Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Almost Real, Not Really
Walt Kelly in one of his Pogo comic strips, revealed his rich, whimsical streak that teetered over into fantasy. (His art deeply influenced my own.) Here he explains what I’m trying to say about “almost-real”:
Posted in Art (Mandalas, Doodles, Scripts), Follies, Play and Spontaneity, World of Almost-Real | 1 Comment
Changing Times
We are living in a time when in fact a great deal of our culture is in transition on a great many issues. Here are some, as a warm-up to your thinking: – It used to be not only okay to smoke, but fashionable. – Keeping slaves was okay for much of history in […]
Posted in Current Events, Psychological Literacy, Social-Depth Psychology (Sociometry) | 1 Comment
The Archetype of Complacence
This phrase describes the deep tendency, when we learn or discover or invent something, to settle into that novelty as if it’s the end-point. Of course, it is not: There is always more to know, discover, and further refinements to whatever we invent or use. Since we don’t know what might be better, our experience […]
Posted in Psychological Literacy, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry, Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments
Being a “Contemplateur”
That term, “contemplateur,” is one I just made up, describing those who get a kick out of contemplating life, and maybe even writing about what bubbles through my brain-jelly. A boulevardier is a French term for one who saunters up and down the avenues of Paris or some other big city. If they weren’t so […]
Posted in Autobiographical, Whassup? | No Comments
For the Heaven of It
Play is fun, and creativity as play is fun, is heaven. It’s not done “for the hell of it.” That was from a time when the Protestant Ethic ruled, and if it was fun, there must be something wrong with it. Duty and work were unpleasant in the old days, at least in the minds […]
Posted in Foolin Around, History, Play and Spontaneity, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
Psychotherapy (?)
Let’s ignore this caricature of psychoanalysis. (Really, only a very tiny fraction of psychotherapists work this way.) I included this comic strip to illustrate the idea that many people seeking “help” really want a simple answer that liberates them from any self-doubt. Their capacity to call themselves into question—their inclination to do so—is minimal. This […]
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Play as the Basis for Innovation
As work shifts from mechanical repetition to innovation, what it takes to promote innovation becomes clear: Play. Some essential elements in playfulness involve exploration, experimentation, and doing so with optimal freedom from fear of failure. This state of mind in turn opens to inspiration. (Inspiration tends to happen far less often when there is any […]
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Keep Believing, Keep Pretending
There is a little verse is at the end of the 1980s Muppet Movie in which the melody of the Rainbow Connection is once again sung as a reprise: “Life’s like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending. We’ve done just what we set out to do, Just like the lovers, the […]
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How Life Goes
I find the diagram known as the Shree Yantra to be a profound one that I use to exercise my imagination. In the following freehand drawing, I note within each triangle its own sort-of maze. What this symbolizes for me is this. The eight central triangles and the one that weaves them together is the […]
Posted in Art (Mandalas, Doodles, Scripts), Psychological Literacy, Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments
A Component “Next Step”
What is illustrated below is Task 4b: This shows how multi-contextual paradigms are affected by shifting aesthetic criteria. It was not really possible to reveal this task to any member of humanity until now, as the species as a whole was rather immature, and many of the concepts thus named in this task were really […]
Posted in Art (Mandalas, Doodles, Scripts), Foolin Around, Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments