Ernest Becker, Otto Rank, and Psychotherapy

[@RichInk]

Beautiful. Thank you.

[@jackcarney313]

Ah, love that punny (not puny!) poet-philosopher, Sheldon, what a delivery!, seldom without a ripe word! Keep that worm busy at the core, thanks for your down home wisdom. Would love to see you next to Mr Spam Can of Now, Eckhart (for whom the bell apparently does not) Tolles.

[@lorraineperson4935]

Thank you. A fascinating and healing discussion. I needed to be reminded of Solomon, Becker and Rank as I. approach 77 with its attendant anxieties

[@alanc231]

Terrific conversation, puzzling how mainstream psychology still neglects existential realities.

[@shengloongtan229]

You're speaking like an American 😂 There's no such thing as "mainstream psychology", it's like saying newtonian physic is the mainstream and schrodinger is not. They are all different branches and disciplines of a subject, like the lady moderator is a childhood developmental psychology specialising in autism, is she mainstream? Then there's behavioural psychology, clinical psychology, pathological psychology, sexology

[@Xanaduum]

It would be better to replace mainstream with institutional then. The existential philosophy side of psychology isn't seen as very scientific or measurable or even cost effective- same reason CBT will always be more popular than Psychoanalysis. Although you could also just say, common discourse. The quantum physics, Newtonian physics analogy isn't quite accurate. For example I can speak about Maslow and attachment theory in the NHS in the UK but if I talk about Otto Rank and Ernest Becker I will get blank looks. But anyone who knows anything about science knows who Newton was and Shroedingers cat, quantum physics is mainstream now. So the reason I'd say it's ignored is, 1. Money - institutional wise 2. Measurable/seen as scientifically serious 3. Sounds esoteric, much like Lacan or Jung's later work - These things were what Freud was worried would happen and drag all of psychology/analysis with it.

[@shengloongtan229]

@@Xanaduum again i have to disagree with you. Jordan Peterson personally said to Solomon, that his terror management theory is the most empirically proven psychological theory. And he was right. You would be surprised to find out how many psychological theory have no prove, sometimes there is even no way of proving it. There certainly are many dispute and criticism early on, but that's true of any new studies or theories. With the amount of evidences and studies we have for terror management, i dont think psychologists would dispute the legitimacy of terror management theory, they would most likely dispute what the studies implied about terror of death, but not the legitimacy of the theory itself. But its true that most profit-seeking institution would not pay any attention to his study, that's sad, but still, he is a professor at a prestigious university. It is also true that most people avoid topic regarding death, especially ones that go so deeply into exploring your anxiety on the possibility that you would die anytime, a few hours later, tomorrow etc. conclusion, these conspiracy about "mainstream academic" is overblown. IDK if you're a big fan of Graham Hancock , but academic is a place of great skepticism, if you have a extraordinary claim, you'll need extraordinary proof to be taken seriously. It's just that.

[@michaelmody]

Pure gold

[@williamscottharkey]

Many thanks. Wonderful discussion.

[@zachvanslyke4341]

Thank you for this delightful conversation. Ernest Becker was an outstanding scholar and writer, and luckily he had the courage to explore the world in the way he did- and be able to convey his discoveries to humanity. His ideas have been a great sense of peace and understanding in my own life, and countless others, I’m sure. 🙏🤍🙏

[@martyjourard7172]

Highly informative and interesting. I learned a lot.

[@iloverumi]

amazing conversation. thank you very much!

[@williamscottharkey]

We can easily convert these videos to audio-only mp3 form. But might there be any chance to post these as podcasts as well? Thanks.

[@RedRosa]

Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time. Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, which is the only fact we have. It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death-ought to decide, indeed, to earn one’s death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life. One is responsible to life: It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall return. One must negotiate this as nobly as possible, for the sake of those who are coming after us. But white Americans do not believe in death, and this is why the darkness of my skin so intimidates them. James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

[@DannyMulligan]

Amazing quote, thanks for sharing. I read this book but somehow forgot this passage. Baldwin was something else. We need him now more than ever.

[@PhoenixandCloud]

The denial of death brought me here

[@akariwilliams7994]

Becker made me Black and White with my views on EVERYTHING

[@robertmacnichol8804]

Should have had Jack Schumaker in the conversation.

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

Sheldon left out Norman O. Brown, who preceded Becker (as Becker acknowledges), and is deeper and more profound than either Rank or Becker. Sheldon, it seems, has turned into an "entertainer," repeating his same "bit."

[@michellemay2081]

I could not disagree more thoroughly - and I’m sure you’re aware that Becker argued forcefully that Brown’s belief in the power of free love (influenced by his Santa Cruz days?) left him miles behind Rank and Soren intellectually when it came to reckoning with anguish and non-being, etc.

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

@@michellemay2081 Complete nonsense. Brown did not "advocate" anything. And he wrote LIFE AGAINST DEATH in 1959, when he was at Wesleyan University. WAY BEFORE he was at Santa Cruz, where he didn't write about sexuality.