"War as a sacrificial duty, though performing essentially destructive functions, has for men the significance of a destruction put into the service of the preservation of what they love: Fanatic behavior, the idealization of the leader, the need to sacrifice oneself in the name of an ideal, the giving and receiving of martyrdom, and the soldier’s being both the sacrificer and victim in the sacrificial rite.

"What lies at the basis of this peculiar tendency of man to create certain values in the name of which he feels he must sacrifice himself?

"What is this absolute and unconditional something that would somehow justify the establishment of a masochistic-sacrificial position? The masochistic-sacrificial position would in turn become a sort of supervalue--because it would be put into the service of that absolute and unconditional something."



The psychoanalysis of war: Fornari, Franco: 9780385043472: Amazon.com: Books