Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Change the World!
I confess that I think that if people could use just a few techniques developed originally in psychodrama, it would indeed change the world! Let’s not argue yet; consider first some of the following: Admit Ambivalence People will not only seem more authentic to others, but will be able to work with mixed feelings or […]
Posted in Play and Spontaneity, Psychodrama, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry, Social-Depth Psychology (Sociometry) | No Comments
What’s Wrong & How To Fix It
Of course this title is presumptuous, but it’s a grabber. Really, I don’t claim to address all problems, as the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz movies sang in If I Only Had a Brain: “I would answer every riddle for every individ’le….” On the other hand, I do think that a great deal of […]
Posted in Follies, Psychological Literacy, Social-Depth Psychology (Sociometry) | No Comments
Square Dancing as Spiritual Practice
I went square dancing last night and it is a particularly wholesome experience. It occurred to me that square dancing is also a spiritual activity. On the surface, the dancers, groups of four couples (eight people), are teams that are just trying to follow directions. They’ve learned the calls, but they’re just complex enough so […]
Posted in Play and Spontaneity, Psychological Literacy, Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments
Making Stuff Up
I’m afraid I’m profligate—er, no… promiscuous? wrong word. Un, precocious, preternatural, portly? No. I do expressive myself a lot, though, through many channels. Check out my website and especially the section on confabulations. The latest one is relevant to current events, I think. To confabulate is to make stuff up. One then may or may […]
Posted in Foolin Around, My Favorite Things, Play and Spontaneity, Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments
Junior Assistant
In some realms I’m big and important but in other realms I’m not, and on one of the cosmic levels I am very proud to report that I have been informed that I have been promoted to the rank of Junior Assistant! Yay! That means I get to help. My duties as yet are unclear. […]
Posted in Autobiographical, Foolin Around | No Comments
Celebrating Your Diversity
“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself! I am great! I contain multitudes!” wrote the American poet, Walt Whitman, in the mid-19th century (in a poem, “Song of Myself”). This blog post is a re-affirmation of the glory and necessity of individuality. The notion that we have to bring it all together […]
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Confabulations 23
More Low-Down on the Higher-Ups Well, of course I can’t begin to begin to know a zillionth of what it’s all about, but I have managed to glimpse a peek: We all have a platoon of angels. Each person has a bunch. They are not completely like humans with clear boundaries. Using my special dimension-oscope, […]
Posted in Foolin Around | No Comments
The Gestalt Function
There’s a function of the mind called “Gestalt” that’s not “Gestalt therapy” but rather the innate tendency to see meaningful patterns in what is perceived. The mind tends to see things as wholes. Shown a series of still pictures quickly enough, it generates the illusion of motion (and from this, movies and television). The Gestalt […]
Posted in Follies, Psychological Literacy, Psychology | No Comments
The Dingle-Derry Complex: Unrealistic Expectations
Reading Jean Houston’s mythic take on the classical Wizard of Oz 1939 movie, I was reminded of my own take on a tiny element in that great epic, the wistful song sung by the Scarecrow, “If I Only Had a Brain.” The Lyrics: I would while away the hours / Conferin’ with the flowers […]
Posted in Follies, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
Afterlife Letter from Freud to Jung
The following is a fantasized letter from Sigmund Freud to Carl Jung about the nature of a more holistic psychology: Dear Carl, Now that I’m dead to the living, I’ve discovered that as part of my purgatory, my purification process, on this post-death plane I’m encouraged to do a life review. I have come […]
Posted in Foolin Around, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry, Wisdom-ing | No Comments