Dear Marion,

Thank you again for your thoughtful replies to my letters.
My reasoning, you say, reminds you of some manner of artwork.
I agree, not because what I do is valid or valuable, but
because writing - and thinking about what I write - is an end
in itself, a game which I play for its own sake. I need to be
occupied, I need to be active, to be doing something, even if
what I do is only a game, ultimately worthless or
inconsequential.

Your comment that there seems to be in my experience a leitmotif
of disappointment with unrealistic expectations is also apposite
and perceptive. Interestingly, what you identify as an attitude
peculiar to me, I interpret as quasi universal experience. I infer
that contemplating oneself as "etwas Besonderes" is a phenomenon
of human nature, that each one of us intuitively posits herself -
or himself - at the center of the only universe that she - or he
knows. Aren't you yourself also convinced in your heart that you
are something special?

I am fascinated by the symmetry between the individual's conviction
that he is unique and that meaning is ultimately to be found in
his own existence, - a conviction that has an obvious basis in
biological necessity, - and the religious belief in the goodness
of God with its scholastic elaborations in various efforts
at theodicee. The subjective postulate of virtue is inescapable.
No one can honestly say "I am bad". Note that the function of the
Mea Culpa  is to place the repentant sinner once again "on the side
of the angels." Between the inescapable postulate of subjective
virtue and the assertion that God is good is a broad and deep
spectrum of idealization. Rulers and kings are idolized, are
idealized because their power gives them the appearance of reality.
It's not by accident that kings are deemed anointed by God.

Here's the documentation from Wikipedia:

_     In Christian Europe, the Carolingian monarchy was the first
_     to anoint the king in a coronation ceremony that was designed
_     to epitomize the Catholic Church's conferring a religious
_     sanction of the monarch's divine right to rule. A number
_     of Merovingian, Carolingian and Ottonian kings and emperors
_     have avoided coronation and anointing.
_     
_     English and Scottish monarchs in common with the French
_     included anointing in the coronation rituals (sacre in French).
_     The Sovereign of the United Kingdom is the last anointed
_     monarch. For the coronation of King Charles I in 1626
_     the holy oil was made of a concoction of orange, jasmine,
_     distilled roses, distilled cinnamon, oil of ben, extract
_     of bensoint, ambergris, musk and civet. .
_     
_     However this does not symbolize any subordination to the
_     religious authority, hence it is not usually performed
_     in Catholic monarchies by the pope but usually reserved
_     for the (arch)bishop of a major see (sometimes the site
_     of the whole coronation) in the nation, as is sometime
_     the very act of crowning. Hence its utensils can be part
_     of the regalia, such as in the French kingdom an ampulla
_     for the oil and a spoon to apply it with; in the Swedish
_     and Norwegian kingdoms, an anointing horn (a form fitting
_     the Biblical as well as the Viking tradition) is the
_     traditional vessel.
_     
_     The French Kings adopted the fleur-de-lis as a baptismal
_     symbol of purity on the conversion of the Frankish King
_     Clovis I to the Christian religion in 493. To further
_     enhance its mystique, a legend eventually sprang up that
_     a vial of oil (cfr. infra the crowning ampulla) descended
_     from Heaven to anoint and sanctify Clovis as King. The
_     thus "anointed" Kings of France later maintained that
_     their authority was directly from God, without the
_     mediation of either the Emperor or the Pope.
_     
_     Legends claim that even the lily itself appeared at the
_     baptismal ceremony as a gift of blessing in an apparition
_     of the blessed Virgin Mary.
_     
_     In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anointing of an
_     Orthodox Sovereign is considered a Sacred Mystery
_     (Sacrament). The act was believed to bestow upon the
_     ruler the empowerment, through the grace of the Holy
_     Spirit, to discharge his God-appointed duties, and his
_     ministry in defending the Orthodox Christian faith.
_     The same Myron which is used in Chrismation is used
_     for the Anointing of the Monarch. In the Russian
_     Orthodox Church, during the Coronation of the Tsar,
_     the Anointing took place just before the receipt of
_     Holy Communion, toward the end of the service. The
_     Sovereign and his Consort were escorted to the Holy
_     Doors (Iconostasis) of the Cathedral, and were there
_     anointed by the Metropolitan. After the Anointing,
_     the Tsar alone was taken through the Holy Doors
_     (an action normally reserved only for bishops or
_     priests) and received Holy Communion at a small table
_     set next to the Holy Table, or altar.

The recognition that kings and other potentates are not
inherently virtuous, are anything but "the Lord's anointed",
is one phase of a more general process which in the continuing
dialogue with myself, I refer to as "Entidealisierung"  -
de-idealization. I have persuaded myself that "idealization"
is a process of synthesis with many facets which is the
essential characteristic of the human mind. Understanding
the intellectual-spiritual world (die geistige Welt) in
which we live is to accept it as a product of idealization.
Once I recognize the pervasive function of idealization in
my thought, the effort to subtract the ideal from the
experience, much more easily said than done, becomes
unavoidable. Examples are too numerous to cite.

Jochen