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In a previous paper I tried to establish a new approach to a psychology of nations.1 Assuming that men are bothered by fear of their feminine components, I suggested the question: What outlets does a particular national education offer to overcome this fear? In other words, in what way has man's latent homosexuality been expressed in different civilizations?2
Civilizations can be judged by the institutions which they have created and by which they rule the spirits of the individuals who accept and believe in them. In this and the paper mentioned previously we study particularly covenants of men—religious, military and similar groups who feed the homosexual component of human libido. They operate at the same time as a defense against homosexuality by sublimating, i.e., desexualizing, it in the sense of Plato. As long as the covenant remains strong in its aims and practices it succeeds in its sublimination. If it is weakened as a result of a clash with inimical social forces, the homosexual drive breaks through—all the more strongly since the specific energy of the drive was continuously fed to grow in the group. In such phases of