No Love
Lost
New Age
"Spirituality,"
Transpersonal
"Therapies"
and Pathological
Narcissism
so...
so
you think you can tell
heaven
from hell,
blue
skies from pain...
do
you think you can tell?
pink
floyd / wish you were here
Preface &
Acknowledgements
1. What's Love Got To Do With It?
Ambiguities: voice, love, heart, self, soul and spirit
Trauma: too much to dream and the mourning after
Heart: breakage and repair
Only human: but I like it
Only rock & roll: can you do more than dance?
Projection and bestowal
Valued readers
2. Boulder, Colorado – Down the Rabbit Hole
Your author: through the looking glass and then some
Naropa "University": the white knight is talking backwards
JonBenet Ramsey: the red queen lost her head
Rocky Flats: atomics vs. organics
Celestial Seasonings makes a mint
Free Tibet through aromatherapy!
Trance & Dental Medication
May the Wilberforce Be With You
Having it all: revenge of the bourgeoisie
"Why don't you move to
Russia?"
Romeo and Juliet: the swans of Tantra Lake
2. Reading Bookstores
Reading between the aisles
Joan was quizzical: "metaphysics" takes a dive
Indigo children and "highly sensitive persons"
Sam Keen: "philosopher"
Isis! Isis! Ra, Ra, Ra!: from cheerleaders to goddesses
Psychology: from white rats to computer models
Psychiatry: from talking cure to pharmacology
The magic of therapy: "getting your needs met"
Proliferation: relationships, self-help, "philosophy"
You've come a long way, baby: from repression to depression
3. Vision Quest® – Hijacking
the Sacred
The spiritualists
Swedenborg, Madame Blavatsky, P.D. Ouspensky, Mary Baker Eddy, Rudolph
Steiner, Tielhard de Chardin...
The mythographers
James Frazier, Carl Jung, Mircea Eliade, Robert Graves, Aldous Huxley...
The popularizers
Joseph Campbell, Thomas Moore, Robert Bly, M. Scott Peck...
The psychologists
Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Fritz Perls, James Hillman, Heinz Kohut, Alice
Miller, Stanislav Grof, Ken Wilber
The psychos (includes several of the
above)
Timothy Leary, Ram Das, L. Ron Hubbard, Werner Erhard, Marilyn
Ferguson, Lynn Andrews, Shakti
Gawain, Eckhart Tolle, Don Miguel Ruiz, Dr. Phil, and a cast of thousands!
We, the market
Reaction to Big Science, Big Religion, Big Government
Back to the Middle Ages: flight from the postmodern
Paradigm shaft
How did we get here?
4. The Strange Case of the "Self-Esteem" Meme
Ayn Rand on The Virtue of Selfishness
Nathaniel Brandon: from cold Objectivism to hot esteem baths
Branden as "leading psychologist" and self-help guru
Branden and Libertarianism
Call it Reason: Virginia Postrel
on "stasists" v.
"dynamists"
Paulina Borsook's Cyberselfish
5. Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll
Over-the-counter culture
Pornography and other forms of advertising
The colonization of "Tantrism"
America goes to pot
Help!: The Beatles meet the Maharishi
Their Satanic Majesties Request... more dope
The return of Puritanism: (did it ever leave?)
Parental advisory: Eminem says fuck off!
6. Second Nature
Back to Eden
Deep ecology: the lure of the inhuman
Gaia: hearing voices
Carnivores are from Ursa Minor, Vegans are from Vega
Civilization and its discontents
Dissociation and its comforts
Healing what?
7. Romancing the Stoned – 12-Step
Staircase to Heaven
Strung out: addicted to everything
God, grant me the normalcy...
The recovery movement sweeps the nation
Codependency: addicted to everyone
Bona Fide Barnes & Noble shelf title: "Meditation,
Affirmations/Abuse"
Take it easy. But take it.
8. Spiritual Machines – Technology
Gets Religion
The Rapture v. The Singularity
Artificial intelligence: code dependent no more
Irrational science: The Enlightenment brownout
New Age reaction #1: anything Eastern, anything weird
New Age reaction #2: "spiritual technologies"
9. New Age Nosferatu – Love Bites
My Dearest Mina: the myth of the vampire
Narcissism ≠ egotism
"Shame dumping"
No relation: self without other
No relief: self without self
"Healthy narcissism": it's like that dry heat
From empathy to pathos to pathology
Circle jerk: mutual adoration / spiritual autism
Seduction: being all that
Betrayal: not being anyone
10. She's Not There – Black Bricolage
"Her voice was soft
and cool, her eyes were clear and bright.
But she's not
there..."
Sphinx without a secret
Plastic fantastic lover: narcissism as lifestyle choice
Consuming passions: the beloved as byproduct
The cosmetic psyche: "finding" your "own" story
Numinous authenticity: archetypes as costume jewelry
Forbidden fruit: transgression for the hell of it
Once upon a time: is it live or is it Memorex?
Hall of mirrors: reflections on narrative psychology
Solipsism: alone at last
11. Relational Bankruptcy – Metaphors
We Love By
Emotional capital: the bonds of love
An enriching experience
A wealth of opportunities
Taking stock of the risks
The price of intimacy
The costs of failure
Forming a partnership
Investing in "the relationship"
Banking on each other
Paying attention
Losing interest
Taxing behaviors
Withdrawal
Bottom line: it's over
No deposit, no return
Moving on to new prospects
12. The Productive Narcissist /
The Insane Society
Michael Maccoby invents a cooler, hipper narcissism
Freud rolls over in his grave
Erich Fromm rolls over in his grave
Christopher Lasch rolls over in his grave
Shoshana Zuboff rolls out The Support Economy
Business as usual rolls on
Beethoven rolls over and gives Tchaikovsky the news
13. Sacred Profanity – Voice in
Love and Rage
Voice and audience: reciprocal resonance
Hyperself and the missing other: collateral damage
Eternal vigilance is the cost of... dating?
Victoria's secret: something revealing
Art for art's sake: numinous esoteric archetypes abound
No love lost: "What's in it for me?"
...and the horse you rode in on
Heaven from hell: the doors of deception
Blue skies from pain: the empty heart amazed
No love lost II: reversing the entropy gradient
Wish you were here...
Sources: books & websites
Index