There are powerful forces at work which pull us to and fro and infect us with ideas of who we are, what we should be, and often block us from becoming. These forces arise within our social and familial structures. We are sent repetitive messages and they become deeply engrained. We may have been told we are not attractive or too attractive, not motivated or too achieving, etc. And we enter the social sphere having absorbed these messages. As we do so we begin a painful process of comparisons. There becomes a striving for something or sometimes nothing at all. But if there is striving, it is for what and for whom? Some sadly seek only to survive, it is all they can do. But if we can realize that no matter what has been dumped upon us and what the conditions are, we retain the choice to become! We have the choice to allow these powerful forces to consume us or to be defiant in the face of them and develop a process of unlearning. In this unlearning, we may be able to break free and emerge into a new world of being.
Dr. Dan Edmunds was born in Tampa, Florida and completed undergraduate studies at the University of Florida. He received a Master of Arts in Theology from the University of Scranton and earned a Doctorate of Education in Community Counseling from the University of Sarasota. He is the Founder of the Center for Humane Psychiatry and his work has been dedicated to helping individuals undergoing distress without resorting to suppressive psychiatric drugs. He is a psychotherapist in private practice in Northeastern Pennsylvania and a Professor of Exisential Psychology and Comparative Religion.