Review of An American Crime (2007) by Henrik K — 07 Feb 2009

I liked it, but it messed me up in the head; I had to stop it for awhile and finish the rest later.

Everyone seemed to become involved - even the sister - in as much people were corrupted or paralyzed by inaction - psychological 'turtling', where one either becomes conscious, and active, or passive, and 'sub-conscious' - making the choice to face a difficult truth, or hide from that reality in some layer of delusion or conformity in order to avoid the discomfort and displeasure it creates - the more so insidious when prolonged - ones mental endurance may not be up to it.

Why do we protect our darkness from the light? Maybe there is the shame, the guilt, and the fear that if and when judged,, perhaps by God, or others - we will be found wanting - not having faith in our own essential goodness, despite making mistakes... and the difficulty in believing that creates psychic pressure, which we build a wall of delusion to try and fend off... or we let the waves crash against us, pass over us, roll wtih them, and move past them, maybe...

Thomas Cleary has a translation of the taoist classic 'wen-tzu', and in the forward to the book, explains the context, and the essential difference in philosophy between communities which are sick, and which are well - that, in a community which is not sick, people, left to their own devices, are generally good - that a true leader leads with subtleness and the sublime, and would not be seen to lead - supporting and facilitating capacity, rather than 'reaching down from above' and trying to force control or restriction -simply an enabler of the more noble traits.

It is almost like evil, for which we have great fear of, demonization of, judgment of others, ourselves of, seems to evaporate when examined closely: and what is left is unreached potential, people perverted and corrupted trying to find ways to meet needs they could not meet on their own, deal with drives and urges without 'enlightened'ways to channel them, and progress to a greater 'self-actualiztion' of their true meaning and self. In effect, not 'intentional beasts, but lost, naive children needing to grow up: sleeping herds that need shephards to watch over them, until they are ready to awaken, and watch over each other...