|
The “parasite” is the fantasy of an object that drains the life of the self. The parasite is the immortal object itself, Germany. What is parasitic is precisely the belief in immortality, attachment to the nation: what causes one to sacrifice concrete existence with its pleasures to sustain the idea of an immortal organism (one's nation).
The parasite sucking one’s blood is Germany, the fantasy of an immortal German organism. The Jew becomes the parasite--as a projection of the negative side of the Nazi’s attachment to Germany. The Jew is imagined as one who does not embrace the dream. They are “eating it up;” eating up the dream.
The sacrifice of concrete existence to omnipotent objects (the fantasy of immortality) is the source of oppression for all of us. We need to feed these objects. The omnipotent object is the parasite draining one’s lifeblood.
The parasite is the negative of the idealized object: fantasy of omnipotence in its destructive dimension, the nation now perceived as draining one’s life. The Jew is perception of the omnipotent object in its negative guise, but also an alternative omnipotent object (the "eternal Jew") draining the life out of one’s own immortality fantasy.
Attachment to an omnipotent body politic is always ambivalent. It serves to deny death, but also oppresses Hitler’s (our) actual life, since he is obligated to devote himself to the massive German project. He is crippled and paralyzed by his need to serve Germany.
People want to believe that the role of conqueror possesses glory. They never have had to do it themselves; to bear the weight or pressure or responsibility. The attachment depletes, diminishes, and negates the self. There is no time left for one’s real existence; , no energy for concrete existence because the self is devoted to the quest for omnipotence. This parasite drains the self.
It is precisely the dream of immortality = the dream of no separation = the dream of no death that becomes symbiotic upon the self. The "parasite" within is the "immortal object." One must “feed” the impossible dream. One feeds the dream through making sacrifices.
The dream of immortality is brought into being by virtue of sacrifices that are made in relationship to the object. Dead bodies that are the result of war, genocide and terrorism "testify" to the existence and reality of the object in the name of which sacrifices are made. One must "feed the monster" of one's omnipotent dream in order to keep it alive.
Hitler commits to the sacrificial dream in relationship to Germany. However, the pain of attachment to this fantasy is projected into the Jew, symbol of the destructive meaning of sacrifice. The Nazis "split off" the negative experience of the dream of immortality and project it onto the Jew, experienced as a “parasite” sucking one’s blood.
The parasite or negative experience of the omnipotent object sucks the blood out of the omnipotent object. When one experiences the omnipotent object as a parasite that is sucking one’s blood, one’s devotion to the object object wavers. The Jew symbolizes Hitler's (the Nazi's) own ambivalence to the omnipotent object.
The Nazi projects oral dependence into the Jew, then seeks to starve the Jew. The Jew cannot be allowed to be a “parasite,” to feed off the body of the nation, because he does not constitute this body: does not allow others to feed off him.
This is the theme of the "welfare cheat," or Lenin’s idea that “He who does not work shall not eat.” The community wishes to punish those who want to “get something for nothing,” to feed off the nation’s breast--but do not wish to constitute this breast.
To starve the Jew is to deprive him of the infantile wish to "feed off" the state. The Nazis projected this fantasy into the Jew. When the gas was released into the gas chambers, one Nazi told Lifton that a common expression was: "Now the Jews will have their feed." Instead of receiving oral gratification from the nation-state, the reward for performance, one would be fed with poison.
The parasite is the omnipotent dream that sucks the life (energy) out of your real life. The parasitical disease is precisely the need to attach to the omnipotent idea. The attachment to the omnipotent idea sucks your strength as you devote your life's energies to the maintenance of the "impossible dream" (immortality).
You attach to the omnipotent idea because it seems to give you strength, but at the same time that you have the illusion of strength, your attachment to the idea is sapping commitment to your actual life.
Hitler spoke of ivy on oak trees as a parasitic growth stifling the life of the tree, sucking life out of the tree (his colleagues resonated with this metaphor, thought he was a genius).
This was Hitler’s idea of the Jew: a parasitic growth consuming the nation. However, the parasite was none other than Hitler’s own fantasy of immortality, the projection of his energies into dead things that drained life out of his concrete existence.
Only when Germany was finally defeated did Hitler allow himself to marry. Only with the destruction of the omnipotent object could he begin to live (just before he shot himself and his wife and died). In order to live, we need to come to terms with our fantasy of immortality, somehow.
Thus, the object with which Hitler identifies and from which he refuses to separate (the immortal German body politic) is the same object that oppresses and enrages him, and the source of his hysterical, revolutionary will.
The hysteria is both the fear of the loss of the immortal object (due to his own rebellion against it), and reaction to the experience of the object within (the object is an oppressive burden, causing pain, sapping one's energy, etc.).
The parasite is the immortal object--one’s own nation--and the Jew becomes the split off part of the nation (the negative experience of the omnipotent object bound to the self). The negative experience of an immortal object is the Jew.
The "parasite" is the "immortal introject" which is sucking one's life force. The parasite is the immortal object in its negative form. "Sacrifice" is experienced, not only as something noble and beautiful, but also as a drain upon one's life energies.
The parasite is the negative experience of devotion to the nation-state, sapping one's concrete life-energies. The "parasite" is none other than the immortal nation, sucking the life out of one's body. Hitler renounces his life (an ascetic) in the name of the Reich; to satisfy his fantasy of immortality.
It is precisely the introject = the dream of immortality = the dream of no separation = the dream of no death that becomes symbiotic upon the self. The "parasite" within is the "immortal object" that requires feeding: One feeds the dream through sacrifice.
The dream is brought into being by virtue of sacrifices one makes--dead bodies "testify" to the existence of the object. One must feed the dream, feed the "monster" of one's omnipotent dreams in order to keep these dreams alive. The parasite is the dream of immortality, consuming the self.
The Jew is the negative of the omnipotent, parasitic object that feeds off the self. In killing Jews, Hitler is killing his own dream of the Volk (the Jew is the negative of the German Reich). The "Jew" is the disavowed dream of immortality (knowledge that this fantasy deprives one of concrete existence).
The Nazis "split" the omnipotent, indestructible object into a positive aspect (Germany) and a negative aspect (the Jew). The "parasite" is the dream of immortality itself, which requires to be "fed" by one's life-energies.
The parasite is the omnipotent dream that sucks the life (energy) out of your real life. The parasitical disease is precisely the need to attach to the omnipotent idea. The attachment to the omnipotent idea sucks your strength as you devote your life's energies to the maintenance of the "impossible dream" (immortality).
You attach to the omnipotent idea because it seems to give you strength, but at the same time that you have the illusion of strength, your commitment to the idea is sapping your commitment to your actual life.
|