Integrity Psychology – A Summary in Verse

I’m writing a book
But it’s taking a while
So here is a poem
I do hope you smile

Let’s begin with life
What is it, exactly?
Transmission of information!
Let’s think abstractly

You’re like a signal
Propagating through time
Genes through generations
Symbols through media (like rhyme)

You get a collection
Of things at the start
Childhood is important
Things imprint on your heart

From this, you get passions
Things you love to do
And also a mission
Something to see through

In this way, we’re information
All jumbled together
Each human unique
Like snowflakes and feathers

But we’re not just a hard drive
Because we can create!
We make new information
Some of it great

Turns out we all yearn
To live beyond death
Sex is one method
But we have writing, and breath

Let’s return to the mission
You have one, too
Do you know what it is?
This thing you must do?

If not, do not worry
For parents and teachers
Spend a great deal of effort
To put you on the bleachers

An astronaut? No way!
A game designer? Haha!
A leader? Not your place.
A speaker? Blah blah.

These things are attacks
On your Original Instruction
Abuse, neglect, and bigotry
Are also corruptions

Maybe in therapy,
You’ll find yourself?
Not so fast, Tony Soprano –
Read the books on their shelf!

Psychologists are fucked
They don’t have a clue
What’s the definition of mind?
Of self? They still argue…

Where does consciousness come from?
They have but theories
When you read the papers
Your mind fills with queries

The short story’s consciousness
Exists to improve
We hate surprise and like pleasure
Always on the move

And turns out human nature
Is not what we think
If we listen to psychology
We’ll assume that we stink

In fact, we have potential
Much more than we hear
A world of sages and teachers –
No more evil to fear…

So why aren’t we there yet?
We have all the tools
We could use robots for farming –
Are we really just fools?

The problem is “normal”
And our idea of the thing
We’ve been underestimating ourselves
From the roofs I will sing

There are ten steps to wisdom[1]
Nine stages in a life[2]
Most fall by the wayside
From trauma or strife

But with good support
And helpful instruction
We can engage
In personality construction

We must start with integrity
The wholeness of self
The true bottom of Maslow’s Hierarchy[3]
Not to be left on the shelf

Like a music producer[4]
We can make people more human
We can develop their wisdom
Skills, and acumen

Standing in the way?
The industrial machine
Unprecedented conformity
Demanded by bosses so mean

The system cares not
About who you are
Can you make the widget?
Can you drive the car?

Machines came before shrinks
As did city living[5]
From that we got bylaws
And commutes unforgiving

The whole fucking project
Is to standardize people
A disorder impairs “normal functioning”
For that? Pills by the handful!

Layers of corruption
You wouldn’t believe
What lunatic psychiatrists
Have been able to achieve

And teachers? Mostly bad.
No kids of their own
Hyped up on leftist drivel
Repeating things they’ve been shown

After six decades
Of utter confusion
Society’s collapsing
Consumed in delusions

Let’s return to your mission
One final time
To neglect it is sad –
Indeed it’s a crime!

Every job done with heart
Is an expression of Being
You could be welding or dancing
Or writing or skiing

There’s doctors and lawyers
And businessfolks too
These roles contain meaning
If it’s what you’re meant to do

But our world lacks integrity
And it’s not all our fault
The system’s designed
To trip us at the start

Psychology’s been a weapon
In this invisible war
It’s my goal to reform it
And help it help more

I hope this was useful
And maybe inspiring
Sign up for my list
With five contacts, I’m perspiring

When my book is completed
I’ll let you know
Over three hundred sources
I’m excited to show

To be fair, psychologists
Have done lots of great work
But their foundation is shaky
And full of odd quirks

An engineering perspective
On the realities of life
Will cut through the literature
Like a hot butter knife

At least that’s my goal –
The book remains to be wrote
It’s my top priority
I hope it’s the GOAT

[1] “Postautonomous Ego Development”, Susanne R. Cook-Greuter

[2] “The Life Cycle: Completed”, Erik & Joan Erikson

[4] Various influences.

[6] Ibid.