The Psychiatry game is introduced on the individual or psychotherapy level as well as how Psychiatry is promoted for the maintenance of the status quo. The Psychiatry game reinforces social hierarchies as reality (e.g., "mentally ill" versus not). Far ahead of his time, Eric Berne, MD understood the concept of “mental health” as a game or pastime. In his words, it is "based on the thesis that if only the right procedure can be found, everything will be alright." 

As the patient sits on the couch, inside their heads the question is, “What am I supposed to do here?” Patients, especially novices to psychotherapy, will inevitably comply with their therapist who uses the DSM to define them in order to elaborate their self-presentations and self-understanding. The patient will talk subjectively about what it is like to be them as a solid self. This can be played using Transactional Analysis ("My Critical Parent ego state...), psychoanalysis ("Gee my Id just has a hold of my Superego," or the clinical version, "Nice use of transference!"), cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT ("Those damn negative thought loops!"), etc. 

The emphasis is on subjectivity, but this comes at the expense of affect and relational intimacy with the therapist. Colloquially, the patient talks about what is going on inside their head. In the US, as individuals continue to view themselves as brands (Me, Inc) and are enclosed by Big Tech's ability to commodify them and sell them things at the same time, Psychiatry becomes the engine for negating "the world." Identity as reality is instantiated in the culture. Me me me. Self-optimization to become supreme and "win." This is in contrast with the Zen notion of no-self or no-mind (i.e., emptiness).

Recorded on 6/08/2023

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

The supremacist aim of the Protest game is to moralistically denigrate the motives and tactics of the specific social movement, e.g., Just Stop Oil in the UK or Black Lives Matter in the U.S. Adult ego state functioning is rarely utilized if not avoided in the game, e.g., global temperatures in the 21st century, solutions such as nuclear energy and birth control for women, or discussions of over-population. The ulterior motive is the maintenance of the status quo. Specifically, the Climate Change game is a derivative of Kick Me with built-in illusions: a permanent ending of history, imperial domination of Nature, acquisition as reality, etc. Ain’t It Awful is the root game for Climate Change: “We’re all gonna die!” Capitalism games are introduced (e.g., Happy To Help!) while using the story of and teaching of the Buddha as well as the promotion of his methods. Finally, the conversation weaves into the socialization of children, a potential new economic system that transcends the dichotomy of capitalism and communism duality as well as the psychological root of Fascism (“I’m the center of the world.”) that is inherent to human nature.

Recorded on 6/01/2023

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Don and Andrew discuss the concept of symbiosis (not two not one), Eric Berne’s book Games People Play, including the concept of psychological “hunger.” This means we are hungry for stimulation, social recognition, and structured time. Games are played in an attempt to get those psychological hungers met despite the negative payoffs. The game If It Weren’t For You is introduced as a bridge to discussing Fascism as a game process. Examples are given in terms of the Ukraine war as well as other Drama Triangle roles and switches.

Recorded on 5/25/2023

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Don and Andrew describe the Drama Triangle and game theory as it is applied in psychotherapy. The conversation weaves into specific games as well as topics such as Ego consciousness, zen mind, culture, The Little Fascist, Social Darwinism, hyper-individualism.

Recorded on 5/18/2023

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

This episode was recorded on April 27th, 2023 just following the conclusion to Series 3. Series 4 is the evolution of the concept “games fascists play.” Andrew and Don’s dialogues were recorded over the course of one year. Through this relational brainstorm, Andrew began to write a manuscript titled Games Fascists Play: The Psychology of Supremacy. The book is meant as a tribute and sequel to Eric Berne’s best seller Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships. The result is Series 4, Games Fascists Play, which illustrates the evolution of the concept, examination of game analysis and specific psychological games, as well as articulations of fascism and the solution to gameplay: zen.

Recorded 4/27/2023.

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

This is a wrap-up to Series 3: reflections on, analysis of, and summary on the origin and progression of the StayAtHomeDay movement. To build a social movement requires courage. One must first insert themselves into an institution. After forming a relational position within an organization or institution, the requirement is to subvert (undermine) authority. This is accomplished by speaking one’s Truth. Within this process the task is to create a social network (other relational bodies) with a single and clear target or objective (e.g., ending mass shootings in schools). Relational joy occurs when one moves in the direction of, and through, their own fear. Series 4 will focus on the Games Fascists Play.

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Big Tech steals our attention with the con of convenience, personalization, and persuasive tech design. F*#k that. Big Tech wants us to incorporate, brand, and market the self. The user is compelled to continuously offer status updates of themselves. The imperative of the virtual world is to exhibit and broadcast ourselves for monetization. This creates a paradigm of voluntary self-exploitation that leads to burnout. One wears oneself out via hyperactivity and self-optimization.

In the book The Burnout Society, Byung-Chul Han describes burnout as a form of voluntary self-exploitation. One wears themselves out by being hyper-active and transparent: Liking and Sharing all aspects of one’s life. We are a brand with constant endorsements of others.

Therefore, Western culture is characterized as joylessness: all work and no play. The culture produces burnout for the individual and then sells them back a remedy for the burnout. The remedy is to consume and acquire for yourself (acquisition)as you broadcast yourself: Click and Buy Now. The Westerner is reduced to their head. They are split from the body or Center. They are joyless as they scroll endlessly desiring more of what “I” want.

The answer to our dis-embodied way of being is to return to the body or the Center. Intuitive knowledge is the means for connection. Instead of hitting the cocaine dropper inside our social media cages, we must build Johann Hari’s rat parks to address the loss of connection. As Phillips (1995) notes, “It is a truism that “what we eat we become.” That observation can be extended to other forms of consummation: “what we stare at, listen closely to, inhale, and consort with sensually, we become.” We can choose not to look or listen. The solution is companionship, spontaneity, and full-bodied joy.

References

Han, B.C. (2015). The burnout society. Stanford Briefs: Stanford, CA.

Phillips, R.D. (1995). The recovery of the true self: The human animal in and out of therapy. Medicine Wheel Publications: Chapel Hill, N.C.

Steiner, C. (1974). Scripts people live: Transactional analysis of life scripts. New York: Grove Press. 

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

One definition of “education” is the process of systematic instruction such as at a school. Another definition for education is “an enlightening experience”. Here, enlightening means to have or show a rational, modern, and well-informed outlook. Zen has a unique position on enlightening experience. The unique position of Zen is declared in four statements. The first is that there is something apart from the historical records and beyond words or letters. Current “education” is sequential, progressive and digital (Closed System). Learning is facilitated via computers and Artificial Intelligence: children are relating more words from machines than from their own mothers. Students mindlessly compute and comprehend with virtual assistants as “teachers”.

The second Zen statement is the direct transmission of the One Mind or heart-mind. There is intuitive knowledge (true Void) transmitted from Mind to Mind that is not graspable. This escapes conceptualization. The “knowledge” is prior to dualistic thinking, e.g., Delusion and Enlightenment or Good and Evil. Dualism is not-Zen. Enlightenment is interpersonal affair rather than something “achieved.” A teacher and a student or transmission of Mind to Mind.

The third Zen statement implies a seal or stamp that is imprinted on Mind. This transmission evades description: a wordless inscription. Tying this to education, when I was a 20-year-old undergraduate at University of Wisconsin-Madison, my literature Teaching Assistant (TA) told the students how the TA’s were walking out and going on strike due to the lack of wage parity between them and University of Minnesota. The University of Wisconsin-Madison caved to the TA’s demands. The TA’s act of subversion (passive withdrawal from the system) shattered my world views: at the time it was unknowable to me. Collective organization was not foreign, it was an unknown unknown; something I didn’t know I didn’t know. I was forever changed by the sudden perception that was not based on conceptual thinking. This actionistic form of education is intangible and lacks attribution. There are no tracks, yet a path is clearly laid.     

Zen acknowledges Enlightenment as akin to an indelible mark that forever changes the person. A metaphysical tattoo for consciousness. You have it or you don’t, but Mind is still the same (ordinary). Thus, Enlightenment cannot be described with letters and words, and it stands outside of the scriptures. A teacher enlightens students by waking them up to what was previously unknowable.

The nature of “reality” is one’s own conscious awareness, which is no-thing. Self-nature is an Open System: trust, friendliness to Other, compassion, trial and error, steady-state of energy. The Zen Master Huang Po said, “I have NO THING to offer. I have never had anything to offer others. It is because you allow certain people to lead you astray that you are forever SEEKING intuition and SEARCHING for understanding. Isn’t this a case of disciples and teachers all falling into the same insoluble muddle?” We must think for ourselves as an Open System (detached from Ego).

In comparison, the boundaries of one’s Ego is a Closed System: our cultural conditioning, parental scripting, and childhood commitments. What I have been experiencing with the Mankato school district and the School Board members as well as administrators is a Closed System characterized by secrets, mistrust, surveillance, suppression, conformity, and authoritarianism. For example, my kindergartener handed out StayAtHomeDay magnets for April 20th and he (and I) were told, “this can’t happen,” i.e., a policy that bars distribution of materials that are a “disruption”. We pivoted to tear sheets (like those you would see on a community message board) with the website (www.StayAtHomeDay) listed in small print. We were told these could not be handed out in the school as well. This outside energy was not allowed “inside” the Closed System.

There was a New York Times article from April 2nd, 2023, titled “It’s Not ‘Deaths of Despair.’ It’s Deaths of Children.” In the richest country in the world—the U.S.—1 out of every 25 Kindergarteners will die before they reach 40 (four times higher than other wealthy nations). The rate increase is largely due to suicide and gun-related-deaths (Covid was minimal). The tough medicine to swallow is that all of us are culpable in the failure to raise and protect the next generation from destruction. Tyler and I do not want our children to get shot.

You can view and listen to the video of me and Tyler Flowers speaking in the link below.

Link to School Board Meeting video (I begin at about 11 minutes into the meeting):

http://mankatoaps.swagit.com/play/04042023-536/#0

Link to KEYC-TV News Now story in this episode titled “The Men Behind the Magnets” by Maddie Paul, published April 12TH 2023:  https://www.keyc.com/2023/04/12/men-behind-magnets/

www.StayAtHomeDay.com

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

I free associate about StayAtHomeDay, the school’s resistance to it, social movements, raising consciousness, nihilistic nihilism, becoming burnt out with podcasting, and I refer to a recent lecture in Minneapolis (S3, Part 7, Becoming a Real Person) as well as Series 4 ideas (i.e., Games Fascists Play). The climate activist and co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, Roger Hallam, is mentioned as well. Specifically, this speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=0Zo2DWW_fhc&t=12s

www.StayAtHomeDay.com

Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.