21 levels of Self-Deception: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

T W E N T Y - O N E L E V E L S

According to Antonio Damasio, emotions are essentially the bridge between mind and body. The mind/body, subject/object split is so central to Western thought that it is difficult to conceive of any kind of continuity between the two worlds. Damasio himself has gone to great effort to challenge what has become the ‘common sense’ view of reality, best articulated by Descartes. He reminds us of the legacy of a more unified philosophy, exemplified, in his view, by Spinoza.

The body is much more connected with what is really going on in our lives and indeed far more adept at knowing what would be best for us in terms of our short-term and long-term happiness. The body ‘remembers’ our genuine pleasure. However, Western culture has put far more emphasis on mind. As such, to our minds, our body’s attempts to communicate to us via emotion and physicality can appear to be random or confusing or are simply ignored and suppressed.

Psychoanalysis now seems obsessed with examining desire, especially personal desire and how this can be gratified or frustrated. And as I’ve been suggesting above, it’s not certain that the help that might be offered to us will be anything other than superficial distractions to get is back on track! It may be that this is unfair of me — perhaps there are therapists who really do help people search for their genuine desires. Much of what has been looked at above in terms of self-awareness is to do with examining the negatives in our lives and how these can be let go. The search for happiness and the fulfilment of desire also needs

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