"Desire and fear are the obscuring and distorting factors. When mind is free of them the unconscious becomes accessible." "You have your own private mind, woven with memories, held together by desires and fears." - Nisargadatta "The purest form of listening is to listen without memory or desire." - Bion This is a tall order, even for 'advanced' practitioners. So,...[ read more ]
Below is a link to a timely and extremely pertinent and optimistic article about, among other things, what it is to be human versus 'trans-human' (or...gag...AI-subservient). The timing is amazing with what I have been gabbing about in the therapy realm. I was also so pleased to see the author's reference to 'freedom for' (what?) as opposed to what we...[ read more ]
Ok, I have found myself reworking this material and also realizing that it is good content, but also long to read. So, first, persistent reader, I have summaries for you. I will then publish, below, all the remaining material I have written about this topic for the time being. I think it is time to get it out of my...[ read more ]
A second segment about our human predicament: To review from part IV, needs are innate. Desires are learned, not created in the usual sense. Machines, however, do not have life-and-death needs, and especially not desires, and will not deeply and truly understand (relate to) them. That is, machines cannot innately understand a creature whose needs relate to life and death....[ read more ]
For a second post in 24 hours (!) I decided to put together two general truths I have been encountering in sessions lately. Honestly, taken together, they cover a lot of ground. 1. Awareness sucks (at first). This is behind the old therapy adage, "You (might) feel worse before you feel and get better." #1 is one reason we have...[ read more ]
To continue my series on this issue by referring to the previous post, what is the predicament that humans tend to deny and ignore, but with which only other humans can truly identify and empathize? Well…first some baseline things about how we come to the feeling that our situation is a predicament: First - We have innate physical and attachment...[ read more ]
No, I'm not referring to telepathy, precognition, and the like. Instead, to break up my streak of my own commentary about therapy, I thought I'd call attention to a piece I have found valuable and intriguing. A brief introduction to the work of Jean Laplanche by Dominique Scarfone. The article is copyrighted, and I had to purchase it to read....[ read more ]
Leading up to some aspects of the human predicament... Many times, I’ve asked someone, “what would it be like for you inside / what would it mean / what would happen…if ______?”. The first response is often an externally oriented fact, a plan of action to neutralize or deal with the ‘if’, or some statement or solution that ‘makes [rational]...[ read more ]
So, what is better therapy—better than preplanned, mechanically precise, and, eventually, algorithmic? Better therapy involves, under relatively controlled conditions, being deeply and actively understood—known—by another being who is also in the human predicament, like you. They can therefore truly identify with you, at least to a sufficient degree. Identification is a root of empathy. Identification can go awry, but that’s...[ read more ]
Psychotherapy and counseling are not like auto mechanics, rocket science, or computer programming. Or, at least, those disciplines are not sufficient metaphors. Our mind-brains don’t work that way, either. For my money, they will not respond as therapeutically well to an approach that treats them like machines, nor to an approach involving being treated by one. A bench press is...[ read more ]