In a world of increasing polarization, it's tempting to view ourselves as 'the good ones' and others as 'the bad.' Through personal reflection and insights from psychoanalysis, this episode explores how our tendency to split the world into 'us vs. them' often stems from early childhood coping mechanisms. Drawing from Buddhist wisdom, psychological research, and personal experiences, Anne Muhlethaler examines how confronting our own capacity for judgment and authoritarianism might be the key to healing our divided world in this audio from her essay of the same title, published in the Metta View.
In this intimate audio essay, Anne V Mühlethaler reflects on Rebecca Shaw's piercing observation about watching powerful men "burn the world down." Through her own journey of frustration and self-reflection, Anne explores how our childhood coping mechanisms shape adult perspectives on "us vs. them."
Drawing from both psychological insights and Buddhist wisdom, Anne examines how the very qualities we despise in others might mirror parts of ourselves we'd rather not see. She weaves Dr. Guralnik's work on political polarization - how early experiences of "splitting" the world into all-good or all-bad persist into adulthood - with Buddhist teachings that offer a pathway forward through radical acceptance.
From confronting her own "inner dictator" to embracing ancient wisdom about sitting with difficult emotions, Anne invites listeners to consider: What if the key to healing our divided world begins with acknowledging the complexity within ourselves?
Selected links from episode:
The opinion piece by Rebecca Shaw in the Guardian
The guest essay in the New York Times by Dr Orna Guralnik