The Bi-Phasic Approach
It has been mentioned before that the column aims at promoting conventional, conformist and contented attitudes and that any insight into negative aspects of reality are kept under control by making everything dependent on the individual rather than on objective conditions. The individual is promised the solution to everything if he complies with certain requiremems and avoids certain negative stereotypes. He is prevented from really acknowledging the very same difficulties which drive him into the arms of astrology. But the column is much too well aware of the seriousness of reality problems as well as of psychological ones to rely entirely on the effectiveness of its own ideology. It has to face people who find out from life experience continuously that everything does not run so smooth as the column seems to imply it does and that not everything takes care of itself. They are incessantly beset by irreconcilable and contradictory requirements of their own psychological economy as well as of social reality: the column constructs its addressee as being »frustrated.« It does not suffice to the column to simply deny the existence of these requirements and to comfort the frustrated; somehow the column has to take up these contradictions themselves if it really wants to tie the readers to its own authority. It fulfills this task which by necessity cannot be solved by the mere promulgation of a »positive« ideology, nor by any other content that could be easily refuted by everyday facts, rather ingeniously by its formal setup, thus fortifying an otherwise precarious balance of contradictory requirements, in the reader.
The basic formal device employed here – and probably the most effective trick of the column as a whole – is derived from its principal medium, i.e. the time element. Astrology pretends basically that the stars determine what will happen or, if the approach is brought more »up-to-date,« what is advisable or inadvisable at any given day or hour. Thus frequently a certain general mood is maintained for a whole day, supposedly due to the basic constellations of this day, affecting every reader, no matter under which sign he may have been born. Here is the »Astrological Forecast« for Sunday, November 20, 1952:
ARIES (March 21 to April 19): A.M. bring many problems into open to test your self-control, ideas to be lived in daily tasks; P.M. your mind solves them, finds new avenues in which growth, expansion excellent.
TAURUS (April 20 to May 20): You have good chance A.M. to think deeply into unusual ways to push ahead. P.M. dynamic official brings you chance to add to your revenue; show appreciation by trying suggestions.
GEMINI (May 21 to June 21): A.M. finds you able to solve quietly present riddles in your way of life; discuss with understanding individual. P.M. splendid for forging ahead to new goals awaiting you all ways.
CANCER (June 22 to July 21): Early A.M. feeling of well-being starts interesting day right; attend worship as your chosen outlet for expanding happiness; P.M. keep companions jolly by entertaining.
LEO (July 22 to Aug. 21): Seek those early who lift your spirits, bring you solace; forget the humdrum in enjoying others; P.M. get together with friends, partners, for amusements, romance, sports.
VIRGO (Aug. 22 to Sept. 22): Listen carefully to what both friends attachments suggest in lines improving conditions at home, with family; P.M. organize calendar to use good coming week wisely.
LIBRA (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22): Calm hurt feelings of family, others important to your life, A.M., let them talk grievances out of their systems; P.M. enjoy neighbors, relatives, close associates; be charming.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23 to Nov. 21): You have chance to coordinate higher ideals in everyday living by careful A.M. study; P.M. much activity at home brings into open improved plans for financial security.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 to Dec. 21): Doing job with routines thoroughly, avoiding costly commitments A.M. brings peace, contentment; P.M. use all that mental energy generated to improve all your affairs.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 to Jan. 20): Refusal to allow upset comrade to disturb your equanimity great assistance A.M. to all about; P.M. quietly look to present practical interests; plan to improve coming week.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 to Feb. 19): Side-step those routine tasks that make you want to explode A.M., contact, enjoy good friend instead; P.M. use all that vitality to arrange new plan for attaining goals.
PISCES (Feb. 20 to March 20): Morning fine for seeking out good friends, loved ones, making plans to have good time later; P.M. making secret arrangements to bring your talents to one able to aid is best.
This establishes, first of all, the supremacy of time, but does not yet take care of conflicting requirements. However, this all important task, too, is shifted upon time. It has to fulfill the role of the ultimate decision maker.
The problem of how to dispense with contradictory requirements of life is solved by the simple device of distributing these requirements over different periods mostly of the same day. The fact that one cannot countenance two contradictory desires at the same time, that, as it is loosely called, one cannot have one's cake and eat it too, induces the advice that irreconcilable activities simply should be undertaken at various times indicated by celestial configurations. This again feeds on realistic elements: the order of everyday life takes care of a number of antinomies of existence, such as that of work and leisure or of public functions and private existence. Such antinomies are taken up by the column, hypostatized and treated as though they were simple dichotomies of the natural order of things rather than sociologically conditioned patterns. Everything can be solved, so runs the implicit argument, if one only chooses the right time, and if one fails, this is merely due to a lack of understanding of some supposedly cosmic rhythm. This indeed achieves a kind of equilibrium and satisfaction that could not be achieved if the contradictions were faced as such, i.e., as simultaneous and equally potent demands made by various psychological or outside agencies. They are all replaced by the more abstract but less offensive and affect-laden time concept. Thus, A.M., comprising the bulk of the work day, is frequently treated as representative of reality and the ego principle: people are advised to be particularly reasonable during the morning.
Tax problems, money dealings with others easily attended to in morning ...
(Saturday, November 15, 1952, Taurus)
Looking straight at present obligations, duties, restrictions early shows right way to solve them simply and effectively.
(November 16, 1952, Sagittarius)
Keep smiling plodding at chosen tasks despite early, A.M. feeling nothing works right. Plan different clever methods quietly.
A.M. brings big chance to iron out any concerns regarding officials, executives, career, credits.
(December 15, 1952, Taurus)
A.M. finds many little duties that you'd best do early, freeing remainder of the day for much joy ...
(January 1, 1953, Virgo)
Early desire for fun can put a big dent in bankroll, so be economical.
(January 2, 1953, Aries)
A.M. finds your own desires conflicting with those of family member. Don't argue, cooperate to prevent lasting resentment.
(January 2, 1953, Taurus)
Conversely, P.M., which generally includes at least a certain amount of leisure time, is handled as though it were the representative of the instinctual urges of the pleasure principle:18 people are often admonished to seek pleasure, particularly the »simple pleasures of life,« to wit, the gratifications offered by other mass media during the afternoon or evening.
Afternoon finds pleasures all about: enjoy thoroughly; relax in P.M.
(November 16, 1952, Virgo)
P.M. get out from present preoccupations; entertain; enjoy sports, romance.
(November 17, Leo)
A.M. finds need for secret huddle with member of family to eliminate present worry; later excellent influences prevail for you to enjoy amusements, romance, recreation.
(November 19, 1952, Virgo)
In P.M. enjoy sports, romance, entertainment, recreation.
(November 21, 1952, Libra)
P.M. enjoy pleasures, recreation, love.
(November 23, 1952, Leo)
By dichotomies of this kind a pseudosolution of difficulties is achieved: either-or relationships are transformed into first-next relationships. Pleasure thus becomes the award of work, work the atonement for pleasure.
While this formal scheme of the column is derived from its medium, and mirrors the time schedule to which most people are subject it is again very shrewdly keyed to psychological dispositions frequently encountered in stymied personalities. Here again the semipopular concept of ego weakness first comes to mind. Erich Fromm has pointed out in his study »Zum Gefühl der Ohnmacht« (The Feeling of Impotence), from which we quote in a free translation:
Faith in time lacks the sense of sudden change. It substitutes expectation that »in due time« everything will come out all right. Conflicts, which one feels unable to resolve oneself, are expected to be resolved by time without one's having to take the risk of deciding. Faith in time is found especially frequently with respect to one's own achievements. People not only console themselves over their unperformed performances, but also over not preparing for the performance by persuading themselves that they have so much time left and that there is no reason to hurry. An example of this mechanism is the case of a greatly gifted author who wanted to write a book which, in his opinion, would rank among the most important of world literature. All he did was to pursue a series of thoughts about it, to indulge in fantasies about the epoch-making effect his book would produce and to tell his friends that it was almost finished. Actually, although he had »worked« on the book for seven years, he had not yet written a single line. As these people get older, they must cling even more stubbornly to the illusion that time will take care of things. Many, when they reach a certain age – usually the early forties – either sober up and abandon the illusion and make efforts to utilize their own powers or have a neurotic breakdown because life without the consoling illusion of time as a benefactor becomes intolerable.19
It may be added to Fromm's remark that the tendency he describes seems to be derived from an infantile attitude, possibly related to the child's fantasies of what will happen when he is »grown up.« What is at certain times realistic in children who know that they will grow and who have neither full disposal of their potential faculties nor the autonomy of making their own decisions, becomes neurotic when it is carried over into adult life. People with a weak ego or objectively incapable of molding their own fate show a certain readiness to shift their responsibility to the abstract time factor which absolves them of their failures and promotes their hope as though they could expect relief from all their ills from the very simple fact that things move on and more particularly that most sufferings are likely to be forgotten – the capacity of memory actually being linked with a strong development of the ego. This psychological disposition is both strengthened and utilized by the column which enhances the confidence in time by giving it the mystical connotation that time is somehow expressive of the verdict of the stars.
Beyond such observations, the dichotomous interpretation of time can probably be understood in depth-psychological terms. A valid interpretation of this approach is probably obtained by the concept of the bi-phasic symptoms frequent in compulsive neurosis. Fenichel describes the mechanism as follows:
In reaction formation, an attitude is taken that contradicts the original one; in undoing, one more step is taken. Something positive is done which, actually or magically, is the opposite of something which, again actually or in imagination, was done before.
This mechanism can be most clearly observed in certain compulsive symptoms that are made up of two actions, the second of which is a direct reversion of the first. For example, a patient must first turn on the gas jet and then turn it off again. All symptoms that represent expiations belong in this category, for it is the nature of expiation to annul antecedent acts. The idea of expiation itself is nothing but an expression of belief in the possibility of a magical undoing.20
This mechanism is related to compulsiveness:
Whereas some compulsive symptoms are distorted modes of perceiving instinctual demands and others express the anti-instinctual threats of the superego, still other symptoms obviously show the struggle between the two. Most of the symptoms of obsessive doubt can be covered by the formula: »May I be naughty, or must I be good?« Sometimes a symptom consists of two phases, one representing an objectionable impulse, the other the defense against it. Freud's »ratman,« for instance, felt compelled to remove a stone from the road because it might hurt somebody, and then felt compelled to put it back again.21
What results if expiation and undoing are obsessively institutionalized, is called:
... a bi-phasic behavior. The patient behaves alternately as though he were a naughty child and a strict punitive disciplinarian.
For obsessive reasons a patient was not able to brush his teeth. After not brushing his teeth for a while, he would slap and scold himself. Another patient always carried a notebook, in which he would make check marks according to his conduct to indicate praise or blame.22
Defenses and behavior patterns of this kind while actually neurotic are systematized and presented as normal and wholesome throughout the setup of the column. As a matter of fact, this principle of organization permeates it to such an extent that most of the specific devices now to be analyzed can and will be presented within the framework of the bi-phasic approach.