Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Table of Contents:
Play and Spontaneity
Mandalas
For the last several years I’ve become especially intrigued with the art form of mandala-making, and especially my own form, which often involves making variations of nine circles in a circle. (See a recent example). This has no intrinsic meaning other than it appeals to me intuitively, but were I to try to put into […]
Mean Play versus Nice Play
A recent item has been circulating as a piece of internet humor, in which a bored husband plays a whole bunch of practical jokes in a store that’s part of a major retail chain. On one hand, I enjoyed it and laughed… but on the other hand, what is described is is an example of […]
Meta-Reality
Zordak, my little green man in a flying saucer who visits me— you don’t have to believe this—said to me, “You keep noodging me to explain and I can’t explain in human terms. So I made this diagram:” You understand, this involves multiple dimensions converging, among many other meanings. If you relax your mind you […]
Mister Pixie
I’m sort of a generic pixie, not particularly devoted to any specific task, just generally promoting the mood, you know? (No, I didn’t know.) Well, here in this parallel dimension, there are many who are more into, like, helping blossomings happen, or saving lost bird-babies. You know—your species has started to open to the world […]
Mockingbirds’ Songs
I love these guys: They’re my totem animal. I like that they improvise, and do it so well. One of my mentors, the noted philosopher Charles Hartshorne, was also an ornithologist who wrote a book titled “Born to Sing.” He suggested that while birds may not have much capacity for reflective thought, they do have […]
Morbid Humor
I generally try to accentuate the positive, as the song lyric goes, but when I was younger (and still, a little) I cultivated a degree of morbid humor. I liked the characters of the cartoonist Charles Addams and the gross stuff in the EC horror comics line. In my own fantasy-art I have imagined various […]
More About Mandalas
I was discussing my own use of mandalas with a lady who has a website about this subject, in addition to producing her own very beautiful designs. Her questions evoked some thoughts that I’ll share with those of you who might be interested. I started drawing mandala-like designs—somewhat circular and symmetrical—around 1966. One fun drawing […]
More About My Brain-Cell Projection
My friend Allan wrote about the picture of the cell shown here on my blog a few days ago: “Hmmm. If it’s a single cell, it’s got a lot of inclusions. Think supercomputer with each cell an organic integrated circuit module. That should push your brain components into the yantabyte range of memory and storage […]
More Leprechaun Power
St. Patrick’s Day is upon us, and this offers us a multiplicity of themes. One, it is a festival for people of Irish descent to celebrate. Irish themed songs, folk songs, that’s another aspect. I am interested, though, in leprechauns. I have a cousin, I think, on the astral plane, who is a leprechaun. There […]
Morturi Te Salutant
“Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant!” The gladiators in the Coliseum reportedly greeted the emperor before commencing their fights: “Hail Emperor, those who are about to die salute you!” Be afraid! Be very afraid! Hahahaha! It’s All Hallow’s Eve, a time to scare and enjoy the delicious feeling of mixing slight fear with just pretend. We’re […]
Multi-Dimensional Mind
At one dimension—a line—we notice more or less of something, a spectrum. There are innumerable spectrums on all sorts of criteria or parameters. (My son David wrote a book about Spectrums, but he only touched the most obvious physical parameters.) In two dimensions—on paper on a computer screen—all sorts of patterns can be noted, as […]
My “Shadow” Complex Cartoon Characters
“The Shadow” complex is the English word for what Jung called all those parts of the usually unconscious psyche that are repressed, that are incompatible with healthy self-esteem. Yet I am somewhat aware that I played with characters associated with this complex in some of my old drawings and cartoons. I’m a bit embarrassed about […]
My Approach in Psychotherapy
I found a piece of paper listing “My Approach,” written 6/15/93, at the height (?) of my career: Indeed, I sorta did it. Looking back I think it was extraordinary, but it seemed to be what’s needed: 1. Weave inner connections, using art and creativity. 2. Develop skills of psychological literacy—basic knowledge, education, […]
Mythmaking (The Great Pumpkin)
Recently I saw this “Peanuts” comic strip about Charlie Brown encountering Linus in the pumpkin patch as the latter awaits the arrival of the “Great Pumpkin.” What struck me about this is the reminder that even surprisingly precocious and intelligent people can have weird notions. For example, Linus, whose character I played in the 2010 […]
New Syndromes
1. Making stuff up. One may not know that one is doing this, and the term confabulation has been applied to this. Doing it on purpose should be recognized as a more enlightened and playful form of this. Shall we call it “conscious confabulation”? I like the fabulous word root in that word and if […]
No More Psychiatry for Me
I became a physician because it fascinated me. It was wonder-full—really! Biology is one of the shining sources of wonder for my mind, and I’m privileged to have studied enough to know that what I learned was only the beginning! But I turned 80 recently and I sort of retired 20 years ago—but now I’ve […]
Open Letter on Action Explorations
I sent an email to a wide range of colleagues who might in turn disseminate it to their own wider networks of their colleagues. I am calling for a gentle unification )(at least in principle) of a variety of a variety of fields who participate in methods that combine: group processes that are collaborative rather […]
Optimal Mental Flexibility
That’s a nice way of saying “just a few screws loose,” which, it turns out, is optimal. A little tiny bit wacko or playful or silly or goofy—the terminology differs with different locales in the multiverse— is what’s needed to be creative and enjoyable to others. Too serious and you’re well, “too”—even though you may […]
Other Dimensions!?
I talk to God, as you know, not that I expect that God listens to puny me. But I fantasize that God delegates the message back to me via several levels of archangels and angels. I don’t hear “His” (maybe “Her”?) words exactly because my unconscious mind certainly contaminate—and indeed, this all is probably fantasy, […]
Para-Nomasia
"Lexophile" is a word used to describe someone with a love for words as words, such as a paranomasiast—a punster. Some puns include: "You can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish." "To write with a broken pencil is pointless." A competition to see who can come up with the best “lexophillies” […]
Performance Awareness
There’s something about this on my other website. I’ve been thinking about the degrees of awareness that we are performing for a hidden or not-so-hidden audience. I call this “performance awareness.” and I think there’s a spectrum: At the low end, zero awareness, at the high end, extremely aware of the audience and their reaction. […]
Permutations of Seven
Permutation is a good word. It invites you to sensuously enter into the possibilities of the figure, to feel out how many ways it can play out. The word “permutation” invites my mind to cast loose of its bearings and float in a multi-dimensional space, making new connections, forming new “shapes” that really drift like […]
Philosophy (Linus-Style)
I played Linus in a community theatre production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” and so I find his character appealing. Here he philosophizes. Parts of me are childlike and other parts grown-up and other parts….well, I don’t know.
Play as the Basis for Innovation
As work shifts from mechanical repetition to innovation, what it takes to promote innovation becomes clear: Play. Some essential elements in playfulness involve exploration, experimentation, and doing so with optimal freedom from fear of failure. This state of mind in turn opens to inspiration. (Inspiration tends to happen far less often when there is any […]