Our greatest fear is that someone will see through our manipulation. When this is threatened, we often go to the position of victim. Victim is marked by a kind of powerlessness or helplessness where the cause is not seen as disconnection from our power in Eros but as being caused by something external. This position operates as a smokescreen for the real work to be done, to dissolve the resentment that keeps us separate from the power of the Erotic body. Rooted in a child’s consciousness, the underlying position of victim is that we are owed. Because the victim is overwhelmed by a sense of fear in the face of powerlessness, we abdicate responsibility for volition and present as if we had no choice because we lacked power. Inevitably, others make choices we do not like and we revolt, becoming that much more entrenched in our position.
The victim projects their internal drives and motivations onto others. Lacking the Erotic power to integrate such drives, they get projected externally and then come at the victim. Do not be fooled. The victim position is an entitled position, a demand for power we will not cultivate. It is a weapon when it is an identity, when it does not allow for an organic response from others but demands attention. An inherent threat exists in the victim identity that if we are not given the attention we believe we deserve, we will hold others hostage with our position.
The tumescent mind can be victimized by anything from financial security, the body, sickness, weight, gender, anxiety, cravings, being a parent, government and politics, religion, or even our own choices such as monogamy, non-monogamy, emotions, and thoughts. Victim consciousness is a lens through which we see life, where we are at the mercy of phenomena. Whatever assertions we have about how the world victimizing us is a reflection of our internal and disowned relationship to the world. This is not to say we make difficult things happen—that is life. This is to say that to the extent we feel victimized by them, we have disowned the villainous part of ourselves.
When the victim identity is operating, remember that this identity is inextricably linked to the villain. It is simultaneously victimizing others. Our withdrawal hurts those around us. Our suffering leaks over into other people’s realities, often accompanied by a demand.
