In this episode, Dara is considering the concept of scaffolding and how it might be applied as a wellness metaphor. Utilised in the world of developmental psychology to describe evolving stages of cognitive growth and early learning, the basic idea relates to baby steps and layered instruction to help someone become more independent. Borrowing also from the world of construction, why can’t scaffolding be applied to self-care?
The question is about what we put in place to help ourselves stay up. And is it an act of delusion to tell ourselves we can impose either meaning or order on the chaos of existence? Dara argues for the value of repeated actions and patterns that help set our personal metronomes of daily living. He also wonders if we can imbue these habits of survival with more ritualistic significance.
And what does the consumerism-capitalism axis have to do with any of this? It has something to do with notions of happiness, completion, and arrival. And maybe even sex!