S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 7 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 2 1 1 9 Samuel Bendeck Sotillos “[P]sychology as it is understood today – that is, the study of mental phenomena as such – is a natural product of Anglo-Saxon empiricism and of the eighteenth century mentality [note: of the European Enlightenment project], and … the point of view to which it corresponds was so negligible for the ancient world that, even if it was sometimes taken incidentally into consideration, no one would have dreamed of making a special science of it, since anything of value that it might contain was transformed and assimilated in higher points of view.” – René Guénon (2004, 50) “[T]he metaphysics of the universal and unanimous tradition, or ‘philosophia perennis,’ is the infallible standard by which not only religions, but still more ‘philosophies’ and ‘sciences’ must be ‘corrected’ [note: correction du savoir-penser] and interpreted.” – Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1988, 37) “What modern psychology lacks entirely is criteria enabling it to situate the aspects or tendencies of the soul in their cosmic context.” – Titus Burckhardt (1987, 48) It has become increasingly clear to many around the world that rethinking psychiatry is an imperative task and, yet, what is often overlooked is that rethinking psychology is also essential (see Bendeck Sotillos 2019). That the foundations of contemporary psychology are giving way is by no means a new insight: “Psychotherapy is today in a state of disarray, almost exactly as it was two hundred years ago.” (Zilboorg 1956, 108). Decolonizing the human psyche is needed more than ever today. The apparatus of oppression and control in modern Western psychology is inseparable from its impoverished scientistic Weltanschauung and has become increasingly more nuanced and subtle. It privileges its own methodology above all other modes of knowing the world and appears oblivious to its own unquestioned theoretical assumptions. This tendency first became apparent when Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) triumphantly announced: “[I]t was no small thing to have the whole human race as one’s patient.” (Freud 1925, 261). He actually admitted that his role was to be a colonizer About the lead author Samuel Bendeck Sotillos, LMFT, LPCC, NCC, CPRP, CCMHC, MHRS, is a practicing psychotherapist, who has worked for years in the field of mental health and social services, focusing on the intersection between spirituality and psychology. His works include Paths That Lead to the Same Summit: An Annotated Guide to World Spirituality, Dismantling Freud: Fake Therapy and the Psychoanalytic Worldview (previously published as Psychology Without Spirit: The Freudian Quandary), and Behaviorism: The Quandary of a Psychology without a Soul. He edited the issue on Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy for Studies in Comparative Religion, and his articles have appeared in numerous journals including Sophia, Sacred Web, Parabola, Resurgence, and the Temenos Academy Review. His email contact is samuelbendeck@yahoo. com. ← ← Sigmund Freud
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