Dislocation: Alone in the World (One Out of Many/In a Free State, V.S. Naipaul) Gap in God's Country

Laurie discusses the experience of dislocation and disembedding through a story by V.S. Naipaul, "One Out of Many." The book the story is from is In a Free State, also by Naipaul.
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[@zukov85]

Another confronting and deeply uncomfortable discussion, that needs to be had! Painful mental cold shower that has been with me the whole day; it must have tripped a fair few circuits upstairs. I am not sure what grades red pills come in, anyhow this story is the horse strength one 😂 Laurie, thanks again for all your hard work and unique insights. Greetings from Canberra.

[@ricchambers6990]

I think you are onto something with trying to describe the psychological experience of dislocation. In 1970 the book Future Shock was getting at something similar. It was the shock of being dislocated in time instead of space. The term future shock was taken from culture shock. Toffler was saying that in 1970 the pace of change was exceeding the capacity for people to adapt and he described the psychological symptoms of this as complex adaptive syndrome or future shock. There are psychological symptoms but I would say social and policitical symptoms or behaviors also. I think you are exactly right that if you are embedded in your culture it is almost impossible to reflect in a psychological way about these things. I became aware of your channel because I was talking about modernity sickness and AI sent me your videos on Charles Taylor. I have shifted from working as a therapist to working as a culture war medic in the middle of God's Country and I have watched the gap grow over the last twenty years. Now most people I talk with either can't imagine being embedded but most people are vulnerable to the type of political changes you write about because they have been dislocated without psychologically working through all the changes following the sixties yet still experience themselves and those around them as still embedded so they insulate more and more and feel more and more threatened. Thanks for this channel and for writing and teaching on the intersection of psychology, culture and politics. you really are giving me the tools I need as a culture war medic.

[@maurinacademy]

Thanks for supporting the channel and the Maurin Academy--we appreciate your perspective as you use your abilities to try to bring more perspective to people who don't understand why they feel the way they do and what exactly has gone wrong.

[@gregjs9665]

I guess in a lot of ways, modernity is like a second fall of humanity. But instead of ripping away the good things that God has given us on a super-natural level, this second fall rips away even the remaining good things He has provided at the natural level, like psychological wellbeing and healthy cultures.

[@gregjs9665]

Interesting. A bit like Adam and Eve discovering their nakedness after the fall. They were supposed to be too comfortable and at-home (in themselves, in Eden, in God) to notice it. In a way, they had been “cloaked” in un-self-conscious and easy loving relatedness. The story really expresses the pain of having that ripped away.

[@jamiehartman3350]

Is dislocation essentially alienation?