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Psychology - Beyond Forests To See The Tree - Author Jay Wax, Toronto, ON (2026)

I seek to reassert a conceptual framework that is fading in biological psychiatry.

07/26/2026

Insomnia of The Spirit

"One day the scientist will see
The loving energy
To help the Universe to shine
One day when the secrets of the Sun
Enlighten everyone
The Universe will shine"
edited from the song Universe Am I by Donovan.

The attainment of enlightenment takes on many forms. In it's simplest way, it implies the acquirement of knowledge, either on specific topics or on our experience of life as a whole.

Among Buddhists, enlightenment is the focus for attaining freedom from suffering. The Buddha found his realization with godlike intelligence, diligence and moral discretion. He had the help of his Hindu education and upbringing, and the Peepul or Banyan tree for protection. His enlightenment was complete and sacred, and laid down in written teachings that continue to grow over millennia.

However the acquirement of wisdom and practical knowledge is not just a religious duty as among Buddhists. Every individual struggles through a lifetime to educate themselves either with disciplined scholarship and/or the hardships of unruly living with its attachments to sensual pleasures.

The expression 'to be awakened' is often used among those who think in harmony with the Buddha. This expression directs us to a much simpler, seemingly common mundane cycle of sleep, dreaming and waking, in the periods of night and day. The coincidence of words denoting 'awakening' can be profound. When a person sleeps they are in a state of ignorance, called tama guna in Hindu yoga. When we dream we are in the passion of raja guna. When awake, we are in sattva guna of clarity. For most people, we adapt to these changes in order to be adjusted to schedules of employment or educational institutions. However we can pursue our understanding of these profound changes of consciousness for achieving an enlightenment in finding a healthy, good way of life for ourselves. It is not merely a cultural neurosis that insomnia, chronic fatigue, sleep apnea and other disturbances of our natural sleep cycle are common worldwide. Rather they are symptoms of a deep imbalance of our abuse of knowledge and experience to moderate our conscious life toward happiness.

For those living a religious lifestyle and particularly among Aboriginal Americans, the dawning of the sun is a particularly sacred time, appropriate for sacrifice and prayer. As our minds exits the darkness of sleep, we find a great ally in the sun, whose beauty, power and energy provides inspiration for the challenges of the day. The Hebrew word for sun is 'shemesh', meaning a servant. The sun helps us find a role in service to humankind, to god and our own self-realization. Thus everyday is a day for enlightenment, in an incremental fashion for most of us, to find the same intents of the Nirvana of the Buddha for seeking survival and reproduction of life towards the freedom of finding a middle path among the treacherous pains and pleasures of daily experience.

In the writings of Carlo Castaneda, a student of a Mexican Yaqui way of knowledge, we see an explorer of consciousness in dreaming, in visionary seeing, in commune with nature that opens doors to riches of experiences that give life meaning and purpose. We may not share the depths of intellect and hardships of the discipline of C. Castaneda, but his words, for myself and among many, open doors to living on this earth in ways of beauty and celebration as god intends. In his terms, 'dreaming' in particular, takes on a whole expansion of learning.

Another common term among Yogis and Hindus is self-realization. From the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, we witness the same maxim as 'Know Yourself'. In the a**lytic psychology of Dr. Jung, arises a contemporary way of psychotherapy that brings in the possibilities of self-realization to a large, modern day population of a**lysands and students of psychology. Thus in universal fashion, the cycles of day and night, sleep and wakefulness, birth and death, can be seen as an exploration, development and refinement of consciousness. These added layers of meaning to what seems painfully mundane reality can put the opportunity for us all to become a Buddha or a female Kwan Yin, according to our own understanding, our religious lineage and individual character traits.

Presently we can see a world within which the basic tasks for healthy living and prosperity are under severe challenges from divisive governments. While neglecting provisions for daily living and preservation of human rights, they are engaged in, propagating fossil fuels that are incurring growing wildfires bringing in the implications of a shrinking economy, in racist wars resembling colonization, and in gender apartheid. The deep, visionary and practical achievements of modern science, in computers and artificial intelligence are being harnessed by the wealthier governments to increase defence expenses and crueller forms of warfare with a false assurance of non-violent lifestyles. While the world is balancing in the negative, our daily lives still have power in our ability to harmonize with the powers of the sun, moon, stars and revolutions of the earth to contribute to the well being for ourselves and humanity.

The world major religions are intended for people to connect to higher powers so as to find a valuable lifestyle. The ritual practices and wisdom scriptures can act as guides towards unifying our daily family lives with the vast spirituality within nature. In this way they can encourage a harmony of wakefulness and peaceful sleep as we journey through the week, months and years, which are marked in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, the Chinese faiths as in many others in our world, for the observance of astrologically/astronomically related festivals. The natural cycles of the luminaries also provide a canvass for integrating processes of giving birth, and of mourning death into harmonious relations.

I was on a farm vacation some years ago. I came across a coop of chickens. As I watched them closely, I saw unbelievably beautiful creatures showing speckles of brilliant light and I felt a strong love. Then I realized that the chickens were imprisoned away from nature and likely were doomed to be slaughtered for meat, or egg factory-style production. I had to turn my head and walk away. We no longer, perhaps only in a few places in the world, have the song of the rooster to bring a praise to the dawning sun and alert us to wake up for the tasks of the day. Sadly the wide prevalence of meat eating has lowered our sensitivity to lives of the animals, and the energy consumption for producing meat is among the largest wastes of power. Perhaps at the point of death, there will arise the shofar of the rooster, the trumpet of the archangel Michael as a herald for the world to come, where we can greet all our relatives who have shared in a life of enlightenment, self-realization and the love of all god's creatures.

The painting is by Michael Budden.

On this day July 26/2026 as 2 locations of Jewish bakeries in Toronto, Canada, have been subject to broken windows from an unknown assailant as racist mentalities directed at Muslims and Jews are on the increase.

05/29/2026

Being Absolutely or Not To Be

"To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them."
William Shakespeare - Hamlet

Within philosophy over the last several 100 years, the existentialists have struggled to understand how being manifests as passing phenomena. Particularly Jean Paul Sartre in Being and Nothingness engages in comparing 'the being of phenomena' with 'the phenomena of being'. The problem revolves around the illusions created by such understandings which bring in a mysterious negation or nothingness intrinsic to human nature, implicating the moods of 'vertigo', or 'nausea' to use J. P. Sartre's expression for the ongoing loss of meaning in living with the passage of time. These existentialists are stuck with a mood of freedom that has purpose only as we express it in our decisions, but that ultimately our acts and decisions sit over a void of suffering and ignorance.

These deep thinking philosophers have found they cannot deny being, nor can they understand what being actually signifies as it shifts in phenomenal existence. Existentialism is usually accompanied by agnosticism or atheism. S. Kierkegaard is the rare exception as a respected and influential Christian oriented existentialist.

It is true we cannot deny being as we experience it in everyday life. This form of the word being is a noun. Being is understood as an ongoing objective presence. However looking at the phenomena of being, we are contemplating being as a verb; that is being that keeps changing like the passage of a river. The existentialists for the most part have not distinguished the use of the word 'being' as a verb and alternately as a noun. Rather these thinkers bounce back and forth in the different expressions and cannot come to a resolved equation.

We can remain stuck in this dilemma particularly as it manifests in the English language and other European languages of the philosophers. However in Hebrew we can see how the verbal and conceptual expression of being can bring new light on this problem.

The most central name for god in Judaism as YHVH, often translated as Jehovah or Yahweh by Christian theologians. This Name unites in power, in logical implication and in spirit the concept of being as a noun and being as a verb. The sacred name YHVH is translated in one form as 'Who was, Who is and Who will be.' This is god as the Eternal Being. G-d is thus defined as a being, a Supreme Being of spirit and as a word is a noun. In YHVH, god also manifests throughout the infinite changes of time, and thus is an actively acting verb.

The intent of the name YHVH unites being as noun with being as verb. This is a unique denotation as in Hebrew the linguistic form of being, to state something 'is' is generally not used and lacks its own status. The variety of uses of the purely linguistic expressions of being is avoided and denied in the Hebrew language. In contrast the linguistic use of 'being' is used in conjunction with the noun of static 'being' and the verbal form of temporal being, these 2 forms of verb and noun, unite in god's name, particularly as YHVH.

There are those who will reject any theological references in regards to philosophy. In our post-enlightenment age, many leading thinkers affirm man's evolution has outgrown religion with intellect and reason, evident by the amazing genius manifesting and growing in science theory and practical technology. Still in the purely philosophic sense, they may seriously consider my argument trying to reconcile the misunderstood identification of the noun being with the verb being. To go to the further transcendence of seeing this unity in God's name requires faith and a mind open to enlightenment.

In the Jewish prayers we also have as central importance the need to see and recognize god as unique and as One, a sacred Unity. Such understanding is expressed in different forms in Islam, forms of Christianity, Hinduism and orthodox Chinese religion, among others. This identification with unity brings together passing time with the concept of static being.

To preach Jewish theology for solving the existentialist's dilemma in understanding phenomenological being is bound to appear missionary. However I assert my thesis, inspired by the prophetic genius of the past as being both; a simple highlight of the linguistic dualism created by using 'being' both as a noun and a verb, without any clear resolution; and in the spiritual level, the unity of phenomenal time and eternal presence. I am sharing the intent of sages of wisdom and piety who do not want us to wander in our minds like lost sheep but to have the wholeness and completeness that comes in understanding YHVH. I would have the reader consider that both these understandings are meant to be seen together, however a person may define their Higher Power.

Note - I do not know who did this painting from oriental33 . org.

On this day May 29/2026 as organized protest is urging Ontario Premier Doug Ford to reverse cuts made to a decades old multi- language program in public education.

03/31/2026

Note - Meant for a mature audience. The topic concerns pathological manifestations of behaviour and thought as understood in psychoa**lytic terms for purposes of edification.

Circumcision of the Castration Complex

"The castration of Ura**s marks a crucial event in Greek mythology, representing the overthrow of Ura**s, the primordial god of the sky, by his son Cronus. This myth not only illustrates the conflict between generational powers but also signifies important themes such as transformation and the cyclical nature of order and chaos." from KnightsTemplar . co

The idea that a woman or man may have strange, neurotic fears concerning the castration of the cl****is or p***s is part of the unconscious psyche. This idea as portrayed in psycho-a**lysis usually focuses on the actual image or act of castration; as if by some weapon like a knife or sword. There is thought to be a sole focus on women's image of having had her p***s forcefully removed resulting in her becoming a woman. Indeed in psycho-a**lytic theory this form of the complex was falsely highlighted in its years of development of the early 1900s. Later female psychoa**lysts such as Melanie Klein and Karen Horney added that men may see themselves with castration of the breasts, or/and envy the missing organs of the womb in the male body. Sadly the relationship of such complexes in relation to physical hermaphrodites is ignored.

These emphasis have left psychoa**lysts with a reputation of leaning toward misogynist ideology claiming a women by nature suffers p***s envy and feels inferior in being like a castrated man. I do not believe this was the intent of Dr. S. Freud though he did initiate and emphasize this trend. I will enunciate how the castration complex can be integrated into a healthy understanding of gender in women and men without the degrading implications created in the past. In contrast I would add, which can be taken seriously or humorously, that a man could just as well consider himself as having an overgrown cl****is.

It is crucial that we understand that men may suffer a castration complex as much as women. In neurotic disorders accompanied by delusional thought, an example would be a man with a small p***s, or some disfigurement as having one testicle, who is led to assume his p***s has been cut in half. I think unconscious imagination and fears of castration are more common among men then is commonly realized, considered a topic taboo or repressed to the unconscious. In the history of the world, actual castration of men occurs in many times and places as sadistic act of war and racism, among others. So too the forced removal of the cl****is of a girl or woman is an ignorant form of abuse, sadly still practiced is some parts of the world today.

Both girls and boys go through about 9 years of their life with immature sexual organs whose use manifests totally in urination. (I am leaving a**l eroticism out of this for now). Over time both women and men develop in puberty a sexual purpose to these organs. For a man, the p***s produces both s***m and urine, for a woman the cl****is produces urine and is also integral to the functioning of the l***a and va**na as a whole. When a girl matures to adulthood, the cl****is develops as a centre of erotic pleasure to help release libido fluids in the woman's va**na. In cases of psychological disturbance and an unhealthy sexual life, the man or woman may obsess with the urinary function of their reproduction organs. For example, a physically mature person may be wetting their bed at night with uncontrollable urination, urinate at the time of sexual or**sm or shamefully urinate in public settings. There can be purely physiological causes of uncontrolled urination, but it also happens that the person urinates at inappropriate times or circumstances willfully. The person knows it is wrong but gets some gratification from this perversion from unconscious sources. A teenage woman or man may be pushed into these aberrations from abusive adults, substance abuse or peer rivalries.

The regression of a mature male or female to a neurotic emphasis on their reproductive organs for purposes of urination is a symbolic castration. They seem to have been 'castrated' or forced by similar means to identify with their pre-puberty time of childhood.

This form of the castration complex is just or more important than direct fears or phantasies of physical castration. The kind of symbolism involved for a mature person to be possessed by childhood images of undeveloped sexuality, with reproduction organs solely functioning for urination rather than producing sexual fluids and pleasures is referred to directly and indirectly in many of the writings of Dr. S. Freud.

Of course the world would be a better place if we had no fears or ideas of castration or the castration complex. A healthy person does not pay unnecessary attention to such horrors. As it is, castration is referred to in ancient Greek mythology and in other cultural forms throughout recorded history. I hope I provide a more therapeutic understanding of how the castration complex manifests in our homo sapient psychology. I also balance these speculations on human mutations with the assurance that god created us with wisdom and kindness, along with severity, in god's image, as it is said.

Note - In Greek mythology, the god Ura**s was castrated by a rival god Cronus. Could the name Ura**s be an archetypal representation of the childhood understanding of their genitalia/genitals, in association to 'urine' and 'a**s.' Further in the myth, his dismembered testicles thrown in the sea manifests as Aphrodite, a goddess signifying eroticism, and thus the change in puberty to the sexual functions.

Note - I do not know who created this painting from Greek mythology in which Cronus castrated Ura**s.

On this day March 31/2026 on the death of Stephen Lewis at age 88, known for leadership in Canadian politics, and activism for support of Africans suffering HIV and AIDs among his other humanitarian endeavours.

01/05/2026

Hearing Human Voices

Note - This is an edited version of a previous release.

The English word 'love' as articulated in our mouths expresses exactly the movement of sound from the throat, pushed by the tongue and closing on the lips. Thus the pronunciation arouses a sensual passion, physically and symbolically. This enunciation of the word 'love' also illustrates a power in the human voice to exchange affection through dialogue.

Thus 'love' expresses one human heart reaching out to another. The Hebrew word for the heart is 'lave' so we can play with the mantra-like phrase 'lave love lave'. However such expressions can also be deceitful, selfish and predatory. There are those who seduce the human heart with words that resemble poetry, eroticism and music, even theology, seeking conceited attention and creating abuse. This 2 faced nature is true of verbal communication in general.

Aboriginal American Elders say that the human voice is the softest of all living creatures. Thus our words and music is a gift from god if used with kindness and truth, as it is intended. Soft words help appease any threat we may feel from a strange animal that is in our proximity.

In Jewish Kaballah, there is a power called Sephirote, a kind of living wheel of energy called Daat. Daat signifies knowledge and is likely related to the word 'data'. Daat is located in the throat region. Thus the word, knowledge as expressed in verbal concepts, can have an independent power of its own. Isa, Jesus Christ, begins a gospel with the striking phrase 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' John Lennon, with the Beatles clarifies this understanding in his song 'The Word.' It is said in the Jewish Torah that god revealed creation though uttering ten words in succession, as god said, 'Let there be light, and there was light.'

Among Hindu teaching, the use of sound is a core part of Vedic scripture. Mantras, chants in the Sanskrit language, are used for every variety of purpose; for prayer, for ecstatic song, for creation by the gods, meditation, and in mythical times for creating powerful weapons. The Bhagavad Gita, the central Vedic text, is a song of god.

Daat is an independent power, with a life of its own. The way that the human word is fitted exactly into the concept and oral expression of 'love' gives Daat a status of godlike nature. It is said the 10 Sephirote are like angels in an energetic form. They may be seen as similar to the allies described in C. Castaneda's books on Yaqui knowledge, that is great formless powers put into a perspective and discipline of self-realization.

There are many people as myself, who have since they were first able to read, taken a passion to studying books of many kinds, whether philosophy, literature or scripture. I for one, found myself over time, having a sense of being lost in a labyrinth of thought that did not reach a conclusion, that as the passion for knowledge grew, so did a sense of despair of ever finding a final, complete, conclusive weltanschauung of understanding.

Thus this great power of the verbal knowledge, written or spoken, does Not belong to the individual human being as creator, maintainer or destroyer. The unique gift of speech given to human beings seduce us into thinking we will find complete solutions to our problems, to reach a kind of omnipotence in our created civilizations. This is one reason the problem of alien life forms takes on an aura of wonder in relation to human intelligence. Our power of word, our vast array of expression and compilation of knowledge takes on an alien feel, separated from the Great Spirit, as is common in modern scientific enlightenment that wisdom appears as an astronomically growing 'data' bank, with computer memory banks now exceeding that of a humans as if a god, or superior alien life form is embodied in Artificial Intelligence.

Indeed, a person represented by the mere physicality of our existence, can resemble a machine. Human genius is comparable to computer generated Artificial Intelligence. In this sense, our own human intelligence partakes of the nature of being artificial if separated from The Higher Power.

Human knowledge is not created and developed on our own resources physical, psychological or symbolic. We are a conduit of this gift from god of viewing the world through the lens of a Sephirote, a living angelic spirit that connects to us physically in our throat, and emanates through our speech as love, if so intended. Thus human civilization cannot stand on its own power, as the frustrations, sufferings and evils of the many ways civilization have manifested remain a dominant force in everyday life, along with all the wonders of technology and literature that accompany civilization.

I do not mean to overlook the sacredness of silence in its wide variety of forms. Wisdom is enhanced with the discipline of listening, in speaking but a little. Understanding can come with formless meditation, free from words in speech and thought. Words have No sense unless we silently acknowledge the gap between them. 'Of secrets, I am silence.' says the Bhagavad Gita.

My thesis is that the love and understanding that accompanies human communication, whether in popular poetry or between individuals, is dependant on a higher power. Our use of words, particularly in vocal forms, bringing in concepts and feelings, draw on a source of a spiritual nature, called Daat in Jewish Kaballah. I touch on merely the surface here, for true Kaballah is a vast system of knowledge and way of life integrated with Judaism intended to enhance understanding for humanity at large, along with the many other forms of international cultural expressions.

In psychopathology, the hearing of voices can arouse painful, evil illusions for those suffering psychological disorders. Others may feel more positive forms of communication with spirits. However these topics are not what I focus on here, remaining a mystery to myself and perhaps most people.

What I say may not be an advance in the science of psychology. However it should ring in the minds of readers as an archetype that is also part of the Hindu meditation in the chakra system, most particularly the Vishuddah chakra associated to the throat.

I hope I am partaking in the conduit of the spirit manifesting through Daat as words intended to increase awareness in positive forms, also partaking of the spirit and folly of the shaman.

Perhaps the thesis of this article is better expressed in the lyrics to John Lennon's song created with The Beatles, called The Word.

Say the word and you'll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I'm thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?

It's so fine, it's sunshine
It's the word, love

In the beginning I misunderstood
But now I've got it, the word is good

Spread the word and you'll be free
Spread the word and be like me
Spread the word I'm thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?

Everywhere I go I hear it said
In the good and bad books that I have read

Say the word and you'll be free

Now that I know what I feel must be right
I'm here to show everybody the light

Give the word a chance to say
That the word is just the way
It's the word I'm thinking of
And the only word is love

Say the word, love.

Note - I do Not know who created this artwork of the Vishuddha chakra as part of the yoga philosophy.

On this day when I originally wrote this article, Aug. 26/2025 as Taylor Swift announces her engagement to a top football player. See less

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