Happy Free Thoughts Thursday, people.

This week's write-up is going to require an open mind.

As always, I encourage you to respond directly to this email with your thoughts.

1 Thought From Me:

Trauma doesn't exist.

Let me explain.

Freudian psychology popularized the idea that our past troubles are the cause of our present unhappiness.

The most common example is the child whose poor relationship with her parent(s) causes her to become insecure as an adult.

This idea that a certain cause has a predetermined effect is known as etiology.

The problem with etiology in the context of psychology is also the reason why it's so popular: it denies our free will.

If we accept etiology then we accept the notion that our past determines our present.

Just like machines, Input A leads to Output B.

In the example above, Freud and etiology would suggest that the girl had no choice in the matter—her insecurity was determined by her poor relationship with her parents.

This is the way many of us look at the world and make sense of our past.

I am who I am because of the events that shaped me.

But another type of psychology refutes this way of thinking and offers a different approach.

Adlerian psychology, named after Alfred Adler who was once a colleague of Freud, believes in an idea called teleology.

Teleology says that we should consider the purpose of a given phenomenon rather than assigning it a cause.

In our previous example, rather than looking for the cause of the girl's insecurity, we would instead ask: what purpose does her insecurity serve?

This might sound crazy—it did when I first read about it. But bear with me.

Teleology suggests that we choose the meaning of our past experiences in order to accomplish a goal.

The beautiful thing about teleology is also the reason why it's so unpopular: it accepts our free will.

If we accept teleology then we accept the notion that our past is objective and our present is subjective.

Unlike machines, Input A leads to whichever Output we choose.

According to Adlerian psychology and the study of teleology, our example would sound more like this:

The girl has decided that her poor relationship with her parents had a significant impact on her ability to feel confident so she can accomplish the goal of feeling insecure.

But wait, why would her goal be to feel insecure?

If her past is objective and she ascribes meaning to it herself, why wouldn't she just decide that her prior experiences built her up rather than tore her down?

The answer is simple, and it also explains why etiology (which rejects free will) is more popular than teleology (which accepts free will).

The girl decides that her relationship with her parents made her weak and her goal is to feel insecure because it's easy.

It requires no courage.

The moment she decides that her relationship with her parents made her strong and she chooses to feel confident, she shifts the responsibility away from her past and onto herself.

And that requires a lot of courage.

Etiology encourages us to make excuses. Teleology encourages us to take ownership.

Trauma doesn't exist because we are not determined by our past experiences.

We decide what they mean and where they take us.

In our example, the girl's decision and goal are likely unconscious.

And there's no doubt that her past influenced her present.

But it didn't determine it.

Only we can do that.

Live your life to the fullest,

Chris

P.S. Find this interesting it? Please share it with others!

P.P.S. I learned about this idea from a book called The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga which has been blowing my mind. Highly recommend. The audiobook is incredible because it's a dialogue between a philosopher and a youth and the narrators are amazing.

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