ABSTRACT
This commentary addresses destructive aspects of the human psyche that find expression in dream life. Destructiveness is part of being human. The 2020 US presidential election is included in this commentary. The life drive itself, including too much aliveness we cannot handle, brings about damage to ourselves and others. Insufficiency across emotional life is highlighted. We have a long history of getting rid of difficulty and the pain it brings using various forms of “murder” within and without, whether inner self-deadening or outer destruction using weapons. From another perspective, our “killer psyche” is also seen as pure life energy. Survival needs require killing in order to live, but the function and use of this energy takes many forms. The author sides with Eigen in examining the futile belief that destructiveness itself can be destroyed. Destructive energy cannot be fully integrated, transformed, or metabolized. However, deep acknowledgment of it as part of our nature may help. Likewise, the ability to wait, to think, to reflect, to agonize, to feel one’s way into conflicts may help avoid tragedies.
