We delve into the origins of our phenomenology to discover what constitutes a mental experience.

The cause of our self-sabotaging alienation is a fundamental disconnect within our minds.

A living psychology can show us the way beyond the cage of the disconnected mind that makes us suffer.

In my four previous posts, I explored the possibility of transcending our paradoxical psychology. This contribution continues that exploration. Let us delve into the roots of our phenomenology. What is a mental experience?

When we look at world news, we cannot ignore the paradoxical nature of our human psychology. The arms industry is operating at full capacity. The force of the bombings and the destruction they leave in their wake are impossible to overlook.

Conversely, billions of mothers lovingly care for their children. Meanwhile, millions of healthcare workers are doing their best to help the wounded, and millions of teachers are trying to impart valuable knowledge to young people.

How do we navigate this paradoxical situation? How do we navigate both the battlefield and the field of care?

In an attempt to find an answer, I am connecting two masters of existential psychology.

The Insight of Antonio Damasio

Antonio Damasio, director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, seems to offer an ideal starting point. After a lifetime of researching the human mind, he argues that mental experiences are best described as experiences of being while other mental contents flow by. These other contents of the mind flow in parallel with the experience of being. These two sets of contents are in constant dialogue. They take turns dominating our consciousness. The being component is permanently present, even when it is not dominant.

“In the end, our mental experiences are best described as experiences of 'being' while 'other mind contents' flow along.” (Damasio, 2021).

It seems to me that we are touching upon a fundamental aspect of the human mind that is difficult to refute. Our mind is fundamentally about life, with the conceptual stream created by culture on top of that. Life never takes a step back from our mind. It usually operates in silence and in the background, occasionally redirecting our attention and influencing our choices. This is the intelligence of billions of years of evolution that governs our lives.

It also seems to me that a deep rupture occurred here. Our modern arms and energy industries seem to care little about the living nature of experience. The being component of human experience is often ignored, neglected, sabotaged, and destroyed. It's as if life no longer matters. The biological origin of homeostasis—the innate drive of living organisms to remain in a state of balance and well-being—has faded completely into the background.

This is the tragedy of modern culture becoming disconnected from life. We are overly focused on abstract concepts, ideologies, and dogmas that are alienated from life. Our culture (and our science) is often too rational and cognitively oriented. We view humans as "thinking machines" and forget that our culture arose from feelings and the need to maintain biological balance (homeostasis).

Many cultural ideas, practices, and objects have become increasingly detached from the actual process of life. Rather than promoting the well-being and "flourishing" of individuals, modern systems (such as certain economic or political systems) actually undermine our homeostatic imperative.

Technology is a product of our creativity and a means of survival. However, the rapid development of technology, such as AI, can put pressure on our biological systems. Our biology evolves slowly while our cultural environment changes rapidly.

Neglecting the body can be catastrophic. Modern humans often live as if the mind is separate from the body and as if ideas transcend the world. We ignore the signals our bodies send us—the feelings that tell us what is good for us—which leads to collective stress and imbalance. Now, let's connect Damasio's valuable insights about the connection between the mind and the body to Maslow's psychology of being.

The Insight of Abraham Maslow

Damasio provides a biological foundation for what Maslow had intuitively described. While Maslow’s pyramid ends with “self-actualization” as a psychological concept, Damasio extends it into the realm of cellular biology.

According to Maslow, self-actualization is the highest human need. Damasio, however, argues that this process is simply the most complex form of homeostasis. The pursuit of a "higher being" is an organism's biological drive to not only survive, but also flourish.

Maslow spoke of mystical peak experiences. Damasio explains these neurobiologically as moments of maximum physiological coherence. Art and creativity are the tools we have developed to consciously evoke that state of “optimal being.”

In Maslow’s model, needs seem to build on top of each other. Damasio demonstrates that all behaviors, from breathing to composing a symphony, originate from the same system of feelings. These feelings act as "monitors" that indicate where we stand in the pyramid.

While existential psychology was still searching for an empirical basis, Damasio made it alive. He replaces the abstract concept of the immortal soul with the embodied self. He demonstrates that spiritual growth is the literal refinement of the intertwining of your body and mind.

Thus, Damasio gives Maslow's psychology of being "flesh on the bones": He shows that our highest human aspirations are not separate from our life, but rather, they are its ultimate expression.

So, what is mental experience? Experience is always rooted in the living body. Any attempt to deny or neglect this fact is harmful. The evolution of the mind and of life share a profound continuity that we can no longer ignore. If culture continues to disconnect from life, our tendency toward self-sabotage will only worsen.

We are transitioning from a psychology of being toward a living psychology. Psychology can irrefutably demonstrate that the mind's cultural disconnection from life is a tragedy. It can also show us how to focus on the most remarkable aspect of the human species: learning. Through learning, we can remember the fundamental aspects of existence that form the basis of our mind. We can learn to overcome our self-sabotaging ways, which disconnect, alienate, and polarize us. We can learn to have a connected dialogue between the contents of life and the other mind contents that flow along. This could be a possible way toward a living psychology of being human.

Damasio, A. (2021). Feeling & Knowing. Making Minds Conscious. New York: Pantheon Books

De Vleeschauwer, P. (2025). Caught Between Self-Sabotage and Learning: On the paradoxical psychology of human beings. New York, Psychology Today.

De Vleeschauwer, P. (2026). The Space Where Life Finds Meaning: How can we find the strength to overcome our paradoxical psychology? New York, Psychology Today.

De Vleeschauwer, P. (2026). The Alive Space Beyond Self-Sabotage: Can one new habit change our lives? New York, Psychology Today.

De Vleeschauwer, P. (2026). The Way to a Healthy Mind: Seeing beyond the deep wound of our inner struggle. New York, Psychology Today.

Maslow, A.H. (2011). Toward a Psychology of Being. Blacksburg, Wilder.

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