The podcast raises concerns about the overemphasis on individual processing and the evaluation of everything based on individual psychological needs, emphasizing the need to see individual growth and wellness in the context of connection to the larger animate world.
The episode highlights the limitations of psychology vernacular in comprehending and addressing certain aspects of life, advocating for the recognition and inclusion of other non-psychological traditions, rituals, and systems of understanding consciousness.
The podcast emphasizes the importance of reconnecting with external animate forces, participating in ritual practices, and including aesthetics and poetic rhapsodies in modern discourse to foster vibrant and inclusive communication spaces.
Deep dives
The Dominance of Psychology Vernacular
The podcast episode discusses the increasing dominance of psychology vernacular in modern life. Words like trauma, narcissism, dissociation, and shadow work are widely used, and individual processing is heavily emphasized. However, the episode raises questions about the end goal of endless individual processing and the evaluation of everything based on individual psychological needs. It explores the consequences of evaluating personal and societal issues solely through a psychology model and the potential loss of connection to a greater animacy.
The Importance of Moving Beyond Individualism
The episode highlights the overemphasis on the individual in modern culture, where individuals are constantly focused on their own psychological needs, accomplishments, and failures. It questions the idea that the purpose of life is to fulfill one's psychological needs instead of existing as a part of a greater web of life. It suggests that individual growth and wellness should be seen in the context of connection to the larger animate world, emphasizing balance and responsibility beyond the scope of individual processing.
The Power and Limitations of Psychology Vernacular
The episode discusses how psychology vernacular has come to dominate culture, shaping the way we evaluate and talk about personal and societal issues. While acknowledging the value of therapeutic modalities and mental health support, the episode raises concerns about the limitations of psychology vernacular in comprehending and addressing certain aspects of life. It emphasizes the need to recognize other non-psychological traditions, rituals, and systems of understanding consciousness that may offer different perspectives and insights.
The Role of Ritual and Devotion in the Human Experience
The episode explores the significance of ritual and devotion in the human experience. It highlights how psychology vernacular has come to replace traditional spiritual and animistic vocabularies, leading to a narrowing of understanding and a focus on individual process. The episode emphasizes the importance of expanding the scope of vision, reconnecting with external animate forces, and participating in ritual practices that honor the breath of life and foster relationality with the larger world. It argues for the inclusion of rituals that transcend individualism and emphasize communal bonding, animacy, and direct connection to powers beyond the self.
Embracing Altered States of Consciousness
Traditional cultures, such as the Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian, spiritist, Kalahari, and Shippibo, have a deep understanding of consciousness and the importance of altered states. However, Western psychology still lacks this understanding and tends to pathologize altered consciousness. Western psychology has a tendency to abstract consciousness and focus solely on the individual, whereas traditional traditions recognize the inner and outer forces of consciousness. Modern psychology's pathologization of altered consciousness, intuition, and spirituality hinders our ability to embrace the paradoxes of life and engage in non-hierarchical communication models.
The Need for Poetic Discourse
Modern discourse is lacking poetry, and instead is filled with overused vernacular and psychological terminology. We need to recognize the importance of aesthetic beauty and poetic rhapsodies in our communication spaces. By making space for different gods and a multiplicity of viewpoints, we can move away from polarized and stagnant conversations. We should adopt rituals and practices inspired by traditional cultures that honor the breath of life and allow for the flow of nature and spirits in our discourse. In doing so, we can break free from the confines of modern discourse and create a more vibrant and inclusive communication space.
Once upon a time, psychologist James Hillman spoke of anima, the breath of life, the soul of the world, as something that had to be rescued by psychologists from theologians. Now, with pop-psychology vernacular inundating all aspects of life, it may be time for the breath of life to be rescued all over again. The New York Times recently released an article entitled 'The Problem with Letting Therapy Speak Invade Everything.' Philosopher Bayo Akomolafe writes of the need to 'decenter Western psychology.' It seems that psychology discourse has grown from a simple means of understanding and evaluating the forces at play in the psyche to be the medium through which much of modern discourse takes place, through which nearly everything is evaluated. If there is a value to ritual, it is increasingly articulated as a psychological value. The traditional yogic process has become deeply conflated with the psychological process. Traditional plant medicines are on the verge of a global psychologization. Psychology vernacular has been adopted en masse — and also weaponized en masse — so that simple disagreements in viewpoint or worldview are now called out as psychological pathologies. Activist movements have abandoned the spiritual vocabulary of Martin Luther King and Gandhi and the Dalai Lama in favor of outing narcissists and addressing collective traumas. Part spoken-word rant à la Gil Scott-Heron, part devotional ode to the breath of life, this episode is not an indictment of psychology or of therapeutic systems that benefit many people, but rather a glimpse into what goes missing as we increasingly evaluate everything through the psychological lens. As always in the modern west, what gets sidelined first is... the animate itself. There are textures and depths to the way that traditional systems understand relationality with the larger animate world that get lost when seen through the modalities that have arisen out of individualism. And in traditional animate systems, we find visions of consciousness, animacy, and relationality that make us deeply rethink psychological visions of trauma, safety, agency, and alterity. Listen on a good sound system, at a time when you can devote your full attention.
