Capitalism and Incest

The very waters where I once sailed with a perpetrator

Incest is the secret formula to keep families attached, to keep fear-based protection of authority figures alive, and to preserve the hierarchic structure of the capitalist system.

Incest, passed down from older generations, creates:

1. Fear of death, through the trauma, and therefore,
2. Increased dependence on family money for survival. 

Thus incest is the secret formula to keep families attached, to keep fear-based protection of authority figures alive, and to preserve the hierarchic structure of the capitalist system. Victims of incest need to protect the secret, because if they don't, they will be kicked out of the group. Many of my fellow survivors who confronted their relatives have lost out on their share of the inheritance, often strategized by siblings faithful to the unhealthy family dynamic. This happened to me as well. This is why the wealthier and more powerful the family, the harder it is to deal with the reality of incest, the harder it is to move away from matter-bound consciousness, and the harder it is to find the courage to face the trauma. 

The way society is set up today, it is still very difficult to heal from incest. There is no organized structure in place outside of the family unit for emotional support, there is usually no financial aid available, and you end up losing your family itself, whatever status you had from being part of that lineage, and their financial support - all at once. This while having to deal with the very painful feelings that were previously covered by denial and attachment to the authority figures who abused you. For many survivors, the circumstances of the original exploitation are replicated by confronting the family, or by confronting a similar situation in a work place or another group dynamic where abuse of power by the leader has corrupted its purpose. At this moment, it still requires tremendous courage to break away from dynamics of power abuse, because the losses are real. 

The man who took me sailing along the US East Coast when I was nine, mentioned many times that I belonged in his family. I am beginning to realize that he was saying these things because he identified with me, and therefore he felt that I was part of his family, who were in his mind mere extensions of himself. I did not realize then he was also referring to the network, that he called it “the family.” Apart from that and the child abuse he committed in that context, he was most certainly a perpetrator to his own younger relatives as well. There was a certain type of elation he experienced when he was with me that I also saw on his face in pictures with his own kin. He could gleefully express his love for a daughter or grandchild in public because no one would ever guess at the sexual relationship he had with them. That is what gave him that sense of elation when he was with me, whom he sometimes introduced as “his niece from Paris.” He felt freedom in being able to get away with it. 

And this man was known as a leader of this world. And this is the state of the world from which we are beginning to wake up: complete lack of emotional awareness that leads to mindless repetitions of trauma stories, with many of the elites finding relief from their own original abuse in the same way the abuse was perpetrated on them. It is all about getting away with - incest, sex abuse and crimes symbolizing revenge for the once powerless child, such as theft (as their own innocence was stolen), greed (bottomless need to stuff the inner emptiness left by the original trauma), and murder (the loss of hope of the child self that is deadened). The network family props up figures such as our leaders to keep the mass protection of the original abuser/authority figure intact, so we will see these figures as all good and preserve the status quo, at everyone's expense. 

Today it still takes tremendous courage to face incest, because it is so deeply ingrained in the fabric of Western culture. So if you're a survivor, I just want to acknowledge that you are a pioneer, brave beyond words, and I would like to encourage you to recognize this and be extremely kind to yourself, because you are walking this path not just for you today, but for the future of humanity.