Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Table of Contents:
Psychological Literacy
Applied Improv and Drama
There’s a message / blog I posted on a new connection: The Applied Improvisation Network. You can see it halfway down. It turns out there are over a thousand people so far exploring ways improvisation might be applied in a wide range of situations. Hurray! I’m hoping to find out more about this and perhaps […]
Appreciating Complexity (Cultural Trends Part 4)
Another trend is toward a growing appreciation of complexity in the social as well as natural sciences, and indeed in the general mainstream world-view. (For many of these trends, the growing awareness of a given trend may only involve a small fraction of the general population in the next few years—but I think this number […]
Aptitudes: Language
I am interested in individuality, a concept that calls the reality of individual differences into sharper contrast. People differ in so many ways and one of these is the aptitude for picking up languages. Some people have a tin ear for music while others are naturally more talented. Michael Erard just wrote a book ( […]
Argument versus Reconciliation
My dear wife Allee and I have some of our greatest enjoyment in talking deeply. Rather than arguing, we listen and then try to not only understand, but express in terms of what the other might be thinking and feeling. We explored two key archetypes last night: I realized I’m settled into a sense that […]
Astonishmentality: A Review of “Spectrums”
A recent book, Spectrums: Our Mind-Boggling Universe From Infinitesimal to Infinity, written by David Blatner, my son, is really a great book, even though I may be biased. The author has opened his mind beyond what I’ve known, and his reaction, I’m proud to say, is, basically, "Wow!" But, not satisfied with wow-ing, David has […]
Asymptotic Limits
This is the property of infinitely approaching a limit while being mathematically barred from achieving it. It’s a useful concept not only when studying hyperbolas back in high school algebra, but also insofar as it applies to our tendencies to speak of ideals as attainable. Although there is an element of just liking fancy words—I […]
Basic Clear-Thinking Principles
Thinking isn’t what it seems. It’ll trick you! People think they’re thinking whenever they assess a situation. But assessment is not really thinking about whatever, it’s merely getting oriented. Feels like thinking. Maybe it is a first step. But rarely do they re-consider any impressions or assumptions. They’re easily tricked. The first trick is the […]
Becoming More Spontaneous
One of a number of chosen missions in life is to help people re-own their own natural potential for spontaneity and their capacity for exploratory playfulness. As Allee and I write in The Art of Play (which we’re presently re-writing), spontaneity and playfulness not in itself childish. Although its roots begin in early childhood, and […]
Being a Little Unsure
Although I am bold enough to spout off on this blog, let’s be clear that I make no claims to being ultimately right. Often there is a varying degree of uncertainty. What brought this to mind is that I value a degree of intellectual humility. Not so much as to inhibit self-expression, but not so […]
Being Silly as Part of Health
“And when was the last time you were silly?” This might well be on the standard list of questions asked by one’s doctor. “If it’s been over a week, it’s not okay.” Wow! I mean, what if this is right? What if this becomes part of the medical “review of systems” that every doctor must […]
Beyond Narcissism: Ideal Child Development
This mini-essay is aimed at broadening our sense of what the core motivations are for children (and adults). The Freudian view has been excessively reductionistic, and even more contemporary efforts to expand the set of what are considered to be core motivations don’t go far enough. The concept of “primary narcissism” in particular is a […]
Beyond Religions
Book Review: Beyond religions: ethics for a whole world. By the 14th Dalai Lama. (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2011). Pleased to discover this book as it speaks to the beginning convergence of psychological literacy and what His Holiness calls “the education of the heart.” I think we need this and the book describes a […]
Bucket List
What do I want to have done, achieved, experienced, before I “kick the bucket”? This is the “Bucket List.” It becomes ever-more relevant for some and less so for others. My wife, not relevant. Me? A bit. A cousin as part of his Christmas greeting sent me a picture of his holding the New Zealand […]
Cartoon Satire
Some modern cartoonists tickle my fancy: Would that I could be like them! Wait: I am like them, but not professionally. That is, I don’t have a syndicated column or sell my cartoons to magazines or newspapers. It occurs to me that I might. A number of these artists take off from Gary Larsen (the […]
Celebrating Your Diversity
“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself! I am great! I contain multitudes!” wrote the American poet, Walt Whitman, in the mid-19th century (in a poem, “Song of Myself”). This blog post is a re-affirmation of the glory and necessity of individuality. The notion that we have to bring it all together […]
Challenging Assumptions
The new President of our local Southwestern University, Professor Edward Burger , was written up in the college’s magazine. He had also recently given a guest lecture to my class at Senior University Georgetown, our local lifelong learning program. My series has been about “Thinking about Thinking,” and his talk was about effective thinking. He […]
Changes in “Therapy”
Moreno’s vision was for "all the world;" but psychotherapy has been becoming far, far more expensive—at least in the USA—pricing itself out of the market of anyone not diagnos-ably "sick" and helped by payments from health insurance. Happily, more de-facto “pseudo-therapists” in the guise of “coaches” are cropping up with little quality control over qualifications. […]
Chauvinism and Preference
What if part of the problem in male “chauvinism” is that many—perhaps most–people lack a clear awareness that people have different preferences—even women!—and this category must be recognized and dealt with consciously ! Many men a century ago were devoted to their wives, loved them deeply. It just never occurred to them that their dear […]
Co-Morbidity
“Co-morbidity” is the way several things could be off or wrong, and it’s t’s the rule rather than the exception! More, there aren’t just one thing else that goes wrong, but many!: One person is intellectually limited and obsessive, another is narciss-istic and pushy—there may be several factors at play. This is even more so […]
Communications
I like this cartoon because it illustrates the prevalence of non-communication in people who sincerely believe they communicate fine, about everything. They dissociate what is a hidden assumption so they don’t even know they’re not communicating.
Compelling Distractions: Another “Service” of the Amplifying Unconscious
In a recent series of blogs I laid out my provisional theory of the amplifying unconscious, a way of speaking about psychic energy that notes its capacity to intensify our intentions, whether they be for good, evil, or what most folks do, which is to pursue childish illusions. To that list I would add a […]