Author: Andrew Taggart
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Homo Economicus And Homo Psychologicus
If you’ve been reading this blog recently, no doubt you’ve noticed that I’ve shined a critical light on what I’m presently calling homo psychologicus. In one popular post, “Stop Confessing Your Vulnerabilities,” I discussed the prevalence of a certain secular confessional mode. In yesterday’s post, “There’s No Such Thing as ‘Mental Health,’” I sought to…
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There’s No Such Thing As ‘Mental Health’
Abstract To speak of “mental health” is to make a category mistake. And it is to reify while substantializing a supposed ens, an alleged “thing” or “abstract something” when, in our direct experience, there is no such thing as mind. So, there’s no such thing as mental health and there’s no such thing as an…
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Jolted While In The Saddle
It’s not, in this instance, that you’ve been knocked off your horse. You are–this much is clear–still very much on your horse. It’s rather that you’ve been jolted while in the saddle. And this is curious at the same time that it’s unsettling. Don’t blame it on the horse. Observe that the horse, in this…
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To Rejoice And Grieve With Our Whole Hearts
In the opening part of his essay, “Religion Challenged by Modern Thought,” which is included in Zen and Western Thought (1985), Masao Abe writes poignantly about what is lost in the secularization process: I believe that this phenomenon [namely, secularization] has, in the last analysis, been caused by the fact that modern people have gradually…
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Ego = Lack
Seemingly No Way Out Deepen your meditation practice enough and soon you’ll realize something: unless you realize your true nature, the dis-ease you experience will never, ever end. This is because the root of your dis-ease is not living in the wrong place (so moving elsewhere won’t bring lasting peace and happiness), being around the…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 