Freud and Philosophy: An Essay on Interpretation

Nothing in Kierkegaard's life (1813-1855) suggested he would enjoy posthumous fame. A peculiar man, often surly and unpleasant, possibly somewhat hunchbacked, Kierkegaard divided his time between wandering the streets of Copenhagen and writing his unusual philosophical books. He lived off a large inheritance from his father, he published his works at his own expense, and he wrote almost exclusively in Danish (his native language), attracting no readers of any significance outside his native land.

Sickness unto death

Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma

https://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp-content/uploads/Joyal-et-al.-2014-What-Exactly-Is-an-Unusual-Sexual-Fantasy.pdf

What Exactly Is an Unusual Sexual Fantasy

Consistent evidence exists for sexual interest in children in nonclinical/nonforensic male populations. However, prevalences for community men's self-reported sexual interest in children have been based on indiscriminate definitions including postpubescent individuals, age-restricted samples, and/or small convenience samples. The present research assessed men's self-reported sexual interest in children (including child prostitution and child sex tourism) on the community level and examined the link between strictly defined sexual fantasies and behaviors involving prepubescent children. In an online survey of 8,718 German men, 4.1% reported sexual fantasies involving prepubescent children, 3.2% reported sexual offending against prepubescent children, and 0.1% reported a pedophilic sexual preference. Sexual fantasies involving prepubescent children were positively related to sexual offending against prepubescent children. Sexual interest in children was associated with subjectively perceived need for therapeutic help. In contrast to findings from forensic samples, men who reported child pornography use exclusively were identified as a subgroup differing from contact sexual offenders against prepubescent children and men who reported both child pornography use and contact sexual offenses against prepubescent children. The empirical link between child-related sexual fantasies and sexual victimization of prepubescent children and high levels of subjective distress from this inclination underscore the importance of evidence-based child sexual abuse prevention approaches in the community. Findings are discussed in terms of their relation to pedophilic disorder.

/pdf/how-common-is-men-s-self-reported-sexual-interest-in-8ur6dg4cl1.pdf

How Common is Men's Self-Reported Sexual Interest in Prepubescent Children?

Little research has been conducted to examine paraphilic sexual interests in nonclinical samples. The little that exists suggests that atypical sexual interests are more common in men than in women, but the reasons for this difference are unknown. In this study, we explored the prevalence of paraphilic interests in a nonclinical sample of men and women. We expected that men would report greater arousal (or less repulsion) toward various paraphilic acts than women. We also examined putative correlates of paraphilias in an attempt to explain the sex difference. In all, 305 men and 710 women completed an online survey assessing sexual experiences, sexual interests, as well as indicators of neurodevelopmental stress, sex drive, mating effort, impulsivity, masculinity/femininity, and socially desirable responding. As expected, significant sex differences were found, with men reporting significantly less repulsion (or more arousal) to the majority of paraphilic acts than women. Using mediation analysis, sex drive was the only correlate to significantly and fully mediate the sex difference in paraphilic interests. In other words, sex drive fully accounted for the sex difference in paraphilic interests. The implications of these findings for understanding the etiology of atypical sexual interests are discussed.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1079063214525645

Paraphilic Interests: An Examination of Sex Differences in a Nonclinical Sample.

Movement into non-dual awareness involves ascension beyond the ego or self and access to higher transpersonal levels or stages. This comprises a process that manifests as an awakening and can initiate a lengthy journey for the experiencer. Once this journey begins, it appears to take on an unfolding life of its own, culminating in an embodied non-dual beingness existence that replaces prior egoic consciousness. Using a phenomenological hermeneutics approach, the authors sought to capture the lived experiences of ten non-dual teachers as they experienced awakening into non-dual beingness. Common themes that manifested throughout their journeys were explicated from their narratives and included: Foreshadowing in childhood, dissatisfaction with egoic consciousness, becoming drawn in by non-duality, the falling away of self, experiences of awakening into vastness, kundalini and other physical manifestations of awakening, the desire to hang on to awakening experiences, dissolution of the self, confronting death and terror, experiencing acceptance and relief, and embodiment of non-dual beingness. Implications of this research and avenues for further research into the phenomenon of awakening into non-duality are discussed.

Losing My Self in Non-Dual Awakening: A Transpersonal Phenomenological Investigation

Cultivating non-dual awareness involves transcendent movement through specific stages of psyche development. This transition allows for freedom from the constraints of the ego self or the illusory self and the mind, and a new focus on the collapse of dualism into oneness and acceptance of life as it presents itself. Such non-dual awareness was thought to be a rare occurrence, but new research is pointing to its increasing availability and accessibility. This transcendence, however, is not without its plights, crises, fluctuations, and breakthroughs. Using a transpersonal, existential, and phenomenological approach the authors investigated consciousness as it manifested in the journeys of nine novice’s awakening and transitioning from duality and separation into non-dual being. This article focuses on the themes that manifested in the initial transition from duality to non-duality. Existential issues, as well as resistances to them, played an important role in serving as openings into such non-dual states of being. Themes in duality included: Seeking to the fill the void, frustration, and despair; reinforcement of the ego through the other and assumed roles; a lack of sense of belonging resulting in alienation and loneliness; patterns of childhood trauma and resultant wounding; and experiences of betrayal, fear, and adopted coping mechanisms. Themes during the transition into non-duality included: Disillusionment with seeking, failurehood, and the seeker’s hell; ego deconstruction and questioning of reality; experiences of intuitive knowing and gnosis; direct experiences of non-duality; recollection of childhood experiences of no-self and oneness; reassertion of the mind and ego, as well as fluctuations in and out of non-duality; avoidance of spiritual bypass by working through wounds and personal issues; and fueling of the non-dual journey by reconnecting to one’s authentic energy. These themes are explored in the context of transcendence through the stages of psyche development and the implications of the first part of the novice’s journeys of awakening into non-duality are discussed.

Novices’ Transition from Separation into Non-Dual Being: A Transpersonal, Existential, Phenomenological Analysis

The phenomenon of burnout has been studied extensively, as it often plagues those in helping professions involving “people work” (e.g., counselling). Burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion and depersonalization that translates into a sense of lostness, lack of motivation, and the experience of “running on empty.” Unfortunately, conventional treatments (e.g., positive psychology, existential psychology, and psycho-analytic existentialism) focus on the avoidance of darker emotional experiences and emphasize the individual traits of the burnout sufferer, the search for hope, ways to increase work engagement, and the glorification of the hero’s journey. This emphasis can perpetuate the cycle of striving for meaning through work and career that initially triggered the burnt out state. The experiences and definitions of burnout parallel descriptions of the “grey realm” that is commonly experienced along the non-dual journey to awakening in the paradox of darkness. There appears to be something missing in conventional burnout treatment and prevention methods that ignore the greyness of burnout located within the individual. In contrast, Eastern traditions, transpersonal psychology, and non-duality dive into the dark emotions and understand the root of work-driven striving as the tendency to avoid mortality (i.e., to run from the inevitability of death). The authors propose a novel, non-dual approach to burnout treatment that views burnout as an invitation to embrace and accept the death experience of one’s sense of self that, in turn, offers an expansive, transformative opportunity to move into wholeness, healing, and an abundance of energy. To illustrate this, the authors outline the conventional understandings of burnout and contrast them with non-dual understandings. The non-dual approach to therapy is examined, and burnout is framed as a spiritual emergency and fuel for awakening. Furthermore, two case studies are presented to illustrate the non-dual psychotherapy approach to holistic burnout treatment. Implications of this approach and avenues for future research into the utilization and efficacy of non-dual psychotherapy to treat and prevent burnout are discussed.

From Grey Nothingness to Holistic Healing: A Non-Dual Approach to the Treatment of Burnout

Awakening into non-duality entails a focus on self-transcendence and movement through different levels of consciousness. Coming to abide in non-dual being involves the end of seeking; an embracement and radical acceptance of nondivision, or not-two, in each moment; and the cultivation of the understanding of ourselves as consciousness itself. Accepting the availability of life as what is, no matter how it manifests, brings one into greater cooperation with the flow of life as we embrace our undivided, natural state of being. Letting go and coming to abide in this state is not without its challenges, as one experiences realizations and insights that can feel like the destruction of one’s entire world and previous understandings. Awakening must occur on the levels of the mind (mental), heart (emotional), and guts (existential), each with their own host of effects, crises, and stumbling blocks. This article focuses on the themes that manifested during the second part of the journeys of novices as they came home to abide in non-dual being and included: Awakening moments and encounters with the abyss; coming to the end of seeking and realizing that there is nothing to do and nowhere to go; learning to live in and trust this one beautiful, yet ordinary moment; experiencing no mind, no self, and no knowing; experiencing expansion, connection, and love by awakening the heart; re-experiencing and residing in one’s own essence, energy, and authenticity; and coming to rest in underlying peace, freedom, and wholeness. These themes are explored in the context of awakening the various levels of consciousness and transcending the final stages of psyche development. The integral role and implications of the non-dual perspective in accelerating and promoting holistic healing in psychotherapy are discussed.

Brittany Bannerman

Papers

Paraphilic Interests: An Examination of Sex Differences in a Nonclinical Sample.

Losing My Self in Non-Dual Awakening: A Transpersonal Phenomenological Investigation

Novices’ Transition from Separation into Non-Dual Being: A Transpersonal, Existential, Phenomenological Analysis

From Grey Nothingness to Holistic Healing: A Non-Dual Approach to the Treatment of Burnout

Novices Come Home to Non-dual Being: A Transpersonal, Existential, Phenomenological Analysis