The Myth of Normal
Friends,
The excerpt for this week of January 31, 2023 is from the Sounds True, Insights at the Edge interview with Dr. Gabor Mate, “A Personal View of Healing into Wholeness in a Toxic Culture.”
“Tami Simon: To start out, your new book, The Myth of Normal, first of all, it’s 500 pages and I have to say a very worthy investment of time and energy. Now, explain the title, The Myth of Normal, for people who are hearing this title for the first time.
Gabor Mate: Well, the process of gestating this book, has been going on for a long time. I just needed to bring it all together, to say it all… to take a wide-view lens of our society, of our culture, of our individual self and all the interconnections. We tend to assume that what is normal is also healthy and natural. And at least in the medical sense that’s true, what is normal in terms of blood pressure or temperature. Now, in society, … the argument I’m making is that in today’s culture, what we consider to be normal is neither healthy or natural….”
“Tami Simon: To start out, your new book, The Myth of Normal, first of all, it’s 500 pages and I have to say a very worthy investment of time and energy. Now, explain the title, The Myth of Normal, for people who are hearing this title for the first time.
Gabor Mate: Well, the process of gestating this book, has been going on for a long time. I just needed to bring it all together, to say it all… to take a wide-view lens of our society, of our culture, of our individual self and all the interconnections. We tend to assume that what is normal is also healthy and natural. And at least in the medical sense that’s true, what is normal in terms of blood pressure or temperature. Now, in society, … the argument I’m making is that in today’s culture, what we consider to be normal is neither healthy or natural….”
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