03/09/2010

With the passing of time, we notice the growing state of hysteria around religion in Arab societies (with varying degrees among them, and this in turn is due to differences in the social structure and historical heritage). This hysteria which engulfs individuals and groups confines them within a stifling religious power and turns them into puppets in the hands of the clergy. It is for this reason that I think it is our right to wonder about the mental health of these self-appointed ‘spiritual leaders’ and about their legibility to assume this role of moral leaders and guides to individuals and groups, especially with the unprecedented spread of global religious channels funded by official bodies or secretly supported by governmental institutions. Continue reading →

30/07/2010

This is a follow up to the previous article as I felt it needed further clarification. I wanted to begin this article with the expression “a struggle for existence” used in different ways and taking rather aggressive overtones which enflame a confrontational attitude towards the other. The phrase at its face value seems to be a legitimate argument for self-preservation. This attitude is becoming essential in the way groups and individuals deal with the other. At this point we need to ask ourselves about the affinities between the principle of struggle for existence and the principle of domination. Continue reading →

12/07/2010

After I have been subjected to a deluge of aggressive insults with various innuendos sent to my email address following the debate broadcast on France 24 “The Burka Ban Debate in France” (08/ 07/ 2010), I decided to devote an analytic article to the phenomenon of insults and verbal aggressive behavior so prominent among religious people in order to understand their inability to use a more elevated language. I would like to understand the reasons which confine them within a narrow and closed cognitive container. Continue reading →

21/06/2010

The fantasies which overwhelm our rational thinking are in their essence the fruits of a mental image which is there to compensate for disappointments or psychological anxiety. When freed or emancipated from all restrictions and external taboos, these fantasies give a free reign to imaginary fictions which gradually develop and solidify into an influential narrative with far-reaching implications on our lives and way of thinking. It gives birth to all kinds of monsters, gods and demons. Continue reading →

25/06/2010

With the previous article, I stopped at the discussion of the idea of the mother- son mutual sexual desire which results, on the one hand, from the mother’s penis envy and, on the other, from the child’s castration complex as it is known and explained in psychoanalytic theory. Continue reading →

30/05/2010

Most times we make sense of different ideas with reference to the degree of their agreement with and correspondence to our own private notions. For instance when we encounter a face and try to determine the degree of its relation with us a complex neurological operation takes place where parts of the brain determine the person’s identity, other parts retrieve pieces of information on his or her  relatedness to us. This is a cooperative neurological effort which informs the conscious flow of data in the brain. Continue reading →

14/05/2010

My mind drifts away then breaks down and fails me. I can neither concentrate nor get anything done. I am trying to mentally rearrange facts only to be met with failure before I even get started. I think for few minutes about the disease and its cure and I find nothing other than a wild desire to stray even further. My mind is wandering in the narrow streets of the internet hoping to find what it’s looking for. Continue reading →

23/04/2010

While bragging about the forbearance of their god, very often, “believers” would not refrain from throwing accusations at all those who are different or would differ from them. They are perpetually whinging and whining, claiming to be ruthlessly subjected to some sort of moral persecution especially when they represent a religious minority in certain foreign societies which are allegedly seeking to curtail their religious freedoms. Continue reading →

15/04/2010

The quest for something lost and found after many years has long tickled my fancy and was a major motivation in my life. I was looking for a sort of freedom which allows the self to inhabit every being and to be one with Mother Nature in the same way that a child unconsciously yearns to return to its mother’s womb. Continue reading →

21/04/2010

France, in the context of the argument made above, seems to me like a sum of contradictory feelings I have each time I pronounce her name. I am lost here. Her history of struggle which led to the demise of monarchical tyranny and to the rejection of any constraint on the freedom of the French people makes me feel a bit comfortable and justified in my choice to live here. It testifies to what I used to believe and still do that the human creates her/ his own destiny. Continue reading →