Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Inspirational Song Snippets:
I have been inspired and sustained by a number of songs, idealistic songs, such as these: You who have dreams, if you act, they will come true! To turn your dreams to a fact: It’s up to you! — song, Stout-Hearted Men, from 1930s’s movie, “New Moon”—Sigmund Romberg From the 1939 song sang by […]
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Metaphysical Cartooning
(Or cartooned intuitive metaphysics.) I are a sy-kie-a-trist! Well, I was! A Board Certified hunky-do! I’ve given psychiatry up now and am focusing on writing a book that expressed my intuitions about metaphysics, but it’s illustrated by cartoons. Really (consciously), I just made this stuff up, but it hangs together more as time goes on. […]
Posted in Art (Mandalas, Doodles, Scripts), Foolin Around, Spirituality and Philosophy, World of Almost-Real | No Comments
Surrealism’s Relevance
Creativity is our new meme—the theme that is relevant for our time. The surrealistic artists anticipated this by a century, but so much creativity has characterized the many “inventions” of the 20th and beginning 21st century that it’s time we became aware that, as the philosopher Nikolai Berdyayev said (in Rissian), “Be creative, and foster […]
Posted in Art (Mandalas, Doodles, Scripts), Autobiographical, My Favorite Things, Psychological Literacy, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
My Approach
This list is about 24 years old, written while I was still practicing psychotherapy and serving as an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Louisville: 1. Weave “inner connections,” using arts, drama, the urge to creativity. 2. Develop “psychological literacy,” skills for managing thoughts and feelings, basic knowledge that such skills can […]
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The Shadow
My wife and I just gave a workshop on “The Shadow,” for students in the Drama Therapy Program at the California Institute for Integral Studies (CIIS), in San Francisco. (It was a fitting presentation for Halloween). The Shadow is (among other meanings) Jung’s term, translated into English. He means by it all the elements that […]
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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)! […]
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