ALIENATION The voluntary but often unperceived attitude of detaching oneself from reality and especially from the consciousness of one’s errors. When we are unwilling to accept consciousness of something, we use many different things to alienate ourselves, among them sex, power, money, hyperactivity, travel, television, alcohol and drugs.
ANALYTICAL TRILOGY A scientific theory and methodology created by Brazilian psychoanalyst Norberto R. Keppe, Ph.D., which unifies the fields of science, philosophy and theology. In the individual this corresponds to the unification of feeling, thought and action that results in full consciousness.
BEING One’s essence, which is fundamentally good, beautiful and truthful.
CENSORSHIP The prevention of disturbing or painful thoughts, feelings or actions from reaching consciousness except in a disguised form, especially consciousness of psychosocial pathology.
CONSCIOUSNESS The component of waking awareness, both inside and outside oneself, perceptible by a person at any given instant. Includes awareness of right and wrong, of psychopathological attitudes and of goodness, truth and beauty.
CONSCIENTIZATION A word coined in English as a synonym for the original in Portuguese used by Dr. Keppe to describe the psychological process of becoming aware of reality, both external and internal, through a mixed process of feeling and knowing.
ENVY While the dictionary defines envy as a combination of discontent, resentment and desire usually for the possessions, advantages or qualities of another, Keppe adds a new dimension to this definition, broader than ordinary jealousy and closer to the Latin root of the word: invidere (in=non, videre=to see). Keppe sees envy as a psychological blindness, a negation of awareness, an unconscious wish to destroy the goodness and beauty we see not just in others but in our own lives as well. Although Keppe was originally trained as a Freudian analyst, he observed in his clinical practice that his patients exhibited envy that was not, as Freud proposed, sexually based. Instead, it was due to a broader rejection of love, an unconscious dismissal of the goodness, truth and beauty in oneself and in others. In Keppes opinion, envy, although mainly unseen, is the primary destructive psychological force behind all ills mental, physical and social.
EXTERNALIZE/EXTERIORIZE To give or attribute an external form or objective character outside the self to states of mind, attitudes, etc.
FEELINGS Keppe proposes that the only real feeling is love, and therefore that envy, hate, anger are not true feelings but primarily attitudes taken against love.
IDEALIZE To regard or show as perfect or more nearly perfect than is true.
IDENTIFICATION To recognize in another person ones own characteristics, good or bad. We can identify with someone without realizing it.
INCONSCIENTIZATION / INCONSCIENTIZE Coined by Keppe to describe the willful attitude of concealing, repressing or denying one’s consciousness. Hiding from oneself something one does not wish to see.
INTERIORIZATION Coined by Keppe to describe the comprehensive process of perceiving the existence of an inner psychological universe greater than our external universe: virtually, the existence in us of the beauty, truth and goodness of the Creator. The most important process in Analytical Trilogy because it constitutes a return to ones inner self, to the source of life and happiness.
INTERNALIZE / INTERIORIZE To make (others, especially the prevailing attitudes, ideas, norms, etc.) a part of ones own patterns of thinking.
INVERSION A psychological process, first observed by Keppe in 1977 and unique to his work, in which values and the perception of reality are inverted in the individual and in society. Examples: seeing good in something evil and evil in something good; believing that reality, not fantasy, causes suffering; seeing work as a sacrifice and laziness as pleasurable; thinking that love brings suffering and pain; and making wealth, prestige and power the most important goal of all.
NEUROSIS Any of various mental or emotional disorders involving symptoms such as insecurity, anxiety, depression and irrational fears. According to Keppe, all human beings are neurotic to a greater or lesser degree.
PARANOIA Irrational distrust of others, delusions of persecution, often strenuously defended with apparent logic and reason.
PROJECT To externalize or exteriorize (a thought, feeling or action/attitude) so that it appears to have objective reality.
PROJECTION The unconscious act or process of ascribing to others ones own ideas, impulses or emotions, especially when they are considered undesirable or cause anxiety.
PROJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION AND PROJECTIVE IDEALIZATION are two sides of the same coin, so to speak, in which a person sees in someone else his own most serious defects or the qualities he imagines himself to have. Both types of projection involve unreal, delusional ideas.
PROJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION An advanced stage of projection of a persons pathology, the individual sees the other person as being the cause of his problems and unhappiness. The target person(s) is usually emotionally linked to the individual and does not have the problems/attitudes ascribed to him. The sick person generally projects his own defects; that is, sees them in the very person or persons who are good to him. Envy is the underlying cause of projective identification, a theory initially proposed by Melanie Klein.
PROJECTIVE IDEALIZATION An even more highly advanced stage of idealization, the person imagines that the object (usually a loved one) possesses ideals and qualities he himself fails to incorporate into himself or his life. Discovered by Norberto Keppe, projective idealization is another expression of envy in the Keppean sense and something that everyone does to some extent, imagining qualities the object does not possess. Very often the projection is an inversion whereby the person sees his own qualities in someone sicker, more unbalanced exactly the opposite of what occurs in the process of projective identification.
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY The study of psychological illness. Also used as a synonym for psychological illness.
SANITY Soundness of judgment or reason. Keppe considers a person sane if they are willing and have the humility to accept the consciousness of their envy as well as enough self-control to curb thoughts and actions based on envious impulses. In short, sanity means living and acting in accordance with the goodness, truth and beauty inherent in ones being.
TRUTH That which is real; that which exists, good or bad. Truth is absolute, the same for everyone, never relative. The same holds true for all untruth, falsehood, lying. For example, spoiled food is not good for anyone; aggression hurts everyone; tyranny is not beneficial for anyone; love is good for everyone; oxygen is good and necessary for everyone.
UNCONSCIOUS, THE Defined in traditional psychoanalytical theory as the division of the mind containing elements of psychic makeup, such as memories or repressed desires that are not subject to conscious perception or control but that often affect conscious thoughts and behavior. In Keppes view, the unconscious exists only as a negation of consciousness, which exists prior to it. He does not consider the unconscious to be an actual compartment in the psyche, but sees it as the effort we make to hide our problems, especially our envy. Because our psychopathology is too shameful to admit, we try to ignore it any way we can. As a result, it not only continues to exist but its negative force becomes even greater.
WILL, THE A person’s acceptance or denial of the perception of consciousness.