Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Table of Contents:
Autobiographical
Dream Realities
I had a vivid dream a week or so ago: It was an early morning dream; those seem to be more vivid. I thought about it, dreams in general, memory, the way things can seem real enough to catch you up in dealing with them, and, in short, the deeper nature of reality. Dreams do […]
E-Journals: The Coming Thing
I received an email from a friend in Turkey—the country—they spell it Turkiye —where they write in Roman letters—about their e-journal. This reminded me of the idea of an e-journal itself, which may easily outstrip the idea of the printed journal within a decade. In some ways, I regret this, because I was a "book-hound" […]
Early Childhood Illness
While I was traveling to see family recently, I encountered a parent with her little boy of about 18 months of age, the child being extraordinarily fussy. I found him deeply annoying, and reflecting on this reaction, I wondered how my mother might have felt—not to speak of my older brother and father—when I, as […]
Ease Up a Bit
I found these three cartoons synchronistic with a mood that hits me sometime, a delight in being casual. Sometimes I fantasize that our beautiful Sun City community is our regal estate, though we don’t bother dressing up. (Leo Cullum, New Yorker, Jan 17, 2011, p.43) When I stayed at one of the Oxford colleges in […]
Ego, Memory, and Forgetfulness
I have been contemplating the sheer vulnerability of my memories, and the innate elusiveness of so many of the experiences that part of me wants to cling to. I want to have these experiences whenever I want to access them, as if they were kept possessions, treasures. Well, that’s one of the things ego does. […]
Ego-Centricity
Have you noticed? Other people let you down, clearly because they don’t care for you enough to really try! But this is mistaken often because: (1) we believe they should try. (The idea that they don’t care is too far to be considered a possibility). Or maybe (2) they are trying but can’t (the idea […]
Equality? Wow.
I hadn’t been aware that I had been harboring elitist sentiments until a Unitarian church service that valorized sports. Then I realized that I had subconsciously thought of my own interests as superior—but when I looked again, I realized that a theme that is no interest to 75% of the people is hardly superior in […]
Expanded Identity (Beyond Reality)
One of my many facets is not entirely human; really more elfin. One might phrase it as Adam is coming out of the closet as an elf—or at least partly an elf. There’s another part of me that goes by the name of Herb, who is a bit slow and socially impaired. Most of me […]
Expanding Ur Life
For those who might want to enjoy and expand their perspectives, check out the other web-blog postings on this site. (For those as busy as my wife, never mind. Who has time?) For those who are in-between and want something more substantial than the boob tube to stimulate their mind, I volunteer to be your […]
Experimentations
David is here! Yikes! Hide! Seriously, we’re experimenting with what I can do on my computer. Wowsie Woozy is the sprite of astonishmentality. He looks something like this: Isn’t this something? Sometimes I call upon him to as it were underline what’s up, exclaim appropriately at the wondrousness of it all. Now I can use […]
Explaining “Dimensionality”
I call my theory of reality, my metaphysics, “dimensionality.” The word suggests that some things are better understood as operating at different dimensions. Thus, some truths are best understood as applying to certain dimensions, and there is “more-yet” that is so at a higher dimension. For example, consider solid geometry. In dealing with a sphere, […]
Far From Decrepit
Interesting word, decrepit. I realized at 79.3 that I’m approaching it, decrepitude, but really hardly. I took a class over the last month called “A Matter of Balance” that focused on ageing and falling. And it’s true that I feel less ambitious to attend all sorts of conferences. But I’ve been folk dancing pretty steadily […]
Feeling That I’ve Really Lived
If I think about it, I have indeed really lived. Curiously, I don’t often feel this way. Indeed, I have a mild neurotic complex that suggests gently in feeling tones that I haven’t. Thank goodness, it’s very mild: I’m pretty well balanced; but I’m cleaning up mild complexes. It never ends, you know. At times […]
Final Letter
I thought I’d post this now because in the future I may be too forgetful, preoccupied, or disabled to do this. So (possibly way in advance): It was great, and now I’m finished. Thanks for all you’ve all done. Most of you have been friends who’ve helped me. Admittedly, some few of you haven’t liked […]
Folk Dance Sprites
Life as we know it is infused with vital energies from the cosmic ground of being, and humans tend to anthropomorphize, to personify, to imagine these as gods and angels, faeries and sprites. Of late (the last 300 years) we have moved towards de-animating life, making it more a machine, blind forces that have no […]
Folk Dancing as Soul Celebration
One of my goals is to encourage people to re-own their participation in the arts, in drama, singing, the visual arts, poetry, various kinds of dancing and movement, all in a spirit of play. These are powerful vehicles for vitality and authentic self-expression. Ballroom dancing (learning cool steps!), square dancing (also called “friendship put to […]
Folk Songs
I was lucky enough to live through the era of folk songs and learned thousands of songs, folk songs, kids’ songs, ballads, funny songs, rounds, Broadway tunes, etc. Although the cartoon strip portrays an old geezer in a nursing home, most of the old geezers I know are independent! They live on farms, are still […]
FOMO Comments
This came across my “desk” in the mail, and I mostly agree: Have you heard the acronym FOMO? It stands for “Fear of Missing Out,” and a popular hashtag. Personally, I’m not sure I ever experienced FOMO, even in my younger years, but I know now, with age, I feel entirely justified in my lack […]
Fruit of the Soul
I like mandalas, and this one by Leslie Kell titled “Fruit of the Soul” appeared on the cover of a little magazine titled Austin All Natural in August, 2012. The lower figure shows an enlarged view of the center of this piece. Lovely, and I want to acknowledge Ms? Kell as one of many who […]
Further Evidence of Paradise
Well, if not paradise, it’s pretty great to us. My home town of Georgetown, Texas, north of Austin, in the middle of the state, has been listed as one of the 10 best American suburbs. We’ve been here about 14 years, at Sun City, Texas.
Gary Larson, Cartoonist
This is the non-anniversary of Gary Larson’s retirement, which was around December 1994. Gee, it occurs to me that many people have grown quite up without knowing about this wonderful cartoonist. He introduced a madcap style of cartooning that has been followed by others. When he left I felt bereft, but I just found two […]
Gathering Thoughts
It has been a busy month: My wife Allee and I presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama (ASGPP). I offered a plenary talk that reminded folks that these approaches are not only about psychotherapy, even though I acknowledged and honored that realm of application. Indeed, it is […]
Gemeinschaftsgefuehl
This mouthful translates from the German, a feel for the togetherness-group, a social club. Alfred Adler, the individual psychologist and physician, used this term as the pro-social alternative to egotistic competition, trying to be one up. He saw it as the primary alternative to neurosis—and I agree. “I get to help” is one of my […]
Geometry
For a while I was into geometry. Contemplating geometry was amazing! Mind-Expanding! So G’d’s glory is there implicit in everything! I’m not talking about the literal G-d of the Bible, of Jewish, then Christian history, but the Beyond-the-Beyond, the Becoming Everything. True, the mystics in the Western religions intuited this, but then re-folded this intuition […]
Getting a Shot
When I was little I was sickly and saw the doctor, it seemed, a lot. When I saw this peanuts cartoon I was strangely touched. I don’t remember hollering like this, but I sure do remember asking a lot of questions. It occurs to me that I wasn’t able to keep the anxiety hidden all […]