SPECIAL EDITION: An Existential Psychology Professor’s Response to the Current Cultural Chaos
In this special edition of The Psychology of Us, Professor RJ Starr steps outside the usual episode format to respond to the turbulence of our cultural moment. The constant noise, outrage, and division in public life have left many people feeling powerless, angry, or lost. This episode is not another commentary on the headlines—it is an existential psychologist’s reflection on how to live where your feet are when the world feels fractured.
Drawing on existential psychology and philosophy, RJ explores why anxiety, despair, and absurdity are not new problems but timeless features of the human condition. From Kierkegaard’s insights on despair, to Heidegger’s warning about losing ourselves in “the they,” to Viktor Frankl’s reminder that freedom remains in how we respond—this episode offers perspective for those seeking steadiness in unsteady times.
At the heart of the message is a simple but demanding idea: to reclaim freedom and meaning, we must choose how we live in the present. Instead of being consumed by the endless scroll of outrage and rhetoric, we can root ourselves in what is immediate and real. To live where your feet are is to practice presence, responsibility, and authenticity in daily life—through connection, creation, and grounded action.
RJ shares reflections from his own experience during the pandemic, when meaningful relationships and purposeful work became buffers against despair. He shows how small choices—whether in building community, exploring new paths, or reclaiming time for creativity—are not trivial but existential acts. Each decision to turn away from passivity and toward authorship is a refusal to hand life over to noise and despair.
This special edition is both a response to cultural chaos and a reminder of personal freedom. It is an invitation to step out of the abstraction of headlines and return to the immediacy of living—right where you are.
If you prefer to read, this episode is adapted from a Field Notes in Existential Psychology essay, Living Where Your Feet Are: An Existential Antidote to Cultural Chaos, available at profrjstarr.com. If you prefer to listen, settle in here and hear the essay in full.
RJ Starr is a psychology professor, author, and public educator whose work explores the emotional, cognitive, and existential structures of human life. His writing and teaching blend psychological theory with cultural analysis, focusing on how people make sense of experience, navigate emotional complexity, and maintain identity in times of disruption.
For more essays, podcast episodes, and courses, visit profrjstarr.com.
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