Totalitarianism

Contextual Quote

"Totalitarianism is a manifestation of the narcissistic structure of the Ego. The Ego represents the register of the Illusion. It deceives us into believing that the essence of who we are is shown by our reflection. The reflection, however, reverses left and right and it doesn’t show us the colors the real object of our body contains, but those it reflects. That means: it shows us exactly the opposite colors than those that are inside the object. Transcending totalitarianism, in the end, simply boils down to transcending the Ego."

- Mattias Desmet [1]

Phases

Pieter Thiel, via Daniel Nash:

"Thiel outlines three historical stages of totalitarian development:

Incipient Totalitarianism: Calling out the emerging control apparatus feels silly or exaggerated. This is illustrated by Adolf Hitler’s brief nine-month imprisonment following the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, where Bavarian judges dismissed him as an obscure fanatic. Paradoxically, this incipient phase is the only period during which opposition can be voiced safely.

Full-Power Totalitarianism: The regime achieves absolute institutional dominance, rendering open discussion or internal political opposition impossible.

Decayed Totalitarianism: Late-stage bureaucratic stagnation, characteristic of the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s, where official ideology collapses into absurdity, giving rise to samizdat networks and subterranean resistance."

(https://danielforresternash.substack.com/p/the-physics-of-consolidation-velocity)