Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Beyond Narcissism: Ideal Child Development
This mini-essay is aimed at broadening our sense of what the core motivations are for children (and adults). The Freudian view has been excessively reductionistic, and even more contemporary efforts to expand the set of what are considered to be core motivations don’t go far enough. The concept of “primary narcissism” in particular is a […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Psychological Literacy, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry | 1 Comment
Economic Sociology: A Fresh View
I’ve been thinking about what helps people find and sustain an optimal level of a sense of social connectedness. It occurred to me that part of the problem is that it seems mundane, almost a matter of economics—not of money, but of an exchange of talent and interest. Sure, there are some elements of non-neurotic […]
Posted in Psychological Literacy, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry | No Comments
Dimensional Metaphysics
This is a short essay on the plausibility of considering mind to be a dimension, a category of actuality that interpenetrates with all the other dimensions of time, space, matter and energy. In the last two centuries we have discovered the existence of realms of existence that we hadn’t known about before, that are not […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
The Fuddy-Duddy Complex
This is a complex of a number of associated images, thoughts, and feelings that emerge regarding the theme of entertaining opinions and judgments about things that really don’t concern you. It occurred to me that this is a not uncommon theme for parents of adult children whose life choices differ in various ways from your […]
Posted in Psychological Literacy, Wisdom-ing | 1 Comment
Two Aspects of Religion
Traditional religions combined law and spirituality, but in the modern age, law and civility in general has become separated from the more mythic elements of spirituality. Where there has evolved a rather vigorous sense of civility, secularism shows its more progressive side, and law and civility is a sort of secular religion—in the sense of […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Spirituality and Philosophy | 3 Comments
Improvisation and the Burden of Shame
Hypothesis: A key element in improvisation is the willingness—even a bit of an expectation—to make mistakes, with a fair degree of confidence that when these mistakes are made, they can be coped with in a number of ways: – joked about, with gentle, self-forgiving, self-deprecating humor exaggerated pride, consciously denied (“well, that was just what […]
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Promoting “Psychological Literacy”
In some ways, I’m actually a little behind—technologically—and more than a bit out of it—because I don’t have a television set, don’t see many movies, don’t know or care about several major sectors of popular culture (e.g., movies, sports, celebrities, television shows)! But also I realized today that in a few ways I am perhaps […]
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Envisioning Our Children’s Needs in the 21st Century
Parents tend to rear their children with the mental and cultural tools they know about. For my parents’ generation, the goal was to get the kid raised in one piece, ideally resilient enough to go to college and get a good job. One category they didn’t know about was “validating the child’s individuality.” Sure, if […]
Posted in Current Events, Essays and Papers, Psychological Literacy | No Comments
RELINQUISHING THE QUEST FOR THE WHOLE TRUTH
February 15, 2008 One of the developments in the last half century has been an exponential expansion of information, areas of investigation and sub-specialization, and other variables. This is part of the postmodern condition—an accelerated state that differs qualitatively, not just quantitatively, from the early 20th century (which saw the apex of modernity). I suggest […]
Posted in Spirituality and Philosophy | 1 Comment
Subtle Oppressions (I): Role Overload
There’s a rather unpleasant yet widespread story that if a frog is put into hot water it will jump out, but if put into cold water and the water is very gradually heated, the frog won’t notice until it dies of hyperthermia (i.e., too high temperature for life). I don’t know that this is even […]
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