Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Re-Prioritizing
Revising my “bucket list”—i.e., the things I want to do before I kick the bucket. Here’s how I think about it. Let’s say there are a thousand things I might do, and let’s plot them on a spectrum from 1 for things I hate to do to 100 for things I love to do. Most […]
Posted in Autobiographical, My Favorite Things, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
Some Other Foundations of Psychodrama
I just returned from attending the national conference of the American Society for Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama—the only national psychodrama association (though there are a number in other countries); and the first professional association (by about six months) devoted also to group psychotherapy. Two things impressed me: First, in my Acting-In, I describe a number […]
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Mind-Stretching!
Imagine first a proton, the tiniest of eensy-beensy almost nothing; then imagine that enough of these put together end up building the most humungous, inconceivably big bright star—a thousand times bigger and brighter than our own sun. I know, the human imagination stretches even to imagine the sun’s brightness, much less closer-up or a brighter […]
Posted in Foolin Around, Spirituality and Philosophy, Zordak's Journal | No Comments
Exploring More Paradigm Shifts
Reading some Whitehead and other philosophies, I’m impressed again with how the paradigms are changing in some ways I didn’t talk about previously. We learn, but in contrast to the general tone or world-view in the past, we learn also that the learning is un-ending. There is almost nothing of significance that is learned definitively. […]
Posted in Current Events, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
What Keeps Me Going:
First thing is singing, often an improvised marching tune, or anything. It might be a simple note that I begin to vary and watch what begins to come. The notes are then amplified into a basic tune. Be-boo-bop, no particular words. Occasionally I might insert the words to a spiritual chant, such as Om Namah […]
Posted in Autobiographical, My Favorite Things, Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments
Role Dynamics: A User-Friendly Language
One of the challenges today, it seems to me, is to bring practical psychology into the mainstream. I think one of the factors inhibiting this integration is the fact that much of psychology for 40 or more years was “tainted” by psychoanalytic jargon, which has a unfortunate tendency to pathologize—that is, to make ordinary behavior […]
Posted in Psychodrama, Psychological Literacy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
Envisioning Cultural Trends
This is only the beginning of a century in which people will begin to expand and deepen their identities manifold. We have become aware of the vastness of the cosmos, the depth of time (not thousands, but billions of years!), the complexity of nature, the depth and complexity and frontiers of mind (and unconscious mental […]
Posted in Current Events, History, Spirituality and Philosophy | 1 Comment
Passover Reflections
My Jewish heritage comes up at this time of year as people wish me a happy Passover. It’s awkward, because although I’ve enjoyed elements of the culture—jokes, history, some philosophy, cultural sociology—I am not affiliated with the religion per se. I’m more like the philosopher Spinoza (who actually was excommunicated by his congregation in Amsterdam […]
Posted in Autobiographical, Follies | 1 Comment
Action in Education, Psychotherapy, and Life
The emphasis here is on physical enactment, direct encounter, as a way of being more involved than just talking about a topic. Admittedly, talking about is better than stifling, avoiding talking, avoiding being conscious at all. But action extends the process, makes it more holistic. One feels oneself more present and involved. Dr. Jacob L. […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Psychodrama, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry | No Comments
My Angle on God (Part 2)
This evocative phrase occurred to me last night, following some reading about the mid-Renaissance German mystic, Jacob Boehme. It’s a playful turn of phrase that stands in contrast to the idea that there is only one right way to understand the Divine—i.e., orthodoxy. Can people develop their own take, their own interpretation, aside from that […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments