As a doctoral student in a community psychology it was very intersting to reading your perspective on the current psychology field. It has enlightend my views on their experiences in their programs as I go through mine. Community psychology is very different than clinical psychology so I was wondering you have ever looked into how Community psychology can be a catalyst to promote the change in this field?
Thanks, for reaching out. I think community psychology is an interesting field in concept. Coming at psychology problems from a more collectivist standpoint could provide insights that current models have thus far overlooked.
My concern is that what I have read so far (which I am sure is way less than you) has been heavily flavored in Social Justice theories. I'm also concerned by the idea of solving individual problems with policies that impact groups.
For the field to be effective, the challenge will be separating the preordained conclusions Social Justice Ideology (or any other ideology) wants to insert, from what is observable. It is a difficult line to tread. When designing and running experiments is particularly challenging, which I think it would be for this line of inquiry, it is important to find ways to make theories falsifiable. Economics and sociology also have similar challenges.
If an idea can't be disproven, it can only function as a matter of belief. It's not science. That is the fundamental problem with Critical Theories and all the associated Social Justice ideas.
That said, I think there is still so much that we don't know about how people relate and function collectively. It would a missed opportunity if we didn't try to find ways to study how people interact as groups. Projective Identification as a group interaction dynamic, for example, is worthy of more research.
At the end of the day, people are suffering out there. To the extent that it makes sense to try and help people who, for whatever reason, are not helping themselves (like say the homeless, the focus should be on identifying methods and interventions that work for the most efficient effort while still preserving individual agency. And if we try things that don't work, we have to be willing to acknowledge that and change course. There may be some problems we can't fix without draconian measures. If that's the bitter pill we have to swallow, we need to acknowledge that. We could still mitigate some suffering.
That would be how it could be a catalyst to change the field.
Thank you for your article on the topic of anti-racism racism, however I do have a question...
How does your practice in Buddhism not become a liability in resisting the social justice jihad madness currently being inflicted upon society, especially with the very strong emphasis on dis-sociation (or non-prioritization) of one's self and the practice of implicity dis-avowing the notion of private property, or am I misundestanding the tenets of Buddism?
Also, there absolutely needs to be mental health / counseling accreditation agencies that are truly outside of the institutional mob, yet no one seems to have come up with an answer for that.
Thanks for the question. One thing to know about Buddhism is that there are many flavors. While it is true that the central meditation of the non-self, is a practice of reducing the emphasis on the self and reflection on how we are all part of a larger whole (to oversimplify it a bit). This is a practice because it is not a mental state you maintain indefinitely unless you are the Buddha.
Also Buddhism does not teach this as a sacrifice of the self. There is a parable of a group trapped in a cave, and soldiers demand that the monk in the group come out so that he can be killed and the group will be spared. The monk does not go out because his life has value too.
While there may be things to take issue with in applying that wisdom in a real situation, the point is to remember that you do retain your self, and that self has as much value as anyone else.
Also, it was the idea of sublimating my identity that got me into trouble with the woke crowd. As a white person, in their belief structure, I should be thinking about my whiteness at all times as this article points to. That is not in alignment with Buddhism at all.
As a doctoral student in a community psychology it was very intersting to reading your perspective on the current psychology field. It has enlightend my views on their experiences in their programs as I go through mine. Community psychology is very different than clinical psychology so I was wondering you have ever looked into how Community psychology can be a catalyst to promote the change in this field?
Thanks, for reaching out. I think community psychology is an interesting field in concept. Coming at psychology problems from a more collectivist standpoint could provide insights that current models have thus far overlooked.
My concern is that what I have read so far (which I am sure is way less than you) has been heavily flavored in Social Justice theories. I'm also concerned by the idea of solving individual problems with policies that impact groups.
For the field to be effective, the challenge will be separating the preordained conclusions Social Justice Ideology (or any other ideology) wants to insert, from what is observable. It is a difficult line to tread. When designing and running experiments is particularly challenging, which I think it would be for this line of inquiry, it is important to find ways to make theories falsifiable. Economics and sociology also have similar challenges.
If an idea can't be disproven, it can only function as a matter of belief. It's not science. That is the fundamental problem with Critical Theories and all the associated Social Justice ideas.
That said, I think there is still so much that we don't know about how people relate and function collectively. It would a missed opportunity if we didn't try to find ways to study how people interact as groups. Projective Identification as a group interaction dynamic, for example, is worthy of more research.
At the end of the day, people are suffering out there. To the extent that it makes sense to try and help people who, for whatever reason, are not helping themselves (like say the homeless, the focus should be on identifying methods and interventions that work for the most efficient effort while still preserving individual agency. And if we try things that don't work, we have to be willing to acknowledge that and change course. There may be some problems we can't fix without draconian measures. If that's the bitter pill we have to swallow, we need to acknowledge that. We could still mitigate some suffering.
That would be how it could be a catalyst to change the field.
Best of luck with your doctorate.
Thank you for your article on the topic of anti-racism racism, however I do have a question...
How does your practice in Buddhism not become a liability in resisting the social justice jihad madness currently being inflicted upon society, especially with the very strong emphasis on dis-sociation (or non-prioritization) of one's self and the practice of implicity dis-avowing the notion of private property, or am I misundestanding the tenets of Buddism?
Also, there absolutely needs to be mental health / counseling accreditation agencies that are truly outside of the institutional mob, yet no one seems to have come up with an answer for that.
Thanks for the question. One thing to know about Buddhism is that there are many flavors. While it is true that the central meditation of the non-self, is a practice of reducing the emphasis on the self and reflection on how we are all part of a larger whole (to oversimplify it a bit). This is a practice because it is not a mental state you maintain indefinitely unless you are the Buddha.
Also Buddhism does not teach this as a sacrifice of the self. There is a parable of a group trapped in a cave, and soldiers demand that the monk in the group come out so that he can be killed and the group will be spared. The monk does not go out because his life has value too.
While there may be things to take issue with in applying that wisdom in a real situation, the point is to remember that you do retain your self, and that self has as much value as anyone else.
Also, it was the idea of sublimating my identity that got me into trouble with the woke crowd. As a white person, in their belief structure, I should be thinking about my whiteness at all times as this article points to. That is not in alignment with Buddhism at all.