War and hope in ancient Iranian culture: A psychoanalytic perspective

This essay examines themes of war and hope in ancient Iranian culture from a psychoanalytic perspective. Psychoanalytic theories explain the causes of war in the light of Oedipal conflicts, attachment, individuation experiences with mothers, and basic infantile fears and fantasies. Thus, childhood fantasies about significant figures and cultural myths and symbols are related to reactions toward war and feelings of hope for being saved from it. Altogether, four categories of myths and symbols (i.e., imaginal, human masculine and feminine heroes, objects, and celebrations) may serve as containers for people's experiences of trauma and hope during and after war. Thus, symbols and myths, inspired through language and social imagery at both the conscious and unconscious levels, led people toward a sense of collective cohesion during the war and fostered their hopeful attitudes. This encouraged hope, arising from the threat to one's survival by thanatos, and the unconscious impressions enthused by myths and symbols for salvation from the disaster, and these may generate hope as a manifestation of eros. Nevertheless, following the ceasefire, the ego assesses the actual world, which may result in certain social reorganizations aimed at ensuring a privileged homeland.