"The greatest pleasures are born of conquered repugnancies."
—Marquise de Sade

After years of being told masochists are sick, the
psychological intelligentsia has finally acknowledged that healthy individuals can express masochistic desires.  But would they have ever dreamed ritualistic pain could be therapeutic?

The most common bond among masochists is their claim to the cathartic effects of an intense session.  Many report a purge of negative emotions and feelings, and even boosts to their self-esteem and self-worth.  How can that be?  How can humiliation and pain have therapeutic effects?

To understand what goes through the mind of a pain slut, we have to look at the psychology of masochism, and Carl Jung's theories shed great light on the power of the whip on its victim.

Jung believed we go through three stages of psychological development—the Ego, the Soul, and the Self.  The Ego concerns itself with the external, physical world and might be equated with masculine principles.  In oriental philosophy, it would be the yang qualities.  The Soul focuses on the internal psyche and the emotions and embodies the feminine in individuals, or the eastern yin.  The Self is the integration and balance of the two, the completed yin/yang.

Jung saw twelve basic archetypes of individual experience that were universal to everyone in their life journey.  They are divided among the Ego, Soul and Self as follows: The Ego rules the Innocent, the Orphan, the Caregiver, and the Warrior.  Soul contains the Seeker, the Destroyer, the Creator and the Lover.  The Self identifies with the archetypes of the Ruler, Magician, Fool and Sage.

The boundaries are fluid, and we move among the archetypes and stages throughout our lives, although many people spend most of their time in the Ego.  But to understand masochism, we have to look at the Soul.  The Soul phase of our journey is our initiation into the mysteries of death, passion and birth.  Our challenge in this phase is to put aside the horror of death, pain and loss, and to learn to let go of control over our lives.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

The journey into the Soul (and masochism) begins with an individual feeling like something is missing in their lives—that some deep need or desire is unfulfilled.  This is a movement into the Seeker archetype, which is the first archetype of the Soul phase.  To advance beyond this archetype requires a leap of faith into the unknown to face our fears.  That's when we become the Destroyer, the primary archetype of the masochist.  Here, we battle our inner demons, the Shadow self, who is the gatekeeper of the underworld of the psyche.  The Shadow holds repressed desires, uncivilized impulses, immoral thoughts—all the psychological sludge we hide from the rest of the world, and even from ourselves.

The pain and suffering of masochism brings us into contact with this Shadow and acts as an initiation into what Jung calls the Night Sea Journey.  Persephone's abduction to Hades and Dionysus being torn to pieces by his followers are classic metaphors for this cathartic pain and suffering.  Mythologically, the Night Sea Journey motif usually involves being swallowed by a dragon or sea monster, but it is also represented by imprisonment or crucifixion, dismemberment or abduction, experiences traditionally weathered by sun-gods and heroes: Gilgamesh, Osiris, Christ, Dante, Odysseus, and Aeneas.

This might be arguably the most critical stage of psychological development, and seems to be where most people falter.  Jung said that "It is a therapeutic necessity, indeed, the first requisite of any thorough psychological method, for consciousness to confront its shadow."  This stage marks the midpoint of the life journey and must be completed before we can integrate our Ego and Soul and advance to the Self.

One of the greatest losses in our modern civilization is the lack of intense initiation rites that call on the individual to activate their Destroyer.  Is it any wonder the majority of mainstream society is stuck in the Ego and constantly seeking transcendence that eludes them?  Masochism is a modern replacement for these lost initiation rites.  It is the embodiment of the Destroyer, who goes into the inner depths to slay (and integrate) the Shadow dragon.  If this Shadow isn't integrated, it usually manifests as depression and neurosis.

Could masochism act as a holistic replacement for Prozac?

Jung makes a convincing case that not only are masochists normal, but that they might actually be more evolved and psychologically developed than their vanilla counterparts.  Are you starting to think it's the vanillas who are neurotic?

Jung also believed one of the causes of neuroses was a lack of balance in one's personality.  Enantiodromia refers to the emergence of the unconscious opposite when an extreme, one-sided tendency dominates conscious life.  Enantiodromia is typically experienced in conjunction with symptoms associated with acute neurosis.  This explains why many of the most hardcore submissives and masochists usually carry great responsibility and power in their everyday life and careers.  Masochism is their counterbalance that prevents enantiodromia and the development of neuroses.

I told you masochism can be a cure, or certainly preventative medicine.

The BDSM community has long recognized the dynamic tension of the unification of opposites—pleasure and pain, fear and desire. Jung legitimizes our philosophy again when he says, "The repressed content (of our psyches) must be made conscious so as to produce a tension of opposites, without which no forward movement is possible.  The conscious mind is on top, the shadow underneath, and just as high always longs for low and hot for cold, so all consciousness, perhaps
without being aware of it, seeks its unconscious opposite, lacking which it is doomed to stagnation, congestion, and ossification.  Life is born only of the spark of opposites."

Could we have explained it any better ourselves?

So why do masochists need to keep coming back for more?  A certain degree of tension between Ego and Soul is both unavoidable and necessary.  "The united personality will never quite lose the painful sense of innate discord,"  Jung said.  "Complete redemption from the sufferings of this world is and must remain an illusion."  I know that disappoints all you masochists terribly.  And all you sadists who love them.

There is one point I disagree with Jung on—he believed
there weren't any effective techniques for assimilating the Shadow.

Guess again.
 

 
 

About the Authoress:

Diana Price is a photographer and a writer of horror and
dark eroticism.  A former journalist and public relations
whore, she is new to the world of fiction and poetry.

Diana is working on her erotic horror novel The Rape of
Angels, and a photographic  series on religious/Catholic
fetishes called Whores for Christ.  The excerpt from The Rape of Angels in this issue is her first published
fiction.