Psychology Today - How To Control The Wild Side Of Your Conscience

Jul 27, 2013

Examining the keywords through which visitors found my websites, I saw that a few people wanted to learn more about the wild side of our conscience, which I discovered after continuing the research of Carl Jung into the unknown region of the psyche and fighting against schizophrenia, with the guidance of the unconscious mind that produces our dreams.

This discovery was in fact given to me. The real story starts with the existence of the saintly unconscious mind and the evil wild conscience and the necessity to transform the wild conscience into a saintly conscience, so that it will be able to live happily. The creation of our planet with an unexplainable variety of animals and plants, that could not be the product of chance, happened in order to give to the wild conscience the necessary environment for its transformation.

The wild conscience acquired an animal body. Part of it was transformed into a human conscience, thanks to all the efforts of the saintly unconscious mind, which is in fact directed by God, the wisest existing conscience.

The wild and the human conscience started to live together inside the human being, while having the guidance of the unconscious mind, that lives inside everyone, helping the human side of the conscience eliminate the evil wild side.

The unconscious mind has been trying to transform the wild conscience into a human conscience for many centuries without success, because evil is stronger than sanctity, since destruction is easier than construction. The wild conscience has the power to destroy everything and it impedes human salvation.

The entire history of mankind is in fact the development of several different processes of transformation, created by the unconscious mind with the intention to eliminate the evilness of the wild anti-conscience and transform it into a positive part of the human conscience.

I discovered this astonishing truth not because I had the indispensable knowledge to do so, but because it was given to me by the unconscious mind in my literature and in my dreams, so that I could "discover it" and relate it to several scientific discoveries of my time.

I was not a genius, but I became one after completely developing the human side of my conscience and eliminating the wild side. If you want to become a genius like me and control the wild side of your conscience, you have to follow my example and fight against it with determination.

Pay attention to the guidance of the unconscious mind in your dreams, and you will understand what your mistakes are and what you have to do in order to correct them and find happiness.

Alone you will never be able to control the anti-conscience, unless you decide to become saintly and dedicate your life to helping the others.

If you cannot be that hero, you need the indispensable guidance of the unconscious mind in your dreams to show you another way to transform your psyche, without so much pain.

You have to be very careful though, if you want to control the wild conscience.

Here is a list of general indispensable precautions for the preservation of your human conscience:

1. Never agree to do anything against anyone, even if the other person did many things against you. You are going to pay for your mistakes in the future, no matter if you made them because you were a victim of somebody else's evilness.

2. Never be immoral. Respect everyone and never agree to any sin, because if you do so, the wild conscience will constantly invade the human side of your conscience, winning more fields there with your acceptance of what is immoral.

3. Be religious. Believe in God because He really exists and He is really saintly as described by all religions. If you don't like the human leaders of your religion, don't blame your religion for that, but only the human evilness that distorts what should be sacred.

This is basic craziness prevention, but you need a lot in order to really stay far from craziness and eliminate this danger forever.

This is why you have to start writing down your dreams and learn how to translate their meaning with my simplification of the complicated method discovered by Carl Jung.

I could simplify this method exactly because I discovered the basic fact about what exists in the ignored side of the human conscience. This is the basic theme of all our dreams, since the wise unconscious mind is always trying to save our human side from the attacks of the anti-conscience and is always trying to help us develop our human personality more completely.

Knowing the basic theme of all dreams, of course the translation of their meaning becomes much simpler and well defined.

Today you can have the privilege of learning a very complicated method in a very clear, well defined and helpful form after its evolution, with the continuation of the research abandoned by the psychiatrist that discovered it.

However the most important thing is that today you know that if you want to preserve the human side of your conscience forever and never become a victim of craziness, you have to lean how to translate the meaning of your dreams according to the scientific method.

A Look at Terrorism Psychology and What Drives These Madmen

Jul 21, 2013

It is the middle of a normal workday and a commuter train somewhere in Europe is packed with simple working people anxious to get home to their families. It is a diverse mix of people and cultures, that is a microcosm of the community that the train is traveling in. In the center of one of the crowded cars sits an angry looking fat Arab. Stinking of curry, he clutches his travel bag as he waits for just the right moment. For he knows that in only seconds he will be in heaven with his 72 beautiful young wives, at his lecherous and perverted beck and call.

Diffusing a Human Bomb

What is it that motivates these people to inflict such pain and misery on groups of innocent undeserving people. Is there any way that a psychologist can get into their minds and diffuse them in much the same way as an explosives expert diffuses an unexploded bomb on a conventional battle field? This is a question that more and more law enforcement experts are asking and it is just one of the areas that government officials are looking for a solution to the scourge of terrorism.

New Negotiating Techniques

Terrorism psychology is one of the fastest growing areas in the field of psychology today and this is why more and more law enforcement academies are offering it in their study curriculum. For instance, crime scene negotiators are now being taught how to deal a multitude of suicide scenarios that include even the suicide bomber bent on mass murder.

Lear What to Look for

Also, security and safety experts that man the countries airports and train stations are being taught new ways to recognize a potential threat of this greater magnitude. This is done by learning psychological danger signals that a potential terrorist might unknowingly demonstrate or broadcast. The good news is that most, if not all of what has been discovered and learned in the field of terrorism psychology is unclassified, which means that this information is available to the general public.

Online Psychology Degree Programs - Is Now the Right Time to Pursue Your Psychology Degree Online?

Jul 15, 2013

There are now lots of available options for accredited online psychology degrees. Psychology has always been a highly popular course of study for collegiate students. It offers a number of benefits which can be applied to a great deal of diverse fields. It also provides the chance to acquire advanced degrees such as masters and doctoral degrees and to understand more about yourself and your connections and relationships. With the ever expanding availability of online psychology degrees, right now you have more alternatives than ever before to undertake this form of education.

Psychology is in essence an in-depth look at what molds and controls human behavior. What exactly is going on in a person's head? Why have they made the choices that they have? What in their life has influenced the way they conduct themselves today?

When you study psychology you will certainly learn plenty about yourself. You'll learn how to to interpret your own behavioral patterns and take a look at your own relationships. With these tools you'll be equipped to progress your personal life.

There are many career options for those who complete accredited online psychology degrees. One growing field is that of company or private firm psychologists. Businesses are trying to organizational behavior and how people can be motivated more successfully in the workplace. Having a psychology degree allows you to offer advice on how companies can improve their atmosphere and their environment to gain increased output and amplified success.

Another option is to continue learning about psychology as an academic. not many fields lend themselves to interesting research studies and experiments like psychology does. In addition to this, a great career for those who begin with a psychology background is to become a practicing therapist.

Careers in criminal psychology, law enforcement and the social services are also popular and common. Another career option is research and continued study. These are only a few examples of the many different career paths available to those with a psychology degree.

The main point here is that there are many different career prospects for people with a background in psychology. Combined with the added flexibility and benefits of online degree programs obtaining a psychology education has never been easier.

As pointed out previously there are advanced diplomas available in the field of psychology. These include masters degrees and PhDs. Some career paths, such as becoming a private therapist, will require you to pursue a degree of this level. Other career paths will only require a bachelors degree.

There are even more advanced degrees, including both masters degree programs and PhD programs in psychology. this higher level of qualification is generally needed if you want to start your own practice or if you aim to pursue therapy as the basis of your career.

Completing your psychology degree through an accredited online program can open up an entire new range of options for you and your career. Enrolling for and partaking in an online education has never been easier than it is today, so there's no need to delay to get your great new career in the world of psychology started.

Humanistic Psychology

Jul 9, 2013

Throughout history many individuals and groups have affirmed the inherent value and dignity of human beings. They have spoken out against ideologies, beliefs and practices, which held people to be merely the means for accomplishing economic and political ends. They have reminded their contemporaries that the purpose of institutions is to serve and advance the freedom and power of their members. In Western civilization we honor the times and places, such as Classical Greece and Europe of the Renaissance, when such affirmations were expressed.

Humanistic Psychology is a contemporary manifestation of that ongoing commitment. Its message is a response to the denigration of the human spirit that has so often been implied in the image of the person drawn by behavioral and social sciences.

Ivan Pavlov's work with the conditioned reflex had given birth to an academic psychology in the United States led by John Watson, which came to be called "the science of behavior". Its emphasis on objectivity was reinforced by the success of the powerful methodologies employed in the natural sciences and by the philosophical investigations of the British empiricists, logical positivists and the operationalists, all of who sought to apply the methods and values of the physical sciences to questions of human behavior. Valuable knowledge was achieved in this quest. But if something was gained, something was also lost: The "First Force" systematically excluded the subjective data of consciousness and much information bearing on the complexity of the human personality and its development.

The "Second Force" emerged out of Freudian psychoanalysis and the depth psychologies of Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Carl Jung, Melanie Klein, Otto Rank, Harry Stack Sullivan and others. These theorists focused on the dynamic unconscious - the depths of the human psyche whose contents, they asserted, must be integrated with those of the conscious mind in order to produce a healthy human personality. The founders of the depth psychologies believed that human behavior is principally determined by what occurs in the unconscious mind. So, where the behaviorists ignored consciousness because they felt that its essential privacy and subjectivity rendered it inaccessible to scientific study, the depth psychologists tended to regard it as the relatively superficial expression of unconscious drives.

"An assumption unusual in psychology today is that the subjective human being has an important value which is basic; that no matter how he may be labeled and evaluated he is a human person first of all, and most deeply."

Humanistic View of Human Behavior

Humanistic psychology is a value orientation that holds a hopeful, constructive view of human beings and of their substantial capacity to be self-determining. It is guided by a conviction that intentionality and ethical values are strong psychological forces, among the basic determinants of human behavior. This conviction leads to an effort to enhance such distinctly human qualities as choice, creativity, the interaction of the body, mind and spirit, and the capacity to become more aware, free, responsible, life affirming and trustworthy.

Humanistic psychology acknowledges that the mind is strongly influenced by determining forces in society and in the unconscious, and that some of these are negative and destructive. Humanistic psychology nevertheless emphasizes the independent dignity and worth of human beings and their conscious capacity to develop personal competence and self-respect. This value orientation has led to the development of therapies to facilitate personal and interpersonal skills and to enhance the quality of life.

Since there is much difficulty involved in inner growth, humanistic psychologists often stress the importance of courageously learning to take responsibility for one as one confronts personal transitions. The difficulty of encouraging personal growth is matched by the difficulty of developing appropriate institutional and organizational environments in which human beings can flourish. Clearly, societies both help and hinder human growth. Because nourishing environments can make an important contribution to the development of healthy personalities, human needs should be given priority when fashioning social policies. This becomes increasingly critical in a rapidly changing world threatened by such dangers as nuclear war, overpopulation and the breakdown of traditional social structures.

Many humanistic psychologists stress the importance of social change, the challenge of modifying old institutions and inventing new ones able to sustain both human development and organizational efficacy. Thus the humanistic emphasis on individual freedom should be matched by recognition of our interdependence and our responsibilities to one another, to society and culture, and to the future.

Methods of Inquiry

All of these special concerns point toward the need for a more complete knowledge of the quality of human experience. Humanistic psychology is best known as a body of theory and systems of psychotherapy, but it is also an approach to scholarship and research, to inquiry informed by a strong sense of purpose. The purpose is to provide a level of understanding that can promote the power of personal choice and the care and effectiveness of social groups.

Humanistic psychology recognizes that human existence consists of multiple layers of reality: the physical, the organic and the symbolic. In considering these components it advocates the use of a variety of research approaches to study their characteristics and intentions. It contests the idea traditionally held by the behavioral sciences that the only legitimate research method is an experimental test using quantified data. It argues for the use of additional methods specifically designed to study the organic and symbolic realms.
Humanistic psychology is strongly supportive of phenomenological and clinical approaches to the study of the human position in the order of life. It also encourages the discovery of new research approaches which seek to further understand the richness in the depth of human being.

The symbolic dimension of consciousness is of special interest. It is in this realm of our lives-a uniquely human realm-- that meaning value, culture, personal decision and responsibility are expressed and manifested. The humanities are thus important resources in humanistic psychology research. Another thing the humanistic approach brings into account is the fact that society's ideas about what count as legitimate knowledge constitutes a certain kind of power over our lives. The assumption that knowledge is confined to what can be directly perceived and publicly measured leads easily to the conclusion that personal values, meaning and decision lack a larger significance or interpretation. The value-based position taken by humanistic psychology implies a commitment to the use of research approaches that provide access to all characteristics of human existence.

Humanistic Psychology Today

During the 1970s and 80s, the ideas and values of humanistic psychology spread into many areas of society in the United States. As a result humanistic psychology is no longer "Humanistic Psychology". It is, of course, still represented by the Association for Humanistic Psychology and the Journal of Humanistic Psychology , as well as APA Division 32, the Division of Humanistic Psychology. However, it is also represented in a variety of APA divisions concerned with psychotherapy and issues of social concern. And it is in Transpersonal Psychology (Association for Transpersonal, Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, New Age, East-West, the Consciousness Movement, Noetic Sciences); the Growth Center and Human Potential Movements; the Self-Esteem and Addiction Recovery Movements; Family Therapy, Holistic Health and Hospice, and Organizational Development and Organization Transformation. It is philosophically aligned with the post-modern philosophy of science, constructivist epistemology, structuralism, and deconstructionism. We also could include green politics, deep ecology, the feminist and gay rights movements, and the psycho-spiritual wing of the peace movement. Perhaps this is what Rollo May was pointing to when he suggested that AHP has accomplished the mission for which it was founded. This breadth, depth and diversity is representative of the world we live in and takes into account an integrated and balanced view of human nature and maintaining balance and harmony in the grand scheme of existence.

"As the world's people demand freedom and self-determination, it is urgent that we learn how diverse communities of empowered individuals, with freedom to construct their own stories and identities, might live together in mutual peace. Perhaps it is not a vain hope that is life in such communities might lead to the advance in human consciousness beyond anything we have yet experienced."

Psychology and Philosophy - Uneasy Siblings

Jul 3, 2013

Most of us who work in some aspect of philosophy have had the experience of trying to explain to someone that philosophy is not psychology. To those members of the philosophical set, the distinction may seem obvious, but any attempt to spell it out requires some careful thought and reflection, which is what I attempt to do in this exercise.

Is Psychology a sibling of Philosophy? Surely in the past they were close siblings, members of the same family, philosophy. Today the relationship between the two is more problematic. Does work in philosophy have any relation to the student's psychological state? The answer also is not a clear-cut one. Philosophy can help a person psychologically, but this is not central to the function of philosophy.

Some History:

Historically in Western Philosophy, Psychology was part of philosophy until the 19th century when it became a separate science. In the 17th and 18th centuries, many Western philosophers did pioneering work in areas that later came to be known as "psychology." Eventually psychological inquiry and research became separate sciences some of which could be characterized as the study and research into the mind. In short, psychology became identified as the science of mind insofar as its function is to analyze and explain mental processes: our thoughts, experiences, sensations, feelings, perceptions, imaginations, creativity, dreams and so on. It is mostly an empirical and experimental science; although the field of psychology does include the more theoretical Freudian psychology and the more speculative Jungian psychology.

When we study Western Philosophy, we find a concentrated effort to maintain a distinction between philosophical and psychological considerations. But these have not always been kept separate. Even today some areas of philosophy remain intermixed with psychological considerations. It may be that some forms of philosophy can never break away completely from psychological issues.
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Traditionally, philosophers in the Western tradition did not always observe a wall of separation between philosophy and psychology. For example, Baruch Spinoza's great work, Ethics, includes many observations and insights about our reasoning processes and emotions. The early works in Epistemology (theory of knowledge) by such thinkers as Rene Descartes, John Locke, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant include a great deal of observations and statements about mental processes connected with knowing and belief. In other words, these writings tend to mix psychological statements (process of knowing) with conceptual philosophy.

But there are differences between psychology and philosophy which are significant and should be observed in careful writing in either area. In our critiques of these 17th and 18th works in epistemology, we try to separate the philosophical theme (logic, conceptual and propositional evaluation) from the psychological aspect (causes of belief, mental process underlying perception). Scientific work that seeks to understand and explain the workings of the brain and the neurological processes which underlie thought and experience (viz., psychology) is different from philosophical inquiry into mind, consciousness, knowledge and experiences. Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology, takes great pains to keep his philosophy separate from empirical psychology. But it is not clear that his analysis (or other analyses) of the phenomenology of different experiences remains something clearly distinct from psychology.

But in large part the problem remains, especially in such areas of philosophy of mind, of keeping philosophical work free of psychology altogether. Moreover, we should not assume that in all cases these must be kept separate, as some work in philosophy surely requires consideration of the psychological sciences.

Even today the student will likely be surprised by the number of psychological insights that Spinoza offers in this great work, Ethics, back in the 17th century and similar psychological observations by Friedrich Nietzsche in the 19th century. William James, the great American pragmatist, includes much psychology in his philosophy. He has much to say about the stream of consciousness and special experiences, such as religious experiences.

Current Concerns:

Philosophy of mind: There is a sense in which the mind is a psychological construct; there's another sense in which it is not. "My mind is such and such" can be restated as "my thinking is such and such." Sometimes it is the psychology behind my thinking that is the issue; but other times we're interested in what could be called the conceptual-propositional issues; and still other times we might be more interested in the literary-artistic expression of ideas, values, and perspectives. (In this latter connection, see Walter Kaufmann's book, Discovering The Mind.)

In Epistemology we're concerned with the concept of knowledge; but our primary interest is not one of describing the psychology of knowing. Our interest is not in the process by which we come to know something, but in the clarification of concepts associated with knowledge and belief; and in the logic of propositions related to knowledge. Included among the philosophers who engage in the philosophy of knowledge are Bertrand Russell, D.W. Hamlyn, and Richard Rorty.

In the area of academic philosophy, besides the large field of epistemology, we have philosophy of mind, theory of consciousness, philosophy of language, Cartesian Idealism, and the free will issue. Ordinarily these are not seen as forms of psychological inquiry. They are more directed to conceptual and propositional issues. Included among the philosophers who engage in work on knowledge, language, and mind in this vein are Ludwig Wittgenstein, Gilbert Ryle, D.W. Hamlyn, John Austin, and Daniel Dennett

But psychology is very much a part of those philosophical studies of special experience, such as the religious experience, the mystical experience, and even moral experience. A good representative of this approach is the great American pragmatist, William James. Much of his work in philosophy does not stray too far from his psychological interests.

Some aspects of philosophy are concerned with the nature of human thought. This interest is distinct from psychological study, description and theory. But to be adequate and credible it needs to take into account the work of psychologists and the cognitive scientists. The subject of human thought is a big topic which can be approached from different directions. One of these is philosophy; another is psychology and the cognitive sciences. Still others are literary art, the fine arts, and history.

Suppose I ask about Spinoza's thought with regard to moral obligation; how does he defend the thesis that morality and rationality are closely intertwined? As a student of philosophy, my interests could be strictly philosophical interests. I want to know how he develops and defends his philosophical thesis. On the other hand, I could be curious about the causes of Spinoza's thinking; or maybe interested in possible motives that he might have had for adopting his particular philosophy. What events in his childhood or family life led him to embrace the values of rationality and the ideals of the geometric method? In this latter case, I would be proceeding as an amateur, folk psychologist.

There are different ways of trying to understand the thought of a person, e.g. a writer or a philosopher. We take one way when we ask about the causes and motivations behind the person's ideas; i.e., we ask about the psychological 'workings.' Another way is to do philosophical criticism and evaluation of the person's ideas. But the two (psychology and philosophy) can be combined in a single study.

Philosophy and the psychological well-being of the individual:

Another way of considering the interaction of psychology and philosophy is at the personal level. Do a person's meditation on philosophical questions bring about (or bring closer) some degree of psychic harmony? To the extent that philosophical work and thought contribute to a person's sense of well-being and fulfillment, one could argue that philosophy is a form of therapy. Is there a sense in which philosophy can be therapeutic?

If the unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates), then it may follow that the examined life (the "philosophical life") is worth living. This could be seen as suggesting that philosophical thought results in a form of personal fulfillment and good psychological health.

Contrary to this we have the view (mostly the prevailing view) that philosophy is an intellectual discipline which has little or nothing to do with anyone's striving to achieve some form of personal, psychic fulfillment. Add to this the fact that most people who work in philosophy (e.g. academic philosophers or professors of philosophy) are not especially noteworthy for lives of psychic well-being. In this regard, think of people like Blaise Pascal, S. Kierkegaard, F. Nietzsche and Ludwig Wittgenstein. How psychologically healthy and well balanced were they? They were emotionally and mentally tormented, and won't be mentioned much as models of psychic calm and well-being. Moreover, some philosophers are driven to engage in philosophy, much like artists, poets, and composers are driven to do their creative work. Here we have a form of psychological compulsion that does not seem to be a form of therapy. In fact, some people even refer to philosophy as a type of disease.

Closing Thoughts:

The student of philosophy usually is not a psychologist, but nothing says that the student cannot proceed as a psychologist of sorts. I imagine situations in we attempt to get clear about our thoughts and values; and attempt to be honest about our motivations for all that we do. People used to say back in the 1960s era: I'm just trying to get my "head straight."

Suppose that a psychologist can tell me about the causes, the mental processes, and hidden motives that underlie my thinking and behavior. He might say that in order to truly understand what I am about I must have some understanding of these "psychological" things; i.e., I must acknowledge and expose them. If I were to accept his advice and try to do those things, would I be acting in accordance with the Socratic maxim to "know thyself"?

The professional is concerned with empirical, descriptive psychology and with research into neurological and psychological processes. But we, the amateurs, are primarily indulging a form of folk psychology: Trying to say what I think about my own thinking. Or trying to deal better with my psychic life. Sometimes I apply this 'folk psychology' to myself (I try to figure out what I'm about) or to others (I try to understand their motives for saying such and such or doing so and so.)

On a more practical level, we can imagine someone asking: "What do I really want in life? How do I get there?" Can philosophy help us here? Maybe not, but then again think of two of our great figures in Western Philosophy, Socrates and Spinoza. They are often cited as models of psychological harmony and wisdom. Ultimately, aren't we all psychologists to some degree, even those of us who flounder about in philosophy? Yes, we are to some degree 'psychologists' insofar as we are awake, alert, conscientious, and honestly engage in self-examination. This does not need to be kept separate from our work in philosophy.