Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Table of Contents:
Psychological Literacy
Tooting Your Own Horn
“To think: I did all that…” a fragment from Frank Sinatra’s theme song, My Way. A little of this—maybe 7 – 12%—is good. More begins to become sort of “narcis-sistic.” Less is too deferential. More is tiresome for others; 20% is annoying; and if you toot your own horn at 30% or more you become […]
Toward the Popularization of Psychology
This has become a trend towards popularizing psychology, beginning almost a century ago, but this hasn’t happened, because vested interests in traditional religion oppose it. (One of the main doctrines in popular psychology, as I see it, is that we fool ourselves, and becoming aware of the many ways we do this would benefit humanity. […]
Two Types of Foolishness
My point here is that worry and grumpiness are forms of folly that are remarkably seductive. They feel entirely plausible in the moment, so if you’re not alert, they’ll fool you. (A good deal of foolishness or folly comes from fooling yourself with thoughts and emotions that seem okay, but on reflection from the perspective […]
Types and the Power of Folly
How much insight can we expect people to develop in our time? I am wary about this, because it seems to me that very few people value or expect to experience true creative breakthroughs. That expectation is a rare “meme”—a term for an idea that catches on. In contrast, a meme that has widely caught […]
Vaguely Quantitative Psychology
Sometimes I use percentages with decimal points when I write or talk, as if I knew with some precision what I was talking about. I don’t. These numerical affectations suggest two things: First, on one level, most of the time, I am serious about the general proportion involved, though the actual number really may be […]
Victimoid Cruelty
I coined this term to describe a type of subclinical emotional abuse that arises not from the cruel person’s feeling of power, but rather a kind of grumpy defiance. I also think that for every situation in a marriage or family where there’s recognizable emotional abuse—not to speak of the other kinds of physical or […]
Vitality Enhancement
This is my term for a very valid activity. This phrase is needed. Of course it’s also recreation, but that category has been co-opted by two activities that may offer illusory gratifications. One is competition, which often is so focused on the winning that the fun is lost. The second gratification is vicarious. There’s a […]
Wacko
Wacko (i.e., without a h) is useful. Whacko seems to imply violence, while wacko is charmingly fey. Anyway, seeing myths everywhere? Indeed, there are some new books about the God myth. I believe in a God of mystics, but it is quite undefinable. After all, myth is only a word, an abstraction, a story. "There" […]
Waking Up a Little More
I’ve been waking up to ways I’ve been asleep or veiled in ignorance or self-deception, and one of the things I’ve woken up to is the idea that lots of other people are as caught up in illusions as I’ve been. Everyone has a somewhat different combination of thousands of illusions and self-deceptions. Digging out […]
Watch Your Language: On Self-Scolding
I was talking with a friend who heard a sermon about taking God’s name in vain, and what this conversation reminded me of is that even if one doesn’t believe in the idea that the god of a hundred billion galaxies and more could have what we could ever begin to know of as a […]
What is Applied Theatre?
There’s an emerging field, a sub-set of the theatre arts, that differs from ordinary theatre in that it’s not done just for entertainment. It’s used for education, social action, community-building, recreation, personal development, therapy and rehabilitation, business, religion, and so forth. It’s been emerging for a few decades, but most modern books on theatre don’t […]
What Isn’t Said Overtly
I’m presenting at the annual meeting of the British Psychodrama Association, a keynote workshop on the general conference theme of innovation and integration in psychodrama. I have much to say didactically and will post that on my website—the workshop itself will be mainly experiential. The key innovation to be presented there is simply a heightening […]
What Should Young People Be Learning
In the June 7, 2010 issue of the New Yorker on page 21 there is an article about whether college is really cost effective. My attention was caught by the statement that skills appropriate to the workplace include the ability to “resolve conflict and negotiate,” “cooperate with others,” and “listen actively.” What strikes me here […]
Why Enactment?
Enactment involves physically “doing” the action implied, rather than just thinking or even talking about it. It embodies the encounter that’s implied. Enactment is needed because it “anchors” what is expressed and associated insights in consciousness. One is more likely to remember the the intention behind the action or other thoughts that come to mind […]
Wisdom-ing and Consciousness-Transformation
Hello, sports fans—er, well, if the sport is seeing how well we can penetrate the veils of illusion in which we live, or how well we can construct a more useful philosophy of life. Today I just posted on my website a couple of papers, both published in a now-defunct journal several years ago—or at […]
Wise-Eldering
Might there be a role for “wise-elders”? The word, “crone” has been used, mainly for a woman wise-elder, and some have included men in that role, but I think wise-elder is more inclusive of both genders. Anyway, at a certain age, gender considerations still obtain—such as for some in the realms of romance and sexuality—; […]
You Don’t Have to Know What You’re Doing
The other day it occurred to me that although I have high status in several areas, have diplomas and certificates and am generally thought to know what I’m doing, in fact, most of the time, I do not know what I’m doing! I sort of explore the world, improvise, get feedback, adjust, negotiate, feel my […]