We’re living through a revolution in consciousness. Don’t get left behind.
I’m smack in the middle of it with my blog that examines the interface of psychology, society, and politics.
As a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, I write about what history and the media overlook: the unconscious dynamics that produce personal and national self-defeat.
We learn much from exploring inner space. We see that our beliefs are influenced by dynamics in the mental-emotional continuum known as the psyche. This is apparent in the clash between the political Left and Right. The Left tends to express itself from the part of our psyche that is passive and defensive. From this emotional perspective, people are quick to feel victimized, helpless, oppressed, defensive, and disappointed.
Liberal and progressive policies and beliefs can be influenced, even contaminated, by these negative emotions. The Left needs to take possession, in the name of the authentic self, of that inner space known as the subordinate ego or inner passivity.
The Right, meanwhile, tends to express the aggressive side of our psyche, where the often-harsh inner critic or superego lords it over our personality. People on the Right need to address their hostility, irrationality, fear of change, and, ultimately, their deep unconscious fear of death that drives them to militarize the nation, stock up on handguns, and fantasize apocalyptically about salvation. Clearly, the psyche also influences conservative views.
For the sake of full disclosure, I do lean toward the Left. It's probably pretty obvious in many of these articles. I'm trying my best, though, to be objective. I'm committed to bringing readers the deepest understanding of our amazing historical epoch.
