Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Table of Contents:
Autobiographical
Reunion Memories 1
Returned last week from my medical school reunion. A fascinatingly rich experience on many levels, and I’m still sorting it all out. One part involved my awareness that more than most groups, this was my social reference group, the people whom I measured myself against. That is, as a young man, I realize now I’d […]
Reverence for Life? Wowsie!
Albert Schweitzer said that was his goal, and I sort of idealized him. Albert Einstein, too. If I could be like them then maybe my Mom would have been satisfied. She was channeling the mores of the mid-20th century upward-striving middle class, for which nothing was good enough. I was suffering from feeling not good […]
Rich Inner Life
I’m tempted to think that everyone has a rich inner life, but my wife says that’s not so. She asked me to think about it, so I did. First, I am reminded that what’s true for me is most definitely not so for others. There are many differences in temperament and other variables. My autobiography […]
Role Dynamics & Identity
One nice thing about thinking about life in terms of the roles we play—i.e., “role dynamics”— is that it takes the pressure off of having to “be” wonderful. I am not sure, but suspect that many young people still are caught up in the semantic jungle of labels. How can I be okay when I […]
Romance!
One of my subtle roles has been as a true romantic, one of the boy-girl fall-in-love romantic. It was a theme in the 1920s through the 1950s, but then increasing notes of cynicism crept into popular music—alas. Happily, my second wife is equally romantic. I realized, listening to Frank Sinatra’s songs on my audio-tape cassette […]
Rounding Out Life
An acquaintance over email—a new type of relationship, please note—we’ve met in passing and he kindly accepts me into the periphery of his social network— remarked, “Glad to see you’re still going strong.” But I’m not going strong! I’m weakening! I’m wrapping things up. There’s a whole lot to wrap and it may take a […]
Sam Hurt’s “Eyebeam”
I enjoy this cartoon strip, and it has a number of sub-plots, themes that involve a variety of the main character’s friend. One of those that I especially enjoy is “Hank the Hallucination,” about which the following is shown: I enjoy the author’s evident enjoyment of the idea of hallucinating, which, although a sign of […]
School Supplies
For the first time in ages I haven’t shopped in stationery stores or drug stores for school supplies. I have enough to last me, and I won’t purchase more. This “came home” to me yesterday when I was at a Dollar Tree store, when in the past I would buy school supplies. No longer: I […]
Sentimental-osis
I woke up from a dream, and on and forgetting the rich eventful-ness of what was going on in the dream, I experienced a pang of grief-loss. I sensed that dream was still engaging my interest, though I couldn’t say why. Dreams have that power. Then another frame of reference kicked in: I’ve learned to […]
Shadows on the Cave Wall
In a previous blog-post, I was reflecting on the acceleration of the appearance of mysteries. Now there are others that have come to my attention: changes in the speed of light?? What’s with “branes” (i.e., the concept of other-dimensional “membranes")? Static in the gravity field has been attributed to a magnification of the planck-sized (i.e. […]
Shifting Identities
In addition to my major profession “occupation” as a retired psychiatrist and visiting assistant professor, which I’m really not anymore since moving to the mid-California coastal town of San Luis Obispo—and becoming not-more every day—, I am presently editing a book about non-psychotherapeutic applications of Moreno’s methods. In addition, I’m editing and preparing to publish […]
Shree Yantra (plus commentary)
A common theme that I play with is the Sri (pronounced Shree, for “holy”) Yantra (or special meditative design) that I draw to center and relax, thereby opening whatever channel then allows me to become more spontaneous, to be inspired. It’s a fine symbol of whatever there is in the Beyond for me to open […]
Shree Yantra Meditation 1212
This basic diagram is quite meaningful for me and I’ve written about it on my website. A good symbol is evocative—it evokes new associations, creative meditations. For me, my mandalas are two-dimensional visual expressions of the creative process. This variation of the shree yantra partakes of both the aesthetics of geometry and the spontaneity-elaborative process […]
Silly or Profound
I wobble between silly and serious, crazy in a nice way and profound. For example, I am attuned to other dimensions where I open my mind and “channel” writing that I am intuitively somewhat able to translate. Or perhaps I’m just making it up unconsciously—confabulating it. (Look up my comments on confabulation in an associated […]
Singin’ and Dancin’
I’m having a good ol’ time in my community. We dance several types of dancing—square and round, folk (I probably know over 1ooo dances and in the last 56 years done 1000 or more others), and ballroom dances. For over 14 years I’ve sung in our Sun City Texas chorus and this fall we’re rehearsing—all […]
Slight Yikes
Oh, my, getting older, approaching age 78. For a moment I forgot the name of my last kitty who died in 2001, the same year that my oldest grandchild was born. I remembered our first kitty’s name, and second kitty, but Allee had to remind me of the third and then it was, “Oh, yeah.” […]
Society for Metaphysical Ontology
I am proud to announce that I have been nominated for membership in the category of “initiate” of the the Society for Metaphysical Ontology. SOM. Oh, you want to know what this society is? It’s a society that promotes the notion of existence for that which is metaphysical, or beyond the ordinary physical. Humanity in […]
Some of Adam Blatner’s “ManyParts” Characters
Based on the introductory webpage: Snidely Whiplash, the prototypical villain of the melodrama. Nyah-ha-ha. Actually stimulated not only by melodramas, but also the puppet character of Dishonest John on the Time for Beany children’s television show in Los Angeles around 1948, Snidely represents the delicious contrary roles of wickedness, nastiness, and the spirit of The Grinch […]
Some Personal Myths
Reading excerpts from Rollo May’s 1990 book, The Cry for Myth, reminded me that I am fortunate to have a number of mythic structures that help me feel grounded in my life. First, there is a myth of progress. At first, I felt this by joining a profession with an ancient tradition and major social […]
Song n Dance
I heard a performer sing old popular and Broadway songs a couple days ago, and knew some of them. It reminded me that I may not have shared that part of my life—that I made up song books, held song fests, sang songs for our Sun City Follies when we lived in Texas, programmed song […]
Spiritual Journeys
One of my life themes or journeys has been a sort-of wrestling match with God. In the first phase, below the age of twelve, I accepted without any personal feelings. Nothing more was being asked of me—just some involvement in my dualistic identity as a Jew whose “people” had all these long-ago experiences—and some not […]
Springtime ‘Splanation
Somebody asked me, “Whaddaya mean, ‘Splanations’?” So okay here’s uh xample. Why does the cosmos go “bloom”? Well, first of all, most folks don’t even see spring bloom because it sorta sneaks up on you, goes too slow for your brain to sort it out. There are naked trees, then pregnant trees, then “Bloom!” There […]
Springtime Adventurations
Riding my bicycle around the larger neighborhood, about a 5 mile loop, noticing that on the heels of Daylight Saving Time we’re warming up (literally) to the Vernal Equinox, when the night-length equals the day-length. That adds up to Springtime! (Which reminds me of “In Just-spring” by e.e. cummings. ) Those lil’ buds on the […]