Podcast appearances and mentions of andrew archer

In this episode, Andrew Archer and Josh Rhodes unpack lessons from Proverbs 12 and reflect on the rhythms of work and rest. The conversation gets candid as Josh shares a humorous yet profound story about self-awareness, laziness, and spiritual growth, inspired by a simple photo of clothes hanging on the back of a door. They dive deep into God's work-rest rhythm, highlighting how the six days of work and one day of rest modeled in Genesis should shape our lives. Drawing wisdom from Colossians 3:23, they explore how every aspect of our work—whether public or private—can be transformed into worship. The episode is filled with relatable moments, from shoveling snow to piles of clothes by the bed, all serving as reminders of our need for grace and diligence. Tune in for practical encouragement, thoughtful insights, and a few laughs as Andrew and Josh challenge us to honor God in both our work and rest.

This past Sunday, Pastor Josh taught from 1 Peter 2 how, as “citizens of heaven, we are to live honorably as citizens of earth.” I couldn't help but think of the Olympians representing their countries in Paris this summer. Whether hailing from Germany, Spain, Greece, or the USA, they temporarily resided in Paris and, while there, represented their home to those around them. Even though we often don't think of it this way, the same is true for Christians. While we are citizens of earth, our residence here is temporary, and our true and lasting citizenship is in heaven.

This episode includes a discussion of the history of the swastika as well as a discussion of War (e.g., assassination of al-Zawari) and Media games (Ain't It Awful). The U.S. war machine influences the mainstream media to manufacture consent for war. In the book, “The Gulf War Did Not Take Place,” Jean Baudrillard describes how totalizing media coverage of an event, e.g., war, is an invitation into a game (con). The aim is to create consensus and illusions in the mind of the citizen:  “Information has a profound function of deception. It matters little what it “informs” us about, its “coverage” of events matters little since it is precisely no more than a cover: its purpose is to produce consensus by flat encephalogram.” The sexual life of children and adolescents (e.g., Columbine killers) as well as the dominant socialization process are described in this episode. This is in the context of constructing a manuscript titled “Games Fascists Play: The Psychology of Supremacy” and solutions to games. Additionally, the 2020 U.S. presidential election is discussed; not from the perspective of “stop the steal,” and instead, Google's role in the manipulation of potential voters. In 2020, ultra-monopoly Google, encouraged Democrats or Democrat-leaning voters to show up to vote. Voting badges were placed at the top of their social media newsfeeds, but these were specifically and intentionally absent from news feeds for Republicans. The way Google's search engine functions also has a liberal bias. Additionally, Google's ability to use “ephemeral impressions” to make lasting impressions on undecided voters swayed millions of votes away from Trump. This manipulation and behavioral modification led to a Biden White House (let's all just forget about Hunter's laptop). Despite Trump's decry of “election interference” and that the election was “stolen,” a state-corporate symbiosis by one of the most powerful corporations (Google) on the planet heavily influenced the vote totals. Recorded on 9/20/2023 References p. 68, Baudrillard, J., & Patton, P. (1995). The gulf war did not take place. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

As you read through the book of Titus and really the entirety of the Bible, you can learn who God is, what He's like, His attributes, and quite frankly, what He is not like. However, we often miss out on getting to know God as we read our Bibles because we don't read our Bibles with the intention of getting to know God. See, the Bible functions in two ways: as a mirror and a window. Our problem is that we often approach the Bible with its secondary function, not its primary one.

The psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, MD understood that a specific form of human socialization has created the fascist character via “armoring.” In his book The Mass Psychology of Fascism, Reich writes that the “mechanistic-mystical character of modern man” has produced “fascist parties, and not vice versa.” The character structure of modern human beings is the universal cause of fascism: “… “fascism” is only the organized political expression of the structure of the average man's character, a structure that is confined neither to certain races or nations nor to certain parties, but is general and international. Viewed with respect to man's character, “fascism” is the basic emotional attitude of the suppressed man of our authoritarian machine civilization and its mechanistic-mystical conception of life.” (xiii) Therefore, when we see a fascist “puffing himself up and has his chops full of slogans, let him be asked quietly and simply in public”: “What are you doing in a practical way to feed the nation, without murdering other nations? What are you doing as a physician to combat chronic diseases, what as an educator to intensify the child's joy of living, what as an economist to erase poverty, what as a social worker to alleviate the weariness of mothers having too many children, what as an architect to promote hygienic conditions in living quarters? Let's have no more of your chatter. Give us a straightforward, concrete answer or shut up!” (xvi) Recorded on 6/29/2023. References Paxton, R. (2005). The anatomy of fascism. Vintage Books: New York. Reich, W. (1980). The mass psychology of fascism. Ed. Mary Higgins and Chester M. Raphael (3rd edition). New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. (orig. pub. in 1933) Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

In the book, The Anatomy of Fascism, Robert Paxton argues that “Fascists need a demonized enemy against which to mobilize followers, but of course the enemy does not have to be Jewish. Each culture specifies the national enemy.” (p. 37) The system is moving more and more to the Right with rage directed at liberalism and individualism. The Gender Identity game places transgender individuals as the new Other as the national enemy. However, this is a Media game and the Media games are meant to pacify us. The system is designed for in-fighting and pacification as opposed to the mobilizing passions of Fascism. The solution is Zen. Zen aims to convey the indescribable. Zen does not rely on words or scriptures or beliefs. In fact, this discriminating thinking (this/that) keeps us farther away from Zen. Intuitive knowledge (prajñā) and thought-less-ness (dhyāna) are not two not one. This description of “emptiness” implies everything at once (no obstruction) or direct experience. You have met this type of person: they are friendly and peaceful. Like a young child we must rely on intuitive knowledge to “be” the world rather than be a separate somebody: “me” and “the world.” In the social sphere, the “emptiness” of intuitive knowledge manifests as relational friendliness. With friendliness we add mercy to create relational peace. We are not two not one. The still point above opposites. This is in contrast with the symbiotic process of Fascism: the citizen is part of an enforced symbiosis with the state and they are void of a private self. Fascism was mass mobilization + violent provocations and manipulation for the cause of imperial war. Zen in practice is intimacy through peace-making. It requires “emptiness” (friendliness) + mercy.  Recorded on 6/22/2023 References Hedges, C. (2010). Death of the liberal class. New York: Nation Books. Kaczynski, T. J. (2020). Anti-tech revolution: Why and how. Fitch & Madison: Arizona. Paxton, R. (2005). The anatomy of fascism. Vintage Books: New York.  Ward, L. (2020). America's racial karma: An invitation to heal. Parallax Press: Berkely, California. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

The Media game version of Gender Identity presents itself as a dialogic process. The interview--which is actually a debate--starts with the question, "What is a woman?" or "How many genders are there?" This game has similar dynamics as Climate Change because both are derivatives of the Ain't It Awful (AIA) game: "Ain't It Awful the oceans are acidifying?" or "Ain't It Awful puberty blockers for children?" However, the series of transactions is also a derivative of the Kick Me game. The gameplayer (e.g., interviewer) has an ulterior motive: to humiliate the other player (i.e., interviewee) by Kicking them and feeling morally self-righteous. If the interviewee is hooked into the game they feel Kicked, often negating their own provocational behavior.  Additionally, the Gender Identity game is made possible based on the cultural instantiation of ego or self as "reality." This allows for other "real" identities such as gender to be embraced as constant or solid across time. Therefore, "gender" as a concept reinforces and maintains social hierarchies, e.g., patriarchy, which is why we should be talking more about sex than gender. The solution to these types of games is Adult ego state functioning (reality testing), which is what Buddhists refer to as "emptiness" or zen mind. Relationally speaking, the result of manifesting emptiness is friendliness. Instead of "me" and "you", we are not two not one. Pairing relational friendliness with mercy promotes peace and intimacy as opposed to "Kicking" people based on their political beliefs and self-presentations.  Recorded on 6/15/2023 Audio clips from YouTube videos: “Christine Hamilton questions eco-protester Kai Bartlett over his group's methods” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89w8y5aSCqk "Your line of questioning is transphobic" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fed5RzXyU20 Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Do you ever find that when you're sitting in church, and the pastor makes a great point, you immediately think of someone you wish could be hearing the message? By doing this, we are missing a vital step in Jesus' process to encourage others to walk in the truth. However, when we begin in the mirror and look at the log in our eyes, we will understand that we are not quite as well off as we might have first thought.

The Psychiatry game is introduced on the individual or psychotherapy level as well as how Psychiatry is promoted for the maintenance of the status quo. The Psychiatry game reinforces social hierarchies as reality (e.g., "mentally ill" versus not). Far ahead of his time, Eric Berne, MD understood the concept of “mental health” as a game or pastime. In his words, it is "based on the thesis that if only the right procedure can be found, everything will be alright."  As the patient sits on the couch, inside their heads the question is, “What am I supposed to do here?” Patients, especially novices to psychotherapy, will inevitably comply with their therapist who uses the DSM to define them in order to elaborate their self-presentations and self-understanding. The patient will talk subjectively about what it is like to be them as a solid self. This can be played using Transactional Analysis ("My Critical Parent ego state...), psychoanalysis ("Gee my Id just has a hold of my Superego," or the clinical version, "Nice use of transference!"), cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT ("Those damn negative thought loops!"), etc.  The emphasis is on subjectivity, but this comes at the expense of affect and relational intimacy with the therapist. Colloquially, the patient talks about what is going on inside their head. In the US, as individuals continue to view themselves as brands (Me, Inc) and are enclosed by Big Tech's ability to commodify them and sell them things at the same time, Psychiatry becomes the engine for negating "the world." Identity as reality is instantiated in the culture. Me me me. Self-optimization to become supreme and "win." This is in contrast with the Zen notion of no-self or no-mind (i.e., emptiness). Recorded on 6/08/2023 Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

The supremacist aim of the Protest game is to moralistically denigrate the motives and tactics of the specific social movement, e.g., Just Stop Oil in the UK or Black Lives Matter in the U.S. Adult ego state functioning is rarely utilized if not avoided in the game, e.g., global temperatures in the 21st century, solutions such as nuclear energy and birth control for women, or discussions of over-population. The ulterior motive is the maintenance of the status quo. Specifically, the Climate Change game is a derivative of Kick Me with built-in illusions: a permanent ending of history, imperial domination of Nature, acquisition as reality, etc. Ain't It Awful is the root game for Climate Change: “We're all gonna die!” Capitalism games are introduced (e.g., Happy To Help!) while using the story of and teaching of the Buddha as well as the promotion of his methods. Finally, the conversation weaves into the socialization of children, a potential new economic system that transcends the dichotomy of capitalism and communism duality as well as the psychological root of Fascism (“I'm the center of the world.”) that is inherent to human nature. Recorded on 6/01/2023 Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Don and Andrew discuss the concept of symbiosis (not two not one), Eric Berne's book Games People Play, including the concept of psychological “hunger.” This means we are hungry for stimulation, social recognition, and structured time. Games are played in an attempt to get those psychological hungers met despite the negative payoffs. The game If It Weren't For You is introduced as a bridge to discussing Fascism as a game process. Examples are given in terms of the Ukraine war as well as other Drama Triangle roles and switches. Recorded on 5/25/2023 Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Don and Andrew describe the Drama Triangle and game theory as it is applied in psychotherapy. The conversation weaves into specific games as well as topics such as Ego consciousness, zen mind, culture, The Little Fascist, Social Darwinism, hyper-individualism. Recorded on 5/18/2023 Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

The problem the religious leaders were facing was that they had allowed their hearts to become so callous that when they looked at the man with the paralyzed hand, they did not see an image bearer of the highest God, a person with inherent value and worth, someone worth listening to and loving. They didn't even really see the man, but rather, saw him as a means to an end to try to trap Jesus. Our attitude towards people in need is often extremely telling of the state of our hearts, and we should have soft hearts that are moved with compassion when we see others in need.

This episode was recorded on April 27th, 2023 just following the conclusion to Series 3. Series 4 is the evolution of the concept “games fascists play.” Andrew and Don's dialogues were recorded over the course of one year. Through this relational brainstorm, Andrew began to write a manuscript titled Games Fascists Play: The Psychology of Supremacy. The book is meant as a tribute and sequel to Eric Berne's best seller Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships. The result is Series 4, Games Fascists Play, which illustrates the evolution of the concept, examination of game analysis and specific psychological games, as well as articulations of fascism and the solution to gameplay: zen. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.  

What we all need to recognize is that the intimacy we long for can only be found in the person of Jesus Christ. There is no more intimate act than Christ's death for us. He knew everything about us, all of our sins and shame, and yet, He still laid down His life for us. He fully knows you and fully loves you.

I was incredibly angry at God for many years because He allowed my siblings and mother to die in spite of my family's faithfulness to Him and the incredible amount of prayer that people offered for my family. I couldn't understand it. Why would God allow that? That's a question I have wrestled with for most of my life. While this was originally something that kept me far from God, the more I honestly wrestled with the question, the more I realized that God is good and sovereign, and He loves my family.

For those of us who know the story well—we can miss out on just how shocking it is to see God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. My encouragement to you would be to read through some of the most familiar stories in the Bible with fresh eyes because when we don't genuinely wrestle with God's Word—when we don't ask hard questions and wonder, “Why?” we will miss out on the fullness of what God has for us.

Whether we know it or not, and whether we like it or not, we are highly malleable beings. Thankfully, Paul understood this problem and gave us the blueprint to resist being conformed to this world—"be transformed." However, true transformation is not something that we can contrive on our own.

It is vital that we do not isolate ourselves from the body of Christ, because, in doing so, we isolate ourselves from the support of others that we will certainly need when we become afraid. Not only that, but God also desires for us to be connected in a community so that we can support those who are facing great uncertainty.

How can you be like Jesus and walk in grace and truth? It starts by seeing people for who they are, image bearers of God, and treating them as such.

The early church had a common aim that they were pursuing over everything and in everything they did—they were living to know Jesus and make Him known.

After Dark with Hosts Rob & Andrew – Archer said Hunter would be on business calls with potential partners from Ukraine, Russia, and China, and Joe would join in. Who knew Joe was an expert in weather? Other than trying to force Americans to stop using coal and gas because of climate change and killing our energy independence. But what does that all have to do with Hunter's business partners?

After Dark with Hosts Rob & Andrew – Archer said Hunter would be on business calls with potential partners from Ukraine, Russia, and China, and Joe would join in. Who knew Joe was an expert in weather? Other than trying to force Americans to stop using coal and gas because of climate change and killing our energy independence. But what does that all have to do with Hunter's business partners?

This is a wrap-up to Series 3: reflections on, analysis of, and summary on the origin and progression of the StayAtHomeDay movement. To build a social movement requires courage. One must first insert themselves into an institution. After forming a relational position within an organization or institution, the requirement is to subvert (undermine) authority. This is accomplished by speaking one's Truth. Within this process the task is to create a social network (other relational bodies) with a single and clear target or objective (e.g., ending mass shootings in schools). Relational joy occurs when one moves in the direction of, and through, their own fear. Series 4 will focus on the Games Fascists Play. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Big Tech steals our attention with the con of convenience, personalization, and persuasive tech design. F*#k that. Big Tech wants us to incorporate, brand, and market the self. The user is compelled to continuously offer status updates of themselves. The imperative of the virtual world is to exhibit and broadcast ourselves for monetization. This creates a paradigm of voluntary self-exploitation that leads to burnout. One wears oneself out via hyperactivity and self-optimization. In the book The Burnout Society, Byung-Chul Han describes burnout as a form of voluntary self-exploitation. One wears themselves out by being hyper-active and transparent: Liking and Sharing all aspects of one's life. We are a brand with constant endorsements of others. Therefore, Western culture is characterized as joylessness: all work and no play. The culture produces burnout for the individual and then sells them back a remedy for the burnout. The remedy is to consume and acquire for yourself (acquisition)as you broadcast yourself: Click and Buy Now. The Westerner is reduced to their head. They are split from the body or Center. They are joyless as they scroll endlessly desiring more of what “I” want. The answer to our dis-embodied way of being is to return to the body or the Center. Intuitive knowledge is the means for connection. Instead of hitting the cocaine dropper inside our social media cages, we must build Johann Hari's rat parks to address the loss of connection. As Phillips (1995) notes, “It is a truism that “what we eat we become.” That observation can be extended to other forms of consummation: “what we stare at, listen closely to, inhale, and consort with sensually, we become.” We can choose not to look or listen. The solution is companionship, spontaneity, and full-bodied joy. References Han, B.C. (2015). The burnout society. Stanford Briefs: Stanford, CA. Phillips, R.D. (1995). The recovery of the true self: The human animal in and out of therapy. Medicine Wheel Publications: Chapel Hill, N.C. Steiner, C. (1974). Scripts people live: Transactional analysis of life scripts. New York: Grove Press.  Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

God has invited all of us to the wedding banquet of His Son, Jesus. While it's an honor and privilege to be invited to any wedding, there is no event that you could be invited to that compares to the God of the universe choosing to celebrate with you. God is inviting you to the wedding feast of all wedding feasts–to be in a relationship with Him for all eternity. What is your response?

When you know and recognize you are forgiven from your sin, you are set free to forgive those who have wronged you. You understand that no harm anyone can do to you compares to the offense of your sin against God. And you have a newfound appreciation as the recipient of the seemingly reckless grace of God for what it feels like to be on the other side of the equation.

There was a New York Times article from April 2nd, 2023, titled “It's Not ‘Deaths of Despair.' It's Deaths of Children.” In the richest country in the world—the U.S.—1 out of every 25 Kindergarteners will die before they reach 40 (four times higher than other wealthy nations). The rate increase is largely due to suicide and gun-related-deaths (Covid was minimal). The tough medicine to swallow is that all of us are culpable in the failure to raise and protect the next generation from destruction. Tyler and I do not want our children to get shot. You can view and listen to the video of me and Tyler Flowers speaking in the link below. Link to School Board Meeting video (I begin at about 11 minutes into the meeting): http://mankatoaps.swagit.com/play/04042023-536/#0 Link to KEYC-TV News Now story in this episode titled “The Men Behind the Magnets” by Maddie Paul, published April 12TH 2023:  https://www.keyc.com/2023/04/12/men-behind-magnets/ www.StayAtHomeDay.com Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

I free associate about StayAtHomeDay, the school's resistance to it, social movements, raising consciousness, nihilistic nihilism, becoming burnt out with podcasting, and I refer to a recent lecture in Minneapolis (S3, Part 7, Becoming a Real Person) as well as Series 4 ideas (i.e., Games Fascists Play). The climate activist and co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, Roger Hallam, is mentioned as well. Specifically, this speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=0Zo2DWW_fhc&t=12s www.StayAtHomeDay.com Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Prior to this recording, I had never been to a school board meeting. I walked in and sat down for a few minutes and listed some bullet points on a notecard in the few minutes prior to speaking. I had thought very little in terms of what I would say. The feeling in my body was shakiness and fear, which was driven by a moralistic and antiquated sense that I was “doing something wrong.” Speaking truth in the face of fear is an aspect of courage. Moving toward pain and suffering builds courage. The gentleman who spoke prior to me at the school board meeting seemed angry and agitated (I was sitting directly behind him, so I didn't have a good vista). So, I told the board I wanted to talk about what he was expressing: despair and agitation. Combing these two things leads to violence, which is the relinquishment of responsibility for dealing with a problem (e.g., what mass shooters do). The U.S. school system is not dealing with the problem of school shootings. Society is utilizing a passivity strategy called Overadapting. For example, bullet proof glass, armed security, mass shooter drills, mental health treatment, and threat assessments appear “active-looking.” However, the goal of the mass shooter is terror, so the behavior is an adaptation to the mass shooter's goal. Thinking rationally with others (community) and confronting this issue with courage is dealing with the problem. You can view and listen to the video of me speaking in the link below. Link to School Board Meeting video (I begin at about 11 minutes into the meeting):  http://mankatoaps.swagit.com/play/03212023-613/#0 www.StayAtHomeDay.com Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

The online user is in a symbiotic relationship with the virtual world, which is optimal for dependency and cultural scripting. Big Tech is our Momma who bounces us on her knee and tells us how to live. The user is Mindless (passive) and Joyless (split from the body): a state of simple consciousness (i.e., Infant). This dependency contract (Mother-Infant) and the technological form holds us in place (e.g., in front of a desk or clutching a device). We brand and curate our online persona to make an Empire of the Self. The script is to become the Top Gun in order to “win” in the entrepreneurial game. To make oneself into a perfected trophy that goes “viral”. YouTube's slogan is “Broadcast Yourself,” which means track, record, upload, share, and incorporate the self for monetization. The mass shooter is the grandiose reflection of this scripting. Their act is neo-fascistic and imperialistic (i.e., a forced symbiosis for domination). For many of the killers, the Columbine massacre is the model that is remodeled: a performance of exhibitionistic revenge (violence/suicide) intended for online virality. The solution is to meet passivity (violence) with consciously passive behavior (withdrawal, contemplation, meditation). A stay-at-home-day where we connect and love one another. From the MSSA conference material (description and learning objectives): In the U.S., 51 people die from mass shootings each year. However, over 100 people are killed by guns each day. What do we know about American culture, violence, and mass shooters in the U.S.? How does online self-promotion for Likes and Friends relate to these phenomena? This lecture will present data on mass shootings, analyses of Big Tech, and illustrations of American culture to comprehend the truth of the present situation. Learning Objective 1: Learn the statistics on mass shooters and their personality structure. Learning Objective 2: Explore the U.S. cultural scripting related to competition and violence, i.e., passive means to solve problems. Learning Objective 3: Examine the connective links between Big Tech, fame-seeking, and mass shootings. www.StayAtHomeDay.com Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Because of how important it is and since I know this can be an intimidating part of our faith for many people, I want to share 3 tips to effectively share the gospel with someone.

YouTube's slogan is, “Broadcast Yourself,” and that is what we do online. We produce and express ourselves as a brand to be procured and optimized for online achievement: Me Inc. We sell this brand to Big Tech (Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft) like a contestant on the television show Shark Tank. The show promotes the neoliberal myth of self-determination: only hard workers who push themselves become winners (superiors) and survive (fittest). The recurring storyline is that the Sharks are winners by their own free will (self-made): grit, hustle, determination, triumph over adversity, discipline, etc. Be Perfect and Try Harder. We are scripted to build an Empire of the Self: Be Your “self”, Be Transparent, Never Settle (i.e., never lose your “self”), and Compete (Win)! Big Tech are the billionaire Sharks, and our online activity is incorporated. But in this digital Shark Tank, we own 0% equity in our digital selves. George Orwell understood that an efficient totalitarian regime drowns the consciousness of the citizens. In the book Nineteen Eighty-Four he notes this as “an act of self-hypnosis.” We are hypnotized by the hype of so-called “artificial intelligence” because the claims are that it is traveling in a direction that will succeed human intelligence, e.g., ChatGPT. As Erik Larson (2021) notes, “The path exists only in our imaginations.” The AI system lacks common sense (intuition) and as these systems are trained for general knowledge (rather than just Jeopardy!), they become more erroneous in their responses. Intelligence includes an inwardness and also goosebumps.  As has been noted, the relationship with the virtual world is symbiotic (psychologically). Now, it is becoming a physical symbiosis. Ferris Jabr quotes Elon Musk in The New York Times Magazine on his ultimate goal for Neuralink. Musk stated that an achievement of “a sort of symbiosis with artificial intelligence” is necessary so that humanity is not obliterated, subjugated or “left behind” by superintelligent machines. “If you can't beat em, join em,” he once said on Twitter, calling it a “Neuralink mission statement.”  Big Tech is after the capture of desire at the neuroplastic level. How do they do this? Big Tech and the new semiocapitalism in general, play the Game called Happy To Help! Digital platforms, applications, and enthusiastic bots (“How can I help you?”) are always Happy To Help! Apps dutifully remember our tasks, memories, documentation, bank records, calendars, social lives, transactions etc., all while having an ulterior motive. If Big Tech is the user's parent, it is saying to us, “Don't think what you think, think what I think.” These monopolies exploit the user's behavioral surplus data to sell it to third party entities for ad revenue. Yeah surveillance! The smartphone, smart home, smart vacuum, and smart bed are all collecting data for what Byung Chul-Han (2022) calls the “information regime.” Han notes that this is how “Surveillance creeps into daily life by way of convenience.” Therefore, the real “value” of Big Tech is its ability to surveil the populace as it is in a symbiotic relationship with governments, intelligence agencies, and militaries.  The solution is subversion. Undermine the authority of internal and external cultural conditioning, i.e., artificial system (ego/ideology). Don't be your “self”, be authentic (Martian). This implies having the naïvest possible frame of mind (talk about FOMO) for observing earthly phenomena, thus “leaving the intellect free for inquiry without the distraction of preconceptions.” (Berne, 1966) We must be clueless, an idiot, in order to “set aside preconceived notions and allow oneself to not know what the hell is going on.” (Lennox, C. Ed., 1997; p. 62). As Martian (Zen) we access intuitive knowledge for an appropriate response.  www.StayAtHomeDay.com Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer. References Berne, E.

Martian is direct experience (simple consciousness), while humans have been trained to identify themselves as separate. This sense of separation provides the capacity for reflection, i.e., ego-consciousness. For example, “I am me.” In a nutshell, humans are conditioned through socialization to believe they are separate entities, i.e., the sense of a permanent, autonomous, and constant “I”. The faith is that each one's fundamental purpose in their bodies over a lifetime is get what they want regardless of how their cravings and acquisitions impact “the world” around them. The delusion of a solid separate self is best cared for through the establishment of an “all about me, and others like me” culture. The notion of a chronological and separate “you” across time is a convincing fabrication. Humans have the psychic capacity for identification (Parent ego state function): we create an “I” that is independent in order to ground and express ourselves. Analytical psychotherapy and meditation are the means to undermine or overthrow the power and authority of our cultural conditioning (the artificial system or Ego). To be Martian. Subversion is the prerequisite. One must unearth core psychic material that is an echo of parental figures and the adaptations we made within the roles we played and identities we constructed. As one disobeys the identification process (e.g., Parent ego states) through analysis and contemplation one can begin to dismantle internal and external conditioning. For example, the morals of American culture center on self-determination by any means necessary, i.e., compete for acquisition to “win.” Selfishness is an ideological value and prescription to be happy or mentally “healthy,” so the story goes. Optimize and get more for my “self” to be content. Delusion. If one abandons this pursuit of happiness in favor of non-attachment to desire, then you are letting go of the delusion of separation. This means to alter or detach our perspective from the dominant cultural messages. To be Martian or no-thing. One looks at what they want and the delusions about what it would mean if they received “everything” they wanted. What is the practical approach to this form of renunciation? Simple: meditation practice. Therefore, everyone as teacher-student, but a conscious, relational symbiosis dissolves the concepts of teacher and student just as zazen is nonduality. The Parent ego state is a hindrance to zazen and as Berne (1972) notes, we need a friendly divorce from the Parent. Suzuki (2003) described direct experience or emptiness as actualized with zazen. This is when there is no conceptual, gaining or knowing idea for the self. All characteristics of the dualistic Parent are emptied, and you are one with activity. Emptiness is the suspension, via zazen, of the dualistically conditioned Parent. This is a personal form of subversion: undermining the existing power and authority that was borrowed from parental figures. www.StayAtHomeDay.com Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

The mass shooter is imperialistic in their demand for the dominance of space-time. They research other mass shootings and targets to create a simulation, e.g., using the Columbine school shooting as a model. The virtual world is the “real” audience for their final [suicidal] act. YouTube says, “Broadcast Yourself” and that is what the mass shooter does: a performance of exhibitionistic violence/suicide intended for online virality. In the movie Top Gun, Pete Mitchell (played by Tom Cruise) decided he would Never Settle for second place. He would be the Best of the Best. Maverick would always be himself. Meaning his persona, Maverick, who was competitive, arrogant, and manipulative. In the U.S. celebrity culture, self-centeredness and selfishness are virtues. The aerial dogfighting of Top Gun is the perfect metaphor for Social Darwinism: the strong achieve through violence and the weak perish. The mass shooter is the ultimate Maverick, but they do not follow “kill or be killed”, because in the mass shooter's case it is killed and be killed. The mass shooter is the loser of neoliberalism. Their bound energy (agitation) is a mobilizing passion to be a winner (for the moment). The mass shooter gains situational power from a gun (Top Gun) to enforce a relationship with Others. Therefore, the mass shooter uses violence to inflict a fascist relationship (forced unity) to relieve their despair. The agitation ends in violence (murder, incapacitation/suicide). The act is imperial in its magnificence (as a spectacle), but now the media is numb to the event. There are approximately 2 mass shootings (4 or more people shot) per day in the U.S. (despair). We escape into the virtual world where we are exploited by Big Tech (craving by design). We are Mindless (passive) and Joyless (split from the body): a state of simple consciousness where we are increasingly dependent. We track the self and make it into an Empire of the Self. In this recording, Andrew is lecturing in Mankato, Minnesota on February 8th, 2023, for an annual alternative education conference. Andrew's lecture was titled, “Mass Shootings & Simulation.” www.StayAtHomeDay.com Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

The 1999 Columbine massacre was televised live for the country to see in real time. Students inside the high school watched their own tragedy on CNN as they searched for answers to what was happening. To watch oneself, by oneself is the hopelessness of American despair. The fuel for this American despair is the reigning ideology of hyper-individualism: constructing an Empire of the Self. This requires the forever updating and remodeling of the self: Me Inc. Both Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had absences of hope: neither had found love and both wrestled with ideas about god and death. Eric's sense of God-like superiority was paired with sadistic nihilism (absence of god), while Dylan's sense of inferiority and depression was one of hopelessness. They could not see themselves or the world as ever changing. They took an absolutist reading of social Darwinian logic to legitimize their actions and it was meant to be televised for the whole world to see. Their despair manifested as powerlessness and agitation. They relinquished any responsibility for their actions and transformed themselves into violence (murder) and incapacitation (suicide) for self-aggrandizement. They were building a sadistic brand and media empire in order to fulfill the Top Gun script (to be the Best of the Best). The scripting was promoted through Games they played: Kick Me, Cops N Robbers, Now I've Got You, You SOB!, I Can't Stand It, etc. In the moment, Columbine was a personalized form of colonialism, Fascism, and imperialism. Harris and Klebold forced a symbiotic relationship with the people of the U.S. in order to dominate space-time (on the airwaves) through an act of revenge. This was performative crime exhibited on TV for the masses in order to instill fear and impotence.  Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Americans are dualistically siloed from one another (urban versus rural; liberal versus conservative; Republican versus Democrat) in echo-chambers of self-noise. Now, rather than “social media,” the social **is** digital media, which is used for the vindication of the self as the optimizable project for achievement. The 20th century breakdown of social bonds (“anomie”) has transformed into compulsory social bonds (intoxicating communication with digital Others). We make a project of the self to avoid despair. Meanwhile, neoliberalism equates social relations with economic imperatives, which means humans invest in self-referentiality (Me, Inc.) to the negation of Other. Instead of transforming despair into joy via relational dialogues, despair is informationalized by way of creating an Empire of the Self. Everyone is a media mogul (YouTube channels and Podcasts). This requires the forever updating and remodeling of the self via digitalization. This Top Gun ideology means everyone is encouraged to “be yourself,” “don't lose yourself”, “find your true self”. This is perpetuated by the mythical doctrine of “survival of the fittest,” i.e., kill or be killed, winner-take-all mentality. The strongest are naturally selected via evolution. Social Darwinism is the prerequisite for the mass shooter who morphs this notion into kill and be killed. Ironically, humans are all mass shooters in the sense that they are building an Empire of the Self (hyperactivity and agitation for space-time online) that leads to incapacitation, e.g., burnout, panic attacks, depression, suicide. What Han (2015) calls the burnout society is due to an excess of positivity, e.g., time of the self. Forever trying to be the Top Gun, i.e., be the Best of the Best. In this recording, Andrew is lecturing at Minnesota State University, Mankato on October 25th, 2022, for an annual mental health conference. The title of the conference was “Role of Social Determinants in Prevention, Trauma, Crisis, and Recovery.” Andrew's lecture was titled, “American Despair: Cultural Forms of Passivity & Violence.” Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Many of us struggle with our identity. We spend most of our lives attempting to answer the question: “Who am I?” We search anywhere and everywhere for an adequate answer. We are bombarded with ideas from every direction. Our family, friends, society, social media, all tell us who they think we are or who we ought to be. However, the truth is we are who God says we are.

Andrew is interviewed for a local television news station on "Mental Health Awareness Day." The full interview is juxtaposed with the brief news clip, so the listener can experience how the "news" gets made. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

What does it mean to “hunger and thirst for righteousness?” Our bodies need food and water to survive. God designed hunger and thirst to be mechanisms that alert our minds to the reality that in order to continue - we need to eat and drink! Thankfully, most of us rarely experience the pain of hunger lasting more than a few hours or the desperation one feels from being truly parched. Even still, how refreshingly sweet is that tall glass of ice cold water when we are thirsty?

A lecture by Andrew Archer lecturing at the 58th annual Nobel Conference in St. Peter, Minnesota (at Gustavus Adolphus College) September 28th-29th, 2022. The title of the conference was “Mental Health (In)Equity and Young People.” Andrew's breakout session was titled, “Craving: What the Virtual World is Doing to Us & What We Can Do About It.” This episode is a recording of the second of two 50 minute lectures Andrew did. He stayed for an additional 30 minutes to do Q&A (at the end of this recording).  Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

To live in the U.S. is to live in simulations of real war. American mass shootings are, in many ways, “imperial.” The act is both magnificent conquering and expansion of place with utter disregard for human life. The random Walmart or grocery store, a center of worship, an inconspicuous employer, or, an otherwise irrelevant “place,” becomes the disgusting spectacle of highest notice. The mass shooter is a domineering emperor who meticulously researches and plans an attack, while desiring online notoriety (content, engagement) that comes in the form of going viral. A mass shooting itself is a simulacra of the U.S. genocide of Indigenous people: this land is my land, this land is [not] your land. The American empire is a manifestation of these acts over hundreds of years, e.g., land grabbing. In toddler language it is the imperial "Mine!" The current form of individualistic imperialism is best represented by the movie Top Gun: Maverick, which itself is a simulation of the original film, Top Gun: one must be the Best of the Best in order to possessively “win”. Relationally, this imperialism is the competitive exaltation of self as superior power over the Other. Survival of the fittest: kill or be killed. For the mass shooter it is kill and be killed. Using data from The Violence Project, Andrew analyzes 21st century mass shootings through the lens of Franco Berardi's work and the late French sociologist Jean Baudrillard's books, Simulacra & Simulation, and The Gulf War Did Not Take Place.  References: Baudrillard, J., & Glaser, S. F. (1994). Simulacra and simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Baudrillard, J., & Patton, P. (1995). The gulf war did not take place. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. Berardi, F. (2015). Heroes: Mass murder and suicide. New York: Verso.  Berardi, F. (2021). The third unconscious: The psycho-sphere in the viral age. New York: Verso. Berne, E. (1972). What do you say after you say hello?: The psychology of human destiny. New York: Grove Press, Inc. Durkheim, E. (2006/1897). On suicide. Penguin Classics: New York. Han, B.C. (2015). The burnout society. Stanford Briefs: Stanford, CA.  Han, B.C. (2022). Non-things: Upheaval in the lifeworld. Polity Press: Medford, MA. Peterson, J. & Densley J. (2021): The violence project: How to stop a mass shooting epidemic. Abrams Press: New York.  Schiff, A.W. & Schiff, J. L. (1971). Passivity. Transactional Analysis Journal. 1(1), 71-78. Solomon, C. (2003). Transactional Analysis Theory: The Basics. Transactional Analysis Journal, 33(1), 15–22 Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

On this episode you'll hear a recording of an online lecture by Andrew Archer. The topic is “mindfulness”: as a state of mind, as a principle, and as a social movement. The commodification of an individualized form of mindfulness promises to relieve stress, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, improve sleep, alleviate GI difficulties, improve mental health and self-control with enhanced flexibility, equanimity, and improved concentration as well as emotional intelligence. The self-focused list of individualized benefits goes on and on. However, Ron Purser's book, McMindfulness, sheds light on what happens when a contemplative practice is stripped of its ethical origins, i.e., the Buddhist Eightfold Path. Divorced from its historic and cultural roots, secular mindfulness has become a capitalist spirituality for social control, i.e., maintenance of the political-economic status quo, via self-tracking and ultimately self-pacification. Just breathe and don't judge as the world burns. References: Purser, R.E. (2019). McMindfulness: How mindfulness became the new capitalist spirituality. Repeater Books: United Kingdom. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

The British science fiction anthology, Black Mirror, depicts a world where the distinction between “real” and “virtual” is no longer relevant: people live as a totalizing symbiosis with digital technology. In the episode titled, “White Bear,” participants at the White Bear Justice Park are given three instructions: no talking, keep your distance, and enjoy yourself. These are the attributions and injunctions of the virtual world. Talking now means writing and texting, while relational bodies are separated, and everything online is for our own, selfish entertainment: 1. No talking 2. Keep your distance 3. Enjoy yourself. Across the series we find a thread line: consciousness, e.g., memory, is dis-embodied: the ego or self is solidly constructed and able to be downloaded and uploaded without a body. This is where the first-glance subversive appearance of Black Mirror collapses into conformity with the dominant ideology of hyper-individualism: a metaphysical “me” that acquires, possesses, and dominates “the world.” Zen offers a not-two perspective of body-mind: consciousness and physicality are not one, not two. The ego as an object with subjectivity cannot actualize its own inherent lack (manifests as craving) as the subjective agent of itself (as an object). Forever grasping for the reification of itself and the denial of its own life-and-death, the ego wills itself to exit the body. A will to virtuality.  Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

We enter the virtual world because we are bored and want to escape the body (dissociate). The virtual world gives us what we want, but it does not eliminate the feeling of boredom that is inside the body: the feeling is suspended in a digital space of non-time. When we exit the virtual world, we realize that the feeling (boredom) hasn't gone away, so we cyclically return to the machine. The Japanese writer, Izumi Suzuki, wrote Terminal Boredom, just before she killed herself in 1986. The subversive and dystopian short story is set in the future where feeling good and pleasure are the pathos of the culture described. The main character is a misanthropic young female who is unemployed and living with her mother (who is divorced from her father). The tale begins as she meets her ex-boyfriend at the subway. Neither she or the ex-boyfriend have a sense of smell or taste, which is why the narrator believes that kids these days do not care to eat and why their “everyday lives feel like a scene from a TV show.” Franco Berardi (2015) writes about the extended exposure to virtual flows of information in the context of mass murderers and suicide. The virtual world stimulation “produces the effect of desensitization to the bodily experience of suffering and of pleasure” (47) Therefore, like the individuals in Terminal Boredom, the “virtualization of lived experience” or the virtual world both assuages the pain “resulting from rejection, isolation and mockery” and also, exaggerates “the inability to relate to others, and to distinguish between fantasy and reality in the social sphere.” References: Berardi, F. (2015). Heroes: Mass murder and suicide. London: Verso. Suzuki, I. (2021). Terminal boredom: Stories. Verso: London. Han, B.C. (2018). The expulsion of the other. Polity Press: Medford, MA. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is neither “artificial” nor “intelligent.” AI, and the tools as well as production of the virtual world, are made of real-world, three-dimensional resources: the raw material of Earth. Kate Crawford (2021) makes it clear that AI is “an extractive industry,” based on “highly energy-intensive infrastructures,” from the production and labor to the surveillance measures of corporate and governmental actors, aimed at total social control: “our sense of the cloud being out of sight and abstracted away, when in fact it is material, affecting the environment and climate in ways that are far from being fully recognized and accounted for.” In our minds, the digital space is immaterial. However, for example, Crawford notes that “Data centers are among the world's largest consumers of electricity.” She continues, “Thousands of people are needed to support the illusion of automation: tagging, correcting, evaluating, and editing AI systems to make them appear seamless.” Illusions regarding automation and AI provoke fantasies of a progressively liberal, democratic, and safe future based on the will to virtualization. Public relations campaigns have manufactured this utopian vision. What has been disguised is the maltreatment of labor within the supply chains of high-tech production. A case in point is the relationship between Foxconn and Apple. The Chinese manufacturer Foxconn, assembles iPhones, iPads, Macs, etc. for the largest and most profitable corporation in the world: Apple. Foxconn has one million workers. The labor practices and management systems of these factories for technological supply chains reads draconian. Specifically, in 2010, a dozen factory workers committed suicide based on the horrendous work conditions. The political suicides were largely completed by the individuals throwing themselves off upper levels of dormitory buildings they resided in. The working conditions of Foxconn and the stories of individual laborers is documented in the book, Dying for an iPhone: Apple, Foxconn, and The Lives of China's Workers. What has been learned is that “our beloved high-tech gadgets are not produced in a Silicon Valley paradise. Indeed, while designed in Silicon Valley, they are not produced there at all.” References: 45 and 219, Crawford, K. (2021). Atlas of AI: Power, politics, and the planetary costs of artificial intelligence. New Haven: Yale University Press. 195, Chan, J., Selden, M. and Ngai, P. (2020). Dying for an iPhone: Apple, Foxconn, and the lives of China's workers. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarket Books. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

The aim of Transactional Analysis is social control, whereby one retains control of themselves despite others who may be consciously or unconsciously attempting to trigger emotions or moralistic beliefs. (Berne, 1961; p. 91) Transactional Analysis deals with what actually happens (interpersonally) rather than just what is going on in the minds of the individuals concerned, i.e., bird's eye view (Berne, 1963; p. 143). Transactional Analysis “provides a system for awareness of and control of the unconscious and automatic in a person's behavior.” (Childs-Gowell, 1979; p. 204) References: Berne, E. (1961). Transactional analysis in psychotherapy: A systematic individual and social psychiatry. New York, NY: Grove Press. Berne, E. (1963). The structure and dynamics of organizations and groups. J.B. Lippincott Company: Philadelphia. Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc. Berne, E. (1971). Sex in human loving. New York: Simon & Schuster. Berne, E. (1972). What do you say after you say hello?: The psychology of human destiny. New York: Grove Press, Inc. Berne, E. (1976). Beyond games and scripts. Grove Press, Inc.: New York. Berne, E. (1977). Intuition and ego states: The origins of Transactional Analysis. Edited by Paul McCormick. Harper & Row: San Francisco. Childs-Gowell, E. (1979). Reparenting schizophrenics: The cathexis experience. North Quincy, MA: Christopher Publishing House. Schiff, A.W. & Schiff, J. L. (1971). Passivity. Transactional Analysis Journal. 1(1), 71-78.  Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

This episode is a recording of a free public lecture that Andrew Archer gave in Mankato, MN (3/24/2022). The advertised description is this: We love our smartphone. It is part of our body. We sleep with it and fear we will lose it. We touch it 3,000 times per day by pushing, swiping, and tapping with our fingers. It thinks for us and gives us what we want, but to no end. We become passive. We can't live without it. Americans average 12 hours of digital electronic media per day. We are dissociated from our body as computer algorithms reflexively predict what we will want in an endless cycle of craving. This presentation will utilize Transactional Analysis to teach you (1) how to better understand yourself and (2) the virtual world as well as (3) what we can do about it.

The theory of the 18th century panopticon prison was meant to impose physical discipline on its prisoners by the perception of an omnipresent gaze from a central tower. The Digital Panopticon feels free of coercion because it lacks a centralized perspective. The camera is for selfies and not surveillance. In the virtual world, we are voluntarily constructing a digital prison whereby we illuminate ourselves and the Other. Our behavioral data is rendered transparent with all of our personal, interpersonal, financial, and therefore social political processes (transactions, relationships, etc.) available to advertisers and governments. We have become warden and inmate of ourselves. The Digital Panopticon is the tool of “psychopolitics”, according to Byung-Chul Han. Freedom and coercion meet as we voluntarily exploit ourselves through the compulsion to self-express and self-present. The power of the virtual world is that it has mediated our internal experience rather than an external agent imposing rules; the compulsion to say an emphatic Yes! to self-exploitation, which feels freely chosen by the user. The inner need to put oneself on display feeds the Digital Panopticon.    References:  Han, B.C. (2017). In the swarm: Digital prospects. The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA. Han, B.C. (2015). The transparency society. Stanford Briefs: Stanford, CA. Han, B.C. (2018). The expulsion of the other. Polity Press: Medford, MA. Han, B.C. (2017). Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and new technologies of power. Verso: New York. Seymour, R. (2019). The twittering machine. London: The Indigo Press. Han, B.C. (2021). Capitalism and the death drive. Polity Press: Medford, MA. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

On this episode you'll hear a recording of a lecture by Andrew Archer. The event was part of an annual social services conference in Minneapolis, MN (3/16/22). The title was, Craving: What the Virtual World is Doing to Us & What We Can Do About It. The audio begins with the title slide that has three separate writings continuously scrolling across the screen (i.e., an algorithm): “Americans average 12 hours of digital electronic media per day,” “Human-Machine Symbiosis,” and “Algorithms reflexively predict what we will want to hook us into an endless cycle of craving.”

In this episode we return to an overview of the personality structure and the idea of relational symbiosis as it relates to the user and the virtual world. For example, the power and possibility of the virtual world controls the choices for the users. This amounts to the analogy of a parent following around a young child and telling them, "Don't think!" and "Don't remember!" Some of the trivial consequences are that the Parent in our head tells us to wear wearables and carry a mobile phone on our person at all times. Additionally, we do not use the Adult to remember, e.g., birthdays or phone numbers, or to think, e.g., the ability to use a map for destinations. But, who made these decisions and what are the consequences of a Mindlessness Script? Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Our phones and wearable devices are now part of the body. Did "I" make that decision? We don't remember birthdays, places, or phone numbers. Who made this decision? The injunctions of the virtual world are Don't Think! and Don't Remember! According to Byung-Chul Han, "power" is based on a level of internal mediation. We say "Yes!" to the virtual world and feel free and autonomous in doing so. With intense forms of mediation, power is most efficient when it is invisible: we believe it is our own determination guiding our decisions. We do what the holders of power, i.e., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, etc., want based on their selection of choices for us. Meanwhile, we believe we are free and self-determined with the possibility of choices. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Andrew Archer is an illustrator and art director who was born in Auckland, New Zealand and currently resides in Melbourne, Australia. Andrew joins the show to speak about his connection to basketball and his creative process. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this final episode of Series 1, Andrew responds to a question from a listener. Brian asked about meditation practice: “I'm reminded of my brother who told me years ago when I asked him if he meditated, "I tried but I can't sit still like that and not think”.” The answer: Zen meditation practice (both as teacher and as student) with real world people in order to decontaminate the Adult ego state. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Part 2 of “Teacher-Student Relationships” is a teacher-student example provided from Andrew's experience teaching meditation to preschool children. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

In this episode we discuss a fictional story as metaphor for a livelihood based on adaptive behavior or craving. The 2013 novel, The Circle, by Dave Eggers paints a picture of a symbiotic relationship with the virtual world. The main character's Psycho part competitively manages herself online with the TruYou application, which consolidates all your user profiles into one: your true self or TruYou. The character in the novel finds herself completely dependent upon the virtual social network, which brings out the worst in her. In The Circle, to disconnect is tantamount to non-existence. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

The symbiosis of infant and mother is analogous to the user and virtual world. As a relationship, the user is hyper-connected as a means to get what is wanted, while the virtual world provides the power and possibility to function as control and choice for the user. Here we can describe with more detail the part of the personality that craves or wants: the Psycho or psychological part that adapted to our cultural conditioning. This part that is promoted and appealed to in the virtual world is based on competition and greed. The Little Donald Trump in our heads. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Here we discuss the development of each aspect of the personality structure:  Parent, Adult, and Child. The corresponding characteristics of Parent, Adult and Child are the three P's: power (critical/nurturing), possibility (rational/objective), and potency (psychological/natural). The functions of the three states of mind are reduced to three C's: control, choice, and connection. We can understand and describe an example of a consciously symbiotic relational process: the mother and newborn infant. The function of the mother is the power to condition (control) the infant based on the provided frames of reference and in this case the literal environment. The mother makes rational determinations for the possibility (choice) of what the infant objectively needs and wants. The infant is suspended in the moment as she develops a psychological process through her connection with mother (potency). Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Who are we becoming in the real world? This episode comprehends the dominant social character of the moment. The ideology of hyper-individualism is outlined as a means to depict how the non-rational and self-centered behavior of the virtual world is inverted in the real world: we operate in a sober, rational, analytical manner to preemptively avoid emotions in order to always stay-in-control. We are a Manager of ourself. The dystopian Japanese novel, The Memory Police, is a metaphor for this individualistic way of being and its passive, conformist consequences. Zen understands the attachment to what we want is misunderstood lack. The attachment to lack (craving) is an adaptation to our conditioning. It is from this part that we play Games and produce karmic activity in the form of greed, hatred/ill-will, and delusion. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

In part 6, Our Mindlessness Script illustrates how we adapt to cultural conditioning by not thinking. The 1998 film, The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, is an exaggerated cinematic example of a pre-conscious life plan based on a decision made in early childhood. Using the film, we can understand how the part of us that craves (Psycho) operates based on the directives of the script. The parallel with the virtual world is, like Truman Burbank, we are following a Mindlessness script with a “Don't Think!” injunction: algorithms control the possibility of choice and frames of reference based on the potency of user data. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

An understanding of our sense of self and the relationship we are in with the virtual world, i.e., two non-existing things that feel like reality, produces despair. This existential emotion requires relational attention. The final section of the podcast is the Zen concept of teacher-student relations. An example is given from Andrew's experience teaching meditation in the Wisconsin prison system. Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Americans average 12 hours per day on electronics in the virtual world, or, less than half their life in the real world. Tech platforms are using artificial intelligence (i.e., computer algorithms) to extract our behavioral data in order to reflexively predict what we will want based on what we wanted in the past. The more accurate the prediction, the better we become at wanting, i.e., craving. The introduction charts the path of the podcast series: what can Transactional Analysis and Zen Buddhism tell us about our sense of self and our relationship as a user with the virtual world? Visit MankatoTherapist.com for more information and to contact Andrew Archer.

Cultivate MN is a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to promoting awareness within early childhood programs, family services organizations, and child welfare programs. We believe sharing stories promotes awareness and cultivates connection.Episode 4 Podcast Guest: Andrew Archer, Mindfulness-Based Practitioner Andrew Archer, LICSW is the owner of Minnesota Mental Health Services. He is a clinical social worker, writer, instructor and national speaking. Andrew practices Zen Psychoanalysis, which is a co-emergent, fusion of psychodynamic theories of mind and Zen Buddhism. Through meditation and psychosocial analysis, the practice is emptiness of attachment to concepts (Zen) as well as executive control of one's state of mind (Transactional Analysis). Andrew has held academic positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.Podcast edited by: Jordyn Erickson  |  Meraki Marketingwww.nulifestyleco.com/meraki-marketing

Andrew Archer - a serial entrepreneur with a focus on Artificial Intelligence and robotic systems, began building robots at the age of 12 and subsequently started his first company at 16. Now he lives in Kyiv and runs a business here. Andrew Archer is, among other things, the CEO of Aitheon, a business automation platform giving businesses the ability to leverage Artificial Intelligence, process automation, distributed robotics and IOT easily. We were talking about Kyiv from the point of view of an American, about robot consciousness and perspectives of inventing a robot that would change your bed linen.   Big thanks for sound engineering to @masterskayalab

Mikel Miles Interviews Tokyo Five Writer "Andrew Archer" discuss Tokyo Five, His Inspiration, Anime and More.

In this episode guest host Amber Gollata talks with Andrew Archer about his memoir, Pleading Insanity, and his process for writing it.

Meet Andrew Archer.. With over 15 years experience as a musician, author, journalist and project manager, Andrew is a creative entrepreneur that has seen the highs of lows of critical success. As a seasoned music writer and journalist, his list of credits include partnerships and collaborations with leading Australian hip hop groups The Hilltop Hoods, Bliss N Eso and Grammy Award winning Gold Coast producer M-Phazes. For more than 10 years Andrew was an instrumental force in the development of the blossoming local rap counter-culture and moved audiences across Australia with his live music. Now as a free agent Andrew is the author of The Tokyo 5, a dystopian comic book adventure series that chronicles the lives of five young women and the societal issues they face on a daily basis. Armed with a collection of heart warming and emotionally taxing stories, Andrew’s journey through the peaks and troughs of a creative artist’s struggle to survive are captivating audiences through his podcasts and comic writing. With a penchant for discussing the human condition, Andrew believes his stories and the lessons they teach can help equip people with the tools to understand depression, combat apathy and unlock their creative potential.

In this episode we talk to Andrew Archer, VP Marketing at Dataloop.io.

Kelly Thompson and Andrew Archer of Melbourne-based design studio UNA join us this week to share the story of how and why they decided to start their new company, the incredible power of combining their different skillsets, and a peek into what they have in store for their so-called UNAverse. GUEST LINKS: UNA's Website: http://www.weareuna.com/ UNA's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/weareuna UNA's Instagram: https://instagram.com/weareuna/ I Am Fearless: http://www.weareuna.com/libra Bloomberg: http://www.weareuna.com/bloomberg ------------------------------ The Collective Newsletter: http://www.thecollectivepodcast.com/newsletter Subscribe on iTunes: http://www.thecollectivepodcast.com/itunes Subscribe via RSS: http://www.thecollectivepodcast.com/rss Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thecollectivepodcast Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thecpodcast ------------------------------ SHOW NOTES: Good Books: https://vimeo.com/35720685 David Downton: http://www.daviddownton.com/ Nintendo Masterclass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePRC2Uau-ag Semi-Permanent: https://www.semipermanent.com/ Essentialism: http://amzn.to/1gthfWk Eat That Frog!: http://amzn.to/1i4yZXZ The Compound Effect: http://amzn.to/1FHjpID “It's just time. Time and a lot of hard work. Lots of people say to me ‘aw, you're so lucky.' I am not lucky - I just worked my ass off.” -Kelly Thompson, UNA The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employers.

Melbourne-based illustrator Andrew Archer joins us this week to discuss the evolution of his work over the years, the importance of travel on his personal and professional life, and the benefits of working through an agency. Also, basketball. Lots of basketball. Andrew's Website: http://www.andrewarcher.com/ Andrew's Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewtarcher Andrew's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrewarcherillo ------------------------------ Subscribe on iTunes: http://www.bit.ly/collectiveitunes Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thecollectivepodcast Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thecpodcast ------------------------------ Drew Struzan Documentary: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1486843/ Début Art: http://www.debutart.com/ Vault 49: http://www.vault49.com/ Basecamp: http://www.basecamp.com Harvest: http://try.hrv.st/2-70481 “Having talented people around you who put in the work only makes you better as a person. In all elements, not only just work; as a person, in life.”

A great opportunity to interview author, Andrew Archer, who captivates you with his intense recollections of his life as he struggles with drug and alcohol addiction on top of his bipolar disorder in his book, Pleading Insanity. This is probably the most introspective PT Show of all time and I truly hope that not only will my most loyal listeners appreciate the different style, but it will attract new listeners as well--Remember to keep on LIVIN!

Celebrating their brand new album on Global Underground this month is the UK duo known Trafik, also known as Andrew Archer and John Elliott. 'None But The Brave' is their first album in 3 years and... Internationally renowned DJ & producer Darin Epsilon is host of PERSPECTIVES, a monthly radio show and podcast that features the latest and greatest in Progressive House, Tech House, and Deep House music. Download guest mixes from top artists such as including Moonbeam, Jody Wisternoff, Max Graham, D:Fuse, and many more. To view tracklists or find more information on the program, please visit http://www.darinepsilon.com

Celebrating their brand new album on Global Underground this month is the UK duo known Trafik, also known as Andrew Archer and John Elliott. 'None But The Brave' is their first album in 3 years and... Internationally renowned DJ & producer Darin Epsilon is host of PERSPECTIVES, a monthly radio show and podcast that features the latest and greatest in Progressive House, Tech House, and Deep House music. Download guest mixes from top artists such as including Moonbeam, Jody Wisternoff, Max Graham, D:Fuse, and many more. To view tracklists or find more information on the program, please visit http://www.darinepsilon.com