Author — A.P. Egides. The book «How to understand people, or the Psychological drawing of personality»
Hysteroid and religion — oh, this is a poem, a novel in verse. How will I look in a coffin? I will not be, how will everyone bury and mourn me in the church? Will a monastic robe fit me? And all this is considered from an aesthetic point of view. Look how the hysteroid crosses herself, how she kisses the icons …
I once walked in Paris along the Rue Saint-Denis, where prostitutes stand in piles at every entrance, twirling keys on their fingers, and they are all mostly in white or at least light-colored clothes. A fascinating spectacle.
And then one of them opens her purse, throws her keys in and, bowing her head, takes a decisive step towards the Gothic church of Saint-Denis (that’s why the street is called that way). And at that time I was just heading to the temple, when we caught up, I let her go ahead, she looked at me askance, tears dripped onto her white mini dress; it seems that something like gratitude flashed in her eyes: I treated her like a lady. But then I was just dumbfounded, I was so struck by what I saw. The temple was almost empty: three people were taking communion at the priest. And my heroine fell flat on the floor and slowly crawled towards the priest, writhing and howling — as if calling to look at her … I recalled then the shots from the humanistic Italian film “Nights of Cabiria”, when the heroine Fellini comes with her friend to church. But «my» heroine was clearly more picturesque.
Just as in politics, in religion, the hysteroid can go after the miracle worker-prophet and fit into his flock-retinue. A hysteroid can become a nun. Hysteroids are the best ground for magical religious miraculous healings, because their illness is also a demonstration of suffering, and healing is a public demonstration of the miracle-working of the prophet. And this does not happen like in the «Feast of St. Jorgen», where Igor Ilyinsky pretended to be a cripple and when Ktorov «healed» him, he went to dance. No, in real life, the hysteroid — autosuggestion of illness and autosuggestion of healing — everything develops at an unconscious level. And this is especially clearly manifested in cases of «possession» — sometimes the demon took possession, otherwise they took him and kicked him out. This is called hysteria. This is also a frequent role of hysteroids in religious shows.
Hysteroids, as it was said, are often found in monasteries, more often as novices, then, perhaps, in the role of abbess (remember the cute film “Heavenly Swallows”). There they, «possessed by a demon», are not only miraculously healed, but also run away with their lovers, and then, unhappy and penitent, they return, only to escape again…
Often, very often, hysteroids are not addicted to religion, but to esotericism, near-religious currents. The hysteroid really wants to be closer to the mysterious world, to be «initiated», somehow special, not like everyone else. Eastern trends are especially fashionable among today’s Europeans.
Just Christianity is not enough for a hysteroid. No, she should become a witch, a healer, read Tarot cards, be a psychic or a psychic client, fly with aliens into space, know a poltergeist …
The hysteroid often focuses on fortune-telling, on horoscopes, while believing in what her irrational needs suggest to her: she must marry the director, she is destined to be an actress …
Sin
Sin and hysteria are inseparable concepts. They seem to be made for each other. This is the arc of the bow and its string. If the paranoid one sins and does not repent, the epileptoid, as a rule, does not sin and therefore does not repent, then the hysteroid sins in order to repent. In public sin and public repentance, he takes special pleasure. He is not interested in doing something unforbidden, he needs a scandal around his sin. And then — universal sympathy and forgiveness after public repentance. In general, the penitent Magdalene, such a radiant image of a hysteroid for all time. And if hyperthym also sins and repents, then for him sin is the natural state of the body, nothing more than a physiological process, while for the hysteroid sin is the natural state of the soul. Hyperthym’s repentance is expressed simply, they say, forgive me a sinner — he crossed himself and overturned the cup. Repentance at the hysteroid is almost a Shakespearean tragedy. It is «fatal passions everywhere, and there is no protection from the fates.»
This is the imposition of penance, self-abasement, almost self-destruction, with tears, a scratched face, swaying in a bent position, rolling on a dirty floor or on a luxurious, well-vacuumed carpet.
And then — enlightenment, the soul was cleansed in repentance, so that you can sin sweetly again, God will forgive.
The sinfulness of the hysteroid is associated with masochistic inclinations. Let us take even the most frightening concept of hell. Hell is what awaits the sinner in the next world for his sins. And look, if this or that action, even very “unworthy”, does not threaten torment in hell, if it is not forbidden, then it is, as it were, not so interesting. But if you suffer for sin in the next world, this is already something, this is already a certain meaning of this life.
But after all, even in this world you can arrange hell for yourself: declare that you are gay, and you will be provided with scandals for the rest of your life: ridicule, spitting, booing, beatings. But they want, they really want to be beaten physically and mentally, and then regret, take a nap, add parental love, which they lacked so much in childhood. The unhappiness that is experienced in such a masochistic provocation of aggression against oneself should provoke pity.
This psychoanalytic interpretation has a natural extension. Paranoid sadistic prophets invent hell, enjoying the mere description of the future torment of sinners. And the epileptoid «inquisitors» experience heavenly bliss from the fact that here and now they face this sinner against a safe (so more painful and impressionable than about a table — compare: wood or iron?). Well, if this is a real, Catholic, Inquisition, then you can go to the stake. Some hysteroids are likened in this respect to both paranoid and epileptoids, with the difference, perhaps, that the sadistic and masochistic tendencies of hysteroids are basically interchangeable.