Art (Mandalas, Doodles, Scripts)

“Focusing Agents”

The following is only a mytho-poetic exercise: So imagine the living cosmos requires at some point in its evolution the development of a layer of advancing consciousness that can become reflective, can recognize itself as conscious, and from that, move into recognizing the world and the universe as emerging into consciousness. (That’s me! and maybe […]

(‘S)elves

Little known (because I just made it up) are the auxiliary selves, the adjunctive resonant energy forces that support the major unfolding of the psyche. These, too, are part of the experience of the “self,” though never acknowledged, unconscious, because, like invisible germs, they are hardly perceptible to the ordinary senses. One must cultivate not […]

0 Great Swami

I have much respect for many of the spiritual teachers, but I’m aware there’s a lot of flim-flam going on. This cartoon lay at my feet this morning and as I’ve opened to Grace (or coincidence?) it occurred to me to post it and free associate: These two characters pointedly comment on the verbiage that […]

A Christmas Tree Contemplation

I’m singing again, for the 16th or so year, in our community chorus, getting ready to perform our Christmas Holiday conference. It’s pretty Christian, but also some Hanukkah melodies sometimes, and some secular melodies about the contemporary Holiday season, “kids jingle-bell-ing” and that sort of thing. I really like this, even though I’m more an […]

A Component “Next Step”

What is illustrated below is Task 4b: This shows how multi-contextual paradigms are affected by shifting aesthetic criteria. It was not really possible to reveal this task to any member of humanity until now, as the species as a whole was rather immature, and many of the concepts thus named in this task were really […]

A Well-Rounded Life

Here’s a myth I heard: We sing and dance for the gods. This is our task. They don’t have hands and feet, so we need to do it, and they enjoy through us. I think it was about Australian Aborigine nature religions, but I’m not sure. It’s a deep idea, though. Dancing and singing has […]

Almost Real, Not Really

Walt Kelly in one of his Pogo comic strips, revealed his rich, whimsical streak that teetered over into fantasy. (His art deeply influenced my own.) Here he explains what I’m trying to say about “almost-real”:

Am I Okay? (Sure)

A certain degree of self-acceptance becomes more necessary as life progresses and I make choices that diverge from the norms of the culture as to what is desirable. Consider: They all have a point, and many other perspectives and intrinsic values might also be entertained: irrelevant, trivial, lacking seriousness, amateurish, lowbrow, intellectually too esoteric, etc. […]

Becoming Mandalas

Trying to express the dynamic beauty of becoming from the ground of being — what the physicist Rupert Sheldrake said was the “implicate order” of “emergence” — to fully becoming. It consists of translating aesthetic intuitions and perhaps mathematical hypotheses into form. The best structure I’ve found is the “mandala” — a Sanskrit word form […]

Bonk?

Every once in a while a guardian angel—one of many—drops a bit of grace on you. Bonk? There it is: What are you going to do with it? Notice in the picture the other possible fates withheld. This is not a capricious decision. It is finely calibrated to what your needs are for another go-round […]

Cartoon Satire

Some modern cartoonists tickle my fancy: Would that I could be like them! Wait: I am like them, but not professionally. That is, I don’t have a syndicated column or sell my cartoons to magazines or newspapers. It occurs to me that I might. A number of these artists take off from Gary Larsen (the […]

Cartoon Satire

Cartoons from Medical School (First Year)

When I went to med school at the University of California at San Francisco (class for 1963) — they have a big ol’ medical center there up on Parnassus Heights just southeast of Golden Gate Park—I would sometimes cartoon during lectures. Sort of multi-tasking. These came to be included in a yearbook we did for […]

Cartoons from Medical School (Fourth Year)

These are cartoons drawn during classes and included in our yearbook for the class of 1963 at the University of California Medical Center. Rotations in various specialties—Ob-Gyn; ENT; Internal Medicine (Joking with Dr. John Carbone), wrote letters to the referring docs, etc. (click to enlarge) See: 1st year in medical school For 2nd year For […]

Cartoons from Medical School (Second Year)

(Click to enlarge) See: 1st year in medical school For 3rd Year For 4th year.

Cartoons from Medical School (Third Year)

These are cartoons drawn during classes and included in our yearbook for the class of 1963 at the University of California Medical Center. In the third year, we learned surgical techniques in dog surgery, worked doing “scut work” for the interns at San Francicsco General Hospital, rotated in Pediatrics, at some clinics. (click to enlarge) […]

Chaos Amidst Order

This mandala hints at the swirling process of individuation. It’s never done. Mystically and poetically, God can’t help but to do through you. Manifestation is thus a continually evolving and shifting adventure. Stated another way, I have all these parts that re-combine in unique ways, involving temperament, talents, limitations, karmic residues, social roles, epigenetic influences… […]

Comics—Positive vs Negative

So many comics have been "dark"—feeding on the "dark side"– while I turn towards the light if I can, and enjoy happier commentaries. Still, I get pulled into the dark on occasion. I have come to recognize that this is a theme in comics or stylized illustration—a theme of dark versus light. Alas, comics are […]

Confabulations (More)

I am impressed with mind as capable of confabulating, making all manner of thoughts as meaningful. The effectiveness of confabulation depends on the seemingly convincing things that are made up by the person, consciously, un-consciously, or in-between. It often serves in dream-work and occasionally while awake. (It’s a feature of alcoholic encephalopathy or some types […]

Corpus Callosum (2)

The connection between the right and left brain was shown earlier and it has been revealed to me what was going through the mind of the subject at the moment. It was this: Funny little sunny little puny human brain. Pretty incredibly complex, but not so much to beings who are far more intelligent and […]

Creativity Expansion

The creative arts therapies come out of the healing traditions; and like psycho-drama (in which I’m involved), what they’re aiming for goes way beyond the sick role. The sick role is the idea that one is well and the other is sick and creative expression would be healing. But creativity need not assume anything wrong […]

Creativity Promotion

Can we promote creativity itself? Maybe that’s like creating electricity without having devices to run. I suspect this is a theme to explore and develop. Really, what it involves is playing with stuff, people, the world, your mind, attitudes, whatever. “Can you just do that?” Sure, why not. I’ve become impressed with a dismal reality: […]

Dare to Be Creative

I’m wondering what I might yet do, what others are too busy to do. First, I’m not the only one, but perhaps your question will generate good things: I need help in my goals to integrate the best creative developments of the creative arts therapies. One thing I think you’ve noticed is that normal people […]

Dimensionality

I’ve worked out my own theology: The cosmos is structured somewhat like the triangular designs of the Sri Yantra, in expanding patterns of downward facing triangles met by upward facing ones. In the middle is God, sort-of, a point. The next level out is the recognition that what we call the highest is multidimensional. In […]

Dimensionality as New Perception

It has occured to me that “Dimensionality,” might be thought of as a new angle on metaphysics, or what people used to call “religion,” though of course I seek no converts. It notes that just as the third dimension adds dimensionality to the second dimension, and the fourth—time— adds dimensions of duration to space, so […]

Adam Blatner

Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner

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