Should Be Known

Full Notes: Tuesday, April 7, 2020 What I’m talking about, self-deception, is not a contributing factor to mental illness. If it were a contributing factor you could take it away and still have mental illness. No, it is common to all cases. It’s common to us all. Again, it’s like internal combustion in gasoline engines, or lift for something that flies. There all the time. Therapy is probably grea...

Monday, Mar 23, 2020 They were talking about the brain today, on my psychology podcast. People. More research is needed, he said. More research is always needed. When are we going to understand the brain, I ask you?  Does the brain really cause our behaviors like you’re thinking?  Or doesn’t it reflect our behaviors?  Don’t we cause our behaviors?  I think we do, more than “the...

Tuesday, March 3, 2020 YouTube.  Some will say since every case of depression is different it's no use to try to help people in any broad way with their own depression.  It has to be only individual, only by a professional.  And professionals are great, when you can afford one and have time for one and when they know what they're doing.  But to say that there shouldn't be any b...

Just including all my notes here... Wednesday, February 19, 2020 I was listening to the car parts episode. That was a good one. I think we need to take more seriously the duty or whatever to be able to explain how something works, like depression and anxiety. We take time, and I’m thinking of a textbook, going through each individual theory and explaining how it accounts for why something or other...

Major breakthrough. For me, at least. Depression is not forgiving yourself, just as you get spiritually sick (and maybe physically) if you fail to forgive another. That's the big insight. Terry Warner already did the work of explaining how when we don't forgive another we get spiritually sick. Apparently we can do the same exact thing, only with ourselves, and that's depression. We are self-reflec...

There are two kinds of things in the world: physical matter, and spiritual matter. Science deals with the first. Not the second. Psychology is largely a spiritual thing, sorry science. For life to exist, you need the spirit to be present. It's the breath of life. "Artificial intelligence", as it's called, is great, but it will never have consciousness, because you need the spirit for that. Wendy T...

In this episode we consider the "hardness" or what we're saying about depression and anxiety, namely that the individual bears some responsibility for their depression and anxiety, and is a participant in it, even if, before God, one is not condemned. But I think it's hard to hear, and I wonder how we should deal with that. I think we just have to be as kind as possible about it.

There are many things I don't know. Most things I don't know. Here are some. But in defining my questions and wrestling some of them, I think we make some progress (in understanding anxiety and depression).

I'd like to say that one definition of a philosophical question is a question that has no answer, because the question is wrong. I believe we should ask this about all questions in philosophy and psychology - is the question wrong in the first place? We talk about some of the implications of that here.

I came across this theory of depression and it's very similar to what I'm putting forward and similar to what Alice Miller said. So I like it and I think it makes for a good jumping off point, at least. See what you think. Depression is conceived of as a result of self-rejection, and the solution is therefore to stop rejecting yourself. Happens over time.

Allow me to draw an analogy.  Car mechanics as psychology.  Not everybody understands what makes a car go, but some people do, and the experts definitely should.  They should be able to explain all the main parts and principles, including small details (engine, transmission, wheels, fuel, gas pedal, spark plugs, valves, etc., etc.)  In the same way, I believe we should be able...

Uh, does anybody else notice that the theories of psychology say one thing and the practice of psychology says another? Seriously. The theories supposedly espoused by the establishment seem to be all about brain chemicals, while the practice of therapy seems to be about faulty thoughts. If psychological disorders are about chemical imbalance then why does talk therapy work? (And if they're all abo...

Anxiety is considered the most common psychological disorder in the US, effecting almost 1 in 5. In this episode we try to crack it. I wouldn't say it's cracked, but we make some headway. Is not anxiety founded on a basic lie (designed to make us miserable)--that the world is going to end because of whatever you're worrying about? (Same with depression--that you are worthless?) We all know who lie...

Despite what so-called "science" may tell you, you can ask whatever question you want. Science is not the only way to get answers, it's one way. Another way is through divine revelation. I testify that the Holy Ghost reveals today as well as in times of old. In this episode we talk a little about a popular psychology book which to me bespeaks the depravity of the field in our time. This stuff make...

Alice Miller was a Swiss thinker and psychoanalyst. Her book The Drama of the Gifted Child describes depression as the result of a person's suppression/repression of their emotions due, according to her, to a parent in childhood making that necessary. I think there's something to her theory, though her view of parents is pretty dark in general. To her they must be evil to...

Theories are postulations of what we can't see meant to explain what we can see. There are several theories of depression out there, some of which I think are given more credence than they deserve. Here's a theory of depression to consider. See what you think.

The field of psychology today is, in some ways, frankly, groping in darkness. While there are many practical principles I believe that have been found and are being employed successfully in therapy and such, any real guidance as to the theory of things is just kind of absent. It that too harsh to say? In this episode we talk about where psychology is today and what it needs to really succeed.

It's high time we discussed some examples of self-deception (besides what we discussed in episodes 2 and 3). And why not just jump to a couple of the most important and universal - depression and anxiety?

I would like to propose that one great source of light we violate when we self-deceive is the light of Christ. Also known in scripture as the spirit of Christ, this light proceeds from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space, gives us our knowledge of right from wrong, is the very light and life of men, and is the very law by which all things are governed. To me this means that we can't...

C. Terry Warner, a philosophy professor at Brigham Young University until his retirement, has made unprecedented strides in the area of self-deception, especially as it relates to social interactions. I have seen no one else treat his subject better. Studying self-deception without talking about Terry Warner would be a little like studying physics without talking about Einstein. I am greatly indeb...

If there is a God and if His kingdom is on the earth, then it follows that if we act against His word or His anointed, we must of necessity justify our behavior, according to my theory (that we justify ourselves through self-deception whenever we go against the truth). The word becomes less valid and the anointed of God become less authoritative to us. In my growing up life I observed what seemed...

This is going to be quite the podcast. As I write this I have 9 episodes recorded. They contain the clearest and most correct treatment of self-deception that I know of, and to me self-deception is a great missing key to psychology. I'm excited to share it with you and trust we will receive more knowledge and understanding as we continue on this journey. My methodology is a little different in tha...