Tuesday, June 08, 2021

Mind-Games...

I know I have thought this, and probably written this down before, most likely used this headline too (hat-tip: John Lennon), but this a.m. it is top of mind, and it seems clearer and clearer to me:

The Human Comedy: It always comes down to people. 

What will people do? Will the Tricky Monkeys do the right thing? How will they act in the heat of the moment, when it really, really counts? How do they come to the decisions they come to? How will they justify the things they do, justify their meager acts of loyalty and betrayal to themselves and to others?

What crazy-ass stories will they tell themselves and the world? How will they justify their lives?

I studied & majored in Psychology in college. Sometimes I think Psychology gets a bad rap. Even by me. Not so much a science as an "art," another avenue for story-telling, conjuring up narratives. Yes, those two bearded old gents, they were kooks, sometimes lauded, sometimes howled at, but those wacky dudes Sigmund Freud, and Carl Jung were definitely onto something. Their "talk-therapy" and "dream interpretation" and "collective unconscious"  and "Ego," "Id," and "Super-Ego" are valuable concepts. Maybe now sort of cliche, laughable, but no doubt precious tools too. Better than the "pharmacology," and "drug-therapy," and the medicalization of the mind

History = Psychology
Politics = Psychology
Art = Psychology
Science = Psychology
Morality = Psychology
Religion = Psychology

Yes. What is in our hearts and heads? What experiences formed us, twisted us, led us to the things that we do? Why do we act the way we act? Wanted to sleep with your Mom, and murder your Dad? Is that what you are repressing? And, well, maybe it is good to ask: When is a cigar just a cigar?

Mind-Games.