Month: October 2018

A New Chapter without a Title

We all go through stages of life in which our identities evolve and the face we present to the world changes – sometimes gradually and sometimes dramatically. Looking back, we might see the first hobby, the first serious relationship, the first marriage, the first professional job, the first child, the first divorce, the first trip abroad, a conversion to a new way of thinking, or retirement, to name a few. Things often run their course and what we found inviting may no longer be so. We grow into them, and out of them. So it is with me.

As of October 31st, I will have terminated my psychology license, which I’ve had since 1991. I’ve already let my school psychology license expire after my retirement from Intermediate School District 916. That license I first obtained in MD around 1973.

Now, I want more sovereignty about where I put my attention. In giving up this license, I will no longer need to think about continuing education units as defined by someone else or biennial filings and fees. Instead, I can explore deeper yearnings without regard to a board’s expectations – an introvert’s dream.

It’s not that I find the profession of psychology unworthy. It’s simply no longer adequate for me. Originally meaning “study of soul,” psychology in general doesn’t seem much interested the psyche, (let alone soul) with its modern emphases on behaviorism, neurology and managed care. Not that they lack value but, again, they are not adequate, being but a small slice of human experience.

My interest in psychology came out of a fascination with people and their interactions, and an awareness of suffering and irrationality. What’s more, from a young age, I was aware of paranormal experiences that many people have that do not fit our religious beliefs, our modern scientific biases or our psychological formulations of mundane “reality.” Religions talk about it, fight against it, try to control it. Scientists tend to deny it. Social expectations put a taboo on it. But many people, if they feel safe, can tell you of any number of paranormal, uncanny, or Otherworldly experiences – the kinds of things that indigenous peoples and shamans take for granted.

In my ruminations of late, it became evident that my deeper interest has always been in soul and its relationship to the psyche, to community and to the larger world; and my best psychological work served to help people establish a better relationship between the conscious self and the deeper self or soul.

I will continue to teach about 1) past-life influences and karma, 2) shamanic practices, 3) Druidism and 4) stress-management. I’ll consult on the modern application of these topics and may work with past-life memories as a matter of exploration rather than psychotherapy and, for sure, I’ll continue to write and play music.

No longer an official psychologist, what can I call myself after the 31st? After all, we label everything and everyone, if only on IRS forms or bank applications. I hesitate to say “shaman” because we don’t live in a shamanic culture. I hesitate to say “Druid priest” because we don’t live in a Celtic culture where it had a meaning it no longer carries. I probably shouldn’t say “past-life therapist” because it could be construed as continuing to practice psychology. “Shamanist” might do.

In a way, it doesn’t matter so much what I call myself now, except I want the rest of my life to be an expression of what’s deepest in my heart. “Teacher,” “author” and “consultant” are simple enough but lack the content that means the most to me. Perhaps that’s the best we can do. Perhaps some other label will suggest itself over time.

Then, you might ask, why October 31? What we know as “Halloween” is the traditional Celtic New Year – the eve of the month of Samhain. It was the time when animals were brought in from pasture with some selected for overwintering and some for slaughter. Survival, mortality and our relationship with the Otherworld come to the fore then. What will feed a hungry people in a time of scarcity is what will be carried into the winter. And people hunger now for soul food in a world of distraction, distress and vacuous media. Thus, it seems appropriate to let die that whose season is spent.

On a lighter note, masks and disguises are a part of this season, too, and my evolution out of the world of mainstream psychology may be seen as allowing a new mask to face the world – or, perhaps, the removal of a mask that no longer quite fits.

Happy Halloween and a Blessed Samhain.

Taking back her voice

You may have seen this as Facebook posts. I am also preparing a post that is addressed to men as well. Feel free to share as you see fit.

To the women of America:
For thousands of years you have been under the control of men who have, under the guise of protection, abused, bought, and sold you, held you up as a trophy, degraded you as a human being, and used you to sell everything from cars to alcohol to toothpaste. You body has been regulated by men, and denigrated by religious tradition. We have just watched on the national stage what a large portion of our “leaders” believe about your rights under the law, about your rights for safety in your own skin and for your own autonomy. Your status (economic and social) has been a political football kicked around by both major parties. They have both been remiss in being genuinely present to your concerns, your grievances, and your hopes and value as a human being. Worse, one party has been actively hostile every step of the way not only to your rights but to every citizen that does not look like them – white old male property owners.

The struggle for the recognition of your humanity has played out before us over the last few weeks. Whether this is the last spasm of a corrupt and dying patriarchy, or it ushers in a new dark era of oppression rests on your voice and your vote. I and other men will stand with you and lend our voices in support of your full humanity and citizenship, but I cannot cast your vote for you.

In some circles, your voice may mean little, but your vote will mean everything.

Response to the responses:

I have been taken aback by the positive esteem my post engendered. I was speechless for a while. Thank you all for such regard. It’s sad that this should be remarkable. Why should it merit praise that I’d want half of humanity treated as well as the other half?

I have three reasons for saying what I did. First, it is the right and honorable thing. There were times in history when women were regarded with great value. Often, they were held above men and so it was little better in that regard. To raise one person or gender at the expense of another is a false value. We, each of us, have our gifts and can contribute to the well-being of each other and to all of us.

The second reason is that I love my daughters and granddaughters, wife and female friends. It hurts and angers me to see them treated badly. I see beauty, skill and strengths in them from which we would all benefit if freed from predation, manipulation and constriction. I want them all to be powerful, respected and autonomous, as they deserve. I don’t want them to have to be concerned about their safety because of who they are. Their discomfort reveals our failure, especially men’s failure.

The third reason is purely selfish. What is more beautiful than any person who can be fully present to themselves and to the world, and who can feel comfortable and safe in their own skin with no need for comparison, concerned first with the expression of their own vision, and the living of their own lives in a world that honors them?

There’s artistry in the way every conscious human being moves in the world. I want more of that – for the sake of all that I love.