What We Lose When We Separate Science From Emotion | Dr. Taylor Cummings

In this episode of Curiosity Theory, hosts Dr. Dakotah Tyler and Justin Shaifer sit down with Dr. Taylor Cummings, educational psychologist and founder of The Self-Love Doc, for a conversation about what Western science gets wrong about knowledge, healing, and the human experience.The discussion moves from her dissertation, titled The Miseducation of Taylor Cummings, and how colonial frameworks shaped what we call legitimate science, to what happens when you strip emotion, language, and African-centered ways of knowing out of the picture entirely. From there they get into embodiment and why most people have never been taught to understand their own bodies, how K-12 education kills curiosity before it ever gets started, and what self-love actually means when you look at it through the lens of educational psychology rather than a motivational caption.The conversation also dives into her personal story of misdiagnosis, going on and then coming off an SSRI, and finding her own path to healing through identity and consciousness. She breaks down why depression and mental illness might be better understood as systems problems rather than individual failures, what evolutionary mismatch tells us about modern life, how African-centered and Akan healing traditions offer frameworks Western psychology is only beginning to catch up to, and why carbon, stardust, and the cosmos have more to do with self-knowledge than most people realize.Chapters00:00:00 Intro and meeting Dr. Taylor Cummings 00:03:00 The Miseducation of Taylor Cummings: her dissertation explained 00:04:20 How Western science stripped emotion and African knowledge from the picture 00:13:25 Embodiment: why we don't know our own bodies 00:14:17 How K-12 kills curiosity and what education gets wrong 00:19:00 What self-love actually means from a psychology perspective 00:22:00 Her personal journey: injury, community college, and trusted mentors 00:26:05 What psychology gets wrong about grief and loss 00:31:30 Her SSRI story: misdiagnosis, medication, and finding her own path 00:34:06 African-centered healing traditions and the Akan 00:42:14 Why depression might be a systems problem not a personal one 00:47:49 Evolutionary mismatch: we were never meant to live like this 00:56:00 Carbon, stardust, and what the cosmos has to do with consciousness 01:12:51 Consciousness, energy, and collective connection 01:25:13 The Decolonize Your Mind resource guide 01:26:06 Where to find Dr. TaylorFollow us @curiositytheorypod @dr.starkid @mr.fascinateGuests Dr. Taylor Cummings | @theselflovedocVisit our Merch Store https://www.curiositytheorypod.com/merchJoin our Patreon https://www.patreon.com/c/CuriosityTheoryIf you enjoy the conversation, subscribe and share Curiosity Theory with someone who's curious about the universe.