It’s possible that the task of liberating humanity from the burden of the superego has succeeded over and above all expectations. Pathologies of a new type – individual, cultural and political psychologies – have become the attributes of a period in which a “good life” and guilt are perceived as being antithetical. “Among the signs of bestiality / a clear conscience is Number One,” Wislawa Szymborska wrote in her poem “In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself” (translation: Stanislaw Baranczak and Claire Cavanagh). In a world devoid of guilt, there is only authoritarian admiration and self-love.
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