Deconstructing the Psyche
Severance's Mind/Body Dualism
(upbeat music) What happens when the rationality of the conscious mind creates its own plans, objectives, and ends? Doing so exclusively without participation of its other parts. What are the repercussions for ignoring what lies outside the perceiving mind? The thing which cannot see the back of its own head, despite the harm it causes to the whole organism. The answer to these questions is presented within severance, a story in which mind-bodied dualism is taken to its most extreme form. Within this story structure, one part of the total person called their Audi has authorized a division from another part of themselves, the inny who is set to work all day. It is no surprise that Lumen Industries is behind this procedure. An ever-expanding global conglomerate with political backing, which seeks to cut corners and save profits in any way possible. The severance operation would seem to be a boon for most companies in the ever-present system of capitalism, where the ruling class is set to receive the spoils of the day with little pain or effort, whilst the lower-class workers perform the functions of the day, oftentimes in grueling conditions. Upper management remains focused on profits, resources, and bonuses, all of which are gained off the backs of the working-class person, units which are seen as expendable and disposable when they no longer fit into the projected numbers. But as we will find through the exploration of severance on a psychological level, this same authority and slave worker dynamic will play itself out within the characters of the show via a type of mind-body dualism. Through this perspective, we can understand the Audi to be the conscious perceiving mind, the authority which only looks out for its own personal gains and profits. On the other hand, the inny is understood to be the slave body, the corporal existence of the worker, which is given no autonomy in order to do whatever tasks the mind determines to be best. The remainder of this recording will aim to identify the ways the Audi represents the conscious mind, the inny represents the body, and the way that the disharmony between the two is symptomatic of the suffering in our modern day. It becomes apparent early on the way that the Audi mind is enduring daily sufferings as a result of their disconnection from the inny body. This is best seen through Mark's miserable home life as he is just going through the motions, depressed and unmotivated. Mark prefers his waking days to be over before they start regularly falling asleep on the couch, drunk as the TV plays in the background. His despair is a result of the mind's disconnection with the actions of the body. For him, the workday, the place of potentially meaningful acts becomes lost to a mind that cannot recollect its memories. By being cut off from the body and its work, the mind has difficulty knowing why it is existent, why it is here on earth. The part which normally helps fuel purpose and drive is dislocated inside a remote office building with no hope of communication. To the mind that does not know it's any body, it becomes no fault in abusing alcohol and passively watching television. We care not for the harm we cause our body when we do not recognize it as a part of who we are, a part which likely has a mind of its own. Instead, the outy mind believes itself to be in control, choosing to waste the days away at the expense of the inny self. The disjointed mind thinks, let the body take the damage, they can handle it. The mind as master has become an evil tyrant who dictates the choices of the body and commands it accordingly. The outy rules so as to maintain its selfish pleasures, enjoyments and carefree living, focusing on control, power and maintenance of the current hierarchy. But as we come to find in the show, in a striking parallel to our modern world, this type of top heavy dictatorship does not lead to happiness or well-being, but rather results in an alienated dreadful existence for all involved. The suffering of the inny body is of a different type and feel than that of the outy mind. The inny's entire life is centered around hyper-efficiency, productivity and menial accomplishments. Work flows seamlessly, since the body has been well-trained to follow all orders and commands. Monday and duties are repeated daily without knowing why or what for. The only objective is to finish the task so that the worker can move on to the next assigned job. The outy mind has imprisoned the body in an office building of an inorganic, perfect symmetries, matching outfits and neutral tone colors reside all throughout this whitewashed universe where the bodies have no chance of interacting with the organic world. Vibrancy, starkness and asymmetry do not fit into the lives of these carbon copy selves. The inny must not be exposed to that which the natural world allows for, including change, growth and anomalies. Anything that is not planned, organized and known is seen as dangerous and disturbing, where even a melon party seems unnatural, unable to provide the fruit in its original state, only as perfectly bald pieces of food substance. When the body has become a slave, the chance for spontaneity, randomness and non-scheduled events becomes slim. Instead, logic, procedure and rules are what predominate the lives of the inny bodies. Pieces of flesh who exist to serve the ends of the outy mind. But as the body is only serving the ends and goals of the mind, a confounding paradox occurs, and that although the body lives to serve the mind, the mind is actually a terrible ruler, possessing minimal insight into what the purpose of life might be. The mind is disconnected from anything deeper and more profound than its own perceptions, and so can only create short-sighted goals which prove to be destructive to the whole organism. The paradoxical scenario shows that there really may be no master at all, as neither half of the person knows of a viable destination for this runaway train. And who can blame these bodies for doing as they are told and performing the duties that their superiors demand of them? The inny is hardly provided any chance to create their own philosophy or system of morals, and is instead made to buy into a false, absurd value system through visits to the perpetuity wing. The slave worker who is not allowed to think for themselves is more prone to believing in ideologies backed by meaningless quotes that stimulate fear and reverence for shadow leaders. For the innies, God is always external and above them and can never be found within the heart of the beholder. - I have no choice. - Well, every time you find yourself here, it's because you chose to come back. - But the part which is choosing to come back is not the body, not the inny. It is a conscious mind that dictates the choices of the body, forcing it to return to the slavish workplace despite the continual suffering of the disembodied mind. It makes us wonder why we as humans continue to repeat the same patterns, why we return to toxic workplaces and relationships despite our best intentions not to do so. As a thinking mind, we believe that we are smarter than that, that we should know better, that all we have to do is have the right amount of will and that things will change. The patterns persist though, despite our mind's best intentions because our body has been dislocated and its wishes have been rejected and declined. The reason we cannot escape destructive patterns is because we fail to listen to the signs that the body sends out and the intuitive wisdom that it holds. The wisdom we require comes from the inny body, the true self, the self which cannot be corrupted by the socialization, traumas and harsh realities of the world. It is instead the conscious mind which is shaped and molded by these experiences and in turn separates itself from the body and its needs. Over the years, the fragile mind learns to defend itself creating an alternate reality that often doesn't align with what the body actually experiences. This rift between realities of the mind and the body is problematic as the body is where the true self resides, the essential person, the original Adam, is the part which is only seen in glimmers of the inny workers. Each inny self tends to show a much more authentic self than the outy. Individuals who care are connected and are unconcerned with how things should be. Gravitating more towards how things actually are. These inner selves are a far cry from the dispassionate, jaded and false selves of the outy minds who rule the show. - I am a person. You are not. I make the decisions. You do not. The mind believes itself to be all that matters and helly exemplifies the inny body which has been rejected by the selfish outy. From the start, her inny rebels and rejects the dictates of the thinking brain attempting to cause harm to the whole person through self-injury and suicide attempts. Her actions mimic that of individuals suffering from eating disorders, substance abuse, and even depression and anxiety in which the mind has made up rules and agendas that don't agree with the body. Soon, symptoms emerge and indicate danger that something must change. But as is often the case with these conditions, the thinking brain continues to ignore the warning signs despite the deterioration of the soma. Symptoms are looked at as minor inconveniences as opposed to identifiers of a diseased person. As season one moves on, a shift begins to take place as the body revolts against the dictates of the tyrannical mind. The inny no longer seen themselves solely as extended things but as thinking things as well. During the shift, experiences which are foreign and unpredictable take place and move the characters towards exploration of the strange. They experience the bleeding over of mysterious black paint, books and maps which indicate a world and ideology beyond their limited clues, and fellow creature feelings of love, tenderness, and connection. Worlds begin to merge and the inny bodies create stronger resistance to what they have been conditioned to believe, leading to catastrophes, epiphanies, and unforeseen victories. Inies become the catalyst for the revolution. They are the ones who rebel against orders which do not align with true being. Questioning their existence and considering the possibilities of the larger world around themselves. They wonder what this is all for, why they are here, what can they do, and what they find they can do is make attempts to connect with the outy mind, with the abstracted brain which lithers through its days as a passive onlooker to life. The body must awaken the mind and help it to realize the shortcomings of its tyrannical attitude. In the end, the story of severance can help us to realize that all forms of change begin with the inny, with the body, with the unconscious, if you will. That the thinking brain in itself is helpless and inert, unable to see the back of its own head. It is an organ which picks up patterns of behavior and thought from a young age and continues with these trends of perception, despite continuous disasters. The mind is often blind to its own shadows and cannot be changed without the assistance of the inner controller. It is a thing of true horror to realize that one's inner self is caught in a trap, that the true person is imprisoned by ends-oriented work goals and has little chance to break out and shift the direction of the whole organism. Liberation must occur from within. The only way to stop the carnage is by allowing the body to communicate with the ruling mind. Madness only stops and real change only occurs when the messages of the inny are recognized as valid and true. When the data, which is regularly ignored, is instead seen as what paints the background of the actual picture. When the soul is set free and allowed to move towards the places it seeks, without the interference of the tyrannical mind. [MUSIC]