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Over the years, the idea of soul became the property of many disciplines: religion, philosophy, medicine, technology and psychology. For example, the word that I so often use – psyche -- refers to our psychology but it also means soul. Descriptions of soul include many difficult to understand details, such as soul accompanying a person into death and beyond. Soul is often considered different than a person's body. It is often described in terms of spirituality and the essence of life. R...
Time has always been mysterious. Philosophers, scientists, psychologists and many other people over several centuries have attempted to understand it. Fortunately, the more it was explored, the more some of its mystery was uncovered. Typically, time is understood by a common standard set on our watches, phones and clocks, which everyone follows throughout the day for appointments and schedules. This is often referred to as clock time, but it is not actual time. Einstein discovered that time and...
Anger is one of the four basic emotions: anger, fear, happiness and sadness. Emotions are a natural part of human nature; therefore, we don't want to deny our emotions. At the same time, we don't want our emotions to rule us. Like all human qualities, too much or too little of any emotion becomes a problem. Anger reactions are quite common. We've all experienced anger both instantaneous and long-term. For example, a person cuts you off while you're driving or your partner does something that...
Neurosis is a common term often used in our daily lives. This is due to the pioneers of psychology: Freud, Jung and Adler, who introduced us to the psychology of neurosis. Though it's a commonly used word, its actual meaning is somewhat complex. So, let me provide a simple definition. Since adaptation to life is critical, anyone who doesn't adapt to life usually experiences a neurosis. The behaviors and psychological expressions of a neurosis vary, so much so, that it is almost impossible to pro...
I'm sure you remember Alice in Wonderland. Alice goes down the rabbit-hole to discover an entirely different world than her familiar world. A world that is topsy-turvy compared to hers. Animals talk, strange characters engage in strange behaviors and a tea party displays the illogical logic of wonderland. Alice is being treated to experiences of the unknown. The author, Dodgson who is actually Lewis Carroll, provides us with a fantasy, a fantasy which emerged from his unconscious (hidden...
There are many ways we experience other people. First and foremost, other people are different than we are. We experience the differences quite strongly in many instances. Here is an example. Walking down the street, you pass a homeless person. Are you repulsed or fearful? Many people are both. Why is that? The answer is psychological involving many possibilities. Here is just one. Let's begin by considering you. You know your ego (beliefs, values and identity) fairly well. You know your likes a...
In previous articles, the difference between fantasy and reality was introduced but always from the perspective of specific psychological concerns. This article introduces the deeper psychological level that influences fantasies and reality. Clearly, we all live with a unique sense of reality. These realities originate in everyone's personal psychologies, their families of origin and early conditionings, their cultures, their peers, from social collective groups and media, and from archetypes....
Well, given the condition of our country and other countries in the world, I'd say everything! The Pandora myth involves Pandora's Box - although originally, it was a jar. In the sixteenth century, jar was mistranslated to box and since then, it has continued to be part of the myth. For this article, it is most important to understand what Pandora and the box represent. Pandora, meaning all-giving, was originally formed as a woman with the ability to spew evil upon the world. Chaos and...
You might be familiar with the country western song "Too Much Fun." The singer asks: "What's that mean? It's like too much money; there's no such thing." These lines are certainly misleading. Can a person have too much fun, or too much money, or too many friends, or too much bad luck, or too much of ... You can fill in the blank with anything that comes to mind and then ask if it's a problem. I suspect that most people would answer that there's no problem with too much...if it's considered...
The word individuation is not heard very often. On the other hand, individualism is commonly expressed in our culture. Many people consider the two words to have the same meaning but the two words are very different. Often people praise, envy or acknowledge individualism. Most people consider individualism to be associated with an accomplishment, an ability to meet life with confidence or achieving a personal level of satisfaction. These descriptions can apply but often individualism actually is...
When opera singers warm up, they sing mee, mee, mee, mee, mee. There is an old joke relating opera singers and the psychological focus of this article, which amounts to a play on words. The joke changes the mee to "me," referring to a person who always thinks about life in terms of "me." The psychological part of the joke presents a person who is self-centered or more appropriately, narcissistic. In a previous article, I described narcissism but due to our daily news and social media reports a...
In past articles, I described consciousness as awareness but we must ask: Does awareness differ from person to person? Clearly, everyone has consciousness, however, like so much of psychology each person's consciousness is different. We seldom, if ever, consider that our understanding of the world is different from another person's understanding. When we talk to someone, we expect to be understood because we assume their understanding of the world is pretty much the same as ours. This...
What is meant by truth or consequences? Well, at one time, this was the title of a game show. The consequences in the game show were fun and humorous. In addition, throughout the centuries philosophers have debated basic truth and consequences concerning life and the universe. In this article, however, we're not interested in either. We're interested in psychological truth and consequences. For our purposes, psychological truth has to do with meaning and expressions of justice, and is...
Of course a real leopard cannot change its spots but the question refers to psychological spots, such as personality characteristics, behaviors, emotions, values, beliefs, childhood influences and conditionings and on and on. Psychological spots vary and depend on an individual's psychological make-up. Psychology, just like the medical field, relies on diagnoses to help guide treatment approaches. Unlike medical ailments, psychological conditions are not physical; nevertheless, these conditions...
Negotiating means that two or more people meet in open discussion and eventually settle on agreeable terms for a particular arrangement. Negotiations are not new. Throughout history, people have always negotiated for properties, objects, animals, laws and principles and even other people. Historic negotiations, however, weren't always civil. Today, that occurs less frequently, but in most instances, when civil negotiations are not present, it is not as obvious as in the past. Negotiations are...
Psychological complexes were presented in previous articles but always from the point of view of an individual. You can think of a complex as a collection of experiences focused around a psychological element. For example, a mother complex is a collection of experiences with one's mother or other people acting as one's mother. A culture is simply a large group of people sharing a heritage, location or group affiliation. Just as an individual develops personal psychological complexes throughout a...
Since words are not a type of illness or disease, how are words contagious? The answer becomes obvious when we listen to religious leaders, teachers, parents and political figures. We experience the power of words when reading a book but it's the influential nature of spoken words that can contaminate people. Two commonly understood examples are cults and dictatorships. Cult leaders and dictators use words to attract and secure followers. And followers they are! Once a person commits to a cult...
I described the shadow in previous articles but it is so relevant for our daily lives that it is important to present it again. This time let me introduce a few twists and begin with this quote from On the Abolition of All Political Parties by Simone Weil. "One recognizes that the partisan spirit makes people blind, makes them deaf to justice, pushes even decent men cruelly to persecute innocent targets." Although this quote is directed at political parties, it can apply to many other...
Exaggerations are not unusual and, of course, everyone has beliefs, but are the two related? The current atmosphere in the U.S. places each person on a visual pedestal and under observation. Today, we see exaggerations and fixed beliefs being expressed by people in all corners of life. Why is that? Social media is one simple answer with its visible and global access but that's not the complete answer; therefore, understanding the psychology underlying the presence of these two characteristics...
You might remember from previous articles that psychological projection occurs when we experience another person, object or situation in a way that is influenced by our unconscious (hidden) psychologies. This is similar to a movie projector casting an image on a screen. We see the image but not the screen. During projection, unconscious content is experienced but not the actual person, object or situation. In other words, we see and experience parts of ourselves through our projections. When...
Since there are so many different people in the world, is it a surprise to realize variety is the norm? Unfortunately, the differences can create tensions, problems and provoke harm. This is evident from news reports to personal emotional flare-ups. There are many ways to understand differences but I want to focus on some of the psychological features described in many past articles. These features include: the ego (personal identity), consciousness (awareness), personal unconscious (hidden...
It might seem peculiar to think that some people fear leaving their homes. It's not the home that is in question but the fear of going into the world outside of the home. Sometimes it is described as a fear of being in open spaces or even social surroundings. Most of the time, however, fear of leaving one's home dominates. Associated with the fear is anxiety. This pair, anxiety and fear, are not unusual partners. We've seen this close association before with fear being the emotion and anxiety be...
There are many types of abuse, covering many of psychological issues. For example, the types include: physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, bullying, passive-aggressive, employer, social media and neglect. Aside from describing each one of these abuses, it is possible to describe some commonalities. First, it is necessary to mention that there are basically two categories of people involved: the abuser or perpetrator and the abused or victim. Clearly, the abuser inflicts abuse on the abused....
People often consider imagination to simply be thoughts related to past and present daily experiences. If this were the case, imagination wouldn't be different from memories or reciting a poem. Imagination would be stale and lacking in...well, imagination! Imagination is so much more than our thoughts or memories. The two easiest ways to understand imagination are to observe a young child and review your nighttime dreams. Young children are always imagining playful surroundings, talking to...
Time has long been a mystery. What is it? How does it influence us? Why does it exist? One of the most important questions is: How does it change? As we get older, we all experience time passing more quickly. This is just one of the common experiences that we all share. It isn't unusual to hear someone say: "It was just Friday. Wasn't it? How can it be Friday again?" People are surprised at how quickly the months pass or even the years, but this is not what you hear from children. Their...
