Viewing our predicament from anthropological, psychological and philosophical perspectives, we have Jules Henry's Pathways to Madness in which he states:
"Life in our culture is a flight from nothingness... Psychology tells us that what we really want is to feel effective... That silent anguish of many of us, however, warns that many who are frightfully effective feel like nothing themselves."
In a similar vein, David Michael Levin writes:
"I suggest that narcissistic character disorders are inherent, and might be accordingly epidemic in our present historical situation... Since real powerlessness is a normal experience of the modern Self, it could be said that we are driven into [narcissism] in order to maintain [a pseudo] 'sanity.'"
In the light of Heidegger's writing, Levin goes on to say:
"... the abandonment of Being [itself] is associated with an ego essentially involved in - a grandiose attempt to secure and make certain... [T]his attempt to gain control over Being... gradually degenerates into... a will to power that cannot tolerate the [infinity and] irreducibility of Being - [this] makes way for the discourse of... rage: the discourse of nihilism."
Conclusion
We have all been treated like "somebodies" as well as "nobodies" at one time or another; as such, we can all identify with both aspects of rankism.
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