MARLBORO — The increase in non-gang-related mass shootings over the last several years has spurred the media, lobbyists, and many in the general public to explore causes and formulate solutions for these seemingly random acts of intense violence.
What is lacking in the mainstream media, as always, is an examination of the systemic nature of the problem.
Anyone interested in exploring this issue might refer to Erich Fromm's 1973 The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. This fascinating book uses history, anthropology, and psychology in an attempt to get to the root of what makes an individual or a society peaceful or violent.
One of the more compelling and timely sections in the book is Fromm's analysis of stimulation in our culture, where he separates all stimulation into two categories: active (or activating) and simple (or passive).
In the case of active stimulation, activities have the potential to give birth to new ideas and inspire creativity. Instead of providing instant gratification, they are evocative in nature and create further striving. Examples might include a poem, an idea, a landscape, a recipe, music, or a loved person.
Simple stimulation, on the other hand, is mechanical in nature and quickly leads to boredom. For an individual to remain engaged, simple stimulation must change in its content or increase in its intensity.
Some examples from the modern day include fast food, video games, shock media (from the evening news to pornography), and shopping.
It should of course be apparent that our culture has become more and more centered around activities that fall under this category and, due to simple stimulation's nature as described by Fromm, its prevalence has continued to grow in recent years.
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Related to Fromm's theories on stimulation are his identification of the “biophilous” (life-loving) and “necrophilous” (death-loving) character.
Fromm theorized that while active stimulation leads to biophilous tendencies, simple stimulation leads to necrophilous ones.
In his exploration on this spectrum in cultural history, he theorized that by 1947, a new type of man had emerged. Fromm's description included the following:
“This character has become so much a part of the machinery that he produces that these creations have become just as much a part of his narcissism as he is himself,” he wrote.
“In a symbolic sense, it is not nature anymore that is man's mother but the second nature he has built, the machines that nourish and protect him,” Fromm continued.
This analysis describes a people in that era's society who are not actual “life-haters” but are probably caught somewhere between the necrophilous and biophilous character description, marked by at least a subconscious disconnection from other sentient beings and the natural world.
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It seems certain, though, that if Fromm were still writing today, his analysis would include the increase in simple stimulation that has come over Western society and, for all of their benefits and potential, the further disconnection that computer gadgetry and the cyberworld have brought to humanity.
This disconnection equates to a greater rejection of life and nature and an increased presence of the destructive, necrophilous character.
Since the Industrial Revolution began, the infrastructure of mass production has supported the American way of life and made the propagation of simple stimulation and a disconnection from nature valid and even necessary.
But recently, an unprecedented shift has become apparent even to the most ardent deniers in the form of an economic recession, environmental disasters, and a steady stream of catastrophic weather events.
These threats have brought the reliability of the whole system into question even to the most ardent deniers and threaten the “second nature” (and nature itself) that Fromm stated makes up a significant part of the collective ego of modern man.
The current signs of instability, when paired with the recent surge of the further disconnection brought on by Western society's immersion into the virtual computer world, have brought us to the beginning of a jarring turning point.
Under these circumstances, those who have most embraced this “second nature” and the simple stimulation that goes with it will potentially be the least flexible in adjusting to life without it.
The most necrophilous characters that feel or sense the imminence of this threat might be led to a final destructive act, such as a mass shooting, where the individual hopes to make one last impact to justify their destructive belief system.
One could look at such an act as a final, liberating act for the individual - a true expression of what they have become, made before the environment they can function in disappears.
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As a school teacher, I have recently witnessed, through many of my students, evidence of this collective fear of the destructive impulses of the necrophilous character in a civilization under duress, in the form of a fixation on “zombies.”
I have been struck by the way that these teenagers discuss this archetype of the zombie as if it is real and present. They talk about fighting zombies or the “zombie apocalypse” with the same conviction children typically five to 10 years younger discuss fantasy that would be deemed imaginary by adults.
Psychoanalyst Carl Jung, who developed a theory of the collective unconscious, noted that certain archetypes or symbols show up in dreams or the waking hours of a society and can indicate themes in a collective thought process.
From a Jungian perspective, the prevalence of the zombie symbol today is a projection of the disconnected individual within and an expression of the subconscious fear of its emergence.
After the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, media headlines pursued the typical approach of attempting to find “a reason” for why the events occurred.
An autopsy of the killer was to be reported on and, in the meantime, the shooter's diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, was discussed as the National Rifle Association called for a database for the mentally ill.
The implication seems to be that if the shooter could be diagnosed as severely mentally ill, then the case would be closed and future shootings could potentially be prevented, as if mental illness occurs in a vacuum.
I have taught several autistic students who have brought classes together.
I have witnessed these students gain the ability to adapt to their surroundings while functioning outside the realm of the cliques and social systems that form at schools and then go on to become successful members of society. These students have supportive parents who guide them gracefully through difficult times.
Although there is a huge variation of symptoms on the spectrum of autism, the main sign is one of a disconnection from animate objects, often including the individual's own body. The condition, first identified in the 1940s, is becoming more and more common in children.
Maybe it is not simply a coincidence that the main symptom of one of the fastest-growing forms of mental illness coincides with the characteristics that mark our society - one of a disconnection from nature and life.
No single cause for the condition has been identified, but it can be assumed that a significant reason for its growth stems from mental and physical toxins in an environment that is out of balance.
When we allow ourselves to feel these connections on a larger scale, strange and powerful storms can be more closely related on a whole other level to seemingly random and senseless acts of violence.
The demise of our culture of mass consumption is not only leading to destructive outbursts. More and more people are looking within, opening up and spending less time allowing the lure of simple stimulation to rob them of life force - a trend that the evening news cannot sustainably recognize.
As people who are moving on a more conscious path, we need to accept that an increase in violence in our society is a result of large systemic changes that, even with better gun laws, we cannot fully control.
This understanding is an important step toward feeling the compassion and connection we need in order to help ourselves and one another in these changing times.