Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Life Enlargement
Indeed, I’ve changed my vocational direction to the title of this piece! Back when I was into psychiatry, Freudian—really, post-Freudian— psychoanalysis still was dominant, and though I differed with many of the ideas, some I agreed with. Last year I taught what has become more standard and evidence-based, and after thinking about it, though I […]
Posted in Autobiographical, Mind-Spectrums, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
Sorta-Kinda 4th of July
On the planet I come from—just kidding, for those who get uncomfortable in the presence of insanity—they have an equivalent holiday for Independence Day. Everyone gets together and instead of shooting fireworks, they collectively bud fleezels, mandala-like protuberance-studded cartwheels. Fun, if you like that sort of thing. Meanwhile, the “flag” (so to speak) stands at […]
Posted in Foolin Around, My Favorite Things, Play and Spontaneity, World of Almost-Real | 1 Comment
Divesting Stuff
My wife and I are confessing to the world that we are mild addicts: She doesn’t want to let go of stuff that we may never be able to afford to buy afresh. She was poor as a child and has a residual that way. For me it’s stuff that’s “interesting”— that’s my key. But […]
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I’m Baaack!
There has been a hiatus in my blogging as I’ve been out to visit family. During this time I’ve become more sharply aware of my finitude, and the need to divest my stuff. It’s interesting stuff. I’m a stuff-aholic—mainly books, but also puppets and song books and little doll-like thingey-o’s (in Yiddish, “Tchatch’-ke-les,” little toys. […]
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Awe: Another Viewpoint
Stimulated by a recent article a friend sent me about awe, and building on my theory of levels of consciousness, awe emerges as our minds perceive that which is far greater than us. We open to not just the bigness or whatever, but that such realms exist. It is not only nature. In milder terms […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Mind-Spectrums, Wisdom-ing | 1 Comment
Contemplating Entitlement
I addressed the theme of entitlement six years ago, but more needs to be said. First, this is mainly unconscious, and were I to confront most people, if they didn’t punch me in the nose, they’d look with wide-eyed and sincere bewilderment: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” After all, entitlement is sometimes […]
Posted in Current Events, Psychological Literacy, Psychology, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
Improvisational Theology
In 1979 Elaine Pagels wrote a book titled The Gnostic Gospels (Vintage Books), in which she noted that for the Gnostics, being considered “spiritually mature” or “initiated” was to write something that is stimulatingly original. That’s how I understood it. We have been living through millennia of quasi-worship of those who presume to know enough […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, History, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
The Individuality of Spirituality
This essay builds on the other essay published today, “Objective Reality,” and also points to personal expectations that go “Beyond Psychotherapy.” First, note that many of the procedures that constitute “psychotherapy” as a corrective for problematic thinking have applications beyond the medical model! They may be used for personal development, which in turn includes many […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
“Objective” “Reality” ?
I do not wish to quibble over the fact that our thinking refers to a past event, but I would note that two perfectly sincere people who in addition like each other remember the past differently, This happened not because it was in the past so much as the fact that remembering derives from mental […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Follies, Psychological Literacy | No Comments
Reflections on the History of Consciousness
I’m sensing that we live in a time when changes are speeding up in so many ways. One “window” on change that I’m closer to is the history of medicine. Another “window” is the history of science. I was reading an interesting book that noted a literal shift in world-views, from a geocentric to a […]
Posted in Current Events, History | No Comments