A CRIMINAL HISTORY OF MANKIND

More documents

Recommendations

Info

hand that grasps reality. The tighter it grasps, the ‘realler’ the world becomes. And any sudden ‘clenching’ of this fist induces the flash of the peak experience. This is why, as Dr Johnson says, ‘the knowledge that he is to be hanged in the morning concentrates a man’s mind wonderfully’. It is because he is at last using consciousness for its proper purpose, to grip. It is because we so seldom use it for its proper purpose that the hand remains so feeble. When Maslow’s students began to think and talk about the peak experience, this knowledge dawned on them instinctively, and they began to induce peak experiences by a simple clenching of the fist. ‘Clenching’ has the effect of closing the leaks, and closing the leaks has the effect of suddenly increasing the ‘pressure’ of consciousness. This, as Hesse says, is why concentrating on small things revitalises us; it closes the leaks. And ‘clenching’ does it instantaneously, bringing a flash of insight. In the same way crisis so often brings the sense of ‘absurd good news’. It causes consciousness to ‘clench’, convulsively, making us aware that it has ‘muscles’, and that these muscles can be used to transform our lives. Nothing is easier than to verify this statement. All that is necessary is to narrow the eyes, tense the muscles, make a sudden powerful effort of ‘clenching’ the mind. The result is an instantaneous twinge of delight. It vanishes almost instantly because the ‘muscle’ is so feeble. But we know that any muscle can be strengthened by deliberate effort. We can also observe that as we ‘clench’ the mind, it produces a sense of ‘inwardness’, a momentary withdrawal into some inner fortress. This is clearly what Kierkegaard meant when he said ‘Truth is subjectivity’. It is, in fact, a sudden flash of contact with the ‘source of power, meaning and purpose’ inside us. And what relevance has all this to the problem of crime? The answer can be seen if we consider again Dan MacDougald’s cure of ‘hard core psychopaths’ in the Georgia State Penitentiary. A criminal, as Sartre pointed out, is a man who has become accustomed to thinking of himself as a criminal; he feels himself to be a victim - of society, of bad luck, of his own violent impulses and lack of purpose. MacDougald ‘cured’ his criminals by making them recognise that their problems lay in their own mental attitudes. When he intervened in the case of a prisoner who was planning to kill another prisoner with an iron bar - to avenge an insult - the convict invited his enemy to have a sandwich and a coffee, and the situation was resolved; MacDougald had taught him that he was not trapped in some inevitable fatality, some murderous destiny. He had taught him the secret that has transformed man from a naked tree dweller to the most highly evolved creature on earth: that man’s controlling force - ‘Force C’ - is the most important thing about him. As Wells’s Mr Polly discovered: If you don’t like your life, you can change it. At the moment, society shares the assumption of the criminal: that nothing much can be done. But then, all the major transformations of society have started with the few who know better. The conclusion is inescapable. Only when society recognises that it possesses the power to control crime will crime be controlled. Looking back over three million years of human history, we can see that it has been a slow reprogramming of the human mind, whose first major turning point was the moment when the mind became aware of itself. When man learned to recognise his own face in a pool and to say I, he became capable of greatness, and also of criminality.
But if this history of human evolution has taught us anything, it is that ‘criminal man’ has no real, independent existence. He is a kind of shadow, a Spectre of the Brocken, an illusion. He is the result of man’s misunderstanding of his own potentialities - as if a child should see his face in a distorting mirror and assume he has changed into a monster. The criminal is, in fact, the distorted reflection of the human face, the ‘collective nightmare of mankind’. And this insight is in itself a cause for optimism. As Novalis says: ‘When we dream that we dream, we are beginning to awaken’. The End
Page 1 and 2:
A CRIMINAL HISTORY OF MANKIND by Co
Page 3 and 4:
INTRODUCTION I was about twelve yea
Page 5 and 6:
We may feel that Wells must have be
Page 7 and 8:
primitive societies can give their
Page 9 and 10:
community. Frazier’s was childish
Page 11 and 12:
efinement: that instead of merely a
Page 13 and 14:
strong ... And Myra, who regards hi
Page 15 and 16:
etween two homes a few hundred yard
Page 17 and 18:
parted with three thousand marks to
Page 19 and 20:
This is an observation of central i
Page 21 and 22:
‘blocked out’ state. And Myra H
Page 23 and 24:
ank messenger. The man asked for ti
Page 25 and 26:
sharp rebuke. He is making society
Page 27 and 28:
man’s earliest ancestors. It look
Page 29 and 30:
everyone reasons: if civilised man
Page 31 and 32:
acquaintances who form his ‘tribe
Page 33 and 34:
Yet the warning about extrapolating
Page 35 and 36:
or so I began to feel that I’d go
Page 37 and 38:
city, with its impersonality and ov
Page 39 and 40:
would instantly, and without hesita
Page 41 and 42:
give it up to devote herself to bei
Page 43 and 44:
World Health Organisation had issue
Page 45 and 46:
help them. If they possess some deg
Page 47 and 48:
wrapped-up goose under one arm and
Page 49 and 50:
hand out. In Dannemora he leapt fro
Page 51 and 52:
exterminated, and that therefore he
Page 53 and 54:
The same motivation can be seen in
Page 55 and 56:
‘locks’ him so that he cannot e
Page 57 and 58:
MacDougald also came across the ast
Page 59 and 60:
convinced he really wanted to know,
Page 61 and 62:
All these complex mechanisms have b
Page 63 and 64:
So saying, I seized her by the hair
Page 65 and 66:
his family and his animals lived an
Page 67 and 68:
This is why those early civilisatio
Page 69 and 70:
problem of criminality: xenophobia,
Page 71 and 72:
And he vanished from the face of th
Page 73 and 74:
exciting - large breasts, full lips
Page 75 and 76:
ancestors were far less ‘primitiv
Page 77 and 78:
This still leaves unexplained how t
Page 79 and 80:
can’t be happening.’ Gosmann di
Page 81 and 82:
show that we are all split-brain pa
Page 83 and 84:
gorilla brain is far less ‘latera
Page 85 and 86:
of prisoners ‘trussed in a variet
Page 87 and 88:
It is appropriate that the scene of
Page 89 and 90:
miles away and the sun well over a
Page 91 and 92:
‘idling’; as soon as she began
Page 93 and 94:
over the covers, and he says, what
Page 95 and 96:
wealth) to satisfy their desires; t
Page 97 and 98:
ecause we are intimidated by societ
Page 99 and 100:
If we are to understand the history
Page 101 and 102:
longed to hurt her, to make her cry
Page 103 and 104:
their soldiers are allowed to loot
Page 105 and 106:
seas were still full of pirates - e
Page 107 and 108:
an enormous theatre, capable of hol
Page 109 and 110:
NO MEAN CITY These citizens of Rome
Page 111 and 112:
History (Book 5): ‘So began the f
Page 113 and 114:
were talking about. Rome had overru
Page 115 and 116:
had ever seen. He had the gates of
Page 117 and 118:
No one could accuse the Romans of b
Page 119 and 120:
Meanwhile Pompey’s ally Julius Ca
Page 121 and 122:
there were holidays on 117 days of
Page 123 and 124:
It seems surprising that Caligula s
Page 125 and 126:
are told that Paulinus punished tri
Page 127 and 128:
settee took the weight and, since A
Page 129 and 130:
murdered by one of his slaves - pro
Page 131 and 132:
In Nero, we can see the basic probl
Page 133 and 134:
So, over the course of many centuri
Page 135 and 136:
the Messianists, had undergone a su
Page 137 and 138:
death a German soothsayer who had p
Page 139 and 140:
city at night, offering sodomy or f
Page 141 and 142:
uildings should be handed back to t
Page 143 and 144:
the rest ‘whom We judge demented
Page 145 and 146:
civilisation developed, it was the
Page 147 and 148:
penetrate very far; besides, the me
Page 149 and 150:
allowed some of his allies to slip
Page 151 and 152:
entirely without foundation, Belisa
Page 153 and 154:
Egypt. And the Jews, only just back
Page 155 and 156:
As the travellers move west over Pe
Page 157 and 158:
acquired a reputation for healing t
Page 159 and 160:
than two to one and still win an ov
Page 161 and 162:
exaggerated; when the Arabs conquer
Page 163 and 164:
ound to fall, said St Augustine, bu
Page 165 and 166:
German ancestors. He would conquer
Page 167 and 168:
England would have become an outpos
Page 169 and 170:
also assassinated in the following
Page 171 and 172:
vanished forever. Eighteen years la
Page 173 and 174:
he was deported ran into a violent
Page 175 and 176:
But the lesson of the assassins goe
Page 177 and 178:
‘Death to the French’. Frenchme
Page 179 and 180:
of the world’, Emperor Frederick
Page 181 and 182:
was no longer forced to sail the wa
Page 183 and 184:
were the Mongols. When Manchurian n
Page 185 and 186:
friendly reply. So Genghis ordered
Page 187 and 188:
And so the murder and pillage went
Page 189 and 190:
of Islam. The reason for this was n
Page 191 and 192:
Europe - even Venice - in the thirt
Page 193 and 194:
was done solely for the greater glo
Page 195 and 196:
not believe in the immortality of t
Page 197 and 198:
of its starvation, experienced a vi
Page 199 and 200:
common, without serfs or lords...
Page 201 and 202:
Other poets learned quickly. France
Page 203 and 204:
Venetians had only just concluded a
Page 205 and 206:
he remained convinced that he was a
Page 207 and 208:
the house of one Hugh Smyth, and
Page 209 and 210:
The boy Raffaello was told nothing
Page 211 and 212:
enormous bribes - not just money bu
Page 213 and 214:
captor was a man who held high idea
Page 215 and 216:
In fact, his victories were almost
Page 217 and 218:
Then he was allowed to go to Spain.
Page 219 and 220:
the consecrated wafer does not real
Page 221 and 222:
sinners. So God was a just and angr
Page 223 and 224:
‘heresies’. To Eck’s delight,
Page 225 and 226:
good professional army and had to r
Page 227 and 228:
had started his movement twenty yea
Page 229 and 230:
Meanwhile, the English, under their
Page 231 and 232:
y no means at an end. Marlowe was d
Page 233 and 234:
complicated. It was a simple ellips
Page 235 and 236:
When Pope Innocent III ordered the
Page 237 and 238:
convent at Louviers, when it became
Page 239 and 240:
produces no art, literature, philos
Page 241 and 242:
In China, the old order continued t
Page 243 and 244:
ought to be a great conqueror, he f
Page 245 and 246:
political’ monsters in history, h
Page 247 and 248:
and the second brother exclaims: Ho
Page 249 and 250:
speech on the table). In Gin Lane,
Page 251 and 252:
the head with a carving knife, leav
Page 253 and 254:
Review and was full of political co
Page 255 and 256:
Robinson Crusoe was not, of course,
Page 257 and 258:
enormous sexual frustration that ex
Page 259 and 260:
The solitude in these blissful surr
Page 261 and 262:
was supposed to have smashed stocki
Page 263 and 264:
The countess was publicly branded a
Page 265 and 266:
publish his revolutionary Rights of
Page 267 and 268:
conceived on such generous lines, w
Page 269 and 270:
call the Holy Alliance. And they pr
Page 271 and 272:
philosopher who interested the youn
Page 273 and 274:
Marx was exultant; at last, the rev
Page 275 and 276:
means that Marx’s philosophy igno
Page 277 and 278:
the city marshal of London, a man n
Page 279 and 280:
11 P.M., Williamson served a drink
Page 281 and 282:
like the crimes of Caligula or Gill
Page 283 and 284:
In February 1828, a female vagrant
Page 285 and 286:
Under Fouché, the chief of police
Page 287 and 288:
complaining about?... Forger in Fra
Page 289 and 290:
that he was insane, stripping himse
Page 291 and 292:
in another remarkable case of the p
Page 293 and 294:
Cratchits - seemed to have them. Th
Page 295 and 296:
insurance. He married a second time
Page 297 and 298:
1886’ (p. 183). But a photograph
Page 299 and 300:
the more there was a sense of taboo
Page 301 and 302:
my first fuck.’ He enjoys making
Page 303 and 304:
Why? The girl who has introduced th
Page 305 and 306:
failed to grasp that all experience
Page 307 and 308:
paralysed the facial muscles on tha
Page 309 and 310:
Durrant was arrested. His friends a
Page 311 and 312:
murder for her sake.’ (Even Belle
Page 313 and 314:
furnaces and cattle stockyards. It
Page 315 and 316:
killing five. Paris, suddenly, was
Page 317 and 318:
omb exploded prematurely, blowing h
Page 319 and 320:
own laws. Various foreigners annexe
Page 321 and 322:
committed suicide by soaking her ma
Page 323 and 324:
thing to do, for today was Vidovdan
Page 325 and 326:
mankind. Ever since civilisation ha
Page 327 and 328:
After Esposito’s departure (he sp
Page 329 and 330:
the swamp. The child had been cryin
Page 331 and 332:
abolitionists used it as an additio
Page 333 and 334:
magnificent, with O’Banion in a s
Page 335 and 336:
Prohibition had turned small-time m
Page 337 and 338:
Schultz was not dead; he spent twen
Page 339 and 340:
insisting that he had been much mal
Page 341 and 342:
Bananas. Genovese seems to have bel
Page 343 and 344:
Ten years in jail had made Gallo de
Page 345 and 346:
has argued in his book Britain’s
Page 347 and 348:
the brothers ninety per cent of the
Page 349 and 350:
the trial, alleging that she had be
Page 351 and 352:
In Winchester jail it became clear
Page 353 and 354: The twins decided that it might be
Page 355 and 356: war) about whether Russia should at
Page 357 and 358: As the show trials continued, there
Page 359 and 360: Profit is produced by labour. And i
Page 361 and 362: Germany and Italy. Prussia under th
Page 363 and 364: is more like the adventurous ‘lon
Page 365 and 366: continued their steady increase. By
Page 367 and 368: and driving needles into his scrotu
Page 369 and 370: or above-average intelligence: Kiir
Page 371 and 372: eactions of the others: a young mot
Page 373 and 374: In January 1959, a truck-driver nam
Page 375 and 376: Todmachery (‘the best death-maker
Page 377 and 378: identified as the ‘measuring man
Page 379 and 380: ‘urban guerrillas’ who called t
Page 381 and 382: mostly ‘Provos’. The Provos ina
Page 383 and 384: The 1970s also set new standards of
Page 385 and 386: up. So, later, were Stan Walker’s
Page 387 and 388: the killing of the two Bellingham g
Page 389 and 390: credit cards. Shortly afterwards, h
Page 391 and 392: scandalous. As Gordon Rattray Taylo
Page 393 and 394: The worm’s eye view has introduce
Page 395 and 396: that distinguishes him from the bru
Page 397 and 398: that for most of the time it seems
Page 399 and 400: Consider what happens if I come hom
Page 401 and 402: Chicago rapist William Heirens bega
Page 403: degree murder. The artist may also
show all

A CRIMINAL HISTORY OF MANKIND

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?