The Face of the Deep

Jen Howk
  • 4.8 (33)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Weekly

The Face of the Deep is a podcast that is rooted in psychology but unbound by any single theory. We explore what makes us who we are—from the genes and stories we inherit to the ones we struggle to rewrite. Expect conversations that weave together clinical insight, Jungian thought, behavioral science, and a bit of political and cultural critique. Whether we're talking about trauma, personality, midlife, or the politics of mental health, this show asks deeper questions about the self, the soul, and the systems we live in.

  1. Aug 11

    Episode 22: The Shadow Never Sleeps - How Shame Sabotages Relationships

    For 1:1 sessions and to join my zoom groups, visit www.jenhowk.com. In this episode, I discuss in a bit more depth how our inability to reckon with our own childhood wounds and the shame we feel from them results in our unchecked projections and sabotaging behaviors in our intimate relationships. There's a reason we keep picking "the wrong" person—our shame needs to be fully met and processed, and the "wrong" person is the fastest way to have that encounter. It's just a matter of what we choose to do with it.

  2. Aug 4

    Episode 21: Why Doesn't Anyone Feel "Safe?"

    This week's discussion is about how a feeling of interpersonal safety emerges from authentic connection with others, and that such a connection requires that the relationship can accommodate and sustain a high level of truth telling and transparency.  (Apologies for the delightful cacophony of bug noise in the background….I didn't realize the mic was picking all that up. Late summer in West Virginia!)

  3. Jul 28

    Episode 20: Why I'll Never "Date" Again (and You Probably Shouldn't Either)

    This one might be a bit controversial....but I feel strongly that dating for the express purpose of finding romance is an upside-down way to build a long term partnership with someone. We should be seeking friends first, and truth in our connections, and discovering from there what kind of relationship it is—not imposing a limited structure on it before we even really know the person. To book a consultation, be part of my membership group and weekly zoom calls, and access more info, visit https://www.jenhowk.com

  4. Jul 20

    Episode 19: To Tell the Truth: Cracking the Code of Food Addiction and Self-Suppression

    This episode is an unscripted discussion about how I believe I've cracked the binge eating code—or at least my own personal binge eating code, if not necessarily a universal one. I believe it begins in attachment wounds in early childhood, which train us to suppress truth in order to preserve the peace in our caregiver relationships. Later in life, having been alienated from a secure sense of self because of that process, we seek relationships where the other person (a friend, a colleague, or a romantic partner) regards us in an idealizing way, because that is what feels best to us. An idealizing relationship, however, cannot tolerate truth, and in order to preserve the other's fantasy projection of us, we repeat the same suppression from our early life. Food is, for many of us, a way to manage the discomfort and dissonance of that.   I do a little story time about my childhood and discuss how this pattern has shown up for me, as well as how it might look for you. As I mention at the end, I realize my pacing is a bit slow because I'm choosing my words more carefully these days; if it's too annoying in this TL;DR world, you're certainly welcome to speed it up. For info about my groups or to reach out, everything lives at https://www.jenhowk.com.

  5. Jul 13

    Episode 18: Well-Rooted - Terror, Tranquility, and Re-Wilding the Psyche in a Backyard Food Forest (live talk at Vegan Summerfest 2026)

    Four years of learning about and practicing an especially aggressive "do nothing" form of permaculture has taught me a great deal about emotional surrender and emotional sobriety—and vice versa. An intentional relationship with nature is necessary to better understand ourselves and grow along with our plants. A healthy, wild garden, like a healthy, wild psyche, requires and integrates everything: rot, renewal, and ripening. This is a recording from my live talk at Vegan Summerfest in July, 2026.

  6. Feb 10

    Episode 17: The Wounded Masculine and Its Discontents

    In this episode, I have a deep and wide-ranging (and not nearly long enough!) conversation with Dean Abbott about the dilemmas and diversions of self-development and romantic unhappiness. We discuss the crisis of emotional immaturity in modern relationships, the over-functioning woman/underfunctioning man dynamic, why women are exhausted and men are dissociated, the real reason women get "the ick," and what it is that men and women really want and need from one another. It's a conversation where we attempt to look beyond stereotypical tropes, and instead explore the fundamental ways that men and women misinterpret and misunderstand one another. We discuss how, tragically, the qualities and behaviors that we demand from our partners—as well as those we attempt to offer to them in return—are in many ways the exact opposite of what is required for successful partnership and individual growth. Dr. Dean Abbott is a certified pastoral counselor and coach, author, poet, theologian, and mentor. You can learn more about him and his work at https://www.deanabbott.com and https://www.alifedesigned.org/dean, as well as follow him on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/altdeanabbott. (Note that this is a backup account; his main account at the time I'm publishing this has been hacked, but hopefully will be recovered soon—you can still read old posts there at twitter.com/deanabbott.) Some mentioned resources: Lindsay Gibson, "Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents" https://amzn.to/3OzVt9i Robert Bly, "Iron John: A Book About Men" https://amzn.to/4kpWyfQ Dean Abbott, "Common Good: Reflections on Everyday Vices and Virtues" https://amzn.to/45Vj76f Dean Abbott, "On Character and Community" https://amzn.to/3MxSlu8 -- My book, "Truth be Told": https://www.jenhowk.com/truth For more resources including several weekly zoom groups, consider joining my community, The Collective Unconscious: https://collective.jenhowk.com

  7. 07/03/2025

    Episode 16: Correlation is Not a Conclusion (Interview with Professor Eric Turkheimer)

    In this episode I chat with Professor Eric Turkheimer at the University of Virginia about why the fact that "everything is heritable" doesn't actually mean very much; why the concept of "heritability" itself might just be the most misunderstood term in science; how the field of behavior genetics continues to struggle to disentangle its research priorities and methodological assumptions from the segregationist and eugenic ideologies that shaped its early development; and why humans have a "genetic essentialism" cognitive bias that primes us to oversimplify very complex realities of human nature.  "Understanding the Nature-Nurture Debate" by Professor Turkheimer:  https://amzn.to/4l5Q6K0 Join my membership community, the Collective Unconscious: https:/collective.jenhowk.com

  8. 06/20/2025

    Episode 15 - The Mismeasure of Meaning: Nature, Nurture, and Nuance

    In this episode, I explain my concerns and criticisms of the claim that "everything is genetic." I explain both why I once found the hereditarian literature very persuasive, as well as the philosophical and epistemological reasons I am no longer willing to agree that the case can be considered closed. I've listed a few resources that might be useful for further reading below. Of course I don't agree with every single thing each of these authors argues either—and some of them even contradict one another on various details. But as a whole, they have greatly informed my thinking on this subject and many others. On behavioral genetics and biology: Eric Turkheimer, "Understanding the Nature-Nurture Debate" https://amzn.to/4l5Q6K0 Evelyn Fox Keller, "The Century of the Gene" https://amzn.to/3TxKFb6 Denis Noble, "The Music of Life" https://amzn.to/4leUnuU David Moore, "The Developing Genome" https://amzn.to/4nbGeQP Aaron Panofsky, "Misbehaving Science: Controversy and the Development of Behavioral Genetics" https://amzn.to/4k0vJNo Philip Ball, "How Life Works: A User's Guide to the New Biology" https://amzn.to/442walX Books not specifically about genetics but which have contributed enormously to my general philosophy of science and causality (and the weirdness of the universe): Iain McGilchrist, "The Master and His Emissary" https://amzn.to/4n8G6Bx Bernardo Kastrup, "Analytical Idealism" https://amzn.to/3I3NNsI Don Hoffman, "The Case Against Reality" https://amzn.to/4jUjCBz Robert Rosen, "Life Itself" https://amzn.to/44aDWsD Lewis Mumford, "The Myth of the Machine" https://amzn.to/4n8GVu7 Paul Feyerabend, "Against Method" https://amzn.to/4nbIMhX Join the Collective Unconscious: https://collective.jenhowk.com

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4.8
out of 5
33 Ratings

About

The Face of the Deep is a podcast that is rooted in psychology but unbound by any single theory. We explore what makes us who we are—from the genes and stories we inherit to the ones we struggle to rewrite. Expect conversations that weave together clinical insight, Jungian thought, behavioral science, and a bit of political and cultural critique. Whether we're talking about trauma, personality, midlife, or the politics of mental health, this show asks deeper questions about the self, the soul, and the systems we live in.

Information

  • Creator
    Jen Howk
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    22
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    The Face of the Deep

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