The role of free will in health

It's what makes us human, many say. Distinct from other forms of life. I think therefore I am. I want, therefore I have reason to want. It drives how we see ourselves and our relationship to reality in the most profound way. So deep, we don't even think about it.

Of course we're free to do whatever we want!

Well, not exactly.

Today on Thinking with Somebody Else's Head, we'll look at the human will, this essential aspect of what we think it means to be human.

Those who've been listening regularly to Thinking with Somebody Else's Head will know that I base my Podcasts on the work of psychoanalyst and social scientist, Norberto Keppe. I've been living and studying with Keppe and Dr. Claudia Pacheco and many others here at Keppe's International Society of Analytical Trilogy in São Paulo, Brazil for just over 6 years now.

I first came because of my excitement about Keppe's application of his psychoanalytical discoveries to an analysis of society, and particularly the pathology of power - much of which is contained in Keppe's seminal book on the subject, Liberation of the People. I'm giving away copies of that book, just write me at rich@richjonesvoice.com

I came because of this, but I stayed because of the significance of Keppe's work in understanding the human psyche and its motivations - particularly Inversion. Since so much of our lives unfolds out of our desires that we've hidden from our view - that we've "inconscientized" in Keppe's language - I wanted to understand those motivations and drives better.

Where that other giant of human psychopathology, Freud, saw the human neurosis as the battle between our indecent desires - mostly sexual - and the mores of society, Keppe sees the anguish as a fight between our essential nature and our inverted desires. This shines the spotlight squarely on the human will, wich is not unblemished and pure. In fact, it's not the benign, infallible human capacity we've thought it to be.

Let's understand this better. Joining me today is engineer, Alexander Frascari, who has just returned from delivering a fascinating lecture on Keppe's New Physics to a very interested group of bio-physicists in Germany.

Click here to listen to this episode.

Tags: health and wellness mental health free will human psyche