3. The Sadomasochistic Personality

To Freud, the sadistic personality was someone who, regardless of his sexual proclivities, needed to feel in control of others, often demeaning them and making them feel dependent upon his strength and power. The masochist, in turn, was not just a person with a sexual perversion, but one who felt safe and secure under the control of a stronger person who told him what to do and how to live.

The sadist is the active man of history. As a man alienated from his own nature, the sadist is in an overt war with the enemy – himself. The power that he gains over others is a confirmation of the indestructibility of his eternal ego. His willing subjects look on him as their savior and as the person who protects them from the terrifying sword of constant change and therefore holds their fate, as well as his own, in his hands. Although their obedience is often gained by force, the sadistic man prefers those followers that enjoy his bullying and allow him unrestricted power over themselves to the point of becoming extensions of his will.

The sadistic person, like his masochistic subjects, is afraid to love his own life and is dependent upon his sycophants to produce for him an illusion of his own invulnerability. Sadism is a form of repression. By controlling his environment, the sadistic man perceives himself as able to stem the tide of constant change that threatens him with vulnerability and mortality. The sadistic man creates and maintains an all-powerful identity through the weak and submissive eyes of his followers.

Masochistic man is naturally obedient to authority figures, whether they are religious leaders, military commanders, or baseball heroes endorsing a product that he chooses to buy. Masochistic man is also alienated from himself, but because he is not strong enough to resist the threats of his mortal enemy, he seeks reunification through another object of alienation – the sadistic man. While sharing the masochist’s feelings of alienation, the sadistic man offers the weak man the strength to resist the very flow of nature.

The following of authority is the denial of intelligence. To accept authority is to submit to domination, to subjugate oneself to an individual, to a group, or an ideology, whether religious or political; and this subjugation of oneself to authority is the denial, not only of intelligence, but also of individual freedom.

J. Krishnamurti