Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
If Not Resurrection or Reincarnation, What?
A friend of mine wrote about “past lives” and this stimulated my thinking about other possibilities: One possibility—this is of course rank speculation—is that “we” dissolve into the Great Becoming-ness, having contributed our lives to that process, adding a little creativity here, posing a bit of a problem there, perhaps giving to the becoming-ness of […]
Posted in Autobiographical, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | 1 Comment
Interspirituality: The Next Step
I’ve just been reading a book, The coming interspiritual age, by Kurt Johnson & David Robert Ord (Vancouver: Namaste, 2012—just published!) It explains at length—delightfully!—just why now’s the time! I do sense a shift from spirituality based on content to spirituality based on process—but more about that anon. The books was a Christmas present from […]
Posted in Current Events, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
If Not Resurrection or Reincarnation, What?
A respected acquaintance noted his belief in reincarnation. Got me thinking: First, what about several other scenarios?: One, dissolve into the Great Becoming-ness, having contributed your life to that process, adding a little creativity here, posing a bit of a problem there, perhaps giving to the becoming-ness of children and grandchildren, directly or indirectly. Weeds […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Spirituality and Philosophy, Uncategorized | No Comments
The Roots of Spontaneity
It occurred to me that spontaneity is a natural drive that emerges when in healthy infancy and childhood kids can enjoy the innocence of feeling (1) the freedom to take it over, to do it again and again until one “gets it”; and (2) the freedom to not feel at all ashamed to ask for […]
Posted in Follies, Play and Spontaneity, Psychological Literacy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
The Spectrum of Pretense
I saw the cartoon-graphic movie, The Rise of the Guardians, yesterday, and something in it repeatedly brought tears to my eyes, especially in the second part. At first I didn’t know why it touched me so, and then these thoughts came to me: I have preserved a capacity to imagine and pretend, what some might […]
Posted in Mind-Spectrums, Play and Spontaneity, Psychological Literacy | No Comments
More, Yet!
I am re-reading and continuing to enjoy and be proud of my son David’s new book, Spectrums. It expresses a proper appreciation of everything (or as I call it sometimes, The Everything Becoming. But on contemplating this, I also intuited a further category he didn’t address: We can open our minds with awe and fun […]
Posted in My Favorite Things, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
Don’t Watch It—Do It!
The number of screens is multiplying—movies, television, hand-held electronic devices, e-books, computer “games”—all “shadows on the wall,” illusions seductively fashioned to offer a hyper-reality, “bigger than life,” more wonderful than anything puny you could actually do yourselves. You can partake of this far more excellent world while in fact in your actual body-mind turning into […]
Posted in Current Events, Play and Spontaneity, Psychodrama, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
More About Mandalas
I was discussing my own use of mandalas with a lady who has a website about this subject, in addition to producing her own very beautiful designs. Her questions evoked some thoughts that I’ll share with those of you who might be interested. I started drawing mandala-like designs—somewhat circular and symmetrical—around 1966. One fun drawing […]
Posted in Autobiographical, Play and Spontaneity, Psychodrama | No Comments
The Meaning Instinct
I suggest that humans have an intrinsic need to construct meaning—something that orients them to the chaotic phenomena of the world. We pass along meanings as stories, myths; we organize religious-cultural systems based on these stories. It is universal. (When people become sufficiently disoriented through delerium (due to fever, some plants or medicines, some illnesses, […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Psychological Literacy, Spirituality and Philosophy | 1 Comment
Medical-ization
A friend, asking about what she called “arbitrary definitions of illness,” noted that they “pose a therapeutic challenge. As a society we also tend to medical-ize normal human conditions (like infertility). And what’s normal?” This got me thinking about the nature of “diagnosis.” Also, the word "medicalize" is interesting. Sometimes diagnosis is one of […]
Posted in History, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry | No Comments