Sotillos/Sacred Psychology, Introduction: Theoretical Presuppositions

An inquiry into the origins of modern Western psychology is also an inquiry into metaphysics, philosophy, and sacred tradition. While it claims a monopoly on all knowledge about behavior and the human mind, it is often overlooked that modern psychology is also a worldview with its own uncritical assumptions. In truth, this totalizing outlook—having determined the way humanity understands itself—has now effectively become a substitute for religion. While the discipline has severed itself from a true ontology, it has unknowingly forged a pseudo-metaphysics that permeates the whole of post-Enlightenment psychology, which has given it a vast global reach. Addressing this deviation, requires a far-reaching analysis of its theoretical presuppositions; in doing so, we need to turn to sacred psychology to support authentic forms of human flourishing.