The Subversive Therapist

The mass shooter is imperialistic in their demand for the dominance of space-time . They research other mass shootings and targets to create a simulation, e.g., using the Columbine school shooting as a model. The virtual world is the “real” audience for their final [suicidal] act. YouTube says, “Broadcast Yourself” and that is what the mass shooter does: a performance of exhibitionistic violence/s...

The 1999 Columbine massacre was televised live for the country to see in real time. Students inside the high school watched their own tragedy on CNN as they searched for answers to what was happening. To watch oneself, by oneself is the hopelessness of American despair. The fuel for this American despair is the reigning ideology of hyper-individualism: constructing an Empire of the Self. This requ...

Americans are dualistically siloed from one another (urban versus rural; liberal versus conservative; Republican versus Democrat) in echo-chambers of self-noise. Now, rather than “social media,” the social **is** digital media, which is used for the vindication of the self as the optimizable project for achievement. The 20 th  century breakdown of social bonds (“anomie”) has transformed into compu...

Andrew is interviewed for a local television news station on “Mental Health Awareness Day.” The full interview is juxtaposed with the brief news clip, so the listener can experience how the “news” gets made. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer .

A lecture by Andrew Archer lecturing at the 58th annual Nobel Conference in St. Peter, Minnesota (at Gustavus Adolphus College) September 28th-29th, 2022. The title of the conference was “Mental Health (In)Equity and Young People.” Andrew’s breakout session was titled, “Craving: What the Virtual World is Doing to Us & What We Can Do About It.” This episode is a recording of the second of two 5...

To live in the U.S. is to live in simulations of real war. American mass shootings are, in many ways, “imperial.” The act is both magnificent conquering and expansion of place with utter disregard for human life. The random Walmart or grocery store, a center of worship, an inconspicuous employer, or, an otherwise irrelevant “place,” becomes the disgusting spectacle of highest notice. The mass shoo...

On this episode you’ll hear a recording of an online lecture by Andrew Archer. The topic is “mindfulness”: as a state of mind, as a principle, and as a social movement. The commodification of an individualized form of mindfulness promises to relieve stress, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, improve sleep, alleviate GI difficulties, improve mental health and self-control with enhanced flex...

The British science fiction anthology, Black Mirror, depicts a world where the distinction between “real” and “virtual” is no longer relevant: people live as a totalizing symbiosis with digital technology. In the episode titled, “White Bear,” participants at the White Bear Justice Park are given three instructions: no talking, keep your distance, and enjoy yourself. These are the attributions and...

We enter the virtual world because we are bored and want to escape the body (dissociate). The virtual world gives us what we want, but it does not eliminate the feeling of boredom that is inside the body: the feeling is suspended in a digital space of non-time. When we exit the virtual world , we realize that the feeling (boredom) hasn’t gone away, so we cyclically return to the machine. The Japan...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is neither “artificial” nor “intelligent.” AI, and the tools as well as production of the virtual world, are made of real-world, three-dimensional resources: the raw material of Earth. Kate Crawford (2021) makes it clear that AI is “an extractive industry,” based on “highly energy-intensive infrastructures,” from the production and labor to the surveillance measures of...

The aim of Transactional Analysis is social control, whereby one retains control of themselves despite others who may be consciously or unconsciously attempting to trigger emotions or moralistic beliefs. (Berne, 1961; p. 91) Transactional Analysis deals with what actually happens (interpersonally) rather than just what is going on in the minds of the individuals concerned, i.e., bird’s eye view (B...

This episode is a recording of a free public lecture that Andrew Archer gave in Mankato, MN (3/24/2022). The advertised description is this: We love our smartphone. It is part of our body. We sleep with it and fear we will lose it. We touch it 3,000 times per day by pushing, swiping, and tapping with our fingers. It thinks for us and gives us what we want, but to no end. We become passive. We can’...

Intuition is a form of knowing whereby the person does not have the factual or empirical knowledge for how they know something. Intuition is a common sense guess or conjecture. To put this in terms of the Transactional Analysis personality structure, intuitive functioning is based on the Adult ego state within the Child. This state is referred to as the “Little Professor.” When this ego state is f...

The theory of the 18th century panopticon prison was meant to impose physical discipline on its prisoners by the perception of an omnipresent gaze from a central tower. The Digital Panopticon feels free of coercion because it lacks a centralized perspective. The camera is for selfies and not surveillance. In the virtual world, we are voluntarily constructing a digital prison whereby we illuminate...

On this episode you’ll hear a recording of a lecture by Andrew Archer. The event was part of an annual social services conference in Minneapolis, MN (3/16/22). The title was, Craving: What the Virtual World is Doing to Us & What We Can Do About It. The audio begins with the title slide that has three separate writings continuously scrolling across the screen (i.e., an algorithm): “Americans av...

In this episode we return to an overview of the personality structure and the idea of relational symbiosis as it relates to the user and the virtual world. For example, the power and possibility of the virtual world controls the choices for the users. This amounts to the analogy of a parent following around a young child and telling them, “Don’t think!” and “Don’t rem...

Our phones and wearable devices are now part of the body. Did “I” make that decision? We don’t remember birthdays, places, or phone numbers. Who made this decision? The injunctions of the  virtual world  are Don’t Think! and Don’t Remember! According to Byung-Chul Han, “power” is based on a level of internal mediation. We say “Yes!” to the  vir...

In this final episode of Series 1, Andrew responds to a question from a listener. Brian asked about meditation practice: “ I’m reminded of my brother who told me years ago when I asked him if he meditated, “I tried but I can’t sit still like that and not think”.”  The answer: Zen meditation practice (both as teacher and as student) with real world people in order to decontaminate the A...

Part 2 of “Teacher-Student Relationships” is a teacher-student example provided from Andrew’s experience teaching meditation to preschool children. Visit  MankatoTherapist.com  for more information and to  contact Andrew Archer .

An understanding of our sense of self and the relationship we are in with the virtual world , i.e., two non-existing things that feel like reality, produces despair. This existential emotion requires relational attention. The final section of the podcast is the Zen concept of teacher-student relations. An example is given from Andrew’s experience teaching meditation in the Wisconsin prison system....

In part 6,  Our Mindlessness Script  illustrates how we adapt to cultural conditioning by not thinking. The 1998 film,  The Truman Show,  starring Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, is an exaggerated cinematic example of a pre-conscious life plan based on a decision made in early childhood. Using the film, we can understand how the part of us that  craves  (Psycho) operates based on the directives of t...

Who are we becoming in the real world? This episode comprehends the dominant social character of the moment. The ideology of hyper-individualism is outlined as a means to depict how the non-rational and self-centered behavior of the virtual world is inverted in the real world: we operate in a sober, rational, analytical manner to preemptively avoid emotions in order to always stay-in-control. We a...

In this episode we discuss a fictional story as metaphor for a livelihood based on adaptive behavior or craving . The 2013 novel, The Circle, by Dave Eggers paints a picture of a symbiotic relationship with the virtual world . The main character’s Psycho part competitively manages herself online with the TruYou application, which consolidates all your user profiles into one: your true self or TruY...

The symbiosis of infant and mother is analogous to the user and virtual world . As a relationship, the user is hyper-connected as a means to get what is wanted , while the virtual world provides the power and possibility to function as control and choice for the user . Here we can describe with more detail the part of the personality that craves or wants: the Psycho or psychological part that adap...

Here we discuss the development of each aspect of the personality structure:  Parent, Adult, and Child . The corresponding characteristics of Parent, Adult and Child are the three P’s: power (critical/nurturing), possibility (rational/objective), and potency (psychological/natural). The functions of the three states of mind are reduced to three C’s: control , choice , and connection . We can under...