Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
October, 2017
Life Enrichment
For a score of years I taught at a lifelong learning program for senior adults in my community in mid-Texas. It was one of the activities we enjoyed. Reflecting on this, it occurs to me that much if not most of education should be elective like this. It may not be practical for all sorts […]
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Upon Reflection
I’ve done a lot, learned a lot, loved and been loved a lot. I like the words of the song, “My Way,” which was Frank Sinatra’s theme song, though for me I have to confess that it should often have been called “Thy Way.” I was forced to do some things I didn’t really want […]
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Life Enrichment
There’s a new field emerging: Life Enrichment. It’s for just what it says. It emerges from improvisational theatre and psychodrama, and has roots in the way we played with imagined scenarios as kids—cops and robbers, house, hospital, whatever. Our great grandchildren may say about our generation, "Can you believe they were mostly just one person? […]
Posted in Current Events, Play and Spontaneity, Psychological Literacy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments »
Philosophy?
Linus in the comic strip “Peanuts” is talking to Patty, Charlie Brown’s little sister: “This is what I believe: I believe that the Great Pumpkin rises out of the Pumpkin patch on Halloween night, and flies through the air bringing with him toys for all the children in the world. That’s what I believe. What […]
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Accelerating Change
The spring became a trickle, then a stream, then a rivulet. That then became a creek, then a small non-navigable river; then a big ol’ river (navigable), and a bigger river. Then the water flowed into a delta and from thence to the sea. Then it rolled back to us as a tsunami (tidal wave)! […]
Posted in Current Events, History, Spirituality and Philosophy, Whassup? | No Comments »
“Maturity”
I turned eighty a month ago, and recently I was reminded of the word, “maturity.” Wow! I realized that in some ways I might be labeled “immature,” though I hereby declare myself mature enough. I confess that I pushed the “underside” of maturity, almost being too immature. I’ve also reformed or redefined it, and now […]
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Enhanced Simulations
Our increasingly rapidly changing world needs techniques that are of sufficient complexity so that they can meet current needs. No longer can standard exams do this; what’s needed are simulated challenges. Simulations are now being used in training for space, for military purposes, in surgery and medicine, and an increasing number of other applications. What […]
Posted in Play and Spontaneity, Psychodrama, Wisdom-ing | No Comments »
The Evolution of Beauty
I found a book by a fellow who appreciates bird songs, Professor Richard O. Prum, who wrote a book called The Evolution of Beauty (New York: Doubleday. 2017). What struck me about the book is that Beauty is a transcendental quality vaguely describable by humans, but it really belongs to the 8th dimension. This requires […]
Posted in Book Reviews, Mind-Spectrums, Psychology, Wisdom-ing | No Comments »
Levels of Mind
I don’t know how to prove this, but mind that thinks about awareness represents a dimension of mind as different from bare awareness as is the third dimension different from the second dimension. Yet there’s a further step in dimensionality: If mind—awareness—is another dimension, then thinking about thinking is what humans do. So if space […]
Posted in Art (Mandalas, Doodles, Scripts), Play and Spontaneity, Psychology, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments »
Clowning
I’m 13.2% clown. I just made that up. Clowns seem to do that—not use percentages, but rather make things up. I’ve learned the hard way not to clown on the job, even slightly. But it’s sorta-kinda true that I have a fondness for the wacky, and Allee and I clown around in our marriage, in […]
Posted in Autobiographical, Foolin Around, Whassup? | 1 Comment »