Re:Social Feeling and Mutual Aid versus Power and Violence

(From "Psychology of Power", written by Alfred Adler in 1928, published in the Journal of Individual Psychology, Vol. 22, pp. 166-172, 1966.)

"One thing can save us: the mistrust of any form of predominance. Our strength lies in conviction, in organizing strength, in a world view, not in the violence of armament and not in emergency laws. With such means other strong forces before us have fought in vain for their existence."

"For us the way and tactics emerge from our highest goal: the nursing and strengthening of social feelings."

"War is not the continuation of politics with other means, but the greatest mass crime against man's belonging together. What sum of lies and artificial arousal of low passions, what thousandfold violence was necessary to suppress the indignant outcry of the voice of humanity!"

"The typical ideal of our time is still the isolated hero for whom fellow men are objects. It is this psychological structure which has made the World War palatable to people, lets them shudder in admiration before the unstable greatness of a victorious military leader."

"We need the conscious preparation and advancement of a mighty social interest and the complete demolition of greed and power in the individual and in peoples. What we all lack and for which we struggle relentlessly are new methods to raise the social sense..."

Replies:

There are no replies to this message.

| Behavior OnLine Home Page | Disclaimer |

Copyright © 1996-2004 Behavior OnLine, Inc. All rights reserved.