The Synopsis:

“This book offers an incisive exploration of powerful trends within, and between, nations in the West over the past two hundred years. The author traces shifts in psychological forces and ‘frames of mind’, that have resulted in a crucial ‘intellectual climate change’. He contends that recent decades have seen rapid and significant transformations in how we define our ‘selves’, as a new emphasis on instant connectedness has come to replace reflectiveness and introspection.

Bollas argues that this trend has culminated in the current rise of psychophobia; a fear of the mind and a rejection of depth psychologies that has paved the way for what he sees as hate based solutions to world problems, such as the victory of Trump in America and Brexit in the United Kingdom. He maintains that, if we are to counter the threat to democracy posed by these changes and refind a more balanced concept of the self within society, we must put psychological insight at the heart of a new kind of analysis of culture and society.”

K-punk, while fascinating and informative, has grown a bit dense and after a month or so of start-stop reading and going back to read up and reference all is references, needs a pause. I need a palate cleanser. This was a find from the editor’s desk at The Economist and I’ve spent the last 8 months shifting it downwards on the nightstand stack and pulling out/buying others to read first. It’s time to get into it. The above synopsis from the jacket leaves little doubt that it’s pretty much right where my head is at these days, in particular the mention of emphasis on instant connectedness. I’ve had to disconnect to a large degree from instant connectedness to find any peace and sense of self. It has been only in the disconnectedness that I’ve reconnected with my ability to digest information more than 140 characters at a time. It’s been in the more distant place that I’ve been able to reconnect with my self. The goal of course is to come out on the other side and be able to reconnect with everyone else as a more complete “Me.”

That all remains to be seen.

Something had to be done though as I was feeling like I was disintegrating into tweets and soundbytes, into anger and depression. I was becoming atomized and diffuse and cloud-like, like a vaguely unpleasant odor.

(And as an aside, melancholia is used correctly here. Insert smiley face to denote humor.)