Friday, November 30, 2007

Escape from Consciousness Island

Used to be there were two possibilities: either you were telling the truth, or you were lying. But Freud introduced a third option: you think you’re telling the truth, but you’re not. You’re just not conscious of it.

Norberto Keppe has a deeper thought: you actually are conscious of your lie, but you’ve hidden that consciousness from view.

Today on Thinking with Somebody Else’s Head, Escape From Consciousness Island.

Well, when you start to enter a discussion on the aspect of consciousness, you start to enter a pretty cerebral, theoretical world. I don’t want to go there. But I do want to till the field somewhat because there is a point of view about consciousness that’s not well spread yet through academic and lay circles in human society.

Norberto Keppe, the creator of Analytical Trilogy, is proposing something quite revolutionary: the essence of man is consciousness. Plato and the early Greeks talked about this actually, about how we are born with universal knowledge and ideas. This seems to have been borne out by recent research out of Yale University showing that very young babies have the concept of good and bad in them before they’ve had a chance to learn it. Check out the study conducted by Yale University’s Infant Cognition Center published in the Nature journal in November, 2007.

Socrates worked almost exclusively with this by engaging in dialogues with fellow citizens. He based himself on certain moral principles that could be seen as universal truths, and so any diversion from these in practice or thinking would demonstrate inconsistency or even sickness. Jesus’ teachings, of course, are our best examples of this. He was always exhorting us to look to the truth within for our guidance.

Aristotle started the deterioration from this superior idea by suggesting that knowledge came only from the senses, from experience, and this opened the door to thinkers like Descartes to further deteriorate our philosophy of life by suggesting that universal values were relative.

Keppe is returning us to the superior view in his assertion that we are conscious, we have knowledge. Keppe writes that the universals are concepts from God’s mind implanted in our structure. But being a psychoanalyst, he has noticed that we have attitudes of denying what we know. And he’s explored how and why we do that extensively in his vast and important work, which is also what we explore every week in this program.

All of Keppe’s fascinating perspectives will be applied to an analysis of many areas of human endeavor in our 19th International Congress of Analytical Trilogy, July 4-6, 2008 here in Brazil. Critique and solutions through the eyes of psycho-socio pathology. Write me at rich@richjonesvoice.com for more information.

Today, Cesar Soos joins me again to look at our human pathological tendency to escape from consciousness, which Keppe asserts is our only sickness.

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Friday, November 23, 2007

Healing the Soul - and Society

Everywhere we look today we see devastation. War is still far too common. Races, religions, classes and cultures are lined up against each other. The ice is melting, the species are disappearing ...

It can leave you feeling ... well, devastated.

And it all causes a deep wound in the human soul.

Today on Thinking with Somebody Else's Head, Healing the Soul and Society.

Well, this is a topic that is daunting to approach, because to begin to treat it means to go deeply into the causes of why society and human beings have gotten so far from the truth of human existence. And this challenges us. Those who hold to evolutionary ideas insist this is just the natural progression from the jungle to civilization. Those who are more socially active point to the transgressions of corporations or the inadequacy of control mechanisms and laws. Most of us are just trying to get by from one day to the next and don't give it much thought.

But from the point of view of the science of psycho-socio-pathology developed by psychoanalyst Norberto Keppe, we are very far from our true existence, what we were created for. In other words, we are not living as we should. And this is because of our human psychopathology, which is then reflected out into the society we've elaborated. This means we are acting against life, against our natural good, beautiful and true essence. And this causes a deep angst in the human soul.

We explore the essence of this theme in all our programs, of course, and I would like to let you know of a couple of other events we'll be conducting soon to explore it more. We're holding an International Psycho-Somatic Conference from Mar. 20 - 23, 2008 here in Brazil to explore the latest in Trilogical psycho-energetic medicine. Very provocative this area, and revolutionary.

And our 19th International Congress of Analytical Trilogy entitled Psycho-Socio Therapy: A New Science for a New World will be conducted from July 4 - 6, 2008, also here in Brazil. A number of psycho-socio therapists will analyze areas like economics, health, education, media, ecology, science, arts and show how they've all gone wrong and how to fix them. Ambitious, to be sure, but not over-stated. Keppe's science is truly remarkable. And unique in its ability to explain the complex interactions between human beings and nature. Email me at rich@richjonesvoice.com if you'd like more information on either or both of those events.

Today, an expansive conversation with Dr. Claudia Pacheco, vice-president of Keppe's International Society of Analytical Trilogy.

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Monday, November 12, 2007

The Roots of Racism

It's been justified and rationalized for centuries, and the arguments to support it vary from scientific to downright insane. Although universally doncemned, subtle forms of it still crop up in all modern societies. Skin color, sex, what you put on your head or to cover your face are still fair game for prejudice.

Today on Thinking with Somebody Else's Head, the roots of racism.

First, thanks for all your notes to me about the program. It's always gratifying to hear from you, so don't hesitate to write me if you've got any comments, questions or even suggestions for the show. rich@richjonesvoice.com And please pass along the suggestion to like-minded friends and family to check out Thinking with Somebody Else's Head as well. The bigger community we create together, the more Norberto Keppe's profound but insufficiently recognized work will get out to more people. And this can only be a good thing.

Well, we can look back at images from recent history - a short 50 years ago - and be staggered at the pictures of black people sitting at the back of the bus. Duke Ellington got so disgusted with not being able to stay at the hotel where he was playing, or even go in the front door, that he bought a Pullman railcar for his band to travel around in. "Now," he said, "We travel just like the President."

Billie Holiday's harrowing song about lynching, Strange Fruit, which her generation witnessed in no small abundance, makes us shake our heads in shock and dry our eyes in sorrow to this day. Because slavery, lynchings, apartheid, ethnic cleansing - these are so obviously wrong - and have always been - to any person with even the most tenuous link to the true human essence. Surely there can be no debate about that anymore - except by someone so separated from human spirituality and love as to be certifiably insane.

And yet, it continues. And not just in subtle forms, like being refused a job, as the horrible images and reports rising out of Rwanda and Bosnia attest. How can this be possible? Well, I'm reminded of St. Augustine, who confessed after deep soul searching that there was no difference in intention between the worst criminal and himself. He only managed to control it, where the other did not.

What is it inside us in regards to racism that we don't understand well enough yet? This is the essence of Norberto Keppe's work, and the subject of our program today. My guest is American musician and researcher, Gilbert Gambucci.

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Friday, November 02, 2007

A Critique of America

Their constitution stands as a model of what a nation should strive to be. Their economy dominates the economic agenda around the world. Their cultural output is vastly influential - whether you're watching Baywatch re-runs from a hut in Burkina Faso, or subscribing to a new season at the Met.

America. What's gone so wrong?

Today on Thinking with Somebody Else's Head, a critique of America. And maybe I can cut off the groans or even outright indignation of those who repel from more "America Bashing" by stating our intent right off the bat: to help. Like my guest today, I, too, have a great admiration for the principles of America laid down by their Founding Fathers, who were influenced directly by the ideals of French Illuminish. But it's important to say that these ideals are actually not American. They're universal. That's what made Martin Luther King so powerful as an orator - he was speaking a universal truth - one that's always been true, is true today, and always will be true.

But I think what makes America special is that they came closest to realizing it. I'm not blind to the incompleteness of their putting into practice their own Constitution - particularly in their treatment of African Americans - but that was still some potent society they created, back aways. Well today, it's nothing like what it was. Those transcendent words in that glorious document are now dusted off and used cynically by aggressive, arrogant, paranoid politicians to inspire Americans to all sorts of nefarious ends.

Not quite what the Founding Fathers had in mind.

But our purpose today is to try to analyze what's gone wrong in America through our psychological eyes. To try to help Americans understand where things have gone off the rails - for gone off the rails they certainly have.

Gilbert Gambucci is a proud American in the sense of loving the foundational beliefs of the country. He's also lived outside the U.S. for 22 years, giving him an objective perspective on his own country.

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