The Orphan Age
What Dr. Pearson’s Orphan Archetype Reveals About Our Impudent Culture, the Radicalizing Mirage of Utopia, and How to Foster Our Future.
As a child, Adolf Hitler was beaten by his father to the point where he ended up in a comma, but he ascribed the danger as coming from life itself- he resented the world for being his hell rather than confront the fact that the danger was coming from within his home. A father, who should have been an angel, but whom he realized was a demon. If we don’t deal with our childhood we risk projecting it onto the world and we never get to escape. Not unless we actually deal with it and put the moral blame where it should be. Hitler is a horrific example of the danger of the Orphan archetype.
The Orphan archetype is a component of a psychological framework proposed by professor Carol S. Pearson which goes beyond the narrow Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey of the Warrior and explains several overarching personality types seen throughout human myth, history, and which operate within each of us to varying degrees.
In my studies, I have come to believe that Carol S. Pearson was right in her warning- which she made in her 1986 book, Hero Within. That American society encourages the Orphan archetype in each of us. More on that soon. First, we should realize that the Orphan archetype is particularly interesting because it is the very first stage outside of the protected world of the innocent, the veritable Garden of Eden of our early childhoods — it is therefore a stage everyone must confront at the dawn of adolescence or sadly earlier, and it is also the hardest stage to overcome because it challenges the worldview of safety ingrained in each of us since our earliest memories. To accept the responsibility and harsh realities of the world is terrifying. To confront the source of our demons rather than cast our bestial howl into the world itself.
There is a common phrase that goes something like this : Never ascribe to villainy that which can be explained by ignorance. I.e. Don’t be the cat that hisses at another cat after it stubs its own toe. Unless you want to be a meme.
What creates the Orphan? Stepping into the cruel world, the innocent is often confronted by misfortune, realizes the flaw in their parents, is radicalized by them against the world, or is abused by them — in such a way, the angels become demons — protectors become the predators or purveyors of hell on earth. The Orphan is born. Resentment builds because the orphan’s worldview is based on the flawed premise that their birthright is Eden- that they deserve perfection. To conquer this stage, their job is to realize the truth- that the world owes you nothing- that the world is neither good nor evil, it is atomic reality that must be made into the approximation of abundance by effort, not resentful demands. And the cruel reality that the abundance may never come.
Most people in our society operate as orphans to some degree. But it is not only true that the orphan stage comes naturally, but that there is indeed a conflict of interest for those in political and economic positions of power to encourage and spread the Orphan archetype. To foster Orphans in eternal purgatory. Why?
It is easy to sell orphans on get-rich-quick schemes, on products that will transform them into beautiful, happy people over night, and on distractions and fantasies that give them a taste of Eden that they demand in the immediate moment. They desire permanent youth — to relish in lazy entertainment and effortless pursuit of their every whim. To demand a certain wage, for a certain job, so they can play video games and vacation a certain amount of time. [This should remind you of FDR’s New Deal and his economic rights — which are contradictory to human rights] It is the stage of the resentful toddler, demanding that the world treat him like his baby sister — demanding that they have the right to remain Peter Pan forever.
More than economic leverage and appealing to vanity — the orphan is susceptible to the impossible promises of the politicians, the angelic paternal figures that offer their judge-less gifts of plenty- of restoratives that will bring them an Eden they never really had nor deserved. That name their demons for them, and tell them that this group or that group is responsible for your banishment from Eden. It is easy to buy the votes of orphans with promises of redistributed prosperity, of unearned utopia as recompense for being emotionally traumatized by being “forced” to face the realities of work. And of all the psychological archetypes, it is the hardest for orphans to transition to the next paradigm because doing so requires immense self knowledge and breaking the ingrained worldview that they were born into- the epitome of the safe space, the idyllic Garden of Eden — and they most often cannot do so alone. They simply are not prepared- not strong enough to face conflicts of ideas or of hardships, and if they are forced to, will assume that they are the target of evil motivation from the world and its demons. They often need a mentor, a parent, an educator, or incredible will-power in the face of unmistakable evidence, to prove to them that the world is indifferent- and the shadows they seek come from within, from the broken premise they hold.
What is the destiny of a culture which has restructured to serve and empower the masses as Orphans? We have seen a glimpse of that fate in the encouragement and rise to power of Hitler. We can see echos of the Orphan mentality in the Roman empire — where entitled apathy reigned in their twilight. We can see it in the horrors of socialism's greatest evil and most logical extension, Communism — a Utopian nightmare that slaughtered 300 million human beings. There is no wonder that a political system which ignores the sources of generative and productive human efforts, casts people as villains who are part of a group with massive privilege imbued into them by their race or their class, and demands that those devils be immolated to return the Orphans to a utopia that never existed, would hinge on the nefarious abuse of the Orphan archetype. So corrupted that they even slaughtered the children of their oppressors- the Jews, Christians, and Bourgeois — even if those children were impoverished atheists. Orphans are easily driven by jealousy when they see others who apparently still live in Eden- because they believe that they deserve Eden by default, and can only assume that those with riches must have acquired riches by stealing from those below. They refuse nuance or the dignity of doubt. The corruption of the Orphan archetype encourages hatred by destroying mutual respect that the Orphan must learn in order to avoid becoming weakened and vicious by entitlement — in order to become an adult that assumes good until proven otherwise by empirical evidence. The Orphan groomed and bound by collectivism is powered by hate and avoids the truth — that life is hard, and that they cannot wreak the rewards of the earth without first learning how to operate the land. It is these Orphans that are twisted by nefarious, enriched Houseparents into murdering the engines of productivity, and then flounder in a communist empire replete with vast fertile land and in which they end up starving- unable to produce the very wheat that is depicted on their Kopek.
What can we do to stem the deleterious effects of the Orphan archetype on our culture? This is probably the hardest social problem that we face in our modern age. The desperation of the human mind to protect itself from realizing it has in some way contributed to its own downfall is staggering. Some would rather take the lie with them to an early grave, then admit they have agency and fight the hard fight to make their lives better. It is also hard to expect Orphans to change when they are steeped in the greatest, anti-reality lies of our generation promulgated by the great secular societies of the 20th century- the socialist idea that in any given moment in history, science has achieved the capability of abundance and the issue is not how to continue progress (through capitalism) but how to steal resources from the rich to create the machines from which we can redistribute utopia. [Though Communists spent vast resources infiltrating the United States to steal secrets from the Manhattan project, probably not to redistribute Utopia in that case!] We are not on the verge of Utopia, and we never were. In order to curb the effects of the radicalized Orphan culture, we must begin to dismantle these lies.
The modern education system does not serve us well in this respect. The universities have slowly been taken over, starting in the counter revolution of the 60’s which infused higher-learning with anti-american and Marxist ideals, the new wave of professors they groomed are even more radical- decrying their former colleagues as too far right. As a testament to the political blinders, in 1971 John Stewart Service became faculty at the University of California at Berkely — a known communist spy who was Second Secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Chungking, who praised the Communists as “progressive” while handing over military secrets to ensure they would be victorious and go on to murder 40 million. But hey, as long as he shares your political views, right? This explains why college campuses want students that look different, but think the same. Husks they can fill with childlike demands upon their fellow man whom they have been convinced is the source of their every pain, and for which they have been told the only solution is the benevolent hand of God called the Government. Marx would be proud. Ironically, as the educational institutions are forced to increase tuition because of bloated administrative costs that feed the very instrument that is destroying our culture, alternative sources of education will begin to arise. [Universities desperately tried to stop private on-line courses early on, government empowered monopolies at work.] The fall of the academic oligarchy must be partnered with a rise of new sources of education that champion human reason, personal responsibility, and mutual respect. Education that empowers Orphans is key because of the difficulty of transition out of the Orphan stage- being taken out of the den of vipers is not enough, there must be those willing to teach children to face reality rather than project their desires onto reality. Education systems that treat our young adults like adults — that quit coddling our Orphan archetypes and take up the noble task of helping prepare them for a world that is not Plato’s idyllic form unresolved, but Aristotle's world of material waiting to be transformed by hard work and truth.
Additionally, the societal programs which encourage single-motherhood and a culture where fathers are abandoning their children, need to be addressed — not only as a burden on the resources of the state, and as a political conflict of interest used strategically to buy votes, which in turn increase these same programs, but because the moral hazard that is created when children do not have both parents in their life to model responsible behavior. To help empower them to transition out of the Orphan stage and to go on to transform their lives for the better. I can say from personal experience, that my transition out of the Orphan archetype was greatly impacted by being raised in a single-mother home and through mentors and various father figures, I was able to overcome as best I could. I can see how prolonged adolescence, and with it violent disrespect for and demands on authority, has contributed to our culture of radicalized Orphans.
It is of the upmost importance that we realize the Orphan behaviors that dominate us. This is not just an issue for the young, but a trap that pervades our society. Each of us can likely identify feelings that hearken back to this archetype- times where you felt jealousy, felt you deserved something despite knowing deep down you did not work for it — times where you resented the world because it felt “evil.” Times where you thought buying a new device or article of clothing would be the first anointment on your red carpet back to the comfortable Eden of your childhood. Times where you projected the resentment for a damaged childhood onto the world and allowed hate to power your violence against the world.
“A revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate.”
— Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Beloved by the ignorant, this mass-murdering racist sent homosexuals to concentration camps and is an extremely horrific example of the Orphan archetype. He spoke of Capitalism as if it were raping the working class, while he literally raped underage servants in front of his comrades. A good example of psychological projection, as well. Don’t be like Che.
The first step to fixing the radicalized Orphan archetype in our society, is to fix the Orphan archetype from within. To make peace with your agency in an indifferent world and take up the weight of your responsibility. To look upon your fellow man with respect and love first, seeking truth because as the reward of reality. You are the first domino that will lead us to a world where we are all authentically empowered, on the side of reality, aware of the shadows so that we can call them by their name and vanquish them, a world in which life flourishes. Not the dead world of authoritarian Utopia that never could be, but the beautiful, living world of real progress and of exponential human dignity in a state of deep satisfaction and purpose.
Don’t let yourself be paralyzed in the mirage of the Orphan archetype. Question the motives of those promising Utopia, reflect on the emotions that grasp your soul, and learn to trust in your eyes and your reason — for it is with these that you must arm yourself for the journey ahead.
The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure. — Joeseph Campbell
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