bl2ed9407

Sat Dec 1 21:49:52 CST 2007

Dear Adam,
Thanks for recommending the book,but more so for sharing your thoughts.
Which makes me add my few cents,as someone who has been intrigued by other ways of knowing. what is reality etc
1.  Kabbalists' name for ego is "the desire to receive" ,that is all we are,a bundle  of desires to receive.
Which resonates with your "antenna" hypothesis.... 
2.  In hebrew the  word for world is "olam" which derives  from the root "to obscure","to hide".  . What does it obscure ? The full view of the universe.  Ours is the lowest, the darkest of places,where we receive a picture of reality based on our 5 senses. Those who use other senses,more refined senses - will experience different worlds, or realities. 
3. Kabballah has a whole method about reaching the full view: 125 steps to be precise.  Kabballists were known to transcends the boundaries of time and space, though I doubt they would use their abilities to locate a missing harp...During Independence war in Israel apparently , the late Rav Ashlag,the last great Kabbalist made his predictions about the outcome of  the war known to authorities.  Could've that somehow affected the outcome?!  One could argue that point.   The less anxiety  the more spontaneity etc .He also wanted kabballah to be taught in schools.: unless we evolve as humans we are forever stuck in this dark,limited world that we believe is all there ,sbecause our senses tell us so.  Once we changed  our view-the view changes. 
 3.I seem to find  similarities between some of Moreno's ideas,and the Kabballah : and leap with joy.
anath
From: adam at blatner.com
To: edwhug at verizon.net
Subject: Re: bl2ed9407
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 21:59:23 -0600
CC: list at grouptalkweb.org

Dear Ed & 
Grouptalk, I recently came upon the following book:

Mayer, Elizabeth 
Lloyd. (2007). Extraordinary knowing: science, skepticism, and the inexplicable 
powers of the human mind. New York: Bantam.   www.bantamdell.com       This 
highly-reputed, well-established psychoanalyst died, unfortunately, soon after 
writing this book. It's surprisingly good---seems different from just another 
book on 
parapsychology. Her depth psychology angle adds some depth, so I 
feel drawn to read it out loud to my wife, 
Allee.

        If we concede that a 
truly anomalous experience occurs not as a random event---this is where the 
dynamics overlap with synchronicity---then we are invited to question our entire 
paradigm of causality.

       By the way, I 
have a hypothesis that explains all this: The mind is not a manufacturer and 
transmitter, but rather an antenna, a receiver, especially of more refined forms 
of knowledge. In its less-evolved functioning---reptilian and mammalian brain, 
chronic defensiveness and simple limbic system functioning, much of the mind's 
functioning is relatively rooted in more conventional theories of reflex and 
child development, basic psychoanalysis, etc. When the limbic system relaxes, 
though, opens to the neurocortex, not only thinking can enter the picture (in 
the spirit of Goleman's Emotional Intelligence book in 1995), but, I suggest 
(very tentatively), opens to other dimensions that cannot be explained in terms 
of ordinary cognition. The savant syndrome, related conditions with musical 
ability recently described by Oliver Sacks, and many other phenomenon transcend 
any regular paradigms of mind.

      (I somehow 
see a parallel with astronomy. In the last thirty years or so, evidence for dark 
matter and then dark energy has accumulated. We don't know what these are, but 
it seems that as far as the dark matter, it, or something, accounts for 95% of 
the mass in the cosmos; and in terms of the seeming acceleration of distance, in 
its aggregate and 
distance, dark energy may express perhaps a quantity equal 
to or greater to the explainable types of energy. So more folks are coming to a 
fresh start place after the period of the spread of science and its extension 
into scientism between the mid-18th and early 21st century: New frontiers of 
staggering degrees of mystery are coming to the surface of our collective 
awareness.)

I envision many implications here: What really is hypnosis? 
What if most kids in a generation or two are taught self-hypnosis as a matter of 
course, like learning to read or write? And also intuition training and related 
skills?
        What if we accept a 
dimensional depth in our lives without having to presume to know what  it 
means---leaving it without dogma---but yet of course it becomes a powerful 
question that shifts the nature of spirituality away from the authority of an 
intermediate function (the clergy, the rituals), and towards a more democratic, 
populist---I don't know the right words---reaching for people to discover and 
explore the spiritual domains using their own symbol systems?

What if 
therapy begins to shift toward acknowledging this dimension?

Theory 2: 
Psychic phenomena increases with expectation, meditation, relaxation, feeling 
safe, letting oneself go into trance.   We as therapists should talk 
about extraordinary knowing in as matter-of-fact as taking a sexual history, or 
a spiritual history. We might be surprised by the way people will talk about it 
nowadays, but only if asked in a truly respectful manner. Well, I'm just warming 
up to all this. Open to your comments. warmly, Adam

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: 
  Edward Hug 

  To: Adam Blatner 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 6:38 
  AM
  Subject: Re: bl2ed9407

  Ho Adam ...

  I knew the elf was in there somewhere peeking 
  out. I look forward to your Christmas designs.

  Yes, neuroscience cuts both ways. It is reductive 
  science, fragmentary and un-wholistic. But it is science, and so gets the 
  attention of the money people .. agencies and all. But it is also supportive 
  of more integrative, wholistic approaches .. psychotherapies, pschoanalysis, 
  even psychodrama. And actually, once you get into it, there is a kind of Awe 
  in it. Just read Oliver Sacks and you get that there is a Ghost in the 
  Machine. Reductionistic language and terms of reference in service of that 
  which is so obviously beyond it. The spiritual aspect comes through without 
  using the spiritualistic language (so common in New Age blather). So yes, it 
  is a bridge in this way too!

  I guess you've seen Horvatin & Schreiber's 
  "Quintessential 
  Zerka". I had a peek into it on Amazon. Seems well written. Captivating. 
  At $54 I'll wait for the paperback though.

  Is your latest paper on your website? 

  Cheers ...  Ed

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: 
    Adam Blatner 

    To: Edward Hug 
    Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 10:56 
    PM
    Subject: Re: bl2ed9407

    Hi Ed, what fun. Well, I'm turning my attention 
    to a new game, mixing the kinds of drawings / cartoons I've been putting on 
    my Christmas Holiday letters for 27 years with the emergent playful 
    elf-based philosophy. 
            An 
    activity of seeking a kind of wisdom within folly. So this comment below 
    seems particularly apropos.

    EH: Ah yes ... that golden "10% ... where is it 
    to be found? Is it to be found somewhere OUTSIDE the folly, or is it to be 
    found WITHIN THE FOLLY ITSELF? My feeling is the latter. What we CALL 
    "folly" may be wisdom dressed up to fool us .. or rather, to fool our 
    rational way of thinking. Rather than "devaluing", I like to think it useful 
    to go exploring for wisdom within that which others devalue. Nor do I feel 
    pessimistic about all this. Funny thing is, I think the Elf part of you 
    already knows this!

       As for the other things, well, it 
    sounds as if we are in pretty much agreement. The idea of using neuroscience 
    to bridge intrigues me. I think psychodrama is wilting ever further. Did you 
    hear the journal might be closed down and perhaps sold from lack of 
    contributions? 
           So my 
    latest paper says let's unpack Moreno's best ideas and see where they can be 
    useful. 

        Warmly, 
  Adam

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