Depressed Parasitism

Eco-Relation (-,+)

Eco-Relations are expressed in ecological terms, in emotional reactions, and in subject-object interactions. They are also associated with the seasons of a particular period's development.

The ecological term for the depressive stage is parasitism. The subject-object pair is related to this term. For instance, parasitism's pair (-,+) implies that the subject for that particular period is damaged by the interaction while the object benefits.

The emotional term associated with parasitism is depression. It generally implies an anger at self or at the self's assumption which presages some kind of major change. The negative feelings which abound in such a Developmental Object? result from the need to understand that the current sense of self is no longer adequate.

Note to those for whom these terms carry emotional baggage:

If the term "parasite" carries a negative connotation for you, please understand that such a connoted meaning is not intended to be implied here. Parasitism is a value-neutral term in the science of ecology. Parasite-host relations are necessary to most (if not all) functioning ecosystems. It is in this explicitly denoted sense that we use the terminology here.

Similarly, if "depression" has a negative connotative meaning for you, please understand that we do not mean to imply any such connotation here. We use the term to discuss that substage of the development of Developmental Objects? within a period where the Developmental Object is likely to be expressing a kind of anger towards something it sees as a part of the self in preparation for the understanding that it must adopt a more restricted sense of its own identity.

Edward Haskell, the ecologist on whose work this system is partially based, felt those who impute a moral dimension to the predator-parasite axis were making a mistake which was responsible for many of the ideological misunderstandings of our current era (and perhaps of all history). We tend to agree with this analysis and ask you not to read your ideologies into parts of our code where we do not intend it.

Groups

Two Groups on the periodic table are associated with Depressed Parasitism: Group VIB? and Group VIA?

See also Benign Warding, Angry Sadism, EcoRelation and Autumn.

— Scotus - 13 May 2001
— Stillflame - 13 May 2001