Arnold Böcklin, Der Gang nach Emmaus (1870) Esoteric Speech in St. Paul Paul provides us with a model for how he approaches modulating his speech depending on his audience's level of spiritual maturity. Matthew Stanley • Christianity
Religion isn't for you What if the power of religion lies not in what is authentic or personal about it, but precisely in its capacity to make us feel strange and alienated from ourselves? Matthew Stanley • Samsara Diagnostics
What died on the cross In the wake of the cross, we now have to grapple with who God has revealed Himself to be, laying waste to all the games we used to play around Him. Matthew Stanley • Theology
An animal born too soon must make masks We feel that we cannot relate to ourselves until we have performed the necessary alienation of objectifying ourselves, thus producing an object we take to be ourselves. Matthew Stanley • Psychoanalysis
Desire: Push Theories and Pull Theories (Part 1) This piece composes part one of a larger two part essay which continues our ongoing series on the philosophical question posed by self-destructive behaviors in humans. You can read part two by clicking here. Rene Girard’s work is instructive in a number of ways, but on this point we Matthew Stanley • Psychoanalysis
Rembrandt's "Solomon's Idolatry" Idols and Egos: psychoanalysis as a Jewish science The critique of idolatry in Judaism You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. — Exodus 20:4 "The idols of the nations Matthew Stanley • Psychoanalysis
"Lower Manhattan, Broad and Wall Streets" by Childe Hassam (1907) Everything done in darkness When we see the one who wields power, we must see someone ensnared in a myriad invisible deals with their terms penned in blood. Matthew Stanley • Theology
Source: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6NDZdw Losing your field and becoming illegible I've been experiencing a gradual weakening of my bonds with those fields which once gave shape to my life through their fantasies, discourse, and transferential relations. Matthew Stanley • Philosophy
"Landscape with ruins in the moonlight" by Arnold Böcklin (1849) Entering the third year of Samsara Diagnostics This year will provide new opportunities for us to think and learn together. Here are the key components of Samsara Diagnostics on the horizon for 2025... Matthew Stanley
