This essay compares and contrasts the ego needs and the life and death instincts of the Zuni Indians with Hamas. The ego needs include aggression, affiliation, dominance ,deference and harmavoidance. In doing so, the character of each will also be apparent.
According to anthropologists and others that have studied Zuni Indians ,their intuitive wisdom is apparent. In fact, they can teach us about living in harmony with nature and appreciating everything on the planet as contrasted with the propensity to destroy .
The Zun’s are respected for their art ,history and making fetishes. These fetishes are images of real animals and/ or have been imagined with magical powers considered to be inhabited by a spirit..
Originally , Zuni fetishes figures were tools for the hunter . For instance,the hunter would ask for help for the task ahead . He believed that he could communicate with the spirits of the game he was hunting, asking for permission for the killing,in order to benefit his tribe . He might ask the master hunter ,the mountain lion, for help with tracking his prey. And, with the fetish ,,the hunter could feel and see in his mind's eye the living presence of the animal -how it moved, its sounds.and its mating habits for his hunt. In viewing a fictitious Zuni hunter we see a loving relationship with nature and his affinity with the deer . .
The Zuni’s were not idol worshipers. They didn't look upon the object itself as a God or deity like greed , jealousy, dishonesty or power as related to the capitalist “fetish” pursuit of money and/ or weapons. Instead Zuni's looked upon the fetish as representing a spirit or force .In essence, the fetish power is little more than what the animal would possess in real life Note ,that there was no ego need to dominate or control, but instead, the need to admire, acknowledge,understand and preserve.
It was believed that the animals ,being mortal ,are more nearly related to man than the gods. However, the animal is more closely associated with deity, because they were mysterious and had powers not possessed by man. With that being said, a brief description of a fictitious Zuni Indian hunter follows. "Today, father, I came here with my weapon and my prey fetish and prepared myself with all the sacred dances and prayers as the priest gods have taught me....... I pray that I might have good fortune on my hunt over the trails of my earth mother..........Wema traveled in the direction of the barren place until the sun was on his left side..... Before long, however ,Wema caught sight of a matted down circle of grass where the deer had laid down to rest. The track was fresh …. The drop is still moist and the grass is bent by the weight of the body and is only now beginning to rise....... hunter found a forked twig of Cedar and stuck it in the ground at an angle so that the prong pointed in the direction the animal had gone......... It stood in a small clearing ,grazing in a narrow meadow of tender grass. Wema placed an arrow against the spring of his bow....... the deer looked up and saw the hunter standing before him, the string of his bow drawn and ready....... A well aimed shaft pierced the chest of the deer for a clean kill, and the animal fell to its knees almost instantly. Before the breath of life was gone from it, the hunter ran forward . The deer's front feet were placed behind the animal's head, and pressed its nose to its own lips. He breathed his own wind into the lungs, and inhaled from his lungs as it died......Wema lowered the animal gently to the ground....Ab, thanks, my father, my mother, who grants our daily bread and the gift of water. Pray that I shall always have the light of your favor as I have had today.......... to you, deer, I wish good fortune and make a sacrifice to you of the sacred corn pollen and other things with this prayer in these offerings. I pray to you, good fortune in becoming a new being …..May you hear my prayers as you go forth and grant me and my family a good journey over the trail of life."
It should be acknowledged that at one time, the Zuni made war and took scalps . Their reverence for life was however expressed through their rituals. For example ,scalps taken by the warriors were brought home and washed in the fetish jar specifically maintained for that purpose. The scalp, like a fetish ,was believed to contain the spirit or ghost of the person for whom it was taken. It was handled with great care and respect. It was also cleansed by the relatives of the warrior who took it. The victorious warrior's wife was obligated to go into mourning every month, just as if she were the dead warrior’s widow. In this way the Zuni acknowledged the bond they shared even with Zuni enemies.
Yes, the Zuni expressed the ego need of aggression which is to fight, to attack, injure or kill another. This same ego need was expressed differently than with today's Hamas Sapien. The deer was killed and yet the ego need for deference was also met as this need is defined as to admire and to eulogize . The need for aggression and deference was also met in going to war. and the kill .But, there was an absence of hate, revenge, sadism, which are emotions that characterize Hamas aggressors . .
In contrast to the Zuni Sapiens is the Hamas community. This group of individuals represent the quintessential tent of evil, and a syndrome of decay which is the cornerstone, the root of their vicious destructiveness and inhumanity. This group can be characterized by necrophilia tendencies which means love of the dead. They love death because they have a death wish, represented by their attitude, thinking and behavior tendencies.
These individuals, with their death instinct, are attracted to the dead, corpses, decay, feces, dirt,starvation sickness, darkness, and night. It's no wonder they reside in tunnels and have their operations beneath hospitals.For them. destruction is sweet. They get satisfaction from the absolute destruction taking place in Gaza. They worship force and within their orientation is the capacity to transform man into a helpless captive, wishing to humiliate him and take away all his possessions with force. They love control and their possessions so much that they would rather lose their life than to give up their 20 or so remaining captives .
On October 7,2023 , they killed, raped,and plundered innocent Israelis in despicable ways. We all know that act alone would've resulted in a massive retaliation by the IDF. However, their mission was to also bring unbelievable harm,death and destruction to their fellow Palestinians. The act of abducting Israelis far exceeded a typical response by the Israelis, and was predicted in advance.. These Hamas lovers of death.anticipated and planned as they were setting the stage for massive retaliation to themselves and their fellow Palestinians.They continue in acting out their death wishes.
These necrophilia individuals do not love life, growth, goodness and love. Instead they worship and are loyal (ego need of affiliation) and allied with their fellow crazies. Thus, their loyalty is not to goodness, but to evil. They can rationalize their upcoming death, hate, displeasure and orientation with this life with the crazy notion that their next life will be filled with virgins .
The ego needs of affiliation and aggression are universal. However, the Hamas attitude, belief,character and actions are based on decay, sadism and evil towards their fellow man. Ego needs are universal, but the Hamas group display actions which are based on an immature, infantile,regressive emotional system.There’s also an absence of intact ego executive functions in the cerebral cortex with a severed conscience and they have no sense of love, law, justice, or respect for the humanity of man.
Hamas is doing nothing to relieve the pain, injury, illness, death, or escape from the dangerous situation that they created. In other words, they are not meeting the ego need of harmavoidance.
The Zuni respects and acknowledges both life and death. Their humanity and care regarding their surroundings suggests a connection between both man and nature. It's difficult to find that attitude and thinking regarding the goodness of human beings with Hamas .The philosophy of humanism was present within the Zuni society .In contrast, the ego need of aggression with sadistic tendencies is too apparent , alarming,distressing , jarring and disturbing.
Reference
Bennett, H.Z. Zuni Fetishes
Fromm,Erich. The Heart of Man
Murray, Henry A. Explorations in Personality.
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