Adam Blatner

Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner

June, 2013

History of Medicine: Now Playing

Thinking about my medical school class reunion, I flash on the branching of the Great Story, the history of the cosmos ,  out of which come the history of the evolution of humanity, and with it, – the history of consciousness evolution, which branches in many directions, such as the history of various endeavors, farming, […]

Posted in Autobiographical, History, Whassup? | No Comments »

Higher Consciousness (More?)

Mind is both rational and non-rational; it is multi-dimensional and although part of it does logic, the wider processes of mind cannot be explained in terms of any linear approach to logical connections. It includes the shape-shifting nature of language, and play, along with related paradoxical actions and experiences. These are abundant in humor and […]

Posted in Foolin Around, Spirituality and Philosophy, Zordak's Journal | No Comments »

Higher Consciousness as ETs

Considering extra-terrestrials, E-Ts. What if they’re really nice? There have been many movies that represent sentient beings from other planets as hostile and powerful, from The War of the Worlds on. But what if in fact extra-terrestrials do exist, and they definitely do not want to conquer you or eat you? What if that notion […]

Posted in Essays and Papers, Follies, Mind-Spectrums, Zordak's Journal | No Comments »

Meaning-Making

We all make meaning as instinctively and intuitively and largely unconsciously, just as we generate the illusion of a self and other illusions, such as reality being out there (objective) rather than in-here (subjective). The unconscious mind is unbelievably fast and powerful—this Freud got right, Groddek even more so, and contemporary psychologists, while disagreeing with […]

Posted in Autobiographical, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments »

Mind & Cosmos (Agreement & Extension)

Professor Thomas Nagel of New York University’s Department of Philosophy recently wrote a book titled Mind & Cosmos, and supports the concept of a cosmos that is somehow integrated with mind. Many other philosophers don’t agree but some do, as do I, and Hartshorne, Whitehead, John Cobb, and other Process Philosophers. Nagel sidles up to […]

Posted in Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments »

Counting Mistakes

There are parts of life where mistakes really do count, they make a difference. Part of this then involve a ready willingness to get quick feedback about what the mistake was and be willing to correct it. For many people this is undercut by tests in which you only learn (much later) your score, implying […]

Posted in Autobiographical, Follies, Foolin Around, My Favorite Things, Wisdom-ing | No Comments »

Back, Dragon!

When I was young I was very taken by the struggle of the boy in the poem, Jabberwocky, in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Through the Looking Glass. My pretend dragon—let’s call him Poof, because in some ways he came back in the 60s as Puff the Magic Dragon, and I would engage in cartoon-fantasy struggles. […]

Posted in Autobiographical, Foolin Around, Play and Spontaneity | No Comments »

Applying Moreno’s Ideals More Widely

Psychodrama has evolved, and it now has a number of “cousins,” including:    – theater artists, actors and directors who realize that improvisation has its own aesthetic, and beyond that, practical applications beyond the goal of entertainment—i.e., the applied improvisation network    – drama therapists who emphasize the healing power of creating something aesthetically compelling […]

Posted in Play and Spontaneity, Psychodrama, Social-Depth Psychology (Sociometry) | No Comments »

Problems with Social Depth Psychology

To begin with, let’s clarify the terminology. Sociometry has been used in the field of psychodrama to describe, in a more narrow sense, the method, mainly involving making explicit those preferences that are generally not explicit. In a larger sense, the word talks about all the dynamics involved in this process, and I think it […]

Posted in Psychodrama, Psychological Literacy, Psychology, Social-Depth Psychology (Sociometry) | No Comments »

Philosophy & Depth Psychology

I’m pretty sure these two categories cannot be adequately separated. I’m not talking about the distortions of recognized mental illness, but rather the distortions and illusions imposed by pretty healthy folks who are moderately introspective and somewhat philosophical. As we have learned more about the prevalence of illusion and how compelling this is, it becomes […]

Posted in Autobiographical, Mind-Spectrums, Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments »

Archives