تدريب Shadowing: Mental Illness as a Crisis of Meaning in Modern Society - تعلم التحدث بالإنجليزية مع YouTube

Modern society is characterised by many things,

⏸ متوقف مؤقتاً

السرعة:

278 جمل

إذا كانت الجمل قصيرة أو طويلة جدًا، انقر على Edit لتعديلها.

Modern society is characterised by many things,

but perhaps most notably by the remarkable scientific and technological advancement,

as well as capitalism, individualism and hedonism.

We are wealthier than our ancestors,

we live in more safe and comfortable environments,

we have more access to food and other basic needs.

Why then have we seen a massive spike in mental illness?

The bulk of evidence concludes

that there seems to have been a significant rise in the incidence of lunacy in the 19th century,

and that this increase consisted largely of patients with the illness we now call schizophrenia.

One of the most widely ramifying features of modernity is the intense focus on the value and power of the individual self,

to turn away from the search of an objective external order

and to instead turn inward and become aware of our own connectivity.

This becomes a pervasive feature of human experience and self-knowledge in the 19th century.

Western culture is dominated by individualism,

subjectivism and relativism, with the rise of a new character type that dominates our age,

the psychological man, who is intent upon the conquest of his inner life.

Mental illness must also be viewed in line with a modern social structure,

with bureaucratisation, technologisation, secularization, and rationalization of the modern world on the level of individual experience.

The conditions of modern life,

with its rational forms of social organization,

are more complex, conflicting, and require potentially disorienting cognitive requirements.

While there is an emphasis on individuality,

one must also simultaneously adapt to society's evolving needs.

The problem arises when these two are in contradiction,

leading to a sense of inner division.

In the myth of mental illness,

psychiatrist Thomas Sass criticises the psychiatric establishment who uses mental illness as a metaphor to describe an offending

or disturbing pattern of behaviour under the wide-ranging term schizophrenia as an illness or disease.

Sass wrote, if you talk to God, you are praying.

If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.

If the dead talk to you, you are a spiritualist.

If you talk to the dead, you are a schizophrenic.

While many behave and think in disturbing ways,

this does not mean they actually have a disease.

Unlike physical illness and disease,

mental illness is judged from certain psychosocial, ethical or legal norms.

Transgressing these is not a consequence of illness,

but of the attempt to confront and tackle the problems in living.

Sass does not suggest that mental illnesses do not exist,

rather he is claiming that many such phenomena is a consequence of the attempt to confront

and to tackle the problem of how to live,

and to identify such phenomena as a disease

or an illness is to hide the very real problems in living that people face.

With increasing understanding of himself and of the world,

modern man feels that he is free to direct his own life and must take responsibility for it.

We are, as Jean-Paul Sartre asserted,

condemned to be free, condemned to shoulder the burden of our freedom and responsibility without being able to seek refuge in others.

We must be responsible for ourselves,

for we have no other way of experiencing ourselves or the world as being in any other mode than our own existence.

We cannot have our existence depend on somebody else,

for that would contradict the very core of our being.

We can ask for other people's opinions,

but the choice ultimately lies in us.

Many cannot stand this dizzying freedom.

Kierkegaard says that one can either get lost in the infinite,

a state of analysis paralysis,

where one thinks of the infinite possibilities but never acts,

or get lost in the finite,

becoming an imitation, a number,

a cipher in the crowd.

The latter is a finitude's despair,

or what we would now call depressive psychosis.

One cannot imagine any alternate ways of life and release himself from the trivial obligations that give him no value.

It is as if one has literally died to life,

but must remain physically in this world.

One lives dyingly.

Eventually, one faces the why of existence.

As Albert Camus writes, Rising,

streetcar, four hours in the office or factory.

Meal, streetcar, four hours of work.

Meal, sleep.

And Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday day,

according to the same rhythm.

This path is easily followed most of the time,

but one day the why arises,

and everything begins in that weariness tinged with amazement.

Camus' absurd person is one who has seen through the ridiculous repetitions of daily life.

He is conscious of his Sisyphean condemnation.

We all have to push our own boulders and watch it roll back down.

If what we do does not satisfy our why of existence,

we must search for other alternatives or risk falling into an existential crisis.

A nauseating sensation of trying to justify one's existence,

which can lead to suicide.

One of Western civilization's most significant events is the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century,

a period which undermined the values that society had hitherto relied on,

namely on the religious view.

This engenders the most profound cultural,

sociological and psychological repercussions, leaving many facing a crisis in discerning a meaning

or purpose for their existence and struggling to tackle the problems in living that this gives rise to.

While we previously had ready answers to the problem of how life ought to be lived

and what its overall meaning and purpose was,

since faith in the existence of God gave us the reassurance that we are partaking in a divine project,

we are now slowly experiencing the consequences of what Nietzsche proclaimed as the death of God,

whose full consequences would elude many people as he made clear.

This tremendous event is still on its way,

still wandering, it has not yet reached the ears of men,

this deed is still more distant from them than the most distant stars,

and yet they have done it themselves.

100

This realisation forces us to be faced with the terrifying question,

101

has existence any meaning at all?

102

The modern age is characterised by a sense of disorientation,

103

of not knowing what to do with one's life.

104

One notable figure who has attempted to respond to this existential crisis and the psychological manifestations of meaninglessness is Viktor Frankl,

105

who had been left in an existential vacuum.

106

The meaning crisis and mesoniosis of modern times is the unheard cry for meaning.

107

Frankl believes this is the cause of much of modernity's increase in mental illness.

108

It is the struggle to confront the existential vacuum.

109

He writes, Such widespread phenomena as depression,

110

aggression and addiction are not understandable unless we recognise the existential vacuum underlying them.

111

Frankel's therapeutic response to those experiencing such phenomena is to reorient the person to the meaning or the purpose of their existence,

112

to confront the question of the meaning of their existence,

113

to explore the question and,

114

ultimately, to provide a positive answer to it.

115

meaning to one's life is not to be understood as some idle

116

or academic curiosity that one engages in when more fundamental needs have been met.

117

The striving to search for and to possess a meaning

118

or a purpose for one's life is said to be the primary motivational force in man.

119

Without a meaning, all of life's struggles,

120

strivings and projects become ultimately futile.

121

Frankel believes that this sense of futility is what characterises addiction, aggression and depression.

122

There is nothing in the world that would

123

so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one's life.

124

Frankel concludes, in a word,

125

each man is questioned by life,

126

and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life,

127

to life he can only respond by being responsible.

128

Modern man is in desperate need for the hero journey.

129

In Man and His Symbols,

130

Jungian psychologist Joseph Anderson describes the importance of the hero myth as a universal pattern throughout the world.

131

The hero descends into darkness to slay a dragon,

132

rescue a damsel in distress and gather the treasure.

133

The early weakness of the hero is balanced by the appearance

134

of strong guardians who enable him to perform the tasks that he cannot accomplish unaided.

135

Their role is the development of one's strengths and weaknesses,

136

in a manner that will equip one for the arduous tasks which life confronts him.

137

This can be linked to being dependent on one's parents.

138

It is only when one becomes independent and confronts the world by himself

139

that the individual has passed his initial test and can enter the mature phase of life.

140

In Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Carl Jung's research brought him into the burning question,

141

what actually takes place inside the mentally ill?

142

He writes, To my mind,

143

therapy only really begins after the investigation of that wholly personal story.

144

It is the patient's secret,

145

the rug against which he is shattered.

146

If I know his secret story,

147

I have a key to the treatment.

148

In most cases, exploration of the conscious material is insufficient.

149

In therapy, the problem is always the whole person, never the symptom alone.

150

We must ask questions which challenge the whole personality.

151

Jung treated many schizophrenic patients who were considered a lost cause.

152

The paradox of schizophrenia is that there is both a dissolution of the self in the world,

153

but also the dissolution of the world in the self.

154

Eternal punishment, but divine omnipotence.

155

The patient doubts that it is really him who is thinking his thoughts.

156

Reality might as well be a train of illusions produced in him by evil scientists.

157

It is the most profound form of self-contradiction,

158

to be both God and a worm." Jung,

159

however, found out

160

that many people who were diagnosed with schizophrenia actually had ordinary depression as a result of traumas

161

and difficult life experiences that had been repressed.

162

He tells the story of an 18-year-old girl who had been abused at the age of 15.

163

She retreated into isolation and concealed herself from people.

164

She was taken to a mental hospital and remained in a catatonic state.

165

Over the course of many weeks,

166

Jung gradually persuaded her to speak.

167

After overcoming many resistances, she told Jung

168

that she had been living on the moon said that she did not like this world,

169

and that the moon was beautiful and life there was rich in meaning.

170

He writes, as a result of the incest to which she had been subjected as a girl,

171

she felt humiliated in the eyes of the world,

172

but elevated in the realm of fantasy.

173

The consequence was complete alienation from the world, a state of psychosis.

174

She became extra mundane, as it were,

175

and lost contact with humanity.

176

She plunged into cosmic distances,

177

into outer space where she met with a winged demon.

178

By telling me her story,

179

she had in a sense betrayed the demon and attached herself to an earthly human being.

180

Thereafter, I regarded the sufferings of the mentally ill in a different light,

181

for I had gained insight into the richness and importance of the inner experiences.

182

In his book Tribe, Sebastian Junger argues that Throughout history,

183

humans have had a strong instinct to belong to small groups or tribes.

184

These tribes gave people a purpose and understanding of life.

185

However, this tribal connection has been obliterated in modern society.

186

During wars with the Indian tribes,

187

many European settlers were taken as prisoners and held within the tribes.

188

After they had a chance to escape and return to their modern society,

189

many refused to do so.

190

They preferred the primitive society over their modern one.

191

On the contrary, not one tribesman wanted to flee to modern society.

192

We have evolved genetically to live in an interdependent group in order to survive,

193

and this creates equality as everyone plays a necessary role in the tribe.

194

They work 12 hours a week to survive,

195

in contrast to the average 40 hours a week that many westernized societies require.

196

The tribes collaborate for survival,

197

each day they go to hunt and gather,

198

and in the evening they return to share the food.

199

People often believe that modern life with all its efficient technology has allowed for more leisure time,

200

however, the exact opposite is true.

201

Modern life is characterised by a desperate cycle of work,

202

financial obligation, and more work, sacrificing personal freedom.

203

One might argue, however, That modernity has allowed for a sense of independence,

204

which primitive man could never have achieved,

205

leading to a sense of freedom,

206

but can also lead to a feeling of alienation and depression.

207

We have not yet been genetically adapted to our environment,

208

the enormous changes of agriculture and the industrial revolution have hardly begun to affect our gene pool.

209

In other words, even though we live in more complex societies,

210

we are still hardwired to be hunter-gatherers.

211

Today, we can be surrounded by a group of people and yet feel completely alone.

212

This is not something we have experienced until quite recently.

213

We are wired to belong to a group where we feel valued by our contributions to it,

214

and without a group, many fall into a sense of meaninglessness.

215

Sociologist Emil Durkheim first noticed the positive effects of war on mental health,

216

the suicide rate, homicide and admission to psych wards drop down.

217

Likewise, in natural disasters, people overwhelmingly devote their energy to the community rather than themselves.

218

Adversity produces pro-social behaviours in which one is likely to abandon his self-interest and sacrifice himself for others,

219

acting as a unified society,

220

sending people back into a more ancient way of life.

221

Modernity has disrupted the social bonds that has always characterised the human experience.

222

It breeds comfort, allowing people to act selfishly.

223

This shows an increase of mental illness In modern society's deep lack of a sense of community,

224

which the tribe had historically provided us,

225

we have much to learn from our ancestors in this regard.

226

The world hangs on a thin thread,

227

and that is the psyche of man.

228

We are the great danger,

229

how important it is to know something about it,

230

but we know nothing about it.

231

Jung warns us that we are pitifully unaware of our unconscious,

232

we have become too rational,

233

and have lost contact with our primitive instincts,

234

leading to a dissociation in the psyche of modern civilization.

235

He writes,

236

ideas has put him at the mercy of the psychic underworld,

237

he has freed himself from superstition or so he believes,

238

but in the process he has lost his spiritual values to a positively dangerous degree,

239

his moral and spiritual tradition has disintegrated and he's now paying the price for this breakup in worldwide disorientation and dissociation.

240

The surface of our world seems to be cleansed of all superstitious and irrational elements,

241

However, a realistic picture of the human mind reveals many primitive traits

242

which are still playing their role just as if nothing had happened during the last centuries.

243

Man feels himself isolated in the cosmos because he no longer has a deep relation with nature.

244

When a primitive society's spiritual values are exposed to the impact of modern civilisation,

245

its people lose the meaning of their lives,

246

their social organisation disintegrates and and they themselves morally decay.

247

As Ernest Becker writes, anthropologists have long known that

248

when a tribe of people lose their feeling that their way of life is worthwhile,

249

they may stop reproducing, or in large numbers simply lie down and die beside streams full of fish.

250

Food is not the primary nourishment of man.

251

Unlike primitive man, modern man has lost contact with nature and his relationship with animals and trees through mystical participation.

252

We may have advanced in the outer world,

253

but our inner world is still delicate and fragmentary.

254

A famous fictional example of the modern dissociation is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

255

In the story, Jekyll's split took the form of a physical change,

256

rather than, as in reality, an inner psychic state.

257

Jung writes, we can be possessed and altered by moods,

258

or become unreasonable and unable to recall the important facts about ourselves or others.

259

We talk about being able to control ourselves,

260

but self-control is a rare and remarkable virtue.

261

There is a world of difference between a conscious decision to split off and temporarily suppress a part of one's psyche,

262

and a condition in which this happens spontaneously,

263

without one's knowledge or consent and even against one's intention.

264

The former is a civilised achievement,

265

the latter a primitive loss of a soul,

266

or even a pathological cause of a neurosis.

267

In order to heal the split in the psyche,

268

Jung tells us to explore our unconscious through self-reflection and dream journaling.

269

We must understand that there are things within us that are beyond our control,

270

which are autonomous personalities.

271

Here is where we find the vital insights for our lives,

272

and where the primitive aspects that form part of the original mind are preserved as archetypes.

273

Despite our differences, we all share a collective unconscious which adapts itself to the particularities of the individual's life.

274

We have been so busy with the question of what we think,

275

that we entirely forgot to ask what the unconscious psyche thinks about us.

276

I hope you found this video valuable.

277

You can help support the channel on Patreon or by liking,

278

commenting or sharing the content.

TRENDING

الأكثر شعبية

ما هي تقنية التظليل الصوتي؟

التظليل الصوتي (Shadowing) تقنية تعلم لغة مدعومة علمياً، طُورت أصلاً لتدريب المترجمين الفوريين المحترفين. الطريقة بسيطة لكنها قوية: تستمع لصوت إنجليزي أصلي وتكرره فوراً بصوت عالٍ — كظل يتبع المتحدث بتأخير 1-2 ثانية. تُظهر الأبحاث تحسناً كبيراً في دقة النطق والتنغيم والإيقاع وربط الأصوات والاستماع والطلاقة.

☕ اشترِ لنا قهوة

يظل ShadowingEnglish مجانيًا بنسبة 100% بفضل دعمكم. تكاليف الخوادم والذكاء الاصطناعي مرتفعة — قهوتكم تبقينا مستمرين! 🙏

التبرع عبر PayPal

ShadowingEnglish.com – تمرين التظليل الصوتي للإنجليزية

تحدث الإنجليزية بطلاقة باستخدام تقنية التظليل الصوتي. استمع لفيديوهات يوتيوب الأصلية، كرر جملة بجملة، وابنِ نطقاً حقيقياً وطلاقة — يستخدمها متعلمو IELTS حول العالم.

تدريب Shadowing: Mental Illness as a Crisis of Meaning in Modern Society - تعلم التحدث بالإنجليزية مع YouTube

الأكثر شعبية

حول هذه الدرسة

المفردات والعبارات الأساسية

نصائح للممارسة

ما هي تقنية التظليل الصوتي؟

تدريب Shadowing: Mental Illness as a Crisis of Meaning in Modern Society - تعلم التحدث بالإنجليزية مع YouTube

تنزيل التطبيق

حول هذه الدرسة

المفردات والعبارات الأساسية

نصائح للممارسة

ما هي تقنية التظليل الصوتي؟