Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Table of Contents:
Foolin Around
The Dream Factory
We know that biological phenomena—DNA replication and such—that occur at rates far too rapid to be even sensed. There is an in-between rate at which dreams are constructed—far more quickly than we-of-little-brain can even imagine—but slower than cellular physiological activities. Being part elf myself (a literary conceit), I was privileged to perceive the dream factory, […]
The Dynamics of Dancing
I was wondering recently at the way my engaging in a session of dancing—either square dancing or folk dancing—can so lift my overall psychosomatic energy level. After a while of warming-up, what may have felt “tired,” “dragging,” “low key” disappears and I feel delighted, lighter, happier, more vital. What was it about dancing?! Then I […]
The Elves in Your Selves
First of all, your sense of your self as one self is to some degree an illusion. There is an ongoing dynamic that ties all your roles together so that you feel like a single self, and this dynamic can be cultivated so that your integration is flexible. This dynamic can also be transcended and […]
The Formula
This came to me in a doodle-vision, and I was told that it is the “formula” for something-or-other. Formulas were big when I was a kid. If you had the formula for certain powerful things you could rule the world, or get girls to fall in love with you or something. Luckily the hero with […]
The Glass Bead Game (Revisited)
Herman Hesse in the early 20th century wrote a novel, “Magister Ludi” about the Glass Bead Game. In light of postmodernist ideas, what if these were elements, subatomic particles, or types of aesthetic variables, or whatever, that could be played, like a game of checkers, to collaboratively (not competitively) create a world, or an aspect […]
The Gremlins
Related to my interest in fantasy characters, I was reading a book about the art of the cartoonist, Walt Kelly, who created the Pogo comic strip, I also noted that in the late 1930s and early 1940s he worked as a Disney artist. (The publishers of this book, Hermes Press, also do many other books […]
The Journal of Universal Rejection
I heard about this journal and sent in some silly stuff and found myself going back and forth with the mysterious editor. Apparently they’ve organized a rather funny take on the whole enterprise of academic journal whatever. Now they have a blog, and the editor included a bit of my correspondence with them. And now […]
The Low-Down on the Higher-Ups
They aren’t really “higher,” or at least not in all ways. Rather, there are other dimensions, more than 4 dimensions. For example, I have a memory of a past life when I was an elf in Santa’s workshop (level 9 row 4, choo-choo train assembly line. We elves were sooo excited to be part of […]
The Lowdown (?) on the Higher-Ups
I was told an anecdote by a friend, who said: “A friend of mine who started out in apocalyptic fundamentalist group, whose leader said there were the only ones who would be in heaven, and the only ones with certain privileges in heaven etc. also had a clairvoyant relationship with his wife. His wife preceded […]
The Lowdown on “Flying Saucers”
My imaginative soul invites me to share with you the foollowing (sic. Which means: I meant to spell it that way) “truth” (note the quotation marks) as a form of tall tale: Of course flying saucers are real, or almost-real, or seem to be real, or definitely appear in people’s minds. That’s mainly how […]
The Minions of Mild Villainy
I was reminded of this archetype also in this summer’s Computer-Graphic Cartoon movie, Minions. I liked the theme that simple minded folks (the cute lil’ Minions) happen to love the energy put out by someone who exhibits a strong sense of triumphant malevolence. A good villain is appealing in a weird way. In my childhood, […]
The Minions, Gib-reesh and Taboo
You don’t really need words. There was a movie in 2015 titled “The Minions,” a sort of cartoon movie about those cute, diminutive medicine-capsule shaped little guys. They were sidekicks to a villain in the popular movies around 2012 and got their own film in 2015. They speak in a kind of gibberish that, with […]
The Origin of Seasons
For thousands of years the Earth slept, hardly being aware that it spun about its axis every about 24 hours. But about 88, 301 years ago, a primitive lady said, about the sun, “Hey, that there evening was there yesterday, too.” Not that anyone believed her. But later that year, they conceded that she was […]
The Origins of My Cartoon-Doodles
There are other cartoons a-plenty on my website. This character, perhaps not elsewhere shown, is sort of a radio-head fellow, whose bodily hair goes from scalp to beard to chestal region to nether regions… vaguely akin to some characters of Al Capp in his Lil’ Abner Series. As a youth I cartooned and he was […]
The Secret
It can’t be said in ordinary language, so riddled is it with paradox that transcends ordinary reasoning. Okay, maybe it isn’t the secret, but some think it’s a secret. At least it’s a “secret” to the people who find un-ending depths in the symbolism!
The Seventeenth Assistant
In the great hierarchy of being, I figure that the vast cosmos has an unthinkable number of levels in many dimensions. Poetically speaking, then, I am blessed by the guidance of the seventeenth assistant to the seventeenth assistant to beings who shall remain yet unnamed in the celestial hierarchy. I allow that these folks sort […]
The Twenty Basic Whatevers
I enjoy making lists, and part of that is an archetype. There’s a saying that there are two kinds of people: Those who divide things into two kinds, and those who don’t. Ha ha. But I realized that I tend to divide things into multiple sub-groups and often sub-groups of the sub-groups. I realized just […]
The World of Almost-Real
This is a fictional alternative dimension where I “live,” as do many cartoonists, novelists, and others who make up alternative realities. I “become” various characters, and enjoy the fiction that “they” are real and have chosen to “channel” through me. It is thus not me who writes some of these more far-out posts, it is […]
The World of Almost-Real: Some Introductory Notes
It’s less important that you believe this version of meta-reality than you be liberated by this example: Fairly mature people (like the author) can engage in what the psychoanalysts call “adaptive regression in the service of the ego” (or ARISE for short) and use this activity as a way to open their minds for fun […]
Thoughts on Dimension-ality
Although we are physically 3-Dimensional, our minds are able to think about many-dimensions. (I am aware that this is a concept that is provisional!) I think we’re at least 4 dimensions, but our minds can intuit more! Mathematicians intuit many more! (I have an acquaintance who thinks there are thirty-three di-mensions!) Some few think about […]
Through the Cosmoscope
People don’t realize that the internet is permeable to other dimensions. As this picture shows, yes, we can be seen, and we can also get a glimpse of those who see us. Electromagnetic radiation at certain wavelengths can be detected by the cosmoscope, an instrument that allows for inter-dimensional perception. The beings in other realms—some […]
Trans-Dimensional Christmas Ornament
Dear Christmas Pal, I’m sending you a trans-dimension C’mas tree ornament, which you may choose to color with sparkle pens. It might be useful to appreciate the provenance of this drawing. It is a two-dimensional projection of a five-dimensional object that expresses the promise of the “star” over the tree. The tree is an arrow […]
Trans-Equation
Mathematical equations as we know them are limited to our ability to specify and quantify, which is great, as far as it goes. Pictures often have subtleties not amen-able to definition, thought. At higher dimensions this fuzziness is a disadvantage to people who believe that things can be quantified. At a certain “level” this is […]
Trying to Explain
(An occasional paper of the Journal of (Very) Speculative Philosophy) Adam Blatner, Confabulologist Extraordinaire May 31, 2011 For more fun, see Fractal Metaphysics; or No. 2 of this Journal See other papers on Confabulology at the bottom of my papers webpage above. The Problem of Mind The dimension of mind is not just vast, but profoundly […]
Two-Thirds Human!
Yes, imagine that I am indeed 2/3 human! More, I’ve established credentials, so that makes me okay. All this is to compensate for the part that most folks don’t understand: I’m 1/3 elf. Now let’s just say that I have imagined myself in this fictional but meaningful story. I would daresay that whatever we imagine […]