Interesting...Since the tyranny of the Imperialists has been epic through all millennia and certainly existed in Eurasia long before the formal discovery of the Western Hemisphere. International Crime Syndicate locus has always been hidden away since the fall of Rome in London, City of London's Central Banker Family Coven and the current Conglomerate Corporatists as the outgrowth of the Dutch/British East India Trading Company.
U.S. and its TREASONOUS is simply as the British population for the Cowardly Demon Worshipers to hide behind. Perhaps, someone would be so kind to bring forth the actual history of the Modern Age under the Central Bankers, Monarchs and Corporatists in their alignment...As though they haven't been a monopoly seeking to thieve America beginning with DEBT from the Civil War the Central Bankers instigated, supported and funded on both sides to begin with. THE CURRENT ENEMY OF THE WORLD IN LOCKSTEP IS THE SAME ONE AS IN THE U.S. REVOLUTION and WAR OF 1812 as well as the group running the Opium War in Asia at roughly the same time.
"This brings us to the final tyranny, the one most often forgotten, but also the most crucial: the tyranny of the Ego. "
Once again you are walking into the right direction but you stop half-way. At the very core of the power-greed paradigm is the false ego structure in all of us - not only within the elites.
You mention the "soul connection" as an anti-dote and being kind to each other as a practice. All valid and good attempts to turn us into more "soulful" and "kind" egos.
Yet, the false idea of an ego, the false idea of being a separated body-mind, remains. Even a "soulful" and "kind" ego will still unknowingly and unwittingly contribute to harm in the world because it is based on ignorance.
Freedom, as the opposite to tyranny, is a 100% spiritual journey. Freedom is always "Freedom from...something." Ultimately, it is freedom from the "Ego", the "Ego-Death", which is at the core of every spiritual endeavour worth the name. Everything else is simply moving the deckchairs on a ship called "Ego".
There is this modern idea, based on psychotherapy, (I am a trained psychotherapist and Hakomi therapist myself) that we have layers of "bad" or "dysfunctional" ego-layers that can be explored and "eliminated" and behind it is this "pure, shiny, perfect ego" that is "good". But this ego is still attached to a body-mind and will never bring us the ultimate bliss, peace and love of the full realization of our true nature.
In the article below I compared it with a cob or corn from which we peel the ugly brown dry leaves and a beautiful yellow cob of corn is revealed - our "beautiful" ego, that is wise and kind.
No doubt, that is possible and an improvement but this is neither necessary nor sufficient for absolute spiritual freedom. While better, it is still ego-based, still based on a false identification with something we are not - a body-mind.
All our problems are based on believing that we are a body-mind. That false idea makes us vulnerable to fear and greed. "Goodness" can disappear within seconds when faced with an existential situation. A "good" ego is never stable and no lasting antidote to fear and greed.
No - we are not a cob of corn. The truth is, we are structured like an onion.
I know this as a fact, through direct experience (as described in the article below) that suddenly and unexpectedly happened to me less than two months ago.
While there are layers of egoic behaviour we can work with in psychotherapy and somehow mitigate their dysfunctional results by bringing awareness too them, these layers are countless and do rebuild themselves constantly. Maybe that's one deep meaning of the Sisyphus story.
The only really important realization of the onion metaphor for our ego-structure is that an onion has no core. It is empty. Even if we could dissolve all ego-layers, we are then not left with this "pure, good, noble and wise ego attached to a body-mind" almost all people who are "working on themselves" imagine. No, we are literally left with nothing - pure emptiness. Pure spirit. God.
We are home again.
To the Ego this sounds either very boring or terrifying. It is neither. It is pure bliss and ultimate final peace and 100% liberation from everything - the ultimate freedom and the ultimate antidote to any tyranny.
And we can't work on it or somehow "achieve" it. These are ego-ideas.
No, it is an instant realization of what is and of who we are granted by grace. All we can do it still our mind and and become open for the possibility and actively look into that direction.
It is like looking for a "shooting star" in the night sky.
Firstly, we will never see one if we don't look up. This is equivalent to making the mind still. Only a perfectly still mind can reflect reality, God, - that's the purpose of meditation, self-enquiry and deep surrendering prayer. All of them still the mind.
So, a still mind is absolutely necessary but doesn't guarantee realizing our true nature in the same way as looking up doesn't guarantee seeing a shooting star.
This is getting too long, sorry, so for the rest I provide a link:
It is a lovely ideal to master the ego, it is exceedingly difficult, but any increment forward is better than going backward. We are all spiritually connected, but in terms of resources and bodies we are not. Due to brain plasticity people can assimilate into another culture, but at an energy cost. Othering, is less expensive in the short term. I sometimes fantasize about the harmony in tribal cultures, but when resources become scarce, the ego that strategizes for survival engages in conflict. If I was born a native Asian or African tribal woman, my ego may drive me to compete with a friend with more intricate decoration on her neck ring, or even worse, she has even more neck rings, who knows. We make unconscious cost: benefit analysis all the time in social interactions. If we can make these conscious, they happen at lightning speed and analyze deeply the benefits or costs of ego decisions, we increase our options, and more options means more freedom, less resentment and more cohesion in society. We have to discover the unconscious patterns, because in the moment the ego will choose unless we outwit it.
Welcome back to the US! I’m glad your trip was one of good spirits and that fine compliment. Certainly, in vino veritas.
“How simple it is to be happy. And why don’t I walk through that door to the soul more often?” Indeed. It seems to me, human nature is not naturally happy (not to be confused with selfish achievement, a false and fleeting happiness). If happiness comes from within, I believe it’s a gift from the loving Spirit that comes to us by invitation. If it comes from outside of ourselves, it is surely a reflection of our service and love for others—fruit of the Spirit. May happiness envelope your visit and remains with you always.
Powerful & touching article, thank you MD. The Language of the Heart is where true Soul connection occurs. I continue to practice remaining true to self. In GOD we Trust ...
No matter who wins, the Genocidal slaughter of Palestinians will continue. AIPAC is in complete control. The sick, homeless, veterans, the poor and others will suffer while $Billions are poured into Israel and the Military Industrial Complex. The Elite have no interest in helping the poor, while Joe Biden declares that anyone who doesn't agree with him is "GARBAGE"! I must be delusional because I somehow remain optimistic. Enjoy your visit to the world's largest insane asylum, Desmet.
You nailed it Matthias, the Ego and nothing else than the Ego what else could be there? But…when you look into it, it’s nowhere to be found it’s a mirage, a component display of elements put together into something nonexistent, at the best it’s an artefact. The whole psychodrama is that we constantly feed it with energy and if not it falls flat on its face on the ground. In a way we’re all Sisyphus pushing the stone uphill and in our powerless we never come to the insight that we are automatons.
Thoughtfully stated and a delightful read as your words leave us with much food for thought on tyranny in all it's forms. Thank you for challenging us to explore dimensions of existence beyond what one can perceive or measure, venturing into the realms of the mind, meaning, and the fundamental nature of being - the ultimate truth.
The ego serves as a guardian of self-preservation, protecting one's identity and sense of self. Yet, when it oversteps its bounds, it begins to crave dominance, control, and the relentless defense of a constructed and masked identity. In this state, the ego compels humanity to seek validation, power, and certainty, often obscuring our deeper, compassionate nature and distancing us from the soul’s true essence.
In its most tyrannical form, the ego wraps itself in rigid defenses—denial, deflection, and aggression—to avoid any vulnerability that might reveal its fragility behind the mask. It ensnares people in cycles of insecurity and pride, distorting Others into threats or obstacles, and blocking the mind and heart's access to the very empathy and connection that make us whole. When the ego commands, it obscures one's connection to their higher self and diverts people from an authentic, compassionate nature.
As people over-identify with the ego, it overshadows both self and social awareness, becoming a tyrant that isolates humanity in fear and, ultimately, cruelty. Transcending this inner tyranny requires profound humility and courage with a willingness to confront the ego’s need to control. This journey begins with a realignment of inner dialogue—a conscious reshaping of inner speech toward compassion and authenticity. It then radiates outward, consistently manifesting as courage and kindness in one's words and actions toward the Other.
When humanity loosens the grip of the ego, a sacred space opens within—a space where authenticity blooms, where we recognize that our true nature lies beyond ego’s boundaries. In this awakened state, authenticity itself becomes the remedy to the ego’s tyranny, reconnecting us with the deeper wisdom of the soul.
Thanks, demonstrating once again why I look forward to your Substack essays. A lot of us write about the nuts and bolts of issues. You go past the superficial and confront us with the metaphsical, whch makes us think and add understanding.
"But although most people are culpable of great moral crimes, those who collaborated were not, in fact, criminals. On the contrary, they chose to follow the rules in a demonstrably criminal regime."
"People like Eichmann were not criminals and psychopaths, Arendt argued, but rule-followers protected by social privilege. “It was precisely the members of respectable society,” she writes, “who had not been touched by the intellectual and moral upheaval in the early stages of the Nazi period, who were the first to yield. They simply exchanged one system of values against another,” without reflecting on the morality of the entire new system.
Those who refused, on the other hand, who even “chose to die,” rather than kill, did not have “highly developed intelligence or sophistication in moral matters.” But they were critical thinkers practicing what Socrates called a “silent dialogue between me and myself,” and they refused to face a future where they would have to live with themselves after committing or enabling atrocities. We must remember, Arendt writes, that “whatever else happens, as long as we live we shall have to live together with ourselves.”"
"She writes: “If the ability to tell right from wrong should turn out to have anything to do with the ability to think, then we must be able to ’demand’ its exercise from every sane person, no matter how erudite or ignorant, intelligent or stupid, he may happen to be.” Thinking does not belong to some rarified world of professional thought, and indeed thinking removed from the world, can turn people away from what is unfolding right in front of them."
"But Arendt averred that it would be a “serious mistake” to forget that even totalitarian regimes “command and rest upon mass support.” The Nazi regime’s right to prescribe behavior (i.e., its authority) and its ability to act in concert (its power) depended on the continued support of relevant sections of the population. In this perspective, mass atrocities became possible because large parts of the German population came to accept that the Nazis had a right to rule."
That requires a Responsible Animal. All the uman animals that "vote" in the current "democratic" sub-systems are Irresponsible. That leaves a very small number of potential Responsible Animals around.
But after what I witnessed during/after OPERATION COVIDIUS showed me that there aren't any Responsible Animals.
Our Thought is not prepared to live a Responsible Existence.
"...in 1944 Himmler ordered the cessation of gassing in Auschwitz, according to his orders Jewish lives were to be respected from then on. This order was only partly obeyed. Even though gassing stopped other methods were used in other camps, Eichmann supported by Kaltenbrunner tried to sabotage with all his might Himmler’s new course. ... I saw the Jewish problem as a question to be solved politically. So did Himmler and the entire Gestapo. It was not a matter of emotion. My SS comrades and I rejected the crude devices of burning temples, robbing Jewish stores and maltreating Jews on the streets. We wanted no violence. One SS officer was expelled for beating up four Jews in the cellar of our offices. We had no wish to harm individual Jews. I myself violated this code. Dr. Lownherz director of the Jewish community in Vienna was evasive to my questions and I hit him in the face....I am no anti-Semite. I was just politically opposed to Jews because they were stealing the breath of life from us. I watched my first execution at Minsk. I was wearing a leather coat I watched the last group of Jews undress down to their shirts, they walked the last 200 yards, they were not driven, then they jumped into the pit, it was impressive to see them all jumping into the pit without offering any resistance whatsoever. Then the men of the squad banded away into the pit with their rifles and machine pistols. There were children in the pit, I saw a woman hold a child of a year or two pleading, at that moment I wanted to say ‘don’t shoot hand over the child, then the child was hit. I found bits of brain splattered on my long leather coat; my driver helped me remove them. Then we returned to Berlin...Eichmann's own words from 1960 Life Magazine article. I think Hannah was woefully wrong on her take on the banality of Eichmann's evil.
Amen to your final conclusion .... Also—you write, "Concretely speaking, we now direct a major part of our attention to our outward appearance ... [where] the human being gets lost in the world of appearances. This explains the simultaneous rise of two interconnected phenomena in our culture over the past few centuries: narcissism and loneliness."
This also explains the exploding cancer rates around the world. In the US cancer has now surpassed cardiovascular issues in terms of number of deaths every year. Of course, cancer is a disease in which one's cells "lose their way" and can no identify who they really are and thus stop aligning with health. They become, in effect, sociopathic, traumatizing and eventually killing the host. Just so, a nation of people who have lost their souls and spiritual center enact the same role and dynamic in society.
Thank you
The tyranny of the Ego,
Lord have mercy! 🕊️
I loved reading that.
I'm lookin' at the man in the mirror...I'm askin' him to maaaake a chaaange
Interesting...Since the tyranny of the Imperialists has been epic through all millennia and certainly existed in Eurasia long before the formal discovery of the Western Hemisphere. International Crime Syndicate locus has always been hidden away since the fall of Rome in London, City of London's Central Banker Family Coven and the current Conglomerate Corporatists as the outgrowth of the Dutch/British East India Trading Company.
U.S. and its TREASONOUS is simply as the British population for the Cowardly Demon Worshipers to hide behind. Perhaps, someone would be so kind to bring forth the actual history of the Modern Age under the Central Bankers, Monarchs and Corporatists in their alignment...As though they haven't been a monopoly seeking to thieve America beginning with DEBT from the Civil War the Central Bankers instigated, supported and funded on both sides to begin with. THE CURRENT ENEMY OF THE WORLD IN LOCKSTEP IS THE SAME ONE AS IN THE U.S. REVOLUTION and WAR OF 1812 as well as the group running the Opium War in Asia at roughly the same time.
"This brings us to the final tyranny, the one most often forgotten, but also the most crucial: the tyranny of the Ego. "
Once again you are walking into the right direction but you stop half-way. At the very core of the power-greed paradigm is the false ego structure in all of us - not only within the elites.
You mention the "soul connection" as an anti-dote and being kind to each other as a practice. All valid and good attempts to turn us into more "soulful" and "kind" egos.
Yet, the false idea of an ego, the false idea of being a separated body-mind, remains. Even a "soulful" and "kind" ego will still unknowingly and unwittingly contribute to harm in the world because it is based on ignorance.
Freedom, as the opposite to tyranny, is a 100% spiritual journey. Freedom is always "Freedom from...something." Ultimately, it is freedom from the "Ego", the "Ego-Death", which is at the core of every spiritual endeavour worth the name. Everything else is simply moving the deckchairs on a ship called "Ego".
There is this modern idea, based on psychotherapy, (I am a trained psychotherapist and Hakomi therapist myself) that we have layers of "bad" or "dysfunctional" ego-layers that can be explored and "eliminated" and behind it is this "pure, shiny, perfect ego" that is "good". But this ego is still attached to a body-mind and will never bring us the ultimate bliss, peace and love of the full realization of our true nature.
In the article below I compared it with a cob or corn from which we peel the ugly brown dry leaves and a beautiful yellow cob of corn is revealed - our "beautiful" ego, that is wise and kind.
No doubt, that is possible and an improvement but this is neither necessary nor sufficient for absolute spiritual freedom. While better, it is still ego-based, still based on a false identification with something we are not - a body-mind.
All our problems are based on believing that we are a body-mind. That false idea makes us vulnerable to fear and greed. "Goodness" can disappear within seconds when faced with an existential situation. A "good" ego is never stable and no lasting antidote to fear and greed.
No - we are not a cob of corn. The truth is, we are structured like an onion.
I know this as a fact, through direct experience (as described in the article below) that suddenly and unexpectedly happened to me less than two months ago.
While there are layers of egoic behaviour we can work with in psychotherapy and somehow mitigate their dysfunctional results by bringing awareness too them, these layers are countless and do rebuild themselves constantly. Maybe that's one deep meaning of the Sisyphus story.
The only really important realization of the onion metaphor for our ego-structure is that an onion has no core. It is empty. Even if we could dissolve all ego-layers, we are then not left with this "pure, good, noble and wise ego attached to a body-mind" almost all people who are "working on themselves" imagine. No, we are literally left with nothing - pure emptiness. Pure spirit. God.
We are home again.
To the Ego this sounds either very boring or terrifying. It is neither. It is pure bliss and ultimate final peace and 100% liberation from everything - the ultimate freedom and the ultimate antidote to any tyranny.
And we can't work on it or somehow "achieve" it. These are ego-ideas.
No, it is an instant realization of what is and of who we are granted by grace. All we can do it still our mind and and become open for the possibility and actively look into that direction.
It is like looking for a "shooting star" in the night sky.
Firstly, we will never see one if we don't look up. This is equivalent to making the mind still. Only a perfectly still mind can reflect reality, God, - that's the purpose of meditation, self-enquiry and deep surrendering prayer. All of them still the mind.
So, a still mind is absolutely necessary but doesn't guarantee realizing our true nature in the same way as looking up doesn't guarantee seeing a shooting star.
This is getting too long, sorry, so for the rest I provide a link:
https://markusmutscheller.substack.com/p/an-attempt-to-describe-how-i-just
Like (as the « like » does not work!)
It is a lovely ideal to master the ego, it is exceedingly difficult, but any increment forward is better than going backward. We are all spiritually connected, but in terms of resources and bodies we are not. Due to brain plasticity people can assimilate into another culture, but at an energy cost. Othering, is less expensive in the short term. I sometimes fantasize about the harmony in tribal cultures, but when resources become scarce, the ego that strategizes for survival engages in conflict. If I was born a native Asian or African tribal woman, my ego may drive me to compete with a friend with more intricate decoration on her neck ring, or even worse, she has even more neck rings, who knows. We make unconscious cost: benefit analysis all the time in social interactions. If we can make these conscious, they happen at lightning speed and analyze deeply the benefits or costs of ego decisions, we increase our options, and more options means more freedom, less resentment and more cohesion in society. We have to discover the unconscious patterns, because in the moment the ego will choose unless we outwit it.
Welcome back to the US! I’m glad your trip was one of good spirits and that fine compliment. Certainly, in vino veritas.
“How simple it is to be happy. And why don’t I walk through that door to the soul more often?” Indeed. It seems to me, human nature is not naturally happy (not to be confused with selfish achievement, a false and fleeting happiness). If happiness comes from within, I believe it’s a gift from the loving Spirit that comes to us by invitation. If it comes from outside of ourselves, it is surely a reflection of our service and love for others—fruit of the Spirit. May happiness envelope your visit and remains with you always.
Powerful & touching article, thank you MD. The Language of the Heart is where true Soul connection occurs. I continue to practice remaining true to self. In GOD we Trust ...
No matter who wins, the Genocidal slaughter of Palestinians will continue. AIPAC is in complete control. The sick, homeless, veterans, the poor and others will suffer while $Billions are poured into Israel and the Military Industrial Complex. The Elite have no interest in helping the poor, while Joe Biden declares that anyone who doesn't agree with him is "GARBAGE"! I must be delusional because I somehow remain optimistic. Enjoy your visit to the world's largest insane asylum, Desmet.
You nailed it Matthias, the Ego and nothing else than the Ego what else could be there? But…when you look into it, it’s nowhere to be found it’s a mirage, a component display of elements put together into something nonexistent, at the best it’s an artefact. The whole psychodrama is that we constantly feed it with energy and if not it falls flat on its face on the ground. In a way we’re all Sisyphus pushing the stone uphill and in our powerless we never come to the insight that we are automatons.
Thoughtfully stated and a delightful read as your words leave us with much food for thought on tyranny in all it's forms. Thank you for challenging us to explore dimensions of existence beyond what one can perceive or measure, venturing into the realms of the mind, meaning, and the fundamental nature of being - the ultimate truth.
The ego serves as a guardian of self-preservation, protecting one's identity and sense of self. Yet, when it oversteps its bounds, it begins to crave dominance, control, and the relentless defense of a constructed and masked identity. In this state, the ego compels humanity to seek validation, power, and certainty, often obscuring our deeper, compassionate nature and distancing us from the soul’s true essence.
In its most tyrannical form, the ego wraps itself in rigid defenses—denial, deflection, and aggression—to avoid any vulnerability that might reveal its fragility behind the mask. It ensnares people in cycles of insecurity and pride, distorting Others into threats or obstacles, and blocking the mind and heart's access to the very empathy and connection that make us whole. When the ego commands, it obscures one's connection to their higher self and diverts people from an authentic, compassionate nature.
As people over-identify with the ego, it overshadows both self and social awareness, becoming a tyrant that isolates humanity in fear and, ultimately, cruelty. Transcending this inner tyranny requires profound humility and courage with a willingness to confront the ego’s need to control. This journey begins with a realignment of inner dialogue—a conscious reshaping of inner speech toward compassion and authenticity. It then radiates outward, consistently manifesting as courage and kindness in one's words and actions toward the Other.
When humanity loosens the grip of the ego, a sacred space opens within—a space where authenticity blooms, where we recognize that our true nature lies beyond ego’s boundaries. In this awakened state, authenticity itself becomes the remedy to the ego’s tyranny, reconnecting us with the deeper wisdom of the soul.
A gorgeous response to an insightful essay. Couldn't have said it better. Thank you, Anna Maria!
I appreciate your kinds words Mary!
Thanks Matthias
Beautifully put
I very much appreciated your input at last weekend’s event with Iain and Elizabeth
Sorry I had to rush away and wasn’t able to express this in person
The tyranny of train timetables :)
Thanks, demonstrating once again why I look forward to your Substack essays. A lot of us write about the nuts and bolts of issues. You go past the superficial and confront us with the metaphsical, whch makes us think and add understanding.
Dick Minnis removingthecataract.substack.com
Another Hannah Arendt work that applies:
Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship
Hannah Arendt, 1964
https://grattoncourses.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/responsibility-under-a-dictatorship-arendt.pdf
Reviews of:
https://www.openculture.com/2017/01/hannah-arendt-on-personal-responsibility-under-dictatorship.html
"But although most people are culpable of great moral crimes, those who collaborated were not, in fact, criminals. On the contrary, they chose to follow the rules in a demonstrably criminal regime."
"People like Eichmann were not criminals and psychopaths, Arendt argued, but rule-followers protected by social privilege. “It was precisely the members of respectable society,” she writes, “who had not been touched by the intellectual and moral upheaval in the early stages of the Nazi period, who were the first to yield. They simply exchanged one system of values against another,” without reflecting on the morality of the entire new system.
Those who refused, on the other hand, who even “chose to die,” rather than kill, did not have “highly developed intelligence or sophistication in moral matters.” But they were critical thinkers practicing what Socrates called a “silent dialogue between me and myself,” and they refused to face a future where they would have to live with themselves after committing or enabling atrocities. We must remember, Arendt writes, that “whatever else happens, as long as we live we shall have to live together with ourselves.”"
Evil Comes From a Failure to Think
https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/kul/wir/tid/22701370.html
"She writes: “If the ability to tell right from wrong should turn out to have anything to do with the ability to think, then we must be able to ’demand’ its exercise from every sane person, no matter how erudite or ignorant, intelligent or stupid, he may happen to be.” Thinking does not belong to some rarified world of professional thought, and indeed thinking removed from the world, can turn people away from what is unfolding right in front of them."
https://hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/obedience-and-political-affairs-2014-11-17
"But Arendt averred that it would be a “serious mistake” to forget that even totalitarian regimes “command and rest upon mass support.” The Nazi regime’s right to prescribe behavior (i.e., its authority) and its ability to act in concert (its power) depended on the continued support of relevant sections of the population. In this perspective, mass atrocities became possible because large parts of the German population came to accept that the Nazis had a right to rule."
"... is to tackle the tyranny within."
That requires a Responsible Animal. All the uman animals that "vote" in the current "democratic" sub-systems are Irresponsible. That leaves a very small number of potential Responsible Animals around.
But after what I witnessed during/after OPERATION COVIDIUS showed me that there aren't any Responsible Animals.
Our Thought is not prepared to live a Responsible Existence.
https://voza0db.substack.com/p/morons-just-dont-get-it-050
"...in 1944 Himmler ordered the cessation of gassing in Auschwitz, according to his orders Jewish lives were to be respected from then on. This order was only partly obeyed. Even though gassing stopped other methods were used in other camps, Eichmann supported by Kaltenbrunner tried to sabotage with all his might Himmler’s new course. ... I saw the Jewish problem as a question to be solved politically. So did Himmler and the entire Gestapo. It was not a matter of emotion. My SS comrades and I rejected the crude devices of burning temples, robbing Jewish stores and maltreating Jews on the streets. We wanted no violence. One SS officer was expelled for beating up four Jews in the cellar of our offices. We had no wish to harm individual Jews. I myself violated this code. Dr. Lownherz director of the Jewish community in Vienna was evasive to my questions and I hit him in the face....I am no anti-Semite. I was just politically opposed to Jews because they were stealing the breath of life from us. I watched my first execution at Minsk. I was wearing a leather coat I watched the last group of Jews undress down to their shirts, they walked the last 200 yards, they were not driven, then they jumped into the pit, it was impressive to see them all jumping into the pit without offering any resistance whatsoever. Then the men of the squad banded away into the pit with their rifles and machine pistols. There were children in the pit, I saw a woman hold a child of a year or two pleading, at that moment I wanted to say ‘don’t shoot hand over the child, then the child was hit. I found bits of brain splattered on my long leather coat; my driver helped me remove them. Then we returned to Berlin...Eichmann's own words from 1960 Life Magazine article. I think Hannah was woefully wrong on her take on the banality of Eichmann's evil.
Amen to your final conclusion .... Also—you write, "Concretely speaking, we now direct a major part of our attention to our outward appearance ... [where] the human being gets lost in the world of appearances. This explains the simultaneous rise of two interconnected phenomena in our culture over the past few centuries: narcissism and loneliness."
This also explains the exploding cancer rates around the world. In the US cancer has now surpassed cardiovascular issues in terms of number of deaths every year. Of course, cancer is a disease in which one's cells "lose their way" and can no identify who they really are and thus stop aligning with health. They become, in effect, sociopathic, traumatizing and eventually killing the host. Just so, a nation of people who have lost their souls and spiritual center enact the same role and dynamic in society.