FURTHER NOTES TOWARDS A SYNTHESIS OF MARXISM AND THERAPY

Written c. 1983; for private circulation.

1. Deduction of four basic ways of deviating from full human activity

BEING	DOING
I am/You are in the environment	I/We interact with the environment (human & other)
in CONTACT	in MOVEMENT	in ASSIMILATION
along the boundary	using the boundary as a ground upon which to expend energy	making transactions across the boundary internally by breaking up the environment and reconstituting it as part of oneself (e.g. breathing, eating, learning)	making transactions across the boundary externally by breaking up the environment and reconstituting it as an extension of oneself (e.g. producing things to meet needs)
BUT if boundary is de-energised to the point of no contact, then CONFLUENCE OR, if boundary is misconstrued, then PROJECTION	BUT if one expends the energy upon oneself, then RETROFLECTION	BUT if one takes in from the environment, yet does not break it up and reconstitute it, then it remains alien, so we have INTROJECTION (internal) (e.g. being force-fed, ideology)	BUT if one breaks up and reconstitutes the environment, yet not as an extension of oneself, then it remains alien, so we have INTROJECTION (external) (= alienation) (e.g. producing for profit)

2. An attempt at defining Marxism

MARXISM is

a way of looking at history

that sees our changing methods of producing goods for consumption and use as crucial in setting limits to what is possible in human relationships and understanding of reality,
and sees, in particular, the present highly industrialised method as initially requiring (a) production for profit, (b) a division between the exploiting and the exploited classes, (c) lack of self-expression (i.e. alienation) at work, and (d) mystification of the exploited by the exploiters (i.e. ideology), but as ultimately enabling the exploited to take control and to set up a classless society producing to meet needs;

hence it is also

a revolutionary project
	in which the exploited can act together in seizing their opportunity to free themselves throughout the world by (a) dismantling the capitalist state, and (b) creating a genuine community where all can express themselves in the sharing of resources.