290
record (the paradox of fossils), and sudden explosions of life forms; not to mention
the fact that “molecular biology has failed to yield a grand ‘tree of life.’”
9
Theories from both faith- and astrogeophysics-based speculation that regard
such concepts as the “Big Crunch,” “Big Rip,” and “Big Freeze”
10
as remote galactic
crashes; the earth, replete with potential Black Plagues, nuclear holocaust, the
Anthropocene, children’s spider nightmares, the mournful sound of church bells
and wailing ambulances, all factor into equations of evolution. And no more so than
in the immediate psychological profiles characterized as driven by the compulsions
of mortality.
31.3 Death-Driven Vicissitudes
The individual ideation of suicide, patients, and clusters presenting themselves at
some level of destruction results, in part, from “primitive object representations.”
11
Biologists are well advised with respect to the 20–70 billion cells that die of apoptosis (the death of cells) every day in every human to acknowledge a graduated scale
of so-called cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation [and] chromatin condensation
12
from children to adults. But individuals also show what Edgar Allan Poe described
as “the one unconquerable force,” the knowledge of what psychologists have characterized as an “irresistible depravity.” Sigmund Freud referred to it as “thanatos,” a
“death drive” and a “death instinct.”
13
How do we reconcile these interchangeable instincts of horror, demise, and
rebirth and beauty? Is this simply the most basic way of getting our arms around
what it is to be human? Human history is no guide. As Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
once remarked, “That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the
9 “The Top Ten Scientific Problems with Biological and Chemical Evolution,” by Casey Luskin, in
the book More Than Myth, edited by Robert Stackpole and Paul Brown, Chartwell Press, 2014,
reprinted in Uncommon Descent, February 24, 2015, https://uncommondescent.com/evolution/
casey-luskin-on-top-10-problems-in-biological-and-chemical-evolution/, Accessed, March 21,
2020.
10 See “What Does Science Say About the End of the World?” by Stephanie Hertzenberg, BeliefNet,
https://www.beliefnet.com/news/what-does-science-say-about-the-end-of-the-world.aspx
11 “An Empirical Study of the Psychodynamics of Suicide,” by N. J. Kaslow, S. L. Reviere, S. E.
Chance, J. H. Rogers, C. A. Hatcher, F. Wasserman, L. Smith, S. Jessee, M. E. James, B. Seelig,
PMID: 9795891, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00030651980460030701, PubMed.gov, https://
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9795891/
12 See J.A. Karam, Apoptosis in Carcinogenesis and Chemotherapy, Springer, Netherlands, 2009.
See also Savill J., Gregory C., Haslett C. (November 2003). “Cell biology. Eat me or die”. Science.
302 (5650): 1516–17. doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1092533. hdl:1842/448. PMID
14645835
13 See “What’s behind our appetite for self-destruction?” by Mark Canada and Christina Downey,
The Conversation, January 8, 2019, https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-our-appetite-forself-destruction-108575, Accessed March 21, 2020.
31 The Temptation of the Catastrophe: Deep Structures of Suicide
record (the paradox of fossils), and sudden explosions of life forms; not to mention
the fact that “molecular biology has failed to yield a grand ‘tree of life.’”
9
Theories from both faith- and astrogeophysics-based speculation that regard
such concepts as the “Big Crunch,” “Big Rip,” and “Big Freeze”
10
as remote galactic
crashes; the earth, replete with potential Black Plagues, nuclear holocaust, the
Anthropocene, children’s spider nightmares, the mournful sound of church bells
and wailing ambulances, all factor into equations of evolution. And no more so than
in the immediate psychological profiles characterized as driven by the compulsions
of mortality.
31.3 Death-Driven Vicissitudes
The individual ideation of suicide, patients, and clusters presenting themselves at
some level of destruction results, in part, from “primitive object representations.”
11
Biologists are well advised with respect to the 20–70 billion cells that die of apoptosis (the death of cells) every day in every human to acknowledge a graduated scale
of so-called cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation [and] chromatin condensation
12
from children to adults. But individuals also show what Edgar Allan Poe described
as “the one unconquerable force,” the knowledge of what psychologists have characterized as an “irresistible depravity.” Sigmund Freud referred to it as “thanatos,” a
“death drive” and a “death instinct.”
13
How do we reconcile these interchangeable instincts of horror, demise, and
rebirth and beauty? Is this simply the most basic way of getting our arms around
what it is to be human? Human history is no guide. As Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
once remarked, “That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the
9 “The Top Ten Scientific Problems with Biological and Chemical Evolution,” by Casey Luskin, in
the book More Than Myth, edited by Robert Stackpole and Paul Brown, Chartwell Press, 2014,
reprinted in Uncommon Descent, February 24, 2015, https://uncommondescent.com/evolution/
casey-luskin-on-top-10-problems-in-biological-and-chemical-evolution/, Accessed, March 21,
2020.
10 See “What Does Science Say About the End of the World?” by Stephanie Hertzenberg, BeliefNet,
https://www.beliefnet.com/news/what-does-science-say-about-the-end-of-the-world.aspx
11 “An Empirical Study of the Psychodynamics of Suicide,” by N. J. Kaslow, S. L. Reviere, S. E.
Chance, J. H. Rogers, C. A. Hatcher, F. Wasserman, L. Smith, S. Jessee, M. E. James, B. Seelig,
PMID: 9795891, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00030651980460030701, PubMed.gov, https://
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9795891/
12 See J.A. Karam, Apoptosis in Carcinogenesis and Chemotherapy, Springer, Netherlands, 2009.
See also Savill J., Gregory C., Haslett C. (November 2003). “Cell biology. Eat me or die”. Science.
302 (5650): 1516–17. doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1092533. hdl:1842/448. PMID
14645835
13 See “What’s behind our appetite for self-destruction?” by Mark Canada and Christina Downey,
The Conversation, January 8, 2019, https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-our-appetite-forself-destruction-108575, Accessed March 21, 2020.
31 The Temptation of the Catastrophe: Deep Structures of Suicide