Overload
Humiliation
Category: Events
Type
Involuntary
Introduction and description
Humiliation is the abasement of pride, the destruction of the ego which leads to a state of being humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission. It can be brought about through bullying, intimidation, physical or mental mistreatment or trickery, or by embarrassment, if a person is revealed to have committed a socially or legally unacceptable act.
There is the humiliation caused by denial of love and the loss of a lover, this has the added effect that it engenders a lot of Emotion and spiritual experience can be obtained via high emotion.
Whereas humility is deliberate and can be sought alone as a means to de-emphasise the ego, humiliation must involve other person(s), though not necessarily directly or willingly.
There is no kindness involved in humiliation.
As you can see I have indicated it is principally an involuntary mechanism simply because it doesn’t work as a voluntary mechanism for obvious reasons. But the problem with all humiliation is the potential long term psychological damage. Ultimately, used as a technique, it only really works if the person has a strong character and an equally strong Will and Ego that would take some time to break down via other means. The timid and sensitive would suffer and probably not gain from this method.
But as an involuntary mechanism it has produced some very intense experiences – inspiration being one of them.
Background
Although there are a number of people who were never aware of this, quite a number of ‘gurus’ have deliberately employed humiliation as the means of breaking down the Will of extremely egotistical followers. I will provide some examples in the observations, but it only worked because the people concerned were unaware the process was deliberate. Once you know you are being deliberately humiliated to break down your Ego, your ego is not likely to ‘play ball’.
Aleister Crowley used it a lot.
In a wonderful paragraph Crowley says’ the reader may study the efficacy of rape and the sacrifice of blood as magical formulae’. This of course shocked the pants off some people, but what he was describing was sacrifice of the Will, the rape of the Ego, the humiliation of the ego until it is subdued – it is all allegorical and symbolic. It is worth mentioning, however, that outside the symbolic context, rape and abuse can indeed result in spiritual experiences, as it is both humiliating and generates Extreme emotion, so Crowley is right both figuratively and literally. The question is how to deliberately and figuratively rape a person’s ego, kill the ego.
Aleister Crowley – Book of Lies
MULBERRY TOPS
Black [symbol of the intellect] blood upon the altar! and the rustle of angel wings above!
Black blood of the sweet fruit, the bruised, the violated bloom - that setteth The Wheel a-spinning in the spire
Death is the veil of Life, and Life of Death; for both are Gods
This is that which is written: "A feast for Life, and a greater feast for Death!" in THE BOOK OF THE LAW
The blood is the life of the individual: offer then blood!
Aleister Crowley – Book of Lies
The fact remains that in vice, as in everything else, some things satiate, others refresh.
Any game in which perfection is easily attained, soon ceases to amuse, although in the beginning its fascination is so violent.
Witness the tremendous, but transitory, vogue of ping-pong and diabolo. Those games in which perfection is impossible never cease to attract.
The lesson of the chapter is thus always to rise hungry from a meal, always to violate one's own nature.
Keep on acquiring a taste for what is naturally repugnant: this is an unfailing source of pleasure, and it has a real further advantage, in destroying the Sankharas, which, however "good" in themselves, relatively to other Sankharas, are yet barriers upon the Path; they are modifications of the Ego, and, therefore those things which bar it from the absolute.
Note: Sankhara describes the psychological conditioning (particularly the habit patterns of the unconscious mind) that gives any individual human being his or her unique character and make-up at any given time
The Sufis were masters of the approach, they combined humiliation with a number of other techniques. Irina Tweedie was made to do pointless tasks and asked to do things which reason told her were not in her best interests.
The Chasm of Fire – Irina Tweedie
This morning I learned that he had left for Allahabad. It means that he will be away for at least 3 days or perhaps even more. And I am expected to be there as usual. His brother is laughing and talking in Hindi all the time. Just now there seems to be an especially mad crowd, shouting all together and laughing; such a din.
Elaci Baba was rubbing his shaved head with a loki [a variety of marrow] to refresh his brain, so he was saying. But the sticky juice dried on his head giving out a sour smell.
And I have to sit.
And to sit.
Trying to bear it as well as I can.
The Chasm of Fire – Irina Tweedie
'This man wants a copy' Bhai Sahib said sharply 'if the man wants it he has a right to it'.
I felt irritated; and what about my rights? Every peasant has precedence, everybody has rights, I seem to have only duties.
Am asked to do obviously useless things, wasting my time.
The fellow wants several copies just for the satisfaction of having them. My small typewriter can take only one copy, so I have to type it three times. I am not a good typist at any time but now, with the mind not working properly, I constantly make mistakes and have to retype again and again.
Bhai Sahib turned again to the man, who said that he wants three copies for himself because he has to give the original to the doctor. Well, I was really angry.
This is a test again. I have to be really careful. He will keep asking me to do silly irrational things just to see how I react.
One of the marks of the gradually failing Ego – especially in women or the more sensitive, is that you can't stop crying. The Ego somehow knows it is being attacked and also feels it is dying and cries accordingly and so we cry too.
The Chasm of Fire – Irina Tweedie
'I seem to cry all the time now', I was saying 'either because I feel so alone and full of longing, or because my heart is full of sorrow, or because... I just don't know why... a great loneliness, an emptiness which fills me with despair
And it is not my mind giving me trouble this time; the mind is still, as still as a candle on a windless day. I will need much help.
To sit here amongst evil smelling men is such an ordeal and will be my destiny for years to come.
Please help me to cross the bridge, to be able to reconcile it all within myself'.
He nodded gently.
'Love should grow; try. Try to do it yourself. If you cannot, then the ladder will be there for you'.
'But do you mean to say that I am failing? He shook his head and just smiled.
The Chasm of Fire – Irina Tweedie
He treats me so badly
'Idiot', 'stupid' he calls me in front of everyone at the slightest provocation
South American gurus also seem to be quite good at it.
Jesus suffered humiliation, though it has not become a part of the standard practise of Christianity, even though I suspect it was intended that we see it as a form of teaching on the way to spiritual experience.
Jesús en casa de Anás Museo del Prado José de Madrazo |
Gurdjieff and PD Ouspensky in their Fourth way used an approach that was based on meaningless ritualistic and pointless tasks – humiliating tasks. The word now used to describe this is ‘hazing’-
A “ ritualistic test or task, which may constitute humiliation with requirements to perform random, often meaningless tasks, sometimes as a way of initiation into a social group. The definition can refer to either physical (sometimes violent) or mental (possibly degrading) practices; it may also include an 'erotic' element (notably nudity). “
Although hazing can describe forms of initiation unrelated to spiritual experience.
Examples of more general hazing practises include “spanking within a group; being hosed by sprinkler, buckets or hoses; covered with dirt or with (sometimes rotten) food; engaging in lengthy, tedious cleaning of toilets; waiting on others; being made to eat or drink too much (to the point of intoxication and vomiting); wearing humiliating clothing such as diapers, underwear, an apron, jockstrap, loincloth or duct tape; or going naked”.
Erotic humiliation as part of bondage and domination activities is also a possibility.
“This is a type of psychological humiliation in a sexual context, whereby one person is humiliated and demeaned; often (but not always) in conjunction with sexual stimulation of one or both partners in the activity. The humiliation need not be sexual in itself, as with many other sexual activities it is the feelings derived from it which are sought, regardless of the nature of the actual activity. It can be verbal or physical, and can be relatively private or public. Often it can become ritualized, and may be carried out over a long distance or online”.
How it works
In order to understand the following it may be helpful to have open the Model of the Mind and to have read the generic description of How spiritual experience works.
All forms of humiliation produce high levels of Emotion and emotion of extreme intensity. Any form of reminder of the amount of humiliation being suffered – a chance remark, a stupid joke, a sudden jog to the Memory which then produces memories, - simply adds to the emotion and the Subconscious feels the pain of what is in essence considerable hurt.
There is also the direct attack upon the Personality, so direct it is subdued fairly effectively.
Thus the intensity of Emotion blots everything else out – absolutely everything – Reason, logic, Desires and Objectives, Obligations and Opportunities. Nothing is left except the vast sea of emotional hurt.
And the Will is overwhelmed. It can do nothing against such an onslaught, it has nothing in its armoury to help – no learnt function can match this barrage. And the Personality is not there to help it, bolstering it, saying ‘come on now, buck your ideas up, pull yourself round’. The Personality says – ‘I’m out! This is too much for me’
So the Will gives in and the Composer takes over.
Occasionally the Composer will provide a sense of inexplicable peace amid the feelings of pain. But it may try to provide comforting visions or hallucinations. Many religious visions were of this type, we shall see this from the observations.
Observations
Related observations
Healing observations
Hallucination
- Abraham Ya’ari – Iggrot Erets Yisrael 014919
- Goes, Hugo van der - Death of the Virgin 022282
- Lame Deer - Native American Indians - The Vision pit 000585
- Leonard Crow Dog - Native American Indians - The Vision pit 000587
- Pound, Ezra - Cantos I 015284
- Pound, Ezra - Cantos II 015285
- Project MKUltra 023388
- Psychological trauma hallucinations and mental illness 006571
- Ruskin, John - False visions 001912
- Solitary confinement 001262
- Solitary confinement 001261 001261
- St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi - Fasting and penance 012803
- Tyaga the Road of Fire - 02 003961
Wisdom, Inspiration, Divine love & Bliss
- Alice in Wonderland - Ch 09 - 2 The Mock Turtle and the Gryphon 000865
- Beat me, beat me, tie me up 006453
- Berlioz - Roméo et Juliette 021205
- Boethius - Misc quote - Since the Creator hath always an eternal and present state 004861
- Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy - Although the lion wear decorated chains 007276
- Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy - Even things which are believed to be inanimate also desire 003152
- Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy - I will briefly show you what complete happiness hinges upon 003151
- Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy - Imagine a set of revolving concentric circles 004859
- Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy - Providence has given its creatures 003149
- Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy - Providence stings some people to avoid giving them happiness for too long 004857
- Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy - Since every reward is desired because it is believed to be good 003153
- Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy - The careful man will wish 003148
- Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy - The soul once cut 004860
- Cellini, Benvenuto – The Capitolo to Luca Martin 028899
- Cezanne 004085
- Coomaraswamy, A K - Sympleglades 000822
- Crowley, Aleister - Book of Lies - The Drooping Sunflower 000156
- Doors - Riders on the Storm 003805
- Fenelon, Francois - On adversity and humiliation 006085
- Fleetwood Mac - Landslide (Video) 021526
- Fleetwood Mac - Second Hand News 021531
- Fleetwood Mac - Tusk 021535
- Gurdjieff - And De Hartmann - Songs of Sayyids and Dervishes 012920
- Gurdjieff - Beelzebub's tales to his grandson - Schools and Caesarian section 012925
- Gurdjieff - Beelzebub's tales to his grandson - The Brotherhood 012923
- Gurdjieff - Beelzebub's tales to his grandson - Three brains 012921
- Gurdjieff - De Hartmann Piano Music 012922
- Gurdjieff - Ouspensky learns about the destructive effect of negative emotions 000930
- Hack Tuke, Daniel – Sickness - Summary: Disease is caused by extreme emotions 026056
- Hokusai - Cocks 002911
- Hokusai - Cranes 002908
- Hokusai - Images of Bathers 002910
- Hokusai - Mt Fuji 002907
- Hokusai - Red Fuji 002906
- Hokusai - The Great Wave off Kanagawa 001214
- Hokusai - Views of famous bridges 002905
- Hokusai - Waterfall at Yoshino in Washū 002909
- Howard Storm - And his terrifying rebirth experience 014254
- Kristofferson, Kris - 1970 Darby's Castle 025102
- Masochism 006452
- Mesopotamian - Means of achieving spiritual experience 01 Ritual humiliation of those in power 022208
- Moreau - Dead poet born by Centaur and Victim 007846
- Moreau - Sappho on the rocks and self portrait 1872 007839
- Moreau - St Sebastian and the angel 1876 007840
- O'Reilly, John Boyle - Clear and bright, from the snowy height 014702
- O'Reilly, John Boyle - I am tired of planning and toiling 001470
- O'Reilly, John Boyle - In this brief life despair should never reach us 013527
- O'Reilly, John Boyle - The Day and Night are symbols of creation 001467
- O'Reilly, John Boyle - The faithful helm commands the keel 001468
- O'Reilly, John Boyle - There is blood on the face of the earth 001469
- O'Reilly, John Boyle - What man would be wise, let him drink of the river 001471
- Po Chu-I - The Lute Girl 012867
- Po Chu-I - The Ruined Home 012871
- Pordage, John - Aether 013242
- Pordage, John - Air is the third matter of eternal nature’s essence 013240
- Pordage, John - Eternal nature and its purpose 000624
- Pordage, John - Inner court 013243
- Pordage, John - On God 007365
- Pordage, John - On the Planets 007389
- Pordage, John - Outward and inward courts 007188
- Pordage, John - The abyssal essence 013241
- Pordage, John - The nature of the Holy Trinity 000619
- Pordage, John - The simplified spirits 000620
- Pordage, John - Water is the second matter of eternal nature’s essence 000618
- Pordage, John - What is above the abyssal essence 000622
- Pordage, John - Wisdom 013244
- Pound, Ezra - A Girl 001617
- Qu Yuan - The Land of Exile 012823
- Qu’ran - Judgement Day; overview - Surah Al An’am 027667
- Rafferty, Gerry - Another World – 07 Conscious Love 028809
- Rolling Stones - She's a Rainbow 012091
- Rolling Stones - The Lantern 012092
- Rosenberg, Isaac - Dead Man's Dump 013110
- Ruskin, John - Extract from Letters to the Clergy 005028
- Ruskin, John - Extracts from Letters to the Clergy 005132
- Ruskin, John - Extracts from Letters to the Clergy 005131
- Ruskin, John - Thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven 005133
- Schelling, F W J - Abhandlungen zur Erläuterung des Idealismus der Wissenschaftslehre – Matter arises from spirit 025380
- Schelling, F W J - Philosophical Inquiries into the Nature of Human Freedom – Contrast, including attraction and repulsion, and the passions 025378
- Schelling, F W J - Philosophical Inquiries into the Nature of Human Freedom – Darkness and Light and divine transmutation 025377
- Schelling, F W J - Philosophical Inquiries into the Nature of Human Freedom – On Darkness and Light 025375
- Schelling, F W J - Philosophical Inquiries into the Nature of Human Freedom – Personality, Destiny and the Great Work 025376
- Schelling, F W J - Philosophy and Religion – Nature 025382
- Schubert - 'Mein Traum' 020645
- Schubert - Rosamunde 020630
- Schubert - Rosamunde, D797 - VII. Chorus of Spirit ('In der Tiefe wohnt das Licht') 020631
- Schubert - Schwanengesang, D 957: no 4 Standchen 020623
- Spencer, Stanley - 1937 The Beatitudes of Love 019369
- Spencer, Stanley - 1938 Christ in the Wilderness 019364
- Spencer, Stanley - 1958 The Crucifixion 019373
- Sri Aurobindo - 01 Savitri Book I Canto IV 006629
- The Masochist 004574
- The Means of achieving spiritual experience - Shaivism – 11 Humiliation, loneliness and isolation 022583
- The Sadist 006456
- Tirrukural, the - Book 3 Unabashed 022864
- Todi, Jacopone da - Lord Thou Hast shown me 000158
- Tyaga the Road of Fire - 10 004304
- Waller, Edmund - Divine Poems - 01 Of Divine Love 000157
- Waller, Edmund - Divine Poems - 02 Of Divine Love 015236
- Waller, Edmund - Divine Poems - 03 Of Divine Love 015237
- Waller, Edmund - Divine Poems - 04 Divine Love 015238
- Waller, Edmund - Divine Poems - 05 Divine Love 015239
- Waller, Edmund - Divine Poems - 06 Divine Love 015240
- Waller, Edmund - On the foregoing Divine Poems 015241
- Watson, Sir William - A star look'd down from heaven and loved a flower 000810
- Watson, Sir William - Epigram - Brook, from whose bridge the wandering idler peers 006416
- Watson, Sir William - Epigram - Enough of mournful melodies 015550
- Watson, Sir William - Epigram - In mid whirl of the dance of Time ye start 000359
- Watson, Sir William - Epigram - Lives there whom pain hath evermore pass'd by 006417
- Watson, Sir William - Epigram - Love, like a bird, hath perch'd upon a spray 003341
- Watson, Sir William - Epigram - The children romp within the graveyard's pale 006415
- Watson, Sir William - Epigram - The gods man makes he breaks; proclaims them each 007183
- Watson, Sir William - Epigram - To keep in sight Perfection, and adore 000742
- Watson, Sir William - Lachrymae Musarum - What needs his laurel our ephemeral tears 001461
- Watson, Sir William - So let the songsmith proffer his rhyme-gift 006418
- Watson, Sir William - The Prince’s Quest - Then said the greybeard captain, hardly heard 000980
- Watson, Sir William - Youth! ere thou be flown away 005922
Out of time
- Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy - But who still seeks to learn things that 010177
- Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy - For I have swift and speedy wings 004858
- Clark, Fay Marvin – Into the Light - The initiation of the Wangarapa by the Wirinum 023365
- Hokusai - Images of Bathers 002910
- Hokusai - Mt Fuji 002907
- Hokusai’s floating world 003928
- Howard Storm - And his terrifying rebirth experience 014254
- Knud Rasmussen - Caribou Eskimo Initiation rite 000589
- Lame Deer - Native American Indians - The Vision pit 000585
- Mary Magdalen de Pazzi – Levitating with three mile boots 024207
- Pordage, John - Outward and inward courts 007188
- Prison 010122
- Prisoner in San Quentin 001260
- Project MKUltra 023388
- Rolling Stones - Citadel 012090
- Rolling Stones - Two thousand light years from home 003827
- Saint Anskar - Visions of Dying in the Ninth and Nineteenth Centuries - His NDE 023594
- Solitary confinement 001262
- Solitary confinement 001261 001261
- Sri Aurobindo - 09 Savitri Book XI Canto I 004143
- The suicide of the Duke of Abrantes 011306
- Tyaga the Road of Fire - 06 003965
- W.Y. Evans-Wentz - The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries - Celtic and Egyptian Mysteries compared 014071
- Woolger, Dr Roger - Other Lives, Past selves – Arlette the Opera singer with stage fright 022067
Enlightenment
- Abraham Ya’ari – Iggrot Erets Yisrael 014919
- Babbage, Charles - Expositions 004051
- Knud Rasmussen - Caribou Eskimo Initiation rite 000589
- Schubert - 'Mein Traum' 020645
- Thoughts of suicide became a thing of the past 021130
- Tyaga the Road of Fire - 03 003962
- Tyaga the Road of Fire - 04 003963
In time
- Boethius - The Consolation of Philosophy - But who still seeks to learn things that 010177
- Cellini, Benvenuto – The vision obtained whilst he was imprisoned in the dungeon of Castel Angelo 028897
- Goes, Hugo van der - Death of the Virgin 022282
- Goes, Hugo van der - The Adoration of the Magi 022283
- Harner, Michael 000588
- Hokusai - Mt Fuji 002907
- Hokusai - Waterfall at Yoshino in Washū 002909
- Howard Storm - And his terrifying rebirth experience 014254
- Lame Deer - Native American Indians - The Vision pit 000585
- Leonard Crow Dog - Native American Indians - The Vision pit 000587
- Pordage, John - On the Elements 010163
- Pordage, John - The Deity is not solitary or unattended 000621
- Pordage, John - The nature of the Holy Trinity 000619
- Pordage, John - The simplified spirits 000620
- Pordage, John - What is above the abyssal essence 000622
- Pordage, John - Wind 004128
- Pound, Ezra - Cantos I 015284
- Pound, Ezra - Cantos II 015285
- Project MKUltra 023388
- Ruskin, John - False visions 001912
- Schubert - 'Mein Traum' 020645
- Solitary confinement 001262
- Solitary confinement 001261 001261
- St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi - Fasting and penance 012803
- The suicide of the Duke of Abrantes 011306
- Todi, Jacopone da - When the mind's very being is gone 004888
- Tyaga the Road of Fire - 01 000159
- Tyaga the Road of Fire - 02 003961
- Tyaga the Road of Fire - 05 003964
- Woolger, Dr Roger - Other Lives, Past selves – Arlette the Opera singer with stage fright 022067
- Woolger, Dr Roger - Other lives, Past Selves – Stuck in one of those vicious circles where negativity seems to feed upon itself 022039
Dying
- The suicide of the Duke of Abrantes 011306
- Woolger, Dr Roger - Other Lives, Past selves – Arlette the Opera singer with stage fright 022067