Rape of the Mental Nature

"it is the sudden, obsessive invasion that plucks away the flower of thought"

- The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, page 52


After last Thursday's discussion, I began to contemplate the different types of rape other than that of the physical nature. Rape is an incredibly strong word in today's society, and most frequently invokes imagery of one being forced into undesired sexual activity. Upon reading Roberto Calasso's definition of the word, I started to think about other forms of rape. Calasso's definition seems to imply that the nature of the invasion is more mental than physical, and that is the road that I began to trod upon in my thoughts.

Once I began to think about the topic, I realized there were several occasions I could recall from the recent past of mental rape. There are many ways in which one can be mentally raped, and it is not necessarily that uncommon. One example that instantly came to mind was film. While watching the incredibly popular film, Avatar, I was so enraptured by all that was going on in the movie that all other thoughts left my mind. By the end of the film I felt as though I was a part of the world of Pandora. So, according to Calasso's definition I was mentally raped by the film. After the film ended  I almost felt let down that I was not an Avatar on the planet Pandora. At first I thought that I may have been unique in my experience, but upon walking out of the theater my girlfriend at the time said she had experienced the same thing. To think, that I mere Friday night flick could have such an effect on us! Over the course of a couple weeks after I saw the film, my online news source stated that people across the nation were experiencing the exact same phenomenon. The effects were so drastic that a few people had actually committed suicide because their own lives seemed so pale in comparison to Pandora.

"when the divine reaches down to touch the world, is rape"

- MCH, p. 52

While my experience in the movie theater may not have been divine, it is incredible to think about how much audio/visual stimulation can mentally rape the processes within our brains.