Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Table of Contents:
Spirituality and Philosophy
The Adventure of Dialogue
There’s a quality of dialogue that, when refined, illustrates an interesting dynamic: The superstars of Jesus’ childhood were the wise elders of that culture, the scholars who debated the deeper meanings of the Holy Scriptures. Two were outstanding: Rabbi Shammai and Rabbi Hillel, the former being somewhat conservative, the latter somewhat liberal, but both were […]
The Amplifying Unconscious (Part 1)
In this series of essays on my blog I am proposing the existence of not one but two types of unconscious functions: The first involves the more familiar complexes of disowned childish motivations and their associated reconciling mental maneuvers—what most psychotherapists learn about and treat. The second type of unconscious function amplifies, intensifies, and operates […]
The Amplifying Unconscious (Part 2)
[Please see Part 1 for an introduction to this: I am suggesting a second type of unconscious process that is far more powerful, less rational, far quicker in processing, far more clever, and that this hypothesis accounts for many previously-inexplicable psychological phenomena.] The Ordinary “Muddled Middle” Unconscious I’m a psychiatrist who was trained in the […]
The Amplifying Unconscious (Part 5)
This continues my reflections on what has occurred to me as a parallel, more “powerful” function of the unconscious. Today I’ll talk about dreams, the problem of “control,” and the nature of inspiration. As I’ve noted, this process seems to be more compelling, more able to capture our minds in the web of illusion and […]
The Archetype of Complacence
This phrase describes the deep tendency, when we learn or discover or invent something, to settle into that novelty as if it’s the end-point. Of course, it is not: There is always more to know, discover, and further refinements to whatever we invent or use. Since we don’t know what might be better, our experience […]
The Beach, the Waves…
A friend sent this, and it was poetic enough that I asked her permission to post it, and she said yes: “In my life, I am standing in the ocean and facing the beach. I love the beach; the rhythmicity of the waves relaxes me. I love the warmth of the sun, the smell […]
The Becoming-Ness of God
I give thanks this Thanksgiving for life, life with Allee, family, etc. I realize very dimly that I am part of this whole God-Becoming-Everything. Lest that seem too proud, you are also, and everything and everyone else is, also. I like that phrase, “becoming-ness,” actually. It could perhaps make for a good sermon. My life […]
The Big Joke
I heard this intriguing prayer: “Lord, if you can forgive the many little jokes I’ve played on you, I’ll try to forgive the one gigantic joke you’re playing on me!” I vaguely recognized that God’s big joke is that we die. I pondered this: How is it a joke? Well, our life story at this […]
The Bright Elusive Butterfly of Love
In 1965 Bob Lind wrote a song of this title. I always thought of this as a kind of poetic romance song, and it might be interpreted that way, but I heard it on my walk today as a hymn of Spirit to our mundane being: You might wake up some mornin’ To the sound […]
The Bubbling Multiverse
In one sense there is indeed a Universe, as the ultimate God, the Everything Becoming, includes in its one-ness all dimensions, minds, potentialities, etc. But it’s a universe that is much vaster than the three-dimensions of space in which hundreds of billions of galaxies spread over inconceivable distances. This universe of space and mass and […]
The Burning Bush
Humans have a problem with clearly interpreting certain revelations that transcend their language / culture / conceptual systems in terms of what is known. For example, when Moses in the Bible encountered what perhaps he interpreted as a “burning bush that is yet not consumed,” and heard the voice of God coming from it, what […]
The Conundrum of Consciousness
I am fortunate to have a few acquaintances who think deeply about conundrum of consciousness. The word is “qualia”—how it “feels”—how it’s “experienced”—addressed in part by the philosopher Thomas Nagel, in 1974: “What is it like to be a bat?” … and the problem in my mind resolves somewhat when one hypothesizes that consciousness is […]
The Curves of Becoming
The cosmos operates in magic curves that are based on the phi ratio found throughout nature. This is the basis for the “Golden Triangle” pictured at right, a major element in sacred geometry. Sometimes things move along seemingly slowly at one level, while at a deeper level things are germinating, resting, gathering strength, reorganizing and […]
The Dingle-Derry Complex: Unrealistic Expectations
Reading Jean Houston’s mythic take on the classical Wizard of Oz 1939 movie, I was reminded of my own take on a tiny element in that great epic, the wistful song sung by the Scarecrow, “If I Only Had a Brain.” The Lyrics: I would while away the hours / Conferin’ with the flowers […]
The Dynamics of Play
In this other world, play functions as a way to open the forebrain and mess around, and opening thus invites inspiration from the transpersonal dream world, a rich meadow of possibilities. The function of play is to gently entertain these and maybe make something useful or amusing. I have another world that I plug into, […]
The Experience of Vitality
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987), the noted pioneer of contemporary views of mythology, wrote: “People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will […]
The Game of Philosophy
I think of philosophy as a game: It’s not a frivolous game, but rather it’s a game in the sense of challenge, flexibility, and its provisional nature. It’s a game of building the best possible explanation, a working model that accounts for an expanding range of phenomena. Of course, the game should be played with […]
The God Process
In this other universe some theologians recognize that God is not a core of complete consciousness, but rather the all, of which there is a center that acts somewhat as an organizer. To the extent that God is All, it is the periphery and the invisible connections among the parts as well as the central […]
The Great Story (Video)
In 2010 I gave a lecture series (posted on my website) about the history of the cosmos as far as we know. It’s called “The Great Story.” Recently someone sent me a video montage only 2 minutes long that recaptures the drama to some degree. Take a look, and then visit my webpages that explain […]
The Hell with Hell
It really is time to discard completely the notion of hell. Such notions abound in many religions that believe that there really is a metaphysical reality to everlasting punishment; that that punishment involves everlasting torture (and if you think about it for a moment—even just a moment—torture is designed to be the ultimate punishment beyond […]
The Higher Unconscious
The unconscious is not less conscious but more! It’s not just pushed down; it’s not just “Let’s not look at what we’re doing,”—i.e., repression—but rather what we’re doing you couldn’t begin to understand! What if the unconscious is super-con-scious and much faster and more clever than you can be. Some of it is influenced by […]
The Imponderable Nature of Mind
Psychotherapy is a mixture of the brain and the mind; the hardware (or, more accurately, “wet-ware”) and the programming; temperament and innate types of intelligence and all the habits we’ve picked up from our culture and family and, later, friends and teachers. It’s a mixture of innate tendencies and the conditioning of the era, the […]
The Individuality of Spirituality
This essay builds on the other essay published today, “Objective Reality,” and also points to personal expectations that go “Beyond Psychotherapy.” First, note that many of the procedures that constitute “psychotherapy” as a corrective for problematic thinking have applications beyond the medical model! They may be used for personal development, which in turn includes many […]
The Inevitability of Inconceivability
The expansion of our horizons has extended beyond mere vastness or sub-microscopic, beyond ultra-fast and astronomically slow, beyond the most powerfully energetic and near-indistinguishably delicate, to categories that become elusive and quite inconceivable. In chaos theory, the dynamics of fractals, the edges of cosmology and quantum theory and other attempts to determine ultimate principles, there […]
The Kabbalistic Tree of Life Diagram as Art
Below I’ve posted a number of drawings I’ve done over the past 30 years of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, the “Etz Khayyim.” I’ve found this diagram to be useful in evoking contemplations of what’s beyond this apparent reality, and what’s beyond that beyond. The “Tree” hints at these essences that give rise to less […]