Flagpole SittaI had visions, I was in them
I was looking into the mirror
To see a little bit clearer
Rottenness and evil in me
Fingertips have memories
Mine can’t forget the curves of your body
And when I feel a bit naughty
I run it up the flagpole and see who salutes
(But no one ever does)
I’m not sick but I’m not well
And I’m so hot cause I’m in hell
Been around the world and found
That only stupid people are breeding
The cretins cloning and feeding
And I don’t even own a tv
Put me in the hospital for nerves
And then they had to commit me
You told them all I was crazy
They cut off my legs now I’m an amputee, god damn you
I’m not sick but I’m not well
And I’m so hot cause I’m in hell
I’m not sick but I’m not well
And it’s a sin to live so well
I want to publish zines
And rage against machines
I want to pierce my tongue
It doesn’t hurt, it feels fine
The trivial sublime
I’d like to turn off time
And kill my mind
You kill my mind
Paranoia, paranoia
Everybody’s coming to get me
Just say you never met me
I’m going underground with the moles digging holes
Hear the voices in my head
I swear to god it sounds like they’re snoring
But if you’re bored then you’re boring
The agony and the irony, they’re killing me
I’m not sick but I’m not well
And I’m so hot cause I’m in hell
I’m not sick but I’m not well
And it’s a sin to live so well
Looking at this song from a Jungian perspective, I think it is pretty meaningful.
A few choice quotes from it:
I’m not sick but I’m not well
Paranoia, paranoia, everybody’s coming to get me
And it’s a sin to live so well
I think these three lines represent the current time (the zeitgeist) of the modern age.
We, as in the generality, are not physically sick, but we are psychologically, or “spiritually” becoming more sick as a society.
Suicide rates are on the rise. 1
Opioid use and death from opioids are on the rise. 2
An all in one graph.
Psychological pain is on the rise, and out of that the acting out of it in society as revenge on society.
And the less free we are, the more free we feel. We have given up control and responsibilities to the state, corporations, etc, and so have less to worry about, but are at the same time, controlled by mass movements. The illusion of freedom of a fenced in horse.
Jung observed that the only thing that can replace a religion is another religion. In today’s society religion has been replaced by politics, and popular culture. “Is” has become “aught” as morality became relative (with a corruption from/of postmodernist philosophy), and is therefore being dictated by mass culture.
The easier life gets, the more sensitive we get to the hardships that used to be seen as trivial. While at the same time we desensitize ourselves to various cultural taboos that used to give us order.
In short, society in the West, like Icarus, is starting to fly too close to the sun. A social luciferian hubris is seeping in, a hard intellectual/rational “I know better”, that was the downfall of countless of societies before this one.
Edward F. Edinger wrote a book about this happening.3 Though from a Jungian perspective this is a repeated motif of a time and place. An end is a new beginning after all.
Another noteworthy name that talked about this was Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov 4, I’ve not read it yet, though from what I’ve seen it aligns well with both Jung, Edinger, and Marie-Louise von Franz on the spirit of this age.
I think this quote from “Empire of illusion: The end of literacy and the triumph of spectacle” describes the US culture as it stands today perfectly.
“Celebrity culture plunges us into a moral void. No one has any worth beyond his or her appearance, usefulness, or ability to succeed. The highest achievements in a celebrity culture are wealth, sexual conquest, and fame. It does not matter how these are obtained. These values leave us chasing vapors. They urge us toward a life of narcissistic self-absorption. They tell us that existence is to be centered on the practices and desires of the self (not our Jungian capital “Self”) rather than the common good. The ability to lie and manipulate others is held up as the highest good. The cult of self interest dominates our cultural landscape. This cult has within it the classic traits of the psychopaths: superficial charm, grandiosity, and self importance; a need for constant stimulation, a penchant for lying, deception and manipulation, and the inability to feel remorse or guilt. It is the misguided belief that personal style and personal advancements, mistaken for individualism, are the same as democratic equality. We have a right, in the cult of the self, to get whatever we desire. We can do anything, even belittle and destroy those around us, including our friends, to make money, to be happy, and to become famous. Once fame and wealth are achieved, they become their own justification, their own morality. How one gets there is irrelevant. Once you get there, those questions are no longer asked.” (Hedges, C. (2009). Empire of illusion: The end of literacy and the triumph of spectacle. New York: Nation Books.pp. 32–33) 5