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AWAKENINGOSIRIS:
THE TRANSFORMATIVEPOTENTIALOFANGER
by
RICHARD DAVID MCCUTCHAN
A dissertation
submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN PSYCHOLOGY
INSTITUTE OF IMAGINAL STUDIES
2000
This dissertation has been accepted for the faculty of the
Institute of Imaginal Studies by:
______________________________
Aftab Omer, Ph.D.Dissertation Advisor
______________________________
Richard Carolan, Ed.D.
Dissertation Director
______________________________Gregory Max Vogt, Ph.D.
External Reader
______________________________
Melissa Schwartz, Ph.D.
Academic Dean
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ABSTRACT
AWAKENINGOSIRIS:
THETRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIALOFANGER
by
Richard David McCutchan
This dissertation proposes a new perspective for understanding the expression of
anger. Drawing from depth psychology, affect-theory, and mythology, it attempts to free
the understanding of anger from its problematized conceptualization by exploring the role
of reflexivity and its transformative potentials. The dissertation presents a typology of
the ways in which anger is experienced. The research investigates the reported
experience of five men who had physically abused their partners. The investigation
focuses on their anger and the role of reflexivity in tapping the transformative potential
inherent to the experience of anger. Identifying and engaging with the imaginal
structures associated with these anger experiences is viewed as a catalyst for
transformation.
The typology categorizes four constellations of how anger is experienced. It
focuses on the interaction between self- and other-focused anger and the role of
reflexivity. The four constellations are reflexive/self-focused anger (watching mode),
reflexive/other-focused anger (participating mode), non-reflexive/self-focused anger
(numbing mode), and non-reflexive/self-focused anger (reacting mode).
Guided by the typology, interviews were conducted with five men convicted of
spousal abuse. The taped interviews were then subjected to a narrative analysis utilizing
iv
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v
co-researchers. In a second round of interviews, these men were introduced to the
typology along with its associated mythic imagery. They were encouraged to identify
and engage the imaginal structures associated with their anger experience as identified by
the co-researchers. It is hypothesized that this type of reflexivity may catalyze
transformation of identity and relationship.
Through theory and application, the research presents an in-depth perspective of
the potential of identifying and engaging with the imaginal structures associated with
anger as a catalyst for transformative change. The response to the typology by the
participants shows potential for its use in working with domestic violence abusers,
particularly for the purpose of increasing self-awareness.
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viii
Plurality of Meaning
5. REFLECTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Domestic Violence
Anger, Self, and Other
Conclusion
Appendix
1. SEGMENTS OF TRANSCRIPTS TEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
2. INTERVIEW REFLECTIONS, INTERPRETATIONS AND SUMMARY 211
3. CONSENT AND DISCLOSURE FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
4. RATING SCALE OF REFLEXIVITY SCALE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
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LIST OF TABLES
TABLES
1. Four Primary Quadrants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2. A Typology of Anger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3. High and Low Reflexivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
x
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1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
For those who are not angry at the things they should be angry at are thought to be fools,and so are those who are not angry in the right way, at the right time, or with the right
persons.
Aristotle1
Aristotle professed an ideology of moderation toward the expression of anger,
contrary to his contemporaries such as Plato or Protagoras. InRhetoric he acknowledged
its virtue being found in a balance between excess and defect.2
Silvan Tomkins, whose
research focuses on the primary role of the affects, takes a similar view. His research
notes that not all anger turns to aggression, nor does all aggression become destructive.3
He also says that there are characteristics of anger and aggression, which sensitize all
society to inherent danger and therefore prompt a universal vigilance along with
sanctions against its free expression.4 Stephen A. Diamond wrote that the destructive
manifestations of anger and rage are seen in such forms as hostility, hatred, narcissistic
rage, violently explosive tempers, as well as implosive suicidal self-loathing.5
In Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud wrote that the survival of our world
might depend on mankinds ability to come to terms with the forces of aggression and the
resulting conflicts between nations, races, religions, communities, and individuals.6
Psychology has only more recently, with the development of affect research, begun to
understand the relationship between human aggression and the affect of anger. In his
book,Aggression in Personality Disorders and Perversions, Otto Kernberg uses affect
research to argue that at the core of Freuds aggression drive resides the affect of anger.7
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2
As yet psychology as well as humankind has not been able to come to terms with anger's
destructive nature. As a result, Stephen Diamond says, most "respectable" Americans
habitually suppress, repress, or deny their angerinadvertently rendering it doubly
dangerous. He wrote, the chronic suppression of anger and rage can and does sow the
evil seeds of psychopathology, hatred, and violence.8
If we listen to Aristotle, his words challenge us to look beyond the lens of
psychology to find a different image of anger. From Shakespeare to mythology to
historical writings we find tales in which anger and rage are not only destructive but also
transformative. Anger has been the catalyst that has built empires, and the fuel that has
sustained revolutions, both violent and non-violent. It has been the impetus toward many
humanitarian pursuits of justice and liberty. Recently, three Nobel laureates, in a news
interview, acknowledged that their anger was a motivator in their efforts toward peace.9
Their stories suggest that when ones desires or dreams have been blocked or restricted it
is the powerful forces of anger that can provide the passion, ardor, strength, endurance,
and courage that moves one toward action.
The mythology of anger from the earliest times attests to its tie to Eros (love and
desire). From the Homeric creation myths we learn that chaos gives birth to Eros that
brings forth not only love and desire but also terror, anger, strife, and fear. Earlier
Egyptian myths similarly present anger and rage as a response to chaos, emptiness, and
confusion. It is anger and rage that bring birth to the world. That very anger is the spark
that says I am alive, I will not stand for this, even if I can do nothing I will yell out. As
James Hillman describes it, our scream of rage is the voice of the self waking up, passion
being ignited, opening the door for Eros to enter.10
Hillmans interpretation argues that
the human psyche continually returns to a place of emptiness and chaos to once again act
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out an awakening that brings new life (Eros) back. As Aristophanes writes, in its search
for reunification of the psyche, Eros will attempt again and again to create dark nights
and confusion by returning to its origins in chaos.11
I have found that anger in the men in
my therapeutic practice resonates with ancient mythology. They scream in desperation,
crying out for love and passion to return to their lives. However, the anger or rage by
itself is not a formula that brings back Eros, in fact it often keeps it away. This research
moves toward a re-imaging of anger that allows light to be shed on how anger both repels
and attracts Eros. Benedictus Figulus points us in the direction with his words, Visit the
center of the earth, there you will find the global fire. Rectify it of all dirt, drive it out
with love and ire. . . .12
Theoretical Overview
The contention of this research study is that there is a transformative potential
inherent to the experience of anger. This challenges the dominant view in psychology
that has held to a problematized understanding of anger and its expression. Psychology,
along with contemporary culture, has taken the position that expressions of anger are to
be generally regarded as inappropriate and destructive to individuals, the community and
culture at large. As Rollo May wrote, our culture requires that we repress most of our
anger, and, therefore, we are repressed in most of our creativity.13
At best, anger
expressions are considered productive only as a release or catharsis. Fully
acknowledging the powerful destructive nature of the emotion anger, this research
explores both the effect of its suppression along with its potential for growth. I explore
these areas in this research by investigating the experience of men whose anger resulted
in marital violence.
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I contend that the expression of anger has the potential for positively impacting
the development of the self, as well as ones relationship with others. I further contend
that confrontation with significant others is a normal and necessary component for human
development. This confrontation with otherness starts in childhood and continues
throughout life. Heinz Kohut et al., suggest that the primary affect aroused by this
confrontation with otherness is anger.14
How one expresses that anger becomes critical
for both the internal development of a sense of self and the external development of
intimate relationships. When anger is expressed with self-awareness it has the potential
of creating experiences that can be transformative of identity as well as deepening
relationships.
The following theoretical frames support the contentions of this study: affect
theory, Jungian archetypal theory, and self-psychology along with intersubjectivity
theory. The key assumptions of this dissertation that are based on these theories are the
following:
As Otto Kernberg argues, the basic building blocks for the development of the
self lies in the affects.15
Daniel Stern tells us that affects such as joy, surprise, fear, and
anger become directly associated with and organize ones primary experiences with
others in the world.16
This starts with ones primary caregivers as represented in object-
relation theory. In early childhood the development of the self depends on empathic
reception from the primary caregiver. The child's development of a self-structure is
dependent on the caregivers ability to respond to the affects experienced by the child.
Initially there is an identification of the child with the caregiver, particularly exemplified
by the mirroring that takes place between child and caregiver. In order for a separate,
independent self-structure to emerge, a breaking away from the identification with the
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primary caregiver must take place. Mahlers rapprochement stage of development that
addresses separation-individuation is indicative of this process.17
Winnicott describes this process as the destruction of the early internal object that
enables the child to go beyond relating to the primary caregiver through identification,
projection, and other intrapsychic processes.18
It is only by the process of coming into
confrontation with difference from the other that the child is able to develop an
independent healthy self-structure. This process, according to Winnicott, is not a one-
time experience but rather a life-long process. It is my contention, supported by the
works of Kohut, Kernberg, Benjamin and Winnicott, as referenced on the previous pages,
that one of the primary associated affects related to this experience is anger. Their works
suggest that anger pushes for differentiation. It is anger that lets us know that our needs,
desires, yearnings are not being met or are being negated by another who has different
needs.
There is much that can go wrong with this confrontation with otherness. Kohuts
essay on narcissistic rage vivifies what can happen to the development of the self when
parent and child are unable to negotiate the conflict between self and otherness.19
Kohut
argues that mans rage is a narcissistic problem that leads to alienation from him or her
self, caused by the breakdown of an endangered or fragmented self.
Jessica Benjamin describes the successful negotiation of the confrontation as a
stage when the anger and rage damages neither parent nor the self.20
The impact of such
a successful negotiation brings with it a new experience of external reality that is in
distinct contrast to the inter-fantasy world. In intersubjective theory, this contrast shows
that an internal structure exists that is cognizant of ones own experience of the world as
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well as the experience of others who experience it differently. This eventually leads to
what intersubjective theorists refer to as subjective and objective self-awareness.
It is my contention, based on the works mentioned in this section, and my own
research and practice that the confrontation, which has its roots connected to the affect
anger is necessary for the continuing process of psychological growth to take place. An
individual development of and capacity for subjective and objective self-awareness in
moments of confrontation with others increases their potential for transformation of
identity. By transformation of identity I mean a change of the internalized self-structure
that takes into account both the intrapsychic and the intersubjective. Such confrontations
become creative and productive for the individual and relationship. Like Winnicott, I see
this as a vital and important life-long process, where relatedness is characterized not by
continuous harmony but rather by disruption and repair.
Jung referred to the psychological process of developing self-awareness as
reflection.21
Jung saw reflection as a cultural instinct par excellence, which gives
men/women the capacity to transform their emotions.22 He wrote, Reflexio is a turning
inwards, with the result that, instead of an instinctive action, there ensues a succession of
derivative contents or states which may be termed reflection or deliberation.23
He
further states, reflection re-enacts the process of excitation and carries the stimulus over
into a series of images which, if the impetus is strong enough, are reproduced in some
form of expression.24
He says that it is the awareness of those images that gives a
person the capacity to transform the compulsive act into a conscious and creative one.
The more common term for this is self-awareness. W. R. Torbert conceptualizes
phenomena that is not just an internal process of reflection and deliberation but rather one
that the person is conscious in the midst of action.25
Torberts conceptualization is
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further developed by John Heron and Peter Reason as a critical component in research to
denote a self-reflexive attention to the ground we stand on.26
Sheldon Bach and John
Auerbach have used the terms reflexive self-awareness and self-reflexivity to
describe similar processes of selfawareness in the midst of action.27
This research will use the term reflexivity to describe a phenomenon that includes
both a reflective process and active participation in the world. Aftab Omer has been
instrumental in developing a conceptualization of reflexivity that includes both reflection
and participation. He defines reflexive participation as the practice of surrendering
through creative action to the necessities, meanings, and possibilities inherent in the
present moment.28
He further says reflexivity involves . . . the capacity to engage and
be aware of those imaginal structures that shape and constitute our experience. He
defines imaginal structures as:
. . . assemblies of sensory, affective, and cognitive aspects of experienceconstellated into images; they both mediate and constitute experience. The
specifics of an imaginal structure are determined by an interaction of personal,cultural, and archetypal influences. These influences may be teased apart by
attention to the stories that form personal character and the myths that shape
cultural life. During the individuation process, imaginal structures are transmuted
into emergent and enhanced capacities as well as transformed identity. Anyenduring and substantive change in individual or group behavior requires a
transmuting of imaginal structures. This transmutation depends upon an
affirmative turn toward the passionate nature of the soul.29
In this research I contend that reflexivity, when coupled with the anger experience,
can tap the transformative potentials inherent to the experience of anger. The research
study investigates the reported experience of five men who have physically abused their
partners. The investigation focuses on their anger in context of a relationship and how
reflexivity interfaces with that anger. The potential role of identifying and engaging with
the imaginal structures associated with these anger experiences are investigated as being
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the catalyst for transformation. For the purpose of this investigation I present a typology
of how anger is experienced.
This typology of anger is presented as a model for working with and
understanding therapeutic issues involving anger. Moreover, it is presented to expand the
dimensions of how we talk about anger. The lens that I look through has its origins in
depth psychology. However, the typology, as addressed in the literature review, is
grounded in multiple fields of psychology, including social cognitive theory, domestic
violence research, affect theory as well as depth psychology. Any typology is
reductionistic by definition, since it directs us toward a process of simplification of our
experiences. Yet it is only through simplification, by use of abstractions, that we make
sense of those experiences. My typology is therefore a simplification. However, the
abstractions that it uses are presented in order to create images that expand the awareness
of the topic. In keeping with this, I will start with images from mythology that carry the
abstract concepts that delineate my typology.
The Myth Of Osiris
Man today stripped of myth, stands famished among all his pasts and must dig frantically
for roots, be it among the most remote antiquities. Friedrich Nietzsche
30
Since its early development, psychology has drawn from ancient myths to name
the abstractions of psychological concepts such as narcissism or the Oedipus complex.
For Jung, myths have meaning for everyone because they represent in story fashion
archetypes, that is, patterns of life that are universally valid. By using these myths we
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add life, meaning, and depth to our understanding of the human condition. In Jungs
words,
In describing the living processes of the psyche, I deliberately and consciously
give preference to a dramatic mythological way of thinking and speaking, becausethis is not only more expressive but also more exact than an abstract scientific
terminology, which is wont to toy with the notion that its theoretic formulations
may one fine day be resolved into algebraic equations.31
There are many myths that could contribute toward the understanding of anger.
For example, Ares, the Greek god of war, evokes the image of anger and rage. However,
I looked for a myth that would show how anger transforms into creative energy while
also showing an awareness of the destructive forms anger takes, a myth that gives light to
the various manifestations of anger, transcends its destructive qualities, and shows us
how it might be transformed into a creative life force.
The myth that spoke to me as I struggled with my understanding of anger comes
from an ancient body of literature inscribed on the walls of pyramids more than 4000
years ago. These writings are most commonly known as the pyramid texts or the
Egyptian Book of the Dead.32 The primary myth that comes out of these writings is that
of Osiris. As in so many ancient myths, there is no one version of Osiris. The telling has
changed over many thousands of years. Osiris various forms changed even within the
ancient texts that spanned centuries of Egyptian history. Early writings by the Greeks
were collections of oral stories and it was not until the nineteenth century that the
hieroglyphs were actually decoded. I rely primarily on the version of E. A. Wallis
Budge, originally published in 1911, as well as Sir James George Frazers, The New
Golden Bough.33
Also helpful has been the more recent texts including Normandi Ellis
poetic translationAwakening Osiris and Jean Houston's book The Passion of Isis and
Osiris.34
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The myth of Osiris begins with the creation of the universe. Nut, mother sky, has
been impregnated by Geb, the life force of earth. They had previously given birth to Ra
and Thoth, the sun and moon respectively. In Nut's womb lived five children: Osiris,
Set, Horus, Isis, and Nephthys. Ra the sun, Nut's first-born child, was jealous of sharing
the world with his siblings. As Frazer writes, Ra in his anger cursed the goddess, saying
that she should give birth to the offspring neither in any month nor in any year.35
For
16,000 years the five waited to be born. Thoth, the moon god, using trickery in a game
similar to checkers, won five days of the year from Ra. Thoth only agreed to return the
days to Ra if he allowed the five brothers and sisters to be born. Ra became enraged but
in the end agreed. Thus Osiris and his four brothers and sisters were born in anger. Lots
were chosen to see who would be born first. Although Osiris won, Set argued that he
should be first for he wanted to go out and do battle with Ra for preventing their birth for
so long. According to Houstons translation, the following words are spoken: Set
shouted, Could I but see him face to face, I'd poke out his eye. Horus intervened
saying, the lots are cast as they are cast. There are those of us who would prefer not to
be born at all. It is an endless striving, full of unfilled desire and regret.36
In the end it
was agreed that Osiris would go first and make peace with Ra. Horus was born second,
Set third, and then Isis and Nephthys.
Osiris made peace with Ra and proceeded to build agricultural communities along
the Nile of Egypt. Horus, unlike his brothers, feared life on earth. In Houstons words
He climbed to the belly of the sky, a hawk of gold, whose claws never pressed against
the earth. Keen were his eyes and wide his vision. . . . From the heights he observed
how the laws of Heaven and Earth were formed, how deep the night, how bright the
noon, how cool the shade, how beautiful the dusk and dawn.37
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Set, malformed by his rage, was born with the head of an ass. He became the
warrior leading his band of men through the rugged mountains, hunting in order to
survive the desolate areas of Egypt. Isis, Osiris twin in the womb, became Osiris wife
on earth and likewise Nephthys became Sets wife.
Thus, our story begins on earth with three man-gods and two women-gods. Osiris
travels from village to village, worked hard to teach the art of agriculture along the Nile.
Isis, his partner, practiced the art of medicine and midwifery using herbs, and was often
away helping with births throughout the land.
As legend has it, a great feast was held to celebrate the twenty-eighth year of their
arrival and the abundance of the harvest. Set, jealous of Osiris accomplishments on
earth, devised a plan of revenge, for he blamed Osiris for his harsh life in the wilderness.
He built a beautiful cedar box the size of a man. It was carved and decorated with jewels
and ornamentation. With his group of 72 men, he arrived at the feast. Osiris,
unsuspecting, was pleased to see his brother and welcomed him and his men. Well into
the night, when all were in good spirits, Set playfully announced that he would give his
beautiful box to any man who fit into it. One by one with great rivalry and laughter each
man got into the box, but none fit for it was very large. In the end only Osiris was left;
when he laid himself down in the box it was a perfect fit. At that moment Sets men ran
forward and nailed the box shut. The box, now a coffin, was quickly carried to the Nile
and set adrift. Set thus took over Osiris position of ruler of the land. In her grief, Isis
searches for Osiris to bring him home for a proper burial. Through much trial she
eventually finds Osiris in the coffin and secretly brings him back. She leaves him hidden
in a cave, but by chance Set finds the cave and discovers Osiris in the coffin. Overcome
by rage, Set dismembers the body of Osiris into 14 pieces and throws them into the Nile.
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When Isis discovers what has happened, she is again overcome by grief and once again
goes after Osiris body, eventually retrieving all but one of the 14 pieces. Osiris phallus
has been eaten by the fish and is not recoverable. Isis puts Osiris body back together and
carves a phallus to replace his. According to the myth, she uses her powers and becomes
impregnated by Osiris and a son is born.
The son is named Horus after his uncle and is referred to as Horus twice born.
This Horus is raised in seclusion to protect him from the wrath of Set. As he grows up he
is instructed by his father, who now resides in the underworld. When Horus reaches
adulthood he goes forth to challenge Set as ruler of the land. They fight for many days
and nights in a terrible battle. It is so horrible that even the gods want it to stop. Isis is
overcome and tries to offer compassion to Set. Horus, consumed by the battle, cuts off
his mothers head. Thoth restores it with his powers. Horus loses one eye during the
battle, which is healed by the spit of Thoth. His eye thus returned to him brings new
sight and the ability not to be blinded by battle.
Eventually, the fighting stops with Horus the supposed victor. However, Set goes
to the supreme court of the gods in the great hall at Heliopolis and makes a claim that
Horus is a bastard and therefore unfit to rule. Not content at having murdered his brother,
Set carries his rage beyond the grave accusing the dead Osiris of high crimes and
misdemeanors. In one version of the myth, Horus is pronounced the true-begotten son of
his father and given the crown and power over all the land. Frazer tells us that in another
version the victory of Horus is not so decisive, and it ends in a compromise by which
Horus reigns over the Delta, while Set becomes king of the Upper Valley of the Nile.
Either way, the accession to the throne of Horus begins, for Egyptians, the modern period
of the world. Horus is the first of the Pharaohs to rule Egypt.38
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In my search for what transforms anger, the myth of Osiris offers a story that
exhibits four forms of anger, each with their own dynamics related to transformation.
These four forms match up with the four quadrants of my typology, given the
descriptions of watching, numbing, reacting, and participating. The three brothers born
as god-men represent the four personifications: Horus the Hawk (watching), Osiris
(numbing), Set (reacting), and Osiris son Horus twice born (participating) who becomes
first Pharaoh of Egypt.
Set is most easily identified by his anger and rage. Nathan Schwartz-Salant writes
of the mythological importance of this connection as it relates to transformation.
39
He
begins by reacting with anger to Ra the sun, perhaps rightly so, for his mothers
suffering. His rage is so great he is born malformed with the head of an ass, an image
well suited to describe how some individuals act when overcome by rage. As the myth
progresses we find Set blaming Osiris for his fate, which eventually leads to killing his
brother and the dismemberment of his body. Horus the Hawk, unlike Set, responds to
Ras anger at his mother not with more anger, but with fear, retreating to the safety of the
sky where he can spend his time watching the laws of heaven and earth. He escapes
into the sky in an attempt to free himself from involvement with earthly conflicts and
emotions. I will refer to him as the one who is always watching for his ability to see
what others cannot.
Osiris, without the keen eye of his brother Horus, proceeds diligently. He is a
hard worker who brings abundance and prosperity to the land, but then becomes a victim
of his brothers anger. He becomes trapped by his brother in a coffin and dismembered.
According to the legend, he then becomes ruler of the underworld. The anger and rage of
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his brother traps Osiris and takes away his power, leaving him impotent. I represent
Osiris with the attribute of numbing.
Last comes Osiris son Horus, seen by Jung as a transformation of Osiris by
bringing the unconscious to light. In fact, the myth gives the impression that twice-born
Horus has the qualities of all three god-men. As with the first Horus, he shares his name
and the symbol of the hawk, one who can see what others cannot. Twice-born Horus
needs to fight his uncle, Set, to show that he has the spirit of a warrior before he can
rightly take his place as ruler of Egypt. In that battle Horus loses an eye that is returned
and healed by the spit of Thoth, who represents wisdom. Significantly, this symbolizes
Horus having gained the capacity for self-awareness and thus the heat of battle no longer
blinds him. According to Normandi Ellis, Osiris is always represented as the spiritual
warrior.40
Throughout this dissertation I will represent Horus by his quality of
participating, indicating the ability to act with clarity and compassion.
A Proposed Typology Of Anger
The human rage reaction has not been adequately evaluated from a psychiatric orpsychological point of view, even though it is a central phenomenon in violence.
Robert Zaslow41
This typology has been developed based on my fieldwork as well as theory and
research in the area of anger. Originally, I did not start my inquiry into anger with a
typology in mind. My interest was to explore the psychological benefits of anger as an
emotion and how it contributed to the growth of the individual. My clinical work over
the past seven years has entailed facilitating groups where anger, often involving
violence, has been a central issue. During this same period, I have also been working
with a wide range of men in personal growth groups. Consistently, I found anger to be a
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central theme in mens lives. I also found there to be a disturbing lack of continuity
among the multiple disciplines of psychology with regard to understanding and working
with the varied experiences of anger.
Although all areas of psychology have theoretical controversy, with anger there
was something even more disturbing to me as a clinician and researcher. As I observed
the men with whom I worked, I would find myself moving from one clinical approach to
another as I worked with different men. My theoretical frames of reference were rooted
in social cognitive research, affect theory, and depth psychology. One or more of these
would have significant relevance and applicability to any particular situation. However,
each seemed to have limitations in understanding the spectrum of the experiences of
anger. Even more troublesome was the contradictory research data between theorists.
As a result of struggling with the contradictions in the research combined with the
experience of men dealing with anger, a typology began to emerge. It focused on several
dominant attributes of anger that presented themselves in research, theory, and in the
field. The first of these is angers instinctive nature, what Jung calls the autonomic
nature of the affects. In common language, this represents how anger can take hold of us
to the point where our behavior is out of control. Common language uses phrases like
in a fit of anger, or possessed by anger. The second attribute that the typology
addresses is the intersubjective nature of anger. Anger is most typically relationship
based. We get angry with someone. More often than not that someone is close to us,
such as a friend, a spouse, or our child. The intersubjective nature of anger deeply affects
the internal self, giving a feeling of validation or rejection of who we think we are.
This validation or rejection of the self is closely related to how one deals with
their anger. The individual struggles between expression and non-expression of anger.
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Due to personal and societal values, sanctions, and fears, anger is, most likely, the most
suppressed and repressed of the emotions in Western culture. The last aspect that the
typology addresses is angers potential for transformation, that which changes the
destructive potential of anger to creative acts that are life affirming. Keeping these
aspects in mind, my typology focuses on four ways that anger is experienced:
reflexive/self-focused anger (watching), reflexive/other-focused anger (participating),
non-reflexive/self-focused anger (numbing), and non-reflexive/other-focused anger
(reacting).
Table 1: Four Primary Quadrants
Reflexive
Mode1 Watching Mode 4 Participating
Self-focused Other-focused
Mode 2 Numbing Mode 3 Reacting
Pre-reflexive
As Table 1 shows, there are four primary quadrants to the typology. The
horizontal axis relates to self-focused anger on the left side and other-focused anger on
the right side. The vertical axis relating to high-reflexivity at the top and low-reflexivity
or pre-reflexive at the bottom. Consequently, the quadrants moving counter clockwise
starting at the upper left corner are: 1) high-reflexivity and self-focused anger
(Watching); 2) low-reflexivity self-focused anger (Numbing); 3) low-reflexivity other-
focused anger (Reacting); 4) high-reflexivity other-focused anger (Participating). The
four quadrants can be conceptually tied to the myth of Osiris. Correspondingly, the
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quadrants represent the experiential modes as follows: 1) Horus the Hawk, watching; 2)
Osiris, numbing; 3) Set, reacting; 4) Horus Son of Osiris, participating.
Before addressing the key constructs in the typology I will give a behavioral
description of what sets the stage for an anger experience to take place. The sequence is
consistent with Silvan Tomkins affect theory, Paul Ekman and Richard Davidsons
affect research, the work of Keith Oatley, and the neo-associative theory of Leonard
Berkowitz.42
A stimulus happens in the external world. Then there is a reaction to it.
For the anger experience to happen, an internal sensory stimulation must be activated
unique to the affect anger (see the affect system, Literature Review). This internal
stimulation comes in the form of bodily changes and feelings (biologically based). This
internal sensory stimulation has the same attention-grabbing power as the external
stimuli. It is this internal sensory stimulus that generates an impulse to action along with
a network of messages. As is true for the external stimulus, the greater the intensity of an
internally generated stimulus, the more completely it commands attention and redirects
the processing of ones personal resources such as images, defenses, cognition, motor
processes, scripts, etc. (The body reacts initially much the same as a response to pain,
such as touching a hot stove.) At this point if anger is evoked we may begin to have what
is called an anger experience. If the system were in balance we would assume that the
intensity of the internal stimulus would be proportional and appropriate to the external
stimulus. For anger this could range from mild irritability to rage. A multitude of
influences affects the intensity. A person may be tired, happy, or depressed, for example,
any of which conditions will affect the internal intensity of how they experience the
external event. Other variables affecting the intensity include past experiences with
similar situations and affects extending back to primary experiences with caregiver
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related to anger.43
Despite the multitude of variables that impact how anger is evoked,
there are relatively few forms that anger takes and can still be called anger. I have chosen
two specific variables that are dominant in determining those forms.
Those variables are the relationship between self-focused anger and other-focused
anger as it is impacted by the capacity of reflexivity.
Self- And Other-Focused Anger
To avoid a reductive typology of anger that separates the emotion from behavior,
my typology attempts to make sense out of anger by including the behavior that anger
elicits. The affect theorists describe emotions, and anger in particular, as having action
tendencies that when activated elicit a behavior. They consider the function of the
emotions to provide information: 1) to inform the organism of how it values the stimulus
that has affected it, 2) to communicate to others ones internal experience (via facial
expressions and action). I use the term other-focused to describe the multiple ways that
anger shows itself in behavior directed toward another. It may be aggressive, destructive,
expressive, verbal, nonverbal, coherent, non-coherent, artistic, violent, funny, or
irritating, as well a combination of these behaviors. The polarity of this is self-focused
angeranger that is held or focused on oneself, wherein the experience primarily takes
place within the persons internal world. The anger or rage is turned against the self.
Little or no expression of self-focused anger is used with the intent to directly penetrate
the outer world of others, although it may have an impact. For example, as I become
aware of my anger, I leave the situation to be by myself till I can get over it.
When other-focused anger can have a wide range of expressions that can include
violent destructive acts as well as creative constructive ones. By definition the form it
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takes has the component of having impact on others, while self-focused anger primarily
refers to a limited internal experience of anger that is not shared, communicated, or
demonstrated to the world outside oneself. C. D. Spielberger makes this same distinction
in his anger expression inventory, focusing on the health effects of self-directed versus
other-directed anger.44
Reflexive/Pre-Reflexive
The second variable (vertical axis) ranges from pre-reflexive to reflexive. The
term pre-reflexive is based on J. P. Sartres definition.45
He uses the term to denote the
lack of cognitive capacity to reflect on the meaning of ones experiences. He compares it
to animals in that they are not aware of being aware.46
An example would be that of a
tired and frustrated parent who yells at or slaps their child without thinking. In his
research on being angry, Stevick also uses this term where he describes the experience
of anger as pre-reflexive.47
For my purpose, the term pre-reflexive refers to the
experience of acting without thought or awareness.
On the other end of this axis in my typology is reflexivity. I use this term to
denote a high degree of awareness of ones self and ones experiencing of the anger
affect. To feel ones angry feelings, to think ones thoughts. Jung writes of this
phenomena as a reflective instinct (Reflexio) that gives man the ability to transform the
otherwise compulsive act into a conscious content.48
I use Omers definition of
reflexivity as the capacity to engage and be aware of those imaginal structures that shape
and constitute our experience.49
Omers definition contains not only the reflective
aspect spoken of by Jung but also an engagement or participation with otherness.
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Trudy Mills and Sherryl Kleinman formulate that there are four primary ways that
an individual may respond to a situation: reflexive and emotional, unreflexive and
emotional, reflexive and without feeling, and neither reflexive nor emotional.50
They
emphasize that humans do not simply respond to the environment, but interpret what is
going on around them including their own actions. This process of self-reflexivity
goes into decision-making and, when combined with peak emotion, can bring both
insight and what they call felt action. Mills and Kleinmans sociological perspective
on how people experience their thoughts and feelings is similar to the Jungian
understanding of the interplay between reflexivity and emotion.
It is important to emphasize that reflexivity is not entirely an internal process.
The process is first initiated by stimulus from the external world. Second, to be aware of
the internal as well as external images in our world means a continual interchange with
those images. We might imagine the reflexive process to be dialectic in nature. For it to
work, there must be a continual exchange with otherness. As Omer points out the task
of experiencing the other demands that we recognize and relate to differences. 51 It is
important to emphasize that pre-reflexive/reflexive is not either/or but on a continuum
from non-awareness to a reflexive consciousness.
Using the two primary axes of self- and other-focused and reflexive/pre-reflexive
(see Table 1) I will now describe the four primary modes of experiencing anger. This
typology is an adaptation of the four modes of experiencing typology proposed by Omer
in writing about the importance of engaging and recognizing differences.52
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Table 2: A Typology of Anger
HIGH-REFLEXIVITY
MODE 1: WATCHING MODE 4: PARTICIPATING
holding compassionate involvementsuppression reflexive participation
alienation art, social movementsymbiotic mode
53empowerment
embodiment
Self-focused anger (Non-participatory) Other-focused anger (Highly participatory)
MODE 2: NUMBING MODE 3: REACTINGrepression blaming, revenge
psychic numbing regression, projection
chronic, depression splittingirritability violent rageschizoid
PRE-REFLEXIVITY
Mode 1: Reflexive/Self-Focused (Watching)
The process of reflecting on ones awareness of his or her anger and inhibiting
any outward expression or acknowledgement of it to others exemplifies this category.
Though normally we find the process of reflexivity to be transformative, from clinical
experience I find that anger become transformative for individuals only when there is
some outward expression of it. In Omers description of reflexivity, the capacity to
engage and be aware of those imaginal structures that shape and constitute our
experience, the word engage becomes the critical issue.54
Within our culture,
engagement denotes doing or action. In this context engagement would imply
involvement with another. Within that context a mode of experiencing anger that is fully
reflexive and self-focused is in general incongruent. There may be a more viable form in
Eastern thought in such disciplines as meditation. However, staying with the
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phenomenology that is exhibited in our culture, this quadrant addresses the mode of
experiencing that falls short of a full reflexivity but at the same time involves the
experiencer with awareness of their anger. This area is discussed here.
This limiting of action (inhibiting the communication of the emotion to another)
can distinguish itself by the defense mechanism of suppression: I know I am angry, but
it is best not to show it, for that will only make things worse. The common term used
here is holding. In general this mode is initiated out of fear, either the fear of
abandonment, retribution, or fear of hurting someone that is close to them. In general, in
this mode one chooses an internal solution, one watches rather than participates with
the other. (It should be noted that the other could potentially be a substitute
[therapist, friend, or expressive process, in which case the mode of experiencing moves
out of Mode 1]. This would be other-focused and move the experience into or toward the
participating mode.)
I find Mode 1, common in codependent/symbiotic relationships, to be a form of
protecting the relationship at all costs. Omer suggests that in such symbiotic
relationships, when anger is forbidden, the energy to differentiate is not there. He also
says under the constraints of symbiosis, the not entirely deadened urge to differentiate
surfaces as withholding.55
In the long run it contributes to an emotional alienation from
the other. When it is the mode of preference it often goes with a symbiotic character
behavior described in the writings of Stephen Johnson as dependent, clinging,
complaining, and afraid of separation.56
Script Decisions and Pathogenic Beliefs:
The less conflict the better. I am nothing without you, and I am afraid my angerwill chase you away. I am responsible for protecting you from my anger. If I
really love you, I wouldnt be angry with you. I cannot tolerate difference
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between us. I have to control myself or I will totally lose control. Do not rock the
boat.
Defenses:
Suppression, merger, denial, identification, omnipotent responsibility,
introjection.
Horus the Hawk: In order to bring life and substance to the abstraction of self
and other-focused anger and reflexivity I will return to our guiding metaphor of the
myth of Osiris. Our interest here is in the phenomenon of anger when it is turned inward
and while the individual is still reflexive. Osiris brother, Horus the Hawk, best
represents awareness without outwardly showing or acting on it. In the mythology,
Horus the Hawk is reluctant even to being born, fearing the rage of Ra the sun god. In
Houstons translation Horus said about life, it is an endless striving, full of unfilled
desire and regret. But the particular image that stands out about this Horus is that once
born he clung to the belly of the sky, a hawk of gold whose clawed feet never pressed
against the earth. Keen were his eyes and wide his vision.57
In psychological terms,
Horus brings to us a constellation ruled by fear. He indicates that it is far better to rise
above conflict than to embrace it. Rising above means to have a keen eye so that one can
spot danger in order to avoid it. However, as the myth tells us, the Hawks feet never
touch the ground. This symbolizes the shadow side of Horus, the hawk, for he is left
ungrounded and unconnected to life in a state of alienation. He makes every attempt to
suppress negative emotions such as anger for fear of what it might bring.
Mode 2: Pre-Reflexive/Self-Focused (Numbing)
This mode, in contrast to the prior one, is characterized by the defense of
repression. In extreme forms it is denoted by a schizoid state. This mode of experiencing
involves the denying of internal reaction to the stimulus. Unable to handle the
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experiencing of the anger or conflict, the person essentially numbs out his or her
awareness of it. In psychoanalytic terms this is represented by the concept of repression.
Omer points out the importance of Robert Liftons shift from repression to psychic
numbing.58
Liftons psychic numbing, which he found in both the survivors of Nazi
concentration camps and the survivors of the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb, characterizes this
mode well. He says [psychic numbing] refers to an incapacity to feel or confront certain
kinds of experience, due to the blocking or absence of inner forms of imagery that can
connect with such experience. . .59
In extreme form it manifests as a pervasive
tendency toward sluggish despair, diminished vitality, chronic depression, and constricted
life space which covers over the rage and mistrust that is just beneath the surface.60
Irritability is also a manifestation of this mode. The most extreme of this mode would be
a psychotic state.
Script Decisions and Pathogenic Beliefs:
I do not need you. You cannot hurt me. Im not angry. My happiness, success,
and survival do not depend on you. I can punish you by withholding from both ofus. I do not feel anything. It is better to deaden oneself than to risk being killed.
Ill kill myself rather than experience the anger and the hurt that goes with it. Just
leave me alone.
Defenses:
denial, repression, dissociation, projection, identification, turning against the
self, chronic holding back of unacceptable or distrusted impulses. Rule-boundliving, addictions, rituals, anything that wards off anger-related content.
Osiris: The Egyptian god of the underworld best represents this constellation that
is dominated by repression. As we remember in Egyptian mythology, Osiris was first
born of the god-human incarnations. Osiris represented fertility; as a young man he
brought stability and growth to Egypt. Then in the prime of his youth and the height of
his reign, his brother, Set, took his kingdom from him by trickery and left Osiris nailed
inside a coffin, sentenced to eternal life in the underworld. The images of the Osiris
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myth hold the psychological dynamics of entrapment, abandonment, and powerlessness.
The myth describes Osiris despair as he finds himself trapped and powerless in the
underworld. There is a similarity with what Lifton describes as the numbing of modern
life that can bring despair, diminished vitality, and depression, all of which hover over
the rage and mistrust that are beneath the surface.
The Egyptian myth of Osiris also speaks to the phenomenon of anger within
relationships. It is his wife, Isis, who eventually finds Osiris dead and tries to bring him
back to the living. In psychological terms she is trying to wake Osiris up from his inert
and numb state. We could liken Osiris to the hard-working husband who comes home
and collapses on the couch in front of the TV, or the young man out of work, feeling
defeated, or the middle-aged man who has lost his energy and drive for work and finds
little meaning in his life. The spouse of any one of these men may find herself living
with an emotionally unavailable partner. Much like Isis, she finds herself trying to
awaken Osiris from his inert state, looking for the passion she once knew.
Mode 3: Pre-Reflexive/Other-Focused (Reacting)
This category is exemplified by highly explosive reactions. We often experience
the person in this mode as regressing to an infantile temper tantrum. We see little self-
awareness. Clinically, it is common to see splitting in this pre-reflexive state which
fosters little awareness of self and other. Not only does the intent seem to be to blame the
other for ones upsetness, but also to make the other angry as well. Blame and revenge
become the key focus of energy in this mode. In a higher functioning individual (as one
moves up toward awareness) this mode is exemplified by criticality, demandingness,
dominance, and stinging aggressiveness.
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Script Decisions and Pathogenic Beliefs:
I would not be angry if it wasnt for you. Its all your fault. I will make you payfor my suffering. Do not dare to challenge me. Social authority is the enemy and
one should act on ones impulses to protect oneself. Neediness or helplessness is
repulsive and should be avoided at all cost.
Defenses:
splitting, omnipotent responsibility or grandiosity, projection, identification,
primitive regression, denial, reaction formation, aggression and hostility,narcissistic rage, repression, acting out.
Set: The metaphor that carries this constellation is Set, Osiris brother and enemy.
Set, born second as a god-human in Egyptian mythology, carries the archetype of the
warrior, later seen in Greek mythology as Ares. Sets birth typifies his essence, he argues
(but fails) to be born first so that he can do combat with Ra the sun god who has
prevented his and that of his brothers and sisters birth for 16,000 years. Houston
translates that while still in the womb, Set shouts, Could I but see him face to face, I'd
poke out his eye.61
Set can be equated with the more primitive Hunter archetype.
While Osiris was building his kingdom based on agriculture, Set led his band of men
through the woods teaching them to be hunters. In this constellation, numbness or fear is
not the problem. Set instinctively responds with anger or rage turning it into action
directed outward. In the mythology, when Set finds Osiris coffin, brought back by Isis
to Egypt, he is instantly consumed by rage. Even though Osiris is dead in the coffin, Set
is so enraged that he dismembers the body of Osiris into 14 pieces and throws them into
the Nile.
Also inherent in Set is his orientation toward blame. In the mythology the blame
starts with Ra, the sun god, for causing his mothers suffering, then he blames Osiris for
his unhappiness with his wife, and later his blame is directed toward Osiris son, Horus.
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Mode 4: Reflexive/Other-Focused (Participating)
This category is best exemplified by reflexive participation within the heat of the
anger. Omer uses the term, reflexive participation to refer to both a mode of being and as
a transformative practice. He describes reflexive participation as the practice of
surrendering through creative action to the necessities, meanings, and possibilities
inherent in the present moment.62
Further, the term reflexive participation describes the
capacity to experience differences from the other while neither being merged with nor
alienated from the other.63
Compassionate involvement also might describe this mode of
experiencing. What we see in this mode is the transforming of anger into imagining and
bringing forth a world that is different. In the long term, this may take the form of a
social movement or art. In the immediate experience, reflexive participation would
include a mode that is willing to experience intersubjectivity. Operating in this mode
means that the individual is willing to confront the differentness between ones self and
the other. Within the context of the clinical relationship, Nathan Schwartz-Salant
addresses the importance of this mode of expression inNarcissism and Character
Transformation. He writes: Anger and rage are catalysts that are the driving force for
the transformation . . . denial of rage can result in a stalemate in which little
transformation occurs.64
This mode of experiencing does not mean that the immediate
response to anger involves direct confrontation. The reflexivity process may bring one to
delay the type of action to be taken or to redirect it elsewhere. However, this mode holds
to an awareness of oneself and the other in the midst of action as one responds to the
anger reaction. In order for the anger to become transformative, the mode of
experiencing must embrace the emotional state, while simultaneously recognizing and
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Personal History
My research addresses the concept of reflexivity as it relates to anger and the men
in my study. It would be incongruent if I, the researcher, was not reflexive about my own
experience as well as revealing to my audience my reflective process. As Jung wrote I
know well enough that every word I utter carries with it something of myself. . . .66
With that in mind, the following is an overview of what brought me to do this research.
I have early childhood memories of my fathers rage echoing through the house. I
remember cowering in a corner or hiding under the covers. Later, I attended schools in
the inner city where too often anger was accompanied by the use of guns and knives. I
remember sitting at lunch time on the steps of my high school spouting off to my
companions about a particular group of kids who, that morning, had beaten up one of our
friends, sending him to the hospital. After I stopped talking, one of my friends looked at
me and said with a sarcastic tone What are you going to do, whip his butt? His words
silenced not only me, but all of us, because we all knew there was nothing we could do!
We carried no knives or guns and in the world we lived in that meant we had no power.
Any anger we felt was useless, and was best left buried or forgotten. Needless to say, the
concept of using our anger toward constructive transformation was non-existent for us
during those years.
During my late teens I had a significant argument with my dad. Looking back, I
realized that it was the first time I really stood up to him. I was brutal in my verbal
attack, and when it was over I could see he was crushed. We never let our anger rise up
between us like that again, for we had gone to a place too hurtful for either of us. That
day I believe my anger changed me, but it was not without a price. The potential for us
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as father and son to learn more about ourselves from our differences was lost due to fear
of the hurtful and destructive quality of the anger that engulfed us that day.
In many ways, my therapeutic practice today is about going back to those early
experiences of anger. I work with a diverse population of men. Whether working with
doctors or with construction workers, I see that anger has an effect on their lives. Those
who end up in our judicial system for violent crimes particularly exemplify the
destructive nature of anger. Their struggles with anger turned to violence were quite
different than my own. However, working with these men has increased my insight into
the nature of my own anger.
Participatory Research
This dissertation is a product of those men who shared their lives and suffering
with me. The symbolization that took the form of a typology came from the images that
they engaged and brought awareness to in hundreds of hours of therapy. In this research,
I collaborated with five men, each with his own unique story of domestic violence. The
focus of the interviews was to bring understanding to the experience of anger through a
mutual investigation and reflection. The participants brought with them their stories. In
turn I brought images and experiences of the men I had worked with over the years.
First, I listened to their stories. Then, through dialectical exchange and an Imaginal
Psychology orientation, I encouraged and facilitated a reflexive dialogue about their
experience. I was not looking for facts about what actually happened during the abuse,
but rather what was occurring for the research participant as related to the phenomenon of
anger. Catherine Riessman emphasizes the importance of the interviewer as a significant
contributor to the direction of the narrative. She says that the interviewer brings in his or
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her theoretical/epistemological positions, values and more often than not, his or her
personal biography. Close analysis of the narrative derives legitimization of these types
of interpretative or hermeneutic methods.67
The strategy adopted for this research
investigation was a qualitative research design using the in-depth interview with a
narrative approach.
Four Masters
I have already stated that the multi-perspectival lens I look through comes from
Imaginal Psychology. This dissertation is being written for the Institute of Imaginal
Studies, which has a distinct orientation toward the imaginal world that undoubtedly has
influenced my research. Pertinent to the approach that I have taken in this dissertation is
the lineage that gives the school its name and situates itself in Imaginal Psychology, a
discipline that draws from a number of domains of knowledge. These domains include
spiritual traditions, somatic practices, creative arts, mythology, indigenous wisdom, deep
ecology, and social critique.68
The Institute of Imaginal Studies hosts an Imaginal Psychology that reclaims soul
as psychologys primary concern. Imaginal Psychology distinguishes itself from other
orientations in psychology such as humanistic, transpersonal, and depth. In the Institutes
catalog, Omer describes Imaginal Psychology in the following way:
Imaginal Psychology has its roots in the transformative practices that are at the
core of many spiritual traditions and creative arts. In the last one hundred yearsmodern depth psychology has rediscovered these sacred potentials. ImaginalPsychology traces this vein of gold through its ancient and modern manifestations
in ways relevant to our contemporary lives, enabling a distinctly post-modern
psychology to emerge.69
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Hence, Imaginal Psychology moves us out of the clinical inquiry of the consulting room
and psychology laboratories. In fact Imaginal Psychology is larger than what is normally
considered psychology. Robert D. Romanyshyn writes, the term psychology might be
too small to encompass the range of the imaginal realm, because psychology as it
generally exists today is too small for the reality of soul.70
Therefore the necessity to
draw on knowledge domains outside of psychology.
Imaginal Studies, as an approach to disciplined inquiry, recognizes that our
experience and our actions in the world depend upon the images we inhabit.71
Research
in the realm of Imaginal Psychology calls for a search for knowledge that not only
contributes to academia but also embraces the community that the research is addressing.
This dissertation data collection has focused on the domestic violence abuser. In so
doing, a variety of images are evoked, not the least of which is the pain and suffering
perpetrated on spouses and children by the acts of domestic abusers. Since this
dissertation identifies itself with a psychology of the soul acknowledging that suffering
must be part of it. This is but one image that was evoked by our topic. I have chosen
four primary archetypal representations to give voice to some of the key images that
concern this dissertation. They include the poet, the therapist, the judge, and the
researcher. These voices have had their influence on my thoughts, my writing, and my
interchanges with participants and co-researchers. I present them here to make their
presence explicit to the reader. They will appear throughout the dissertation with the
intention of bringing a plurality of understanding to the topic. The poet will have his eye
tuned to the myths that are carried within each participant, myself, as well as the culture.
The therapist is keenly aware that the participants of this research are real people with
suffering and pain that cannot be ignored. In contrast, the judge reminds me that this
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identity. Any enduring and substantive change in individual or group behavior requires a transmuting of
imaginal structures. This transmutation depends upon an affirmative turn toward the passionate nature of
the soul.
30. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music. In The Philosophy ofNietzsche. Translated by Clifton P. Fadiman (New York: Random House, 1909).
31. Carl G. Jung,Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self. vol. 9, Pt. 2, 2nd ed.,TheCollected Works of C. G. Jung. Bollingen Series 20 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press., 1959
1968), quoted in Stephen A Diamond,Anger, Madness, and the Daimonic: The Psychological Genesis ofViolence, Evil, and Creativity (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996), 87.
32. E. A. Wallis Budge, The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Papyrus of Ani (New York, Dover,1967).
33. Ibid.; Sir James George Frazer, The New Golden Bough, ed. Dr. Theodor H. Gaster (NewYork: Criterion Books, 1959).
34.Normandi Ellis,Awakening Osiris: A New Translation of the Egyptian Book of the Dead(Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press, 1988); Jean Houston, The Passion of Isis and Osiris (New York:Ballantine Publishing Group, 1995).
35. Frazer, The New Golden Bough, 563.36. Houston, The Passion of Isis and Osiris, 33-34.37. Ibid., 34.38. Frazer, The New Golden Bough, 32839.Nathan Schwartz-Salant uses the mythology of Set in relationship to narcissistic rage as
related to Kohuts works. Nathan Schwartz-Salant,Narcissism and Character Transformation: The
Psychology of Narcissistic Character Disorders (Toronto, Canada: Inner City Books. 1982). In his book,The Borderline Personality, he again uses the myth of Osiris this time relating Osiris being dismembered tothe borderline personality. Nathan Schwartz-Salant,Archetypal Factors Underlying Sexual Acting-Out in
the Transference/Counter-transference Process (Wilmette, IL: Chiron, 1984), 1-30. The two prevalent
character disorders related to domestic violence are narcissistic and borderline disorders. Susan E. Hanks,
Translating Theory into Practice: A Conceptual Framework for Clinical Assessment, DifferentialDiagnosis, and Multi-Modal Treatment of Maritally Violent Individuals, Couples, and Families. In
Intimate Violence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, ed. Emilio C. Viano: 157-176 (Washington, DC:
Hemisphere Publishing Co., 1992), 169.
40. Ellis,Awakening Osiris, 22.41. Robert Zaslow and Marilyn Menta. Rage, Resistance, and Holding: Z-Process Approach
(San Jose, CA: Spartan Bookstore, San Jose State University, 1977).
42. Tomkins,Affect/Imagery/Consciousness, vol. 3: The Negative Affects: Anger and Fear; PaulEkman and Richard Davidson, ed. The Nature of Emotion: Fundamental Questions: Series in AffectiveScience (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); Keith Oatley, Those to Whom Evil Has BeenDone, Perspectives on Anger and Emotion,Advances in Social Cognition, vol. 6, ed. Robert Wyer and
Thomas K. Srull (New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 1993), 159-66; LeonardBerkowitz, Towards a General Theory of Anger and Emotional Aggression, Perspectives on Anger and
Emotion,Advances in Social Cognition, vol. 6, ed. Robert Wyer and Thomas K. Srull (New Jersey:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1993).
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251
43. Clinically, the intensity of the anger reaction adapts to fulfill a psychological function, such asto assert autonomy, to eliminate an obstacle or barrier, or to eliminate or destroy a source of profound pain
or frustration. Kernberg,Aggression in Personality Disorders and Perversions.
44. Charles D. Spielberger, G. A. Jacobs, S. F. Russell and R. S Crane, Assessment of Anger:The State-Trait Anger Scale, Advances in Personality Assessment, vol. 2.ed. J. N. Butcher & C.D.Spielberger (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1983).
45. Jean P. Sartre, The Emotions: Outline of a Theory, trans. B. Fechtman. (New York:Philosophical Library, 1948).
46. Theoretically, many have challenged the concept of pre-reflexivity, as all emotion has anappraisal element. However, from a phenomenological approach, the term as defined by J. P. Sartre
describes the common mans descriptive experience. It also has been used in a similar way in thephenomenological research of E. L. Stevick, An Empirical Investigation of the Experience of Anger,
eds. A. Giorgi, W. F. Fischer, and R. von Eckarsberg,Duquesne Studies in Phenomenological
Psychology: vol. 1 (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press., 1971).
47. Stevick, An Empirical Investigation of the Experience of Anger, 132-48.48. Jung, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, vol. 8, par. 241-3.49. Omer, definition for reflexivity, 1997.50. Trudy Mills and Sherryl Kleinman, Emotions, Reflexivity, and Action: An Interactionist
Analysis, Social Forces, 66 no. 4 (June 1988): 1009-1027.
51. This Dissertation, in chapter three, titled Experiencing the Other, examines the significanceof reflexive participation via a thorough examination of narcissism and mans search for the missing other.Aftab Omer,Experience and Otherness: On the Undermining of Learning in Educational Organizations
(Ph.D. diss., Brandeis University, 1990), 109.
52. Ibid., 163.53. Ibid., 85-7.54. Omer, definition for reflexivity, 1997.55. Omer, Experience and Otherness, 189-190.56. Stephen Johnson in his book, Character Styles elaborates on the symbiotic character style as it
applies to this mode of anger. Stephen M. Johnson, Character Styles (New York: W. W. Norton and Co,
Inc., 1994), 36-40
57.
Houston, The Passion of Isis and Osiris, 34.
58. Omer, Experience and Otherness, 83. quoted in Robert Jay Lifton, The Life of the Self, (NY:Basic Books, 1976), 27.
59. Ibid., 83.60. Robert J Lifton,Death in Life (New York: Random House, 1967), 504.61. Houston, The Passion of Isis and Osiris, 33.
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62. Omer, definition for reflexive participation, 1997.63. Omer, Experience and Otherness, 110.64. Schwartz-Salant,Narcissism and Character Transformation, 54-6.65. Andrew Samuels,A Critical Dictionary of Jungian Analysis (Routledge & Kegan Paul Inc.
1986), 128.
66. Carl G. Jung, Freud and Psychoanalysis. vol. 4. The Collected Works of C. G. Jung.Bollingen Series 20 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1961), par. 774.
67. Catherine Riessman,Narrative Analysis (Newbury Park: Sage Publications Inc., 1993), 61.68. Jung, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche.69. Aftab Omer, in the Institute of Imaginal Studies Course Catalog, 1997-98.70. Robert D. Romanyshyn, Ways of the Heart: Essays Toward an Imaginal Psychology
(Pittsburgh: Trivium Publications, 2002), 23.
71. Omer, in the Institute of Imaginal Studies Course Catalog, 1997-98.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
The overall literature review for this dissertation is divided into three primary
parts. Part one is a review of literature on anger, part two on reflexivity, and part three on
research that combines anger and reflexivity. Part one, on anger, is reviewed in four
segments designated as: Social Cognition Theory and Anger, Domestic Violence, Affect
Theory and Anger, and Depth Psychology and Anger.
Anger Research
Social Cognitive Theory and Anger
Oedipus tragic flaw is his wrath against his own reality.
Rollo May1
A social cognitive view of anger has been the predominant perspective in
psychological research over the last 50 years. It has taken its lead from early Western
cultural views of anger. Aristotle wrote in his work,Rhetoric, Anger may be defined as
a belief that we, or our friends, have been unfairly slighted, which causes in us both
painful feelings and a desire or impulse for revenge.2
This definition closely resembles that of James R. Averill in his renowned book,
Anger and Aggression: an Essay on Emotion.3
He wrote, Anger ensues primarily when
the frustration is occasioned by the actions of another person, actions, which are
appraised by the angry individual as unjustified or at least avoidable.4
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More recently Leonard Berkowitz acknowledges that this definition is entirely
consistent with the underlying assumptions of conventional cognitive social psychology.5
As Lee Ross and Richard E. Nisbett indicate, the dominant theoretical perspective in the
field supposes that virtually everything people do and feel in a given situation is
determined by how one construes what is happening.6
This position is consistent with
Schachter-Singers 1962 social psychological theory of the emotion. Stanley Schachter
and Jerome Singer presumed that bodily and neural biological responses to an event do
not in themselves stimulate a given form of behavior or even cause the production of
qualitatively specific feelings.
7
This theory, which has dominated the field of social
cognitive psychology, specifies that specific feelings are experienced and actions are
taken only when the afflicted person has made an interpretation of their internal
sensations and that those internal sensations, at best, only create a diffuse and
undifferentiated arousal state.8
This theoretical framework for understanding anger came from the early work of
William James.9 James counters what he calls the common man's view that an event
happens, one feels an emotion, and then one acts on it, with the assumption
that bodily manifestations must first be interposed between, and that the more
rational statement is that we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike,afraid because we tremble, and not that we cry, strike, or tremble, because we are
sorry, angry, or fearful, as the case may be.10
Thus, James, in his writings on emotion, predominantly sees emotion as an end product.
Keith Oatley describes the sequence as being an event occurs, which is followed by a
bodily reaction, and then followed by the emotion as a perception of the bodily reaction.11
This line of thought deems that bodily sensations caused by an event are not in
themselves emotions. They only become emotions such as anger as a result of how they
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are construed by the individual. Schachter and Singers conventional formulations
suggest that the unhappy occurrence, however it arises, does not in itself produce motor
reactions having particular aims. The individual thus acts in a certain way because of a
decision, reached consciously or unconsciously, as to how to act. B. Weiner, Dolf
Zillmann, et al. give empirical support for this reasoning, based on reports of individual
experiences as well as laboratory research.12
This formulation has contributed to the
general social cognitive argument that cognition must be present for any emotion to take
place.
One of the most outspoken cognitive theorists on the emotion and anger is
Richard Lazarus. He strongly argues the importance of the interpreted subjectivity of the
experiencer in deciding whether an event is arbitrary or malevolent on the part of the
offenders intentions. Lazarus points out that present-day cognitive motivational
relational ideas restate Aristotle's concept of anger as the reaction to a personal slight or
insult that in effect is an assault on one's ego identity. He sees provocation as the element
of what makes adult anger different from other negative emotional states all of which are
derived from harm, loss, or threat.13
A complication in understanding anger is that often the terms anger and
aggression have been used interchangeably. As noted by Averill, the relation between
anger and aggression is not clear.14
He distinguishes anger as a passion, not an action.
Elizabeth Lemerise and Kenneth Dodge elaborate on Averills position suggesting that
sometimes aggression can be an expression of anger, but in other cases it may serve
dominance and instrumental functions.15
In general it is accepted that anger does not
inevitably lead to aggression. In the more recent article, Advances In Social Cognition
Perspectives On Anger and Emotion,Berkowitz notes that few experimental social
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psychologists have tried to spell out in any detail the possible relationship between
aggression and the less fairly specific emotional state commonly termed anger.16
Berkowitz himself makes the distinction that aggression has to do with behavior that
deliberately attempts to achieve a particular goal, i.e., injuring another person. This
action is thus goal directed. By contrast, anger doesn't necessarily have any particular
goal and refers only to a particular set of feelings, the feelings we usually label
anger. 17
Some are only hostile responses, classified as instrumental aggression are
prompted largely by the hope of gaining some benefit other than injuring the victim.
Lemerise and Dodge suggest that there are emotional aggressive actions, which are
presumably impelled largely by specific emotional reactions within the body.18
Berkowitz and Dodge are among the growing number of social cognitive researchers that
have made use of affect theory research. These will be discussed in the section on affect
theory.
In contrast to Berkowitzs definition that limits anger to a set of particular
feelings, many social cognitive theorists have actually expanded on the functional
significance of anger. A mixture of social cognitive and affect theorists see anger as
serving a variety of adaptive functions. According to Lemerise and Dodge, these include
the organization and regulation of internal physiological and psychological processes that
are related to self-defense and mastery as well as the regulation of social and interpretive
behaviors.19
They see anger as both an energizer and an organizer of behavior and as a
social signal that regulates interpersonal behaviors. Averill particularly emphasizes the
context of the function of anger coming through socialization by caregivers and the larger
social context.20
Carol Malatesta says, from a social developmental context, the child from very
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early on needs to learn how to express anger in culturally acceptable ways.21
Developmental social psychologists Lemerise and Dodge see problems in the modulation
and expression of anger in children implicated in failures of social interaction
development.22
They argue that anger has been shown to bias social information
processing. This makes reactive aggressive responses to others more likely. They also
associate problems in the modulation of anger on individuals with maladaptive internal
regulation. If this condition is chronic, Carroll E. Izard and Rogers R. Kobak, as well as
Kenneth Dodge and John D. Coie, say it becomes reflected in the development of
psychopathology.
23
Dodge and Coie indicate that reactive or angry aggression is a major
correlate of social rejection by ones peer group.24
The research of John Gottman and
Lynn Katz gives evidence that exposure to chronic high levels of anger and arousal has
been linked to inappropriate social behavior both with parents and with peers.25
In conclusion, the general agreement among social cognitive theorists is that
anger is a socially construed response that requires some level of cognition. For the
emotion of anger to be experienced one must appraise the situation either consciously or
unconsciously, then conclude that the actions of another person were unjustified or at
least avoidable. It is also generally agreed that reason becomes the remedy, through the
process of socialization that protects man from using his anger in a hurtful or destructive
manner. Aggression, although often coupled with anger, can be experienced independent
of anger and in general is not considered the same as anger. Social cognitive theory in
general sequences the experience of anger in a Jamesian model. An event happens, there
are diffuse bodily reactions, those bodily reactions are interpreted. It is that interpretation
that distinguishes one negative emotion from another, the emotion being the endpoint.
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Most recent controversies among social cognitive theorists involve distinctions
between anger and aggression, the role of cognition as related to anger, action tendencies
as a part of the diffuse bodily reactions, and the sequence of events that leads to an anger
experience. These controversies in part have been influenced by affect theory during the
last decade and thus will be discussed in the section on affect theory.
Domestic Violence
Our challenge, then, is not to suppress violence but to fulfill it and, once it has been
liberated from its repression, to discover its charms.
Thomas Moore26
Research in the area of domestic violence as a social problem is relatively new.
As seen in the writing of M. Faulk, early research viewed wife assault as a phenomenon
produced by individual pathology.27
In contrast to this, during the 1970s, wife assault
broadened to include sociological causes. R. Emerson Dobash and M. Bogart assert that
a particularly strong influence came from the feminist perspective that holds that spousal
abuse basically is the result of attitudes held in a patriarchal society that supports the
inequality of women.28
Early Psychological Explanations of Domestic Violence
Faulk notes that in early psychiatric explanations wife assault was described as
rare and the men who committed it as unusual, atypical, and pathological.29
Studies by
Frank Elliott and John Snell et al. explained wife assault as caused by neural mechanisms
or by the victim herself.30 These studies have been highly criticized by those taking a
feminist perspective, like Dobash and Dobash, as well as by more recent pathological-
oriented researchers like Donald G. Dutton.31
In particular Dutton has criticized
explanations emphasizing psychiatric disorder by such researchers as Roger Bland and
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Helene Orn as reductionistic and having the orientation toward inserting diagnostic labels
in lieu of etiology.32
Dutton argues that such studies never developed ideological models
that explained the abuse, focusing instead on association of