Psychology 101

According to science, intuition, and what used to be common sense, any study of psychology should begin with a reverent engagement with nature. This means: put down books and articles; forget statistics; set aside technical terms and inane scholarly debates about abstract concepts contrived by someone with their head buried in books for hours in the corner of a library.

Then.

Go outside.

Notice. Breathe. Feel. Wonder. Listen. Sense in all the ways you know how to sense, and be surprised.

This is psychology.

"Psychology" = study of the psyche, from Latinized Greek psykhē "breath, spirit, soul."

"Study" - from the 12th century studien, "to strive toward, devote oneself to, cultivate."

Today, in most institutionalized educational settings, students do not study mind as such, they study the concepts invented by a small population of researchers and scholars, where in many cases those people lived in times and places far removed from our own. Students pay for the disservice of thinking that an understanding of the concepts equals an understanding of the phenomena those concepts are meant to describe.

So, this is the first lesson of a truly scientific study of psychology: you must directly experience the phenomena first. Conceptual analysis is at best secondary, and optional.

"Psychology" is the interplay of color, light, shape, form, texture, and movement among trees' leaves, branches, birds, clouds, sun, rain, wind, and shadows. It is the sense of the shifting of seasons floating on the cold tinge of a fall breeze. It is the instantaneous pursuit of a squirrel by a dog on a walk in the park, and the dogs' exclusive attention on its sought-after prize.

Psychology is the act of grieving, not a "theory of" grieving. It is the sweet, twisted pain of crying out in honest acknowledgment of one's losses. It is the heaviness of sadness weighing on the soul like a comfort blanket of spirit. It is the buoyant exuberance of joy unbounded by fear and social conditioning to remain small and predictable like a mechanical device.

Do you want to "understand" mind? Soul, spirit, psyche, consciousness, cognition? Then simply do this: turn off the device displaying these words, put it away. Without rushing, step outside, and begin to breathe, feel, and listen. Continue.

Repeat.

Witness.