On a country hilltop one fall day, an herbalist challenged me to recall where I'd gotten the belief that I am bad. On a deep emotional level I had, like many of us, long been convinced of my inherent unworthiness. "Who first told you you were bad?" she asked.
I couldn't answer her truthfully. If there was a time when I was "first told", or when I first accepted that awful proposition, I cannot remember it. I suppose I could try to pin the blame on mom or dad or teacher, but the fact is that their use of shame, conditional praise, guilt, and so forth was the near-helpless channeling of ambient cultural forces. The message "you are bad" saturates our entire civilization. Relentlessly pounded into us from early childhood, it is bound to our most fundamental beliefs about self and world.
In science, this belief manifests as the selfish gene, the biological discrete and separate self that succeeds by outcompeting the rest of nature. In religion it is the "total depravity of man" or any doctrine that originates in the separation of body and soul, spirit and matter. In economics it is the "economic man", the rational actor motivated to maximize his or her financial "interest". The result is the World Under Control, seeking to rein in the behavior (which we mistake for human nature) that arises from these beliefs. And the apparatus of the World Under Control, the willpower and the coercion and the rules and the incentives, instills and reinforces the message, You are bad.
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Recommended Reading
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The Ascent of Humanity: Civilization and the Human Sense of Self by Charles Eisenstein
Charles Eisenstein traces how the modern belief in a separate, competing self has shaped civilization and driven humanity toward increasing disconnection from nature and one another. He explores how the program of control underlying science, religion, economics, and technology contributes to the crises we face today. The book argues that recognizing this illusion of separation opens the door to self-trust, genuine connection, and a more collaborative relationship with the living world.
View on Amazon
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The Yoga of Eating: Transcending Diets and Dogma to Nourish the Natural Self by Charles Eisenstein
Charles Eisenstein applies the principles of self-trust and inner awareness to our everyday relationship with food and the body. Rather than relying on external rules or discipline, the book invites readers to listen to genuine physical needs and the body's own signals as a practice of being truly good to oneself. It offers a practical entry point into the broader theme of radical self-trust explored in his other writing.
View on Amazon
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Recap
This week’s issue focuses on navigating uncertainty through awareness, emotional insight, and conscious decision-making. With the addition of expanded astrology tools, readers gain both practical and reflective guidance for personal growth and life transitions.
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