ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the monistic, functional dynamics of deviance on the intrapersonal level of intrapsychic contraction. It describes the contractional intrapersonal "ascent through descent" model of functional deviance, a few words must be said about the inherent difference between monistic and dualistic conceptions of good and evil. According to the Besht's "ascent through descent" paradigm, "man is called an ascender and a descender as it is impossible always to remain on one rung". The basic difference between the dualistic "descent and ascent" approach to deviance and the monistic functional "ascent through descent" conception of deviance can best be illustrated by examining cross-culturally attitudinal interpretations of the psychopathological "ascent and descent" phenomenon. Learning to cope with darkness may be a good example of what can be termed controlled entry and exit into functional psychosis. A classic sociohistoric case demonstrating how a monistic socialization perspective may transform deviance and especially manic-depressive reactions into functional life cycles is, again, eighteenth-century Hasidism.
