Comments

Here are some comments on the blog post below.
I think that the experience of being in a swirl is worse. It is worse because there is no space between the self and the negativity that is what gives a swirl its extraordinary identity. Thus it is the abyss. It is not so much an issue of being forced to look into the void or abyss, as if one might be able to counter this. Rather it just happens. Entering the swirl almost instantaneously involves the collapse or disintegration of a previously taken for granted space; not just between oneself and the world but but between thoughts. For the space between thoughts allows one to step back, or rather allows one to reflect on them. One could call this affective and cognitive entropy. The system breaks down and thus the swirl has power to take the individual into its clutches.

"Something hidden threatens to reveal itself, and there will be shame and disgust when it does."

I am not sure about this. I think that there is no threat because in the swirl the 'hidden' is automatically revealed, and thus the shame and disgust are unavoidable. The more we explore this complex negative state the more I think it resists being undone from the inside. Or rather the self alone is probably a prisoner until such time as the negativity just diminishes in its power. Until that happens, my hunch is that another person is needed to help create the space that might allow for the negative power to be constructed as an object.