Lecture XXII (Nr. 0276)
Facs
Transcript
[272] The first point were pathological cases. Here it was obvious that there is a bondage of the will in terms of compulsory restrictions or aggressions. This pathological structure was soon discovered in NON-pathological cases also. And it was discovered that there are structures in every human being which are analagous---not analogous but identical---to these structures. Suddenly one rediscovered that when the biblical stories about the healing of the demoniacs were analyzed not from the point of view of their so-called miraculous character but from the point of view of what actually happened in ain them, and in the description of the weakness in them, that they were great examples ---and very PRECISE examples---of the description of cases of neurotic compulsions and schizophrenic psychosis. Later theology---I refer especially to b---spoke of the concept of possession, in the sense that man doesn't possess himself but is always possessed either by structures of evil or structures of the good, by demonic structures or structures of grace, and that actually, in the human experience, this is an alternative, but it is a mixture: they are always present TOGETHER, in every human being and in every social reality also. Therefore everything is ambiguous, and human freedom, even in cases which are not psychotic or neurotic, is mixed with bondage of the will. Now beyond this, c wouldn't go, but here theology could point to realities which are not derived from special interpretations of man, in the sense of ultimate concern, but which are derived in scientific analysis of the human situation from a basically medical point of view.