Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Table of Contents:
Art (Mandalas, Doodles, Scripts)
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 God Process
In this other universe some theologians recognize that God is not a core of complete consciousness, but rather the all, of which there is a center that acts somewhat as an organizer. To the extent that God is All, it is the periphery and the invisible connections among the parts as well as the central […]
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 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 Universe Next Door
Well, not exactly. One dimension over, sort of up and to the right, not that directions mean much in a cosmos of multiple dimensions. Nor is it one, but infinite in numbers—but we’ll start with one. What? You thought this was the only reality?? Okay, that’s where you are. But for me and my kind […]
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 […]
Time Passes, Fashions Change
There was a comic strip for a while titled Mother Goose and Grimm, in 1995 or so—and the title of the strip in question is Vampire Coffee Houses, and it shows a vampire is singing on a guitar, “Sunshine on my shoulder makes me shrivel up and blow away; Sunshine on my eyes burns […]
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 […]
Translation Feature
The internet and technology in general continues to be mind-stretching. I asked about a new feature, the ability to insert automatic translations, and my son was able to insert this “app” or feature. I am astonished and grateful, as well as curious. What means this? It motivates me to import more papers onto the blog, […]
Vitality Enhancement
I am concerned with the gradual growth and seductiveness of an increasing number of media that make it easier to “veg out” as a “couch potato” spectator. To challenge that, I want to remind people of a category of “folk art” activities that can happen in neighborhoods and communities of all types. This may include […]
Whassup (Early 2018)?
I’m doing my last edited book on non-psychotherapeutic applications of psycho-dramatic methods, which are really just the application of the technology of “enhanced” simulations to psychotherapy. The enhancement comes from the technique of the “double” (or “voice over”) which allows the audience to know what the role players are thinking or saying to themselves. I’m […]
What Gives?
Can I use this? “They” (?) >:< have changed my computer! For example > makes an emoticon! What else? Let’s see if this will go on.
Winter’s Day
It’s Texas here, and it’s been nicely warm for a few days, and now we’ve been having a freezing cold front come through and we get those times too in Winter. In another corner of my cluttered mind I found the cartoon below and it reminded me how much I enjoyed Charles Addams’ cartoons in […]