Social life myths

The main message of this monograph is that the appearance of the mammalian brain with the ability to acquire drives ensured the development of social life and ultimately led to the evolution of human society. This most sophisticated form of organized life on earth is still in the trial-and-error phase of its development. It seeks to outgrow the myths-directed era of its history and arrive at its final state, the rationally directed human society. 

Ingelby 1982). The concept of mental illness as a medical phenomenon, therefore, facilitates a disguised form of social control. As Szasz describes The mandate for contemporary psychiatry. .. is precisely to obscure, indeed to deny the ethical dilemmas of life and to transform these into medicalised and technicalised problems susceptible to "professional" solutions (Szasz 1970, p. 11). Or in Foucault s words Psychiatry is a moral practice, overlaid by the myths of positivism, where positivism refers to an empirical scientific framework (Foucault 1965, p. 276). 

The social artist knows when to be a humorist, fool, or comedian. He or she can break out of the usual projections and expectations and present a world of the absurd. I have always found it useful to learn half a dozen jokes native to the society in which I am working, as well as those joke or comic stories that are universal. Thus, by encouraging such variety of expression, the social artist encourages people to celebrate the new possibilities in creative expressions and all manner of life affirming, life advancing actions - music, songs, humor, dances, rituals, and myths of possibility to be played out, performed, and celebrated. 

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