Culture & Psyche
Subscribe to my Substack publication Culture & Psyche: Pro-human writings on culture (the human-generated overlay upon nature) and the psyche (the mind-soul complex) through a lens of both-and-neither (Tao).
Selected Essays
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Become Who You Are: Psychedelic Integration & Individuation
Each of us is tasked with a sacred duty: to become the person we are. Despite how straightforward it might seem on the surface, to become who you are is far from a foregone conclusion.
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Serial Killers, Angulimala, & the Divine Light of the Human Spirit
At the dark fringes of the human story the killers who take life with glee snake the grounds. They elude notice in night’s cover. They stack bodies in basements, stuff freezers full with appendages. These are the serial killers—the nightmares who haunt even devils’ dreams. They are the most depraved of the profane, and as it stands, our culture is obsessed with them.
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The False Sun at High Noon: Examining Culture’s Shadow
Each of us possesses a shadow. It is that slinking, sprawling, dark reflection of which we are seldom aware. The shadow’s darkness holds many things, for it is deep. What it holds psychologically is precisely that which we cannot see, or are unwilling to look at.
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The Proper Task of Life: How Art Can Save the Soul of Humankind
When each of us is born into this world, we are not simply born of the biosphere of the earth into wild nature as our ancestors once were. Rather, we’re born into wild nature plus an additional overlay that we call culture. Culture is a complex phenomenon—it includes custom, art, infrastructure, governance, myth and story, attitudes, norms, and beliefs. It extends from the meta-temporal human-at-large scale all the way down to the family unit. The fact of culture is irrefutable to the hunter gatherer tribesman and fast food worker both. It intrudes on every facet of contemporary human life.
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The Seal Of Liberation: Inviting A World Without Shame
Whom do you call bad?—Those who always want to put to shame. What do you consider most humane?—To spare someone shame. What is the seal of liberation?—No longer being ashamed in front of oneself. — Friedrich Nietzsche Whom Do You Call Bad? The feeling of shame is one we all recognize, and one we have surely learned to fear. Shame is the slapping away of the tear on the face. And it is the pain in the cheek and the hand all alike. It is the shrinking that surfs the wake of our shrinking. Shame is the marriage of guilt…
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The Psychedelic Man
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text] As students of the psychedelic domain, we understand that the situation of being in the world requires us to participate in culture in ways that promote interconnectedness and love. This is the consistent understanding these medicines carry with them. In contrast, the cultural message that we often experience as men is one promoting insulation and emotional suppression. One of these messages is an invitation toward curiosity and furthering understanding; the other is a coaxing toward…
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Watering Positive Seeds
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text] The seeds of negativity are always there, but very positive seeds also exist, such as the seeds of compassion, tolerance, and love. The seeds are all there in the soil, but without rain they cannot manifest. Our practice is to recognize and water the positive seeds. –Thich Nhat Hanh [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text] What…
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I Am Here
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” overlay_strength=”0.3″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text] Knock on your neighbors’ doors. Look them in the eyes. Draw living water from the deep well of love inside of you, and offer them this incantation: “I am here. I am your neighbor.” These are uncertain times. We are weathering a once in a lifetime storm, and it is unclear what will be left standing when the wind settles and the dutiful sun reemerges. It’s okay to feel afraid; of all that we’ve been…