.5
DIGGING ONE'S WAY UNDER
GROUND
Other evidence for closeness to the perinatal unconscious comes from
Kenneth Keniston, who studied the youth of the Sixties. In his widely
read book of the time titled The Uncommitted: Alienated Youth in American
Society, he described an increasingly prevalent, unusually influential,
and relatively newly emerging personality type, which he discovered in
his sociopsychological study of youthful college students. Among
other traits, he found these youth to be characterized by fantasies of
a "rage to reenter" the womb; and a "fantasy of fusion" with the mother,
which took perinatal forms of all kinds including stories of wishing to
dig one’s way back into the earth; a fascination with and wish to return
to the past, the long forgotten, and the under ground; and a desire to
find oblivion in some enveloping medium . . . even at the price of self-destruction!
Some of the other elements of Sixties youth were existential angst,
being enamored of death and dying, and a refusal of "normal" adulthood.
Think about it. Are these descriptions not a lot like we have heard
of the current generation of youth? The so-called Generation X?
For the youth of today, black clothes, white painted faces, and black
lipstick are the fashion statement. And what is this statement of
this sector of youth -- a statement that began in the Seventies among what
was then called the "punk" movement -- which includes now the fad of vampirism,
except the same fascination with death as the Sixties youth . . . again,
indicating the death/rebirth aspect of the perinatal. It seems
that this trend toward easier access to and higher awareness of perinatal
influences has been going on for a while now.
DRUGS . . . . OOOOO . . . . SCA-RY. . . . .
There are other similarities between the youth of the Sixties and today’s
youth: Drug use among youth, as reported in the last few years, has
been going up again. This also is an indication of an emerging
perinatal unconscious because drugs are intimately woven with perinatal
influences in a number of ways.6
Not only can some drugs bring up birth feelings, as Grof's work has
shown, but the mother being drugged while giving birth to her child can
result in drug abuse by that child later in life.
Other connections between drug use and perinatal influence:
Perinatal feelings are very often of the depressive, no-exit type, and
some drugs are temporarily effective antidotes for that. Depression
itself is epidemic, indicating the rise of BPM II feelings. There
is widespread use of antidepressants in America in the Nineties.
Grof has claimed, based upon the tens of thousands of sessions of exploration
into the perinatal unconscious that he has personally facilitated and thus
observed, that the roots of endogenous (that is to say, deep rooted and
engrained, not just situational) depression lie in the no-exit BPM II experience
of birth; furthermore, my personal experience with my own depression and
own primal reliving of birth confirms his statement.
Finally, psychedelic drugs . . . LSD . . . "they’re ba-a-a-ack."
Though they are more discreetly used these days and so are less obviously
evident. The increase of their use also points to perinatal influences
in that it is known that psychedelics — LSD in particular — can help people
to access and to some extent resolve perinatal trauma, when taken for purposes
of personal growth.7
"MOST PECULIAR, MAMA!"
We have considered the uniqueness of our times and the elements of the
perinatal unconscious. We have followed that with a look at the predominant
underlying fantasies and myths of our times -- our contemporary collective
dreams as projected onto the silver screen, boob tube, and printed page,
with a perinatal rock heartbeat of a soundtrack. And finally we have
taken a look at the anomalous elements of our everyday reality -- those
confusing and bizarre, newly emerging images that permeate our nightly
news and neighborhoods, along with those totally unprecedented cultural,
environmental, and social factors that weave the backdrops of our lives.
Let us now go deeper. Let us make the connections. Let us explore
the way we have reflected our innermost intimate hells and heavens into
the fabric of our times; and back again, the way the warp and woof of these
strangest of days has affected each of us, in our most superficial of behaviors
to the most intimate and deepest of our minds.
CHAPTER FOUR NOTES
1. Alvin H. Lawson, "UFO abductions or
birth memories?" Fate, 38(3) March 1985, pp. 68-80; and Alvin
H. Lawson, "Perinatal imagery in UFO abduction reports." In T. Verny (ed.):
Pre- and Perinatal Psychology: An Introduction. Human Sciences Press,
New York, 1987. [return to text]
2. Alvin H. Lawson, "Placental Guitars, Umbilical
Mikes, and the Maternal Rock-Beat: Birth Fantasies and Rock Music Videos."
The Journal of Psychohistory 21 (1994): 335-353. [return
to text]
3. Daniela F. Mayr & Artur R. Boelderl,
"The Pacifier Craze: Collective Regression in Europe." The Journal of
Psychohistory 21 (1993): 143-156. [return
to text]
4. A. Briend, "Fetal Malnutrition: The Price
of Upright Posture?" British Medical Journal 2 (1979): 317-319.
[return to text]
5. As reported in the book, O2xygen
Therapies by Ed McCabe. 99-RD1 Morrisville, NY 13408: Energy Publications,
1988. Other examples of lowered oxygen levels in various arenas of our
lives are given in the book as well, and the book is thoroughly documented.
It makes a convincing case for the lowered oxygen levels as they relate
to the rise of a number of diseases. The connection of these lowered
levels to mental states is my own addition. [return
to text]
6. There is another overlooked factor or aspect
of this rise in drug use: These youngsters are the sons and daughters
of the Sixties generation who, in their own youth, as we all know too well,
engaged in drug experimentation. This new generation of drug users
has been called the baby-boomer "echo" generation. Unlike the preceding
"echo" generation of the Eighties — whose parents’ young adulthood occurred
during the Great Depression and World War Two, and whose own young adult
formative years occurred during the Eisenhower–Joe McCarthy–Presley Fifties
and who were thus influenced by their parents to conservatism, career-mindedness,
and, for drug-of-choice, alcohol — this "echo" generation has parents
whose young adulthood was forged in the rebellion, drug and sex experimentation,
activism, liberal-radicalism, and idealism of the Sixties.
Generationally speaking, we know that children do not predominantly
rebel to the opposite of their parents’ values. Keniston, for one, has
made it clear — referring to studies done as evidence — that children are
paramountly influenced by the values and attitudes (conscious and unconscious)
of their parents. So this new youth is going to be more liberal in
their attitude to drug use, even if their parents, in their coming into
adulthood, overtly decry or are against the use of drugs. (Keep in
mind also that many of the baby-boomers have retained, not reversed, their
acceptance of drug experimentation, and many still believe in and use drugs;
many still considering the occasional use of certain types — especially
the psychedelics — to be an aid to self-development and/or spiritual awareness.)
The myth that youth rebel against their parents’ values (as expressed
and propagandized — oh so conveniently in a manner as to participate in
the pervasive scapegoating of the Sixties generation by the Eisenhower–Joe
McCarthy–Presley generation who came into their Triumphant Phase, i.e.,
took over the reins of society as mature adults in the Eighties
— by the TV show "Family Ties") is largely a result of the observation
that when youth do revolt or rebel against their parents (as in the Sixties
youth) it is most often in the direction of being more so in terms of the
values of their parents. As Keniston found out, e.g., as he described
in his follow-up to The Uncommitted, in the book, Young Radicals:
Notes on Committed Youth, radical youth had liberal (hardly
conservative!) parents. If they were angry at their parents it was
out of their perception of their parents as compromising and not living
out their own expressed ideals, as laid out to their children in raising
them . . . therefore, out of their disgust at their parents as "not walking
their talk." Hence, as we may recollect, there was the oft-repeated
charge of "hypocrite" directed by some of these youth toward their parental
generation.
In this regard it might also be noted that this new crop of youngsters,
the sons and daughters of the Sixties Generation, has also seen increases
in voting for liberal or Democratic candidates (their turnout for Clinton
in 1992 was the first time since the Seventies that the youth vote went
Democratic); increases in idealism, activism, and volunteerism, and (despite
the AIDS scare) in early and/or increased sexual experimentation (The fledgling
"youth celibacy movement" is over, folks). These aspects and generational
phenomena are spelled out in more detail in my work-in-progress, The
Once and Future Generation: Regression, Mysticism, and "My Generation."
Right at hand, however, you can read an elaboration of some of these ideas
in my musepapers on "Drugs, Consciousnesses,
and Generational Cultures" and "Move
Over, World War Two Generation, the Sixties Generation Has Arrived! An
Essay Review of the Movie, 'Pleasantville,'" on this website.
[return to text]
7. And for those who have cynically
adopted the line that either psychedelics are another drug that blots out
one’s Pain, or that they are only used for recreational or sensual/hedonistic
purposes, or that the kinds of birth experiences that Grof describes as
occurring on LSD only occur in supervised and guided sessions, like the
ones he offered . . . for those who have dismissed psychedelics and LSD
in any of these ways, let me say
1. Psychedelics, especially LSD and to some extent,
even marijuana, are known to act in the brain in a way almost exactly the
opposite of the drugs used to escape from reality — such as, e.g., alcohol;
speed, crack, or cocaine; nicotine; or heroin — though this news flies
in the face of the myth put out by the all-encompassing anti-drug propaganda
machine (which puts all drugs in the same category). This is common
knowledge among researchers and scientists who study these things (for
elaboration, see "Drugs, Consciousnesses, and Generational Cultures" on
this website, especially "Part
Two: Drugs and Consciousnesses").
2. That they are only used for recreational purposes is patently
false. Though the vast majority of drug use is recreational, there are
in print many examples, and the admissions of many authors, of the use
of LSD by individuals and groups for purposes of personal growth.
And, in my own limited exploration, personal growth was my motivation;
in fact, many people are afraid to take the drug LSD, knowing full well
that its effects are not always pleasurable or recreational, so why would
they accept that risk if they did not have some other intent, like personal
growth, for experimenting on themselves with it.
3. Finally, before I had ever heard of such a possibility
of reliving one’s birth, let alone heard of Grof, or Janov for that matter,
I am aware of persons who took the drug LSD and were amazed to find themselves
feeling like a fetus and then going through a process of going through
a birth canal, and so on. [return to text]
Copyright © 1999 by Michael Derzak Adzema
Comments? E-mail me by clicking on: mickel@primalspirit.com
Mickel Adzema
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