Chapter 3: Father and Face

The adolescent as a position within a familial structure must contend with a psychological internalization of the structure. When each position of these facets of character are unionized, a cohesive sense of self emerges. In this way the family, the structured bonds connecting each essential point in the overarching whole of the entire dynamic, serves as a microcosm that implicitly informs the subject of their own sense of self, which maintains a direct reflection of the subject's external realities.

This could be a biological inclination on the behalf of the assumption that the species may benefit from an eternal presence of this structure, so as to maintain insurance for the survival of the human species. The offspring internalizes the family structure, because our species has evolved to necessarily thrive through its functioning. The demand for such a mechanism likely emerges from the challenges that arise from the length of time for human maturation to complete. Due to the length of development of the human brain, the survival of an adolescent is determined by the security granted by the group in which it inhabits.

Because the Human brain's potential lies so much greater outside the natural boundaries when compared to other species, it requires a great deal of time in order to achieve a fulfillment of such potential. The familial structure is a development that has created a relative security to the species and it's thriving, to an extent that our species embodies the process of its internalization on an unconscious level. The subject of psychology is already well informed that the family structure has a significant influence on the individual, to the point that its effects are pathological.

The family structure must be reproducible, so as to ensure the security of groups further down the family tree. This relies on the pathological internalization of the structure, which informs the adolescent subject of their identity. The importance of father-son and mother-daughter relationships is found in that the father to a son, or a mother to a daughter, are not only caretakers but also symbolic representations of adolescence becoming. The mother-son and father-daughter dynamic also shape the identity of the adolescent, albeit in different ways. The identity of an adolescence relies heavily on their relationships with the members inside the family structure, to ensure pathological reproduction of the structure.

The image of "The Father," is a symbol that informs the son of his masculinity. The son also carries a less conscious image of femininity, that is informed by the image of "The Mother." Likewise, the image of "The Mother," is a symbol that informs the daughter of her femininity. The daughter also carries a less conscious image of masculinity, that is informed by the image of "The Father." To clarify, what I mean by “The Father,” or “The Mother,” is not literally the mother or father of a family structure, although it can include them. I am speaking in terms of vague images or symbols that represent masculinity and femininity that may appear consciously or unconsciously to any given individual. Ultimate examples of these vague images are God the Father in the holy trinity as a masculine symbol, and the Virgin Mary as a feminine symbol.

What becomes of our earliest experiences, which involves the persons we are biologically dependent on, and therefore are whom we associate said experiences to, is a pathology representing the environment the adolescent subject survived within. If the subject survived the home, then it meets nature's vague benchmark of survival. A subject does not need the strategy for thriving, for nature's bar is much, much lower. Nature only requires a strategy for survival. In order to ensure reproduction, there is a biological demand to imprint the individual with whatever strategy (or lack thereof) they are experiencing, so as to ensure the survival of their own offspring by means of replicating the model that worked for them. Even if the structure one internalizes is corrupt with neurosis, it still meets nature's benchmark of simple survival, and alas we become aware of concepts such as "generational trauma."

Those who come from broken homes, commonly run into a lot of problems not because they do not have the intellectual capacity to apply valuation to the structure they were given, but rather because the source that demands the creation of the structure to begin with is natural and unconscious. We presume that individuals operate solely on conscious intention in the same way we presume we are purely post-enlightenment people. But if that were to be the case, then we would be in our own right to cast shame upon individuals acting out these patterns. Since it is not the case however, what is required of us is reconciliation. We are being collectively called upon to renew our spirits in an age where biology has become so terribly inconvenient for us.

The crisis of masculinity that we are experiencing in the west, is a direct effect of the collective corruption of the family structure. On a large scale, adolescence is being subjected to fatherless families. To the child, this means that the symbol that may balance their gendered energy (masculinity and femininity), is literally not being imprinted onto the child. It is not just that children are growing up fatherless, but rather there is no image in society that can reliably transfer the image of “The Father” onto the child.

Without a masculine image to balance the feminine image in the family structure, the feminine image becomes the dominating symbol. Any symbol that does not include its opposite may be subject to neurosis. For men, who almost invariably resent any form of dominion over them, come to sorely resent femininity for this dominance. They become dependent on the feminine image, and begin to hate themselves for it, and even moreso, begin to hate society over it. They are incapable of integrating their own masculinity to balance out their sense of femininity, for they lack a masculine image. From a Jungian perspective, one could say that these men are “possessed by their anima.” They lack any intuition that may lead to their masculine integration, and are consequently smothered under their own inability to act.

These are men who will either remain Peter-Pan avoidants, or will be overcome with resentment and fantasies of violence. The reason that right-leaning political ideologies become so attractive to the western man in the 21st century is because the right is littered with Nietzschean figures that falsely fulfill the masculine need for spiritual empowerment. When men cannot find a healthy means of reconstructing the father image, they will find it in the most perverse corners of life. In this way, right wing politics have become the only source of empowerment they desperately need to actually become men. Men are actively searching to make sense of their alienation, and they find reconciliation on the right, who won't further alienate them from their manhood. All while taking advantage of their need for guidance.