Attempting to bring his mind to a focus ...

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HiThe problem, according to Wilson, is that left-brain awareness often brings a sense of unreality. It creates a dangerous narrowness, traps us in our heads and alienates us from our instincts and our experience of the world. And criminality is a product of this loss of a sense of reality; it is an attempt to make yourself feel more alive and to reconnect with reality. This is especiallytrue of sex crime,Wilson believes. The criminal is, he writes, “attempting to bringhis mind to a focus it does not normally achieve. This element of sharpenedperception explains the addictive element in crime.”--- How do you understand these last words of the author? Maybe you could paraphrase them?Thanks

Newguest · Accepted Answer

To me it means something like that the criminal is trying to achieve a state of mind which he doesn't normally achieve. As for the second part, I'm not sure ...

Avangi · Answer

Need more context. What's the source of the left brain awareness? So the criminal is trying to compensate, because left brain awareness has robbed him of his sense of reality?

The crime is an attempt to reconnect with reality. Does it succeed?

Is he saying that the criminal act increases sensual acuity? This is quite a leap.

But if it does, then that would be like taking LSD, or some other such stimulant. Any such high can be addictive.

So he's implying that the criminal does succeed in sharpening his senses during the commission of a crime; and this "high" becomes addictive.

Newguest · Answer

Hi Avangi

I think you understand it. My understanding is the same.

By commiting crime you just experience reality more (this is what the criminals lack) and so they like doing it and it become addicitive.

Here you have more context, but I think both you and I understand it correctly:

The third factor I mentioned above – war as a reaction to boredom and

unreality – is also significant for crime. In his Criminal History of Mankind, Colin

Wilson puts forward an argument which is very close to mine in this book. He sees

criminality as the dark side of human evolution, a terrible side-effect of the leftbrain

awareness which has made science and other amazing achievements of

human creativity possible. The problem, according to Wilson, is that left-brain

awareness often brings a sense of unreality. It creates a dangerous narrowness, traps

us in our heads and alienates us from our instincts and our experience of the

world. And criminality is a product of this loss of a sense of reality; it is an attempt

to make yourself feel more alive and to reconnect with reality. This is especially

true of *** crime,Wilson believes. The criminal is, he writes, “attempting to bring

his mind to a focus it does not normally achieve. This element of sharpened

perception explains the addictive element in crime.”

Avangi · Answer

Thanks, Newguest. This idea of the left brain damping our sense of reality is fascinating.
So those who achieve "true" greatness are driven by the same thing which drives criminals.

We need to search hard for the distinction between this, and simply saying that "the rapist gets turned on by his evil act."

Attempting to bring his mind to a focus ...

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