Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Shadows on the Cave Wall
In a previous blog-post, I was reflecting on the acceleration of the appearance of mysteries. Now there are others that have come to my attention: changes in the speed of light?? What’s with “branes” (i.e., the concept of other-dimensional “membranes")? Static in the gravity field has been attributed to a magnification of the planck-sized (i.e. […]
Posted in Autobiographical, Current Events, Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments
Beyond the Beyond
There’s a Tibetan Mantra that, when translated, begins, “Beyond, beyond, beyond the beyond…” Recent developments in science have intensified the magnitude of its frontiers, from the vast to the minuscule. We are invited to consider theoretical constructs posed to explain phenomena that we don’t yet understand: At the micro-level, “strings” of primordial energy millions of […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments
An Exercise of Interpersonal Power
Here’s a way to discover how powerful you can be: Think of someone you know; and then, having thus thought, call that person and say, “Hi, I was thinking about you.” For a little extra credit, when you do think of that person, focus on some little thing they did, or that you did together, […]
Posted in My Favorite Things, Psychodrama, Psychological Literacy | 1 Comment
Religion for Atheists (Book Review)
The sub-title of this book is “a non-believer’s guide to the uses of religion,” and the author is Alain de Botton (UK) (2011, New York: Pantheon). For a while it seemed to atheists that religion would disappear because it failed to be compelling at the level of of the critical intellect. The author notes that […]
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Epistemological Mind-Stretchings
Everything nowadays is being revealed as being far more complex than we thought it was. This trend has involved all fields, including subtle differences in psychology. For example, there is the problem of how do we know what we know? This is a philosophical problem known as epistemology. For example, we start with what is […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | No Comments
The Formula
This came to me in a doodle-vision, and I was told that it is the “formula” for something-or-other. Formulas were big when I was a kid. If you had the formula for certain powerful things you could rule the world, or get girls to fall in love with you or something. Luckily the hero with […]
Posted in Foolin Around | No Comments
Pseudo-Psychodrama as Rhetoric
It pained me to see Clint Eastwood using the “empty chair” technique in a way that was absolutely not the way it was meant to be used in his speech at the Republican convention. Even if you’re for Romney, Eastwood’s misuse of this little dramatic technique was appalling. It’s hypnotic, you see. People kept “hearing” […]
Posted in Current Events, Psychodrama | No Comments
Reasons for Non-Reason
A recent and most interesting book came to my attention, Matthew Hutson’s 2012 The Seven Laws of Magical Thinking, subtitled How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane (New York: Hudson Street Press / Penguin). I’ve been thinking of the phenomena associated with illusion for much of my life. From rhetoric, propaganda and semantics […]
Posted in Essays and Papers, Follies, Spirituality and Philosophy | No Comments
Natural Inclusionality Approved
I have been corresponding with some acquaintances who in my estimate are really very bright, and I’m honored to be included in their circle. One Alan Rayner, is a retired professor of biology in England who evolved a theory of what he calls “Natural Inclusionality,” an approach that he thinks (and I agree in general) […]
Posted in Current Events, Spirituality and Philosophy, Wisdom-ing | 2 Comments
Social-Depth Psychology
Fields become more complex as new developments and tools for examination emerge. Bacteriology evolved to include other microscopic and sub-microscopic agents, viruses, Rickettsiae, etc. So, too, 20th century psychology and sociology will be viewed in the next century, I predict, as offering promising beginnings, but still coarse. Already the discovery of the mirror neuron system […]
Posted in Psychological Literacy, Psychotherapy and Psychiatry | No Comments