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The philosophy of profound psychological freedom.

11/26/2015

The philosophy of profound psychological freedom...

Phew that's a bit of a mouthful! Anyway...what does that even mean? Well the short answer is 'well..what do you think?'

We hear these terms thrown around.. 'thinking outside the box'...'having an open mind' and other such metaphors of what can be thought of as psychological freedom. Freedom is one of those ever seductive and profoundly subjective elements of the human experience. People die for freedom, they kill for freedom, and they make mountains of art all about freedom. Its about as sensitive and powerful topic as you can find, I'm my experience. So what is psychological freedom? How does it differ from regular freedom (if there is such a thing)? Well, freedom can mean unbound or unstuck, experiencing 'liberty'. Absolute freedom in the physical world is elusive...I can't fly unaided...so I cannot experience absolute physical freedom. But what of the freedom of thought? Ideas? Emotions? Indeed of consciousness itself?

Psychological freedom

I'd like to take a moment to note the definition of psychological... and I don't mean this:
adjective: psychological

of, affecting, or arising in the mind; related to the mental and emotional state of a person.
"the victim had sustained physical and psychological damage"
synonyms:mental, emotional, intellectual, inner, non-physical, cerebral, brain, rational, cognitive, abstract, conceptual, theoretical; More
rare psychical, mindly, phrenic
"other drugs can do much more psychological damage"
- relating to psychology.
  "psychological research"
- (of an ailment or problem) having a mental rather than a physical cause.
  "it was concluded that her pain was psychological"
  synonyms:(all) in the mind, psychosomatic, emotional, irrational, subjective, subconscious, subliminal, unconscious; More
  imaginary, unreal
  "it was concluded that her pain was psychological"
  antonyms:physical

No that's not what I mean! Instead of taking this definition, (main reason: its so vague, negative and misleading..PLEASE!..synonyms include both emotional and abstract?!), as revealed in a google search, lets engage with...you got it! (drum-roll please!) 'The philosophy of profound psychological freedom...'

Psychology - The Language of the Soul

It is not, I feel, common knowledge that the Greek word 'Psyche' actually means soul... and the suffix 'logical' comes from 'logos' (also Greek) meaning 'word, reason, or plan'. So to me, that means that 'psychological' actually refers to the words, reasons and plans of the soul... (By extension, we can unravel the words psycho-therapy, psycho-social, psycho-spiritual, psycho-somatic and so on and so forth...but I digress!)...We have, ladies and gentleman, all grown up in a world where the original meaning, of these profoundly important words, has been lost...nay DELIBERATELY obscured and commandeered to reflect the world view of the powers that be. Please note that I am not railing on psychologists, people are not their labels (see what I did there?), but I am prodding at the core of 'human psychological wisdom'... so to speak.

Soul

Putting aside all reactionary responses to the word soul...'I don't believe in god so that word is dumb' kinda stuff. We don't need to go anywhere near the word 'God' for this purpose.

So... Lets use the genre of Soul music to talk about this word!:

Does soul music mean 'psyche music'? Could this movement, of gospel inspired but actually secular, musicians coming from the African-American experience be called 'psyche-music'?? Seems to me like there are 'words, reasons and plans' behind Soul music also...so does that mean that soul music is ACTUALLY psychology?

Now were are getting into the realm of psychological freedom! The other characteristic of soul music of course is the epic movement of emotion and passion! Can I get an Amen?!

And so this artistic, highly therapeutic, cultural manifestation of the 'Language of the Soul' is a practice of telling an emotional truth through music. In the telling...the emotions are liberated, demonstrating 'emotional freedom'.

Of course all music does this... with the odd exception perhaps...
The individual in the collective, unity in diversity and all that!

Language of the Soul: Express yourself!

What are we expressing again? Kraftwerk, the Robots.

Philosophy

Lets look at the word philosophy! 'Philo' meaning love, and 'Sophy' meaning wisdom...Philosophy then is the love of wisdom, not the smarts, not cleverness, or the ability to explain away the truth, but rather that wonderful application of practical knowledge, intelligence grounded in experience.

I don't mind this definition of profound (also courtesy of google):

adjective: profound; comparative adjective: profounder; superlative adjective: profoundest

1.
(of a state, quality, or emotion) very great or intense.
"profound feelings of disquiet"
synonyms:heartfelt, intense, keen, great, very great, extreme, sincere, earnest, deep, deepest, deeply felt, wholehearted, acute, overpowering, overwhelming, deep-seated, deep-rooted, fervent, ardent More
"a sigh of profound relief"
far-reaching, radical, extensive, exhaustive, thoroughgoing, sweeping ...

So by this definition:

'The philosophy of profound psychological freedom' is the 'love of the wisdom of expressing the heartfelt language of the story of the soul'

So what?

...so incredibly awesome!

Yes, the great analytical mind demands tribute. So what indeed? Well, it only takes a little inquiry to discover a deeper and potentially liberating set of concepts to work with. It might not be obvious, but we do have the opportunity to decide what words mean to us personally. Especially words that are about....well, us... I know there are 'experts' and whatnot...but sometimes things just need a bit of a shakeup, you know?

If we can somehow arrive at a relatively 'open mind' in this fashion, perhaps we might be moved to express something of ourselves. Why is that important? Well if that's not obvious, then let me assure you...it is fundamentally important to personal and community well-being (its so obvious I'm not even going to reference anything to prove it)...we need only the courage to risk it!

Perhaps this definition is a good stepping stone...a mere mental stimulus...hopefully empowering, y'knowmsayin?

Honoring the expressive resource is scary as hell, but the treasure is priceless, can't be taught (only encouraged), and is the root of authenticity.

YAY GO HUMANITY!

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The Door

11/22/2015

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And then in a time of great wealth and technology, when all the world seemed mad...a great and silent cry was felt in the hearts of the gentle. Where is the light? They asked. What of the children? What will become of the forests and the oceans? How can I live knowing the pain of this world? Why must it be so ugly...so dark and so lost?

The people could see that the wound of the world ran deep...indeed that their own wounds ran deep. It seemed as if the whole world was bleeding. The night was long. And then the wounded voice spoke up. Yes I am here, it said. I speak for suffering itself. I am you and you are me. Together we hurt...together we bleed.

And the people began to pay attention. If pain itself has a voice...what was it saying? And they began to listen very carefully. They listened to the grief of reality... the grief of truth...and they realized they had been tricked. Tricked by the greed for more life. And the truth hurt. We die...they realized. And we cannot survive death as we are. The voice of suffering said now you see.. now you see where I come from. I am death. I am you and you are me. We are death.
And then the voice said please don't leave me to suffer alone. For I am suffering itself, and inhabit the realm of death, I know only pain, but you, in your gentleness and humanity also inhabit life...I am but one part of you... You are the door between life and death. Please do not close this door, for the realm of death needs the light of life, and it has fallen to you to stand between worlds.
Can you hear the voice of suffering? The people asked each-pother. They held the door open, and the both realms danced and spiraled through...and time stopped. The voice of suffering said.. you have let me speak...and with your blessing I have danced with life.

And the people sat and held each-other...knowing that the realms were blended. They did not need to scramble for scraps of life.. Witnessing the dance, they saw they did not need to suffer alone.

They needed only to be together gently and hear the truth.