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Introduction to Psychology

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Psychological problems rank among some of the most expensive and pervasive ailments in society. In a given year, an estimated 26.2% of Americans ages 19 and older -- about one in four adults -- suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder -- almost 60 million people in one country alone. In developed economies, mental illnesses, including suicide, account for over 15% of the burden of disease -- more than the cost of all cancers.

My approach to psychology is to apply a tripartite analysis to the personality. At the most sensual or perceptual level, we all view and process reality as an objective environment that, as biological organisms, we must exist and succeed within. When we are thirsty, we do not pray to God for water, but rather get a glass and turn a tap. This part of our natures is almost always beyond the reach of false beliefs.

At the very deepest levels of our being, in our dreams, impulses, intuitions and most powerful emotions, we also tend to deal with reality in a very direct way. We cannot force ourselves to genuinely love a malevolent person, and we often feel depression, anger or alienation when forced to conform to the irrational desires of others. In the realm of dreams, we often experience the truth about our relationships, our environment and our lives through the powerful mythologies of the unconscious. This part of our nature is also almost always beyond the reach of false beliefs.

Between our surface senses and our deep inner lives, however, often lies an empty realm of fearful conformity, which I - and others - have labeled the “false self.” As children, most of us were not allowed to experience and express reality in an honest and straightforward manner, but rather we were compelled to repress the truth and inhabit the falsehoods preferred by our parents, relatives and teachers. This can be as seemingly-innocuous as being compelled to kiss a grandmother we dislike, or as openly disastrous as being forced to support the rank irrationality of an entire clan.

When we are compelled to reject our simple and direct relationship to reality and our own feelings, a deep split opens within us. The truth becomes offensive to those who control us, and so not only must we hide the truth, we must act in direct opposition to it -- and look authentic while doing so! We become false actors, and then we forget the script. We start out our lives in a documentary of the senses, which quickly becomes a screenplay penned by the prejudices of others -- and very quickly, to avoid the pain of conformity, we pretend that this new screenplay is in fact a documentary, and our capacity to process the truth is lost.

In order to retain our attachment to our parents, we substitute their irrational preferences for our direct reality, both exterior and interior. We are no longer allowed to ask “is this true?” but rather “will I be punished or praised for saying this?”

Thus our connection to our “true self” -- the perceptual and the deeply emotional -- is repressed, severed and opposed. To the degree that it is convenient for adults, we are allowed to retain the most basic reality processing, such as knowing that a lawnmower is required to cut grass, that garbage must go in a plastic bag, and that homework should be turned in on time. Our deeper questions, however, such as the nature of truth, virtue, reality and courage, are actively, unconsciously and endlessly opposed.

This opposition to our authentic experience of reality -- and our rejection of that experience for fear of punishment -- sets the stage for a lifetime of emotional problems such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse, an inability to find love and, most egregiously, the re-infliction of the same harm on our own children.

At Freedomain Radio, we strive to undo these seemingly intractable problems through integrity, patience, introspection and conversation. The process of recovering the true self - while retaining the most useful aspects of the false self -- is a deep, challenging, thrilling and scary journey, which can only be guided by a rigorous and logical philosophy based on universal principles and deep respect for our inner lives.

It is in conversation that we find ourselves. The problems caused by solitude cannot be solved by solitude.

I hope you will join the conversation!