Psychology overload
Yesterday, before I went to bed I saw a post complaining about people going to fortune-tellers instead of psychologists.
I commented on that thread what was obvious for me; something along the lines that the statement came from an arrogant and colonialist POV that lacked curiosity.
The following account is what happened to me next because I went on a trippy ride with my mind. I am giving you a sneak preview of how I operate when something tickles my being.
The original statement rattled me in a good way as there was so much I could deduce from it. It was like seeing the universe contained in a drop of water. Some of the following I went through before I fell asleep, but the vast majority was part of a ride I had this morning as I was also dreaming of something unrelated. Yep, multitasking, bitches.
For starters, what I immediately sensed in the statement of that post was the desires hidden, encumbered by charge (fears) caused by inferiority — I want to use what I know, I want to serve, I want the betterment of my fellow beings. Those are beautiful desires and I can totally feel them and back them up.
In the complaint, I also sensed the belief that somehow psychology is better than tarot or many other forms of divination. That’s when I chuckled. I know in my body that I (and many others) are the evidence of how little psychology can do for people who divert a lot from the norm or are part of the bottom layer in the dominant system.
In cases like mine, the field of psychology offers remedial stuff at best and, nothing at all at worst. Whether your perception of tarot and whatnot points at those things being real or a sham, there are more efficient forces at play in what is denominated as “mystic” because somehow people in Mexico feel more received there than talking to a psychologist. That is my sense, psychology is not attractive for many people because they can sense that, even at a superficial level, it won’t address some very specific needs that perhaps a lady with a tarot deck manages to cover.
Might it be because the tarot ladies are more effective at soothing people and smoothing their way in life? People that, if we are very cold, have very little reasons to keep living inside the prison that we have created by reinforcing the dominant system.
Moreover, that arrogant sense of “they need our help but they are too dumb to know they need it” reminds me of the same rhetoric the evangelists showcased when coming to my continent and forcing religion over people, whilst allegedly providing “help”. Help that was neither requested nor needed.
Coloniser bullshit.
The thing is, I thought about some of this a while back, during the middle of the pandemic, the quarantine period in bloom and when tons of people were experiencing a lot of distress and were very vocal about it.
I Googled services in Mexico providing free therapy and I found tons. Tons. Everywhere. One Google search away.
Despite not being a proponent of therapy, I shared those services because I believed that at least they represented some familiar form of support people could opt-in. I got polite thank yous but no real response and that made me curious because I notice how other, less “professional” offers were approached. Many of them, “mystic” offers, in a sense. I understood then, that even in the middle of a highly disruptive time, there was no general appeal for people for professional psychological services. Not that people didn’t want help, it was that the help on offer was perceived (correctly) as insufficient for them.
This is what I see. Psychology stems from the commodification of connection and being humane towards each other (in fact, the entire wellness industry stems from that, from the most certified therapist to the lousiest express shaman passing by your average Joe coach). That is, psychology is supported by and supports the capitalisation of pain, pain coming from a wound and a botched way to heal it. The gist of it is that it is NOT a field of knowledge that is deliberately seeking to eradicate its existence as a commodity. It is a field that is only needed if people remain in pain, but if people (and I mean all people) regain power over their sense of connection, their humanity and their relations with the divine and their emotions, poof! goes the need to pay for an hour of your time.
Psychology and psychologists (in the overall sense) aren’t really trying to get to the bottom of things because why would you? Very unpleasant things would have to be faced if you dig deep enough. Namely, how all that field of psychology is simultaneously backed up and restricted by the dominant field AKA the mouthful AKA the white supremacist, cis-hetero patriarchal, settler colonialist, imperialist and capitalist field. Just for a taster of how very biased this shit is, Google “weird psychology”.
And yes, there are some people deliberately trying to change that allegiance to the dominant field that psychology, psychotherapy and psychiatry have. Kudos to them! However, my general sense of the field is CBT all around or popping pills until you don’t know who you are. Mind you, all driven by people with the best intentions. For more info about the general state of mind(fuck) Google “A disorder for everyone”.
In the end, my thing with that statement was that psychology, as it stands, isn’t wide enough to hold many of our Mexican soul cravings and if psychologists in Mexico wanted to get more people in a better approach instead of deriding them for their choices would be to get curious and to better understand what they get elsewhere, what are they seeking and how psychology isn’t providing that. My thing was an invitation to better learn to offer help and receive a “no, thank you” and not get pissy about it.
However, I am very aware of the level of ego-death required to endeavour on those tasks. A fragile ego invested in and attached to an identity as a scientist may shudder just with the thought of pulling a frikin’ tarot card or receiving a “that’s not for me”.
I know that because I had to undergo that ego-death and it wasn’t (initially) a nice experience because it was driven by the desperation I felt once I realised all science had to offer for me was to classify my nature as wrong, botched or diseased (rather than to admit that science was wrong or incomplete).
In this case, for people harbouring those feelings of superiority/inferiority about psychology and tarot, it all boil downs to whether the desire to serve is bigger than wanting to be right (and remaining stagnant).
Anyhow, once my felt sense about the field of psychology was clear to me, my mind started lingering on a thought I’ve had for the last week or so. This is a very disruptive thought so take your precautions and ground before you read it.
An invasion is a VERY charged request for help.
There, I said it.
Invaders (as in colonisers but not only them) are seeking help and they don’t know it. They are difficult to love and even more difficult to help because they are not aware they need help. They lost something and they want it back, but rather than learning how to recover it from the people they encounter they consume what those others have and force their pain onto them, spreading the same lack.
That mad drive of a settler-colonialist is nothing but thirst suffered by a very diseased person. It is insanity whilst believing one-self to be sane. There is a lot more to talk about this point but I will do it at a later date, I just wanted to give you a taster of a taster before I get back to talk about the dominant field because that is where my mind took me next in the ride.
I discussed elsewhere a bit about the beams holding the field of the dominant culture; that is the white supremacist, cis-hetero patriarchal, settler colonialist, imperialist and capitalist attributes.
So my mind and I went on a bit of a trip regarding the deeper meaning of each and one of those elements.
I believe that the white supremacist and patriarchal bits are very much involved in the ranking compulsion that dominates our western(ised) culture. Always feeling inferior and never enough for this world.
The cis-hetero attribute is all about controlling how we express our sexual energy and how we find venues for our life force, instigating separation and being super disruptive to connection and establishing fulfilling relationships with just about everything.
Now those attributes serve directly the settler-colonialism, imperialist and capitalist mindset. How? Well, disconnection and separation lead to commodifying what was originally freely given. In the case of our friend at hand, psychology, simple humane support and connection.
I heard from my teacher, Rev Brig Feltus, that the principles described in the Kybalion work as a unit, that is, they feed on each other and they hold each other as a whole. Each is true only when all of them are true; at least that is what I understood.
I started thinking that the attributes of the dominant field work in a similar fashion, as beams that hold the field only when all of them are “cooperating” with each other. Disrupt one and you disrupt them all; which isn’t that difficult because there is hardly any enjoyment in the interactions holding them, it’s all force and fear.
Hence, going the distance on psychology and admitting that in its current state is of very little help is highly disruptive for the dominant field (and any ego bits attached to it).
This post is to invite you to have fun and ponder these ideas and share with me what bodily sensations you felt, what emotions, what beliefs got disrupted, at what point you checked out, when you felt resonant, what opened up for you, what new ideas you got, what you are curious about and have questions.
If you think I am wrong, save your thoughts and opinions for your wall/blog, please don’t share them here, thank you.
Many of the ideas presented have been vastly informed by taking the Heal Thyself class. Should you want to immerse yourself in a grounded and well-guided place where you can gain awareness about the dominant field, click here. If you are not able to cover your fees, I can provide you with my alumni discount code for a hefty 600 bucks reduction. PM if you need it.
Wanna talk trippy shit, in particular sexy trippy shit? Register for Taboo Cafe. Next date: May 26th. There is also a version for Spanish speakers on May 25th.
