Thinking With Somebody Else's Head

Richard Lloyd Jones

Podcast about Norberto Keppe’s Analytical Trilogy

  1. 27/11/2025

    Inverted Pleasure in Evil - Ep. 10 - Therapeutic Theology Series

    Working with clients in psychoanalysis, one of the hardest tasks is helping them to see the negative things they do without realizing it. Self-destructive habits, procrastination of important activities, reckless or careless behaviors -- these all have causes from deep inside that we can't get to without help. Freud mistakenly linked these to what he called Thanatos -- a death drive -- proposing that we had a drive of destruction directed against life. Freud saw it as a complement to the life drive -- Eros -- and he saw both as part of our nature. That's a tough one to wrap your head around. But chew on this: Freud was an atheist. The idea of a struggle between life and nothingness was probable for him. Keppe, though, takes us back a step: we're not programmed for death, so to speak. We're infused with and immersed in life and goodness. Happiness and success is our natural inheritance then. Keppe's eminently hopeful perspective sees problems and anguish as common, but not inevitable parts of nature.  For Keppe, what goes wrong circles back to human doings -- both individually and collectively. Our problem lies in psychological inversion; in a strange way, we're attracted to the dark side, and often repulsed by the good. Not by nature, then, but by choice. An even more difficult thing to wrap your head around then. The Inverted Pleasure in Evil, our episode this time on Therapeutic Theology. Click here to listen to this episode.

  2. 15/10/2025

    Silencing the Accuser - Ep 8 - Therapeutic Theology Series

    Dr. Keppe has said many times over the more than 2 decades I've been here in Brazil studying and working with him that no one is good alone. That means we act from influencers in our lives -- and I don't mean the social media kind. Friends and family, lovers and mentors, teachers and priests and padres -- all have had their positive effect on us. And then, since we're dealing with theology in this series, we have to consider the influence of spiritual forces, too. Those transcendental bodies, like guardian angels and souls that have passed on but reach back through the ether to inspire and direct us. Beethoven used to say that God was shouting in his head, and the only thing that gave him any relief was to write it down. And just look at the legacy that left us! The other side of that statement about not being good alone, of course, is that we're not bad alone either. Negative influences are listened to in our society, from envious critique offered freely at the water cooler at work, to oft observed corruption in social institutions, to individuals demonstrating "flexible" morals.  And then there is demonic suggestion. Much discarded in our modern world, of course, but well accepted in some theological circles. Following those negative impulses from within and without leads us to some crazy behavior -- the kind that causes us to cringe when we look back at it. And it also causes guilt. Which is good because it shows us we still have a moral compass.  But it doesn't feel all that great, which is why we try to rationalize it away or excuse ourselves or, more seriously, drown it in whiskey. The voice we hear in those moments when we are tempted to fall is important to understand. Not admitting our guilt and responsibility can lead to some sleepless nights. Or even panic attacks and phobias. But maybe, accusations that are not entirely our own.  Silencing the Accuser in this episode of Therapeutic Theology. Click here to listen to this episode.

  3. 09/10/2025

    Pride and Demons - Ep 7 - Therapeutic Theology Series

    Growing up in a modern developed, secular society means limited access to theological understanding. There is some spirituality mixed into the stew of science and legislation and jurisprudence, but it's of a modern kind -- meaning a blend of concepts and ideas pulled from Eastern philosophy, New Age imaginings and Quantum physics. And as such, there's lots of talk about influences from numbers and planets and collective consciousness, and even some room for mind over matter miracles. But there's precious little consideration of old-fashioned sin. And obviously no acknowledgement of the influence of evil in our lives. Admittedly, sin is a loaded word in this modern environment, so a science that accepts theology -- like Norberto Keppe's Analytical Trilogy (or Integral Psychoanalysis) -- renames sin as psychopathology. However, to really understand human activity in the world, we need to expand to a consideration of spiritual influence in our personal and social lives.  Especially to negative spiritual influence. Because we are not problematic alone. And our unwillingness to see our problems as evidence of really bad intentions rather than just unwilling mistakes or occasional infractions is seriously undermining our human society. This illustrates a kind of hubris in the human stance towards reality. A sort of refusal to see what's really causing our problems on Earth that the ancient theologians recognized as pride.  And there's something deeper to be understood here in our modern society. Pride and Demons, the next episode in our Therapeutic Theology Series. Click here to listen to this episode.

About

Podcast about Norberto Keppe’s Analytical Trilogy