Did You Notice?

1. That all questions are underlain by still deeper ones? That all complexity can be accurately reduced to simplicity?

2. That it seems so crucial to have your home spotless when guests are coming over, to give a good first impression; but once they have arrived, not the slightest attention is paid to the appearance of the place? In fact, it's better that there's a mess to verify that everyone is enjoying themselves.

3. With this my sister agrees: we are getting dumber, and there is concrete evidence for it. Our communication is getting shorter, simpler, and shallower. Novels have given way to novellas, which will become novellinas, which will become micronovellinas, perhaps nanonovellinas, we have speculated. At the next poetry or book excerpt reading, there will be only monosyllables uttered, and these will receive standing ovations and sticks beaten on rocks. Eventually, she says along with her husband, we will be reduced to grunts, having effectively devolved into our primordial beginnings. If you want to read a truly exceptional book using the short form including micronovellinas, check this one out: http://www.amazon.com/Micronovellinas-Philosobytes-Rita-Randazzo/dp/0970827989/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330902202&sr=1-4

4. That we are getting closer to understanding the brain's response to traumatic events, which may lead to better treatment of PTSD and other maladaptive responses? Oh yeah, it has recently been noted in the literature that the experience of having been suddenly, unexpectedly dumped by a lover can result in the same symptomatology as the traumas we commonly associate with PTSD. I coulda' told you that a long time ago.

5. That I am now officially an old man, capable of saying outrageous things in public and getting away with them, on account of my age and all.

6. That if you have a single good friend, the kind who is there for you no matter what, who isn't out to exploit you, who wants to spend time with you, that you are doin' just fine?

My Top Ten 2011 New Year's Resolutions

Well, it's that time of year again. I usually shy away from resolutions because I end up breaking them promptly. But because my birthday is at the end of the year, I also feel compelled to generate a list. So here we go again:

1.    Listen to my wife better. Stop finishing her sentences and cutting her off, OK Rambo?

2.    Need to walk or do something physical for a change. I'll be 60 in three years and 70 in 13 years! Jesus!

3.    Eat better? Goes without saying, but I said it anyway.

4.    Become a better teacher. I know I can do better, and the pursuit will keep me from getting burned out.

5.    Listen to more music. I have a great collection, but somehow it easily becomes an afterthought.

6.    Finish the damn book!  I've been writing it since before my current students were in high school.

7.    Say positive, optimistic things. I have a habit from my genetics to not do that, so I need to overcome that predilection with mindfulness.

8.    Pay off the DISCOVER CARD bill. Pronto, or at least in proportion to corralling my movie and music addictions.

9.    Fix the toilet roll dispenser in the master bathroom. Must everything be monumental?

10.  Remind yourself of the top nine.

OK, so there's another year's worth of things that I will quickly forget or rationalize my way past. Hold on for a second: number 10 takes me to number 7, so, yes I will do these things, because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like me. Good, now eight to go.

Random Thoughts

So I'm sitting here at 11:01 on a Sunday, avoiding working on some Power Points for a new class this spring. I have blood and steel on my mind. Don't get me wrong, I love creating the best visuals and collecting the most up-to-date information. I just finished my 23rd one for this class, and I still have a boatload to go.

Is it necessary to think you have made a difference in the world to love your life, to not fear death?

Doctors are so single-minded in their quest for ultra rapid diagnosis and prescription, that they often miss the obvious. Like the patient who has sad eyes or one who won't look them in the eye. research tells us that as much as 90% of all patients seen in a general practice office have some psychosocial basis or strong component of this in their presentation. So there!

You do realize, don't you, that dentists are simply highly skilled technicians. They very rarely use all the biochemistry, anatomy, and pharmacology that they learned about in dental school. And the quality of their work varies significantly, just like the rest of us. Did you know that many dentists still use the old film X-ray method, despite the precision, low x-ray dose, and non-polluting digital system that's been available since the 90's? Makes you wonder.

I suppose I could say similar things about doctors. I went to the first two years of medical school. Oh, I didn't matriculate, mind you. I have no grades to proudly display, no certificate of attendance. I was given permission to take all the courses when I was an Educational Consultant to the school of medicine.

In general practice offices, the overwhelming majority of things that people complain about will vanish on their own, without any treatment what so ever. That's how the great imposters would stay undetected for so long. I think we have some imposters with actual medical licenses. The real truth about general medical practice? If you know what ails a patient, give him either an antibiotic or an antianxity Rx, and if you don't know ails them, send him to a specialist. I'm serious.

I have caught several physicians not knowing basic stuff, missing sure fire diagnostic clues, and prescribing the wrong medication or the most expensive medication when a much cheaper one would do. But then I am a very superb diagnostician, and think I know more than I actually do about most things.

Why am I so anti-medicine this morning? Because I am reminding myself that I need to draw some blood again, must take shots all day long, and I have always done so and will always do so for my entire life, or I will die, and die very quickly. And because medicine has no offerings for existential angst, for a broken heart, or for a disconnected soul. "What's wrong with this guy," I hear you muttering.

I used to fantasize, and sometimes still do when I watch a zombie movie, that in a post-apocalyptic world I would be so self-sufficient I would be able to save others and be very happy. I would be armed to the teeth and kill zombies by the thousands. Never was anything so untrue. Without the occasional slice of pizza, I would soon perish.

I am up for tenure this year, and I will be on the block in May to decide on this five year process. Am I concerned? No, not substantially. But history has taught me in the most painful of ways that chickens should be kept in the coop so as not to be inadvertently counted.

Now I feel better. My dysthymic rant has saved me again, at least for a few hours. Back to the Power Points.

Ten Things I Really Dislike

1.   When people drive around with almost no gas in their tank, anxiously concerned that they will run out, and when it's time to get some go juice, they only get a few bucks worth!

2.   Folks who can't seem to EVER understand how to operate a TV remote control. What exactly is the problem?

3.   People who think they can hide their true nature from those who are paying attention. I pay attention, and you can't hide.

4.   People who don't absolutely adore dogs. How could you not love a sentient being that is so pure, so loving, so truly adoring?

5.   Folks who can't tolerate paradox. Paradoxes are ubiquitous and at the same time seemingly rare. To see them is to appreciate them.

6.   When people don't cap their pens after using them. They dry up and mark surfaces inadvertently. Stop it. Stop it now.

7.   Mushrooms. Their texture, their taste, their appearance. Nuff said.

8.   Folks who absolutely must have the latest phone. I have had the same tiny phone since 2001, and I don't even use it. Well, except for when I get a dirty phone call from my wife.

9.   Students who text constantly in my classrooms. They won't stop, no matter what I do or say. Is rudeness and self-disrespect the new "in" thing, or is this an addiction? I don't think they get it.

10. My critical nature. Its way too easy for me to come up with a list of things I dislike.

Falling Into Bliss

Plunging,

Helplessly sliding,

Eyes closed,

Stillness,

Longing.

Innocence vanishes,

Impulsive,

Glorious moments.

Who am I?

Disparate souls,

In sway.

The comeliness of invitation.

Who are you?

Ecstatic occasions,

Delicate moments.

Are there shades of grace?

I see you!

The truth and its

Consequences,

No one to blame.

The cruelty of clarity.

I am in my office, waiting to go teach my 11 AM Human Relations class. I love this course! I designed it to expose students to the fundamentals of relationships at all levels: work and business, acquaintanceship, companionships, friends, family, and romances.

From all accounts, this course is appreciated. I got an email from a former student who was very thankful for this class, saying it had prepared her for her nursing job well. I have received several like this one. It's difficult to know how well a course meets its objectives. I'm not sure these testimonials are sufficient to say all is well.

I rewrote all the Power Points for this course. I am looking for THE PERFECT high-resolution depictions of topics. I am going to redo some more PPTs this winter; but I have to prepare for the Abnormal Psychology class - I've not yet taught this one.

The Truth about Psychotherapists

OK, so each of us has an idea of what therapy is all about and what therapists are like, based on our own experience, the experience of someone we know, or perhaps through their depiction in movies. In movies, therapists all sleep with their patients, and are very, very wounded people. Of course, there are many reasons folks choose to become therapists.

Well, therapists tend to be wounded heroes: they tend to have been parentified children and were often seen as family mediators, and are even sometimes codependent caretakers. They are also more likely to have been emotionally or physically or sexually abused. Not all, but many.

Did you know that most therapists are not qualified to be offering services? There are several graduate degree programs that offer little to no training or education in providing counseling and therapy! One is the typical MSW program, and I mean even to include the clinical social work degree. At one flagship graduate program in Social Work, the Master's program requires only this in therapy training: one semester of a seminar in group therapy, and one semester of a seminar in family therapy. No counseling theory, few techniques, no diagnostics, no theory or training in how to perform individual therapy, etc. (in fact, social workers are not allowed by law to use psychological diagnostic tools.)  I fully believe that folks in a Counseling Psychology program would benefit from Social Work courses. I think it crucial that social workers take Psychology courses. How many bother to do this in either direction? Few.

I do know some social workers who HAVE gone on to more education and to learn about how to effectively do individual therapy, and I have known a very few psychology people who studied social services and policy issues. I will toot my horn and say I took several social work classes. This was very helpful. I gotta say, those folks are very very prickly about their domain: I was told loudly and clearly, by more than one faculty member, that I was not welcome in their graduate program. Why so touchy?

I don't mean to disparage social workers in particular, I really don't. I could say similar things about a wide variety of therapists' training. I have seen some really ill-prepared psych folks, too. It just seems that social workers get a "pass" on learning academically and often experientially about theory and skills needed to do therapy and counseling.

Did you know that what therapists say they do in the therapy hour, including the style and theoretical framework they use, is far different from what they actually do. Therapists are often very poor at self-monitoring, but are excellent at rationalizing. They may only be comforting a patient instead of applying a particular technique within a particular framework, and may have only taken a one-day workshop anyhow. I think what really irks me is the "one size fits all" mentality, wherein a therapist thinks that all problems can be treated with the same technique(s). When all you have is a hammer, all the clients' problems look like nails, and they are not.

In 1984, my then wife and I went to a "therapist." Her office was in her basement. There sat a red pit group surrounded (and I mean on all walls) by mirrors: floor to ceiling. It felt a bit like some bizarre fun house, or maybe Stuart Smalley's place on steroids. At one point in the second session she had my wife turn to a mirror and repeat self-affirmations, while I looked on in surprise and disgust. I thought to myself, "Damn, I can do this!" And at  $100 an hour, who wouldn't want to give it a whirl?

Did you know that virtually all therapists commit insurance fraud on a regular basis? Insurance companies will typically only pay for the treatment of certain diagnoses, such as depression. They won't typically pay for marriage or sex therapy. So what therapists do is diagnose pretty much everything as depression, adjustment disorders, or occasionally, an anxiety disorder. This way, the client can be seen and the therapist can be paid. We must remember, however, that diagnoses follow clients around like flypaper and can cause problems later in their employment and insurability. In addition, how you treat each disorder can vary significantly. Now, many therapists are quick to rightly point out that depression is often a comorbid condition for most other disorders, because once you've struggled with something and it doesn't remit, you tend to get depressed. But that is not what the therapist ought to be working on; the base problem should be addressed at some point, or the client simply will not get better in the long run. And maybe that's not what the therapist is working on; maybe they are working on the "right" issue. I can make a claim, even a righteous one, that the object is to treat the person, so a little twist and wiggle with the insurance forms ought to be no big deal. Right?

Did you know that therapists are typically lousy diagnosticians? They have usually only taken one course in Abnormal Psychology (an introduction to the major categories of disorders), and then learn OJT after that. This is a very tricky, artful and a less science-driven skill that takes a very long time to get good at. You really need expert supervision and tons of back-checked experience to do this well. Part of this dilemma is wrought from spending very little time in a diagnostic process with clients, one that should take hours to complete (insurance companies require an instantaneous diagnosis.) It took me about ten years of very diligent effort to get really good at diagnosing, and I'm not particularly slow-witted.

Lastly, it appears that many therapists really don't treat much of anything, preferring to simply be a mirror for their clients, a kind of Rogerian reflector and a close "friend," hoping that this will make things better. I have heard and seen many therapists do this. I trained many who were not adequately schooled. They start off well, appear to understand the issues, and then quickly descend into friendly, "active," inert listening. I don't really blame them for this: it's their training that's sorely lacking. Few master's level training programs ever really show its students what real psychotherapy is like and how it could/should be conducted. They talk a lot about peripheral issues, like ethics, and theories of counseling, which is of course necessary, but never teach things such as: how to handle and process with a client emotion, how to ask great questions, how to know when it's time to refer, and so on. I'm very serious about these claims.

All this makes me think of the joke that goes: therapists are "the rapists." Or psychotherapists are "psycho therapists."

I know this is provocative and without precision, but I fully believe that around half of all psychotherapists are incompetent. I would estimate that only about ten percent are really excellent. The rest are OK. And the public has absolutely no way of assessing this!

I believe I have a handle on my assertions: I am a psychotherapist specializing in sex therapy, and I am also a Professor of Psychology who teaches this stuff. I have trained many beginning therapists and have heard their confessions in their own therapy sessions. I've also listened to many faculty members in even APA sites talk about these things.

As always, the most dangerous professional is the one who does not know what he does not know about, and therefore is more likely to think he does.  I don't know how to do lots of things therapeutically, but I know what those things are. That's what referrals are for!

On behalf of our profession, I apologize.

Ten uses for your body after you die

I found this at CNN.com and it's worth posting here:

By Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent

October 28, 2010 8:21 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Like many Americans, you probably think you're pretty charitable. Perhaps you donate money to the needy or ill, give away your old clothes, volunteer at your child's school or participate in holiday gift drives in December.

But you may be missing something. As you're charitable in life, you could also be charitable in death. This holiday season -- Halloween -- you could start thinking about a kind of ghoulish donation: your body.

J. Nathan Bazzel has already made his plans. In 2001, he signed all the necessary documents to donate his body parts to the Mütter Museum, a part of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. A friend of his worked there, and he knew that researchers from around the world came to look at its vast collection of body parts.

Bazzel, 38, is HIV-positive, and he wants scientists to learn from his remains.

"If just one person can take a look at my skull and kidneys, which have suffered from HIV and the drugs used to treat it, and learn something from them -- what a magnificent gift," he said.

He's so impassioned that the same year he signed the forms for his postmortem donation, he donated his right hip, which had to be replaced because of damage from an HIV drug, and then three years later, he donated his left hip.

Bazzel, who became the college's communications director two years ago, has already seen the benefits of having real human body parts on display: When high school students come in and see his hips' deformities, his lecture to them on the importance of safe sex takes on a whole new meaning.

Of course, being on display in a museum isn't everyone's cup of tea. So in the spirit of the season, here are 10 ways you can put your body to use after you die. In many cases, you can do more than one.

1. Donate your organs

Nineteen people die every day waiting for an organ such as a kidney, heart, lung, liver or pancreas. Learn about organ donation, sign an organ donor card, tell your family your wishes, and don't be misled by myths about organ donation. If you like, you can donate some organs but not others.

2. Donate your tissue

Your bones, ligaments, heart valves and corneas might not be of use to you in the hereafter, but they can certainly help someone else. Learn about tissue donation, sign a card, and again, tell your family members you've done this so they won't be surprised when the time comes. As with organs, you can specify what types of tissues you'd like to donate.

3. Will your body to a university

Help a future doctor learn about the human body by becoming a cadaver dissected by first-year medical students. A state-by-state list of medical schools can get you started. Be sure to ask exactly what will happen to your body. While you might be used for dissection, you could be used for other purposes within the school, and you might not have much control.

Here's an interesting conversation about the respect shown by students to their cadavers.

4. Help doctors practice their skills

If you'd prefer to be worked on by folks with more experience, actual, not future, doctors can learn from your body. At the Medical Education and Research Institute in Memphis, Tennessee, doctors brush up on their skills and learn new techniques; it's the training facility for organizations such as the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the North American Skull Base Society and the International Spinal Injection Society.

Doctors get to practice (and possibly make mistakes on) the dead rather than the living. In return, the institute provides for transportation for your body to Memphis, pays for cremation once the work is done and returns the ashes to your family (or, if you prefer, to an interment facility in Memphis).

If you like the idea, you can fill out a donor form. If you'd prefer to first see where your body's headed, the institute welcomes visitors.

5. Leave your body to "the body farm"

Did you ever wonder how, on TV shows, detectives know the time of death just by examining the body? Cops can thank the folks at the University of Tennessee's Forensic Anthropology Center for helping them figure it out. "The body farm," as it's known, has "650 skeletons and growing" scattered over 2.5 acres in Knoxville, according to its website. Researchers and students study bodies in varying stages of decay to help anthropologists and law enforcement officials answer important questions, such as body identification and time of death analysis. (For a fascinating account of a visit to the center, see Mary Roach's book "Stiff.")

If you want to become one of those skeletons after you die, you're in luck, as they make donation pretty easy at the Body Farm. Get their Body Donation Packet, fill out their Body Donation Document and complete the biological questionnaire. They'll want a photo of you to help them learn more about "facial reconstruction and photographic superimposition as a means for identifying unknown individuals," according to the center's website.

If you live in Tennessee and within 200 miles of Knoxville, you're really in luck, because they'll take care of all the costs. If not, your family will be responsible for arranging transportation to the center.

Once they're done with you at the Body Farm, your family doesn't get your remains back, so if that's important to you, this isn't your best option.

6. Become a crash test cadaver

Plastic crash test dummies are all well and good, but there's nothing like a real human body to simulate what happens in a car crash. You can will your body to the Wayne State University School of Medicine to become a crash test cadaver by filling out its Body Bequest Form. The form is for donation to the university, but "if a person specifically requests that their body be used in safety testing that is ongoing at the Bio-Mechanics lab, then we would honor that wish," according to an e-mail from Barbara Rosso-Norgan, the school's mortuary supervisor.

7. Give your body to a broker

We don't mean a stockbroker; we mean a body broker, who will take your parts and get them to scientists who will use them for research, training and education.

There are several groups in this business, including Science Care, Anatomy Gifts Registry and BioGift Anatomical.

Generally speaking, here's the upside of these groups: They pay to have your body transported to their facility, and with the parts that are not used in research, they pay for cremation and to have the ashes returned to your family (some will, if you prefer, distribute them at sea). This can save your family a lot of money.

The downside: You don't know where your parts will go. "We don't guarantee that we can use the body in any specific research program, and that's because our research is always changing," said Kristin Dorn, community relations manager at Science Care. "Your intent is to donate to science, not a specific research project."

Some brokers will allow you to say what areas you'd prefer your parts not go to. If this is important to you, find the broker who offers this option. "If someone is ready to donate their body to science, they will definitely need to do some research," Dorn said.

8. Send your body on tour

If you've been to the "Body Worlds" exhibit, you know what plastination is: a process of posing and hardening a body so it appears life-like.

You, too, could become one of these bodies on display by donating to the Institute for Plastination. If you live in the United States or Canada, your body will be embalmed on your own continent and then shipped to Germany, where technicians will perform the plastination process. They'll remove fat and water, "impregnate" your corpse with rubber silicone and position it into a frozen pose (you might be, say, running or sitting cross-legged or performing ballet or perhaps riding a horse). Your body is then hardened into that position with gas, light or heat. The entire process takes about a year, according to the group's website.

Your family pays to get your body to the embalming location, and the Institute for Plastination incurs the shipping costs to Germany.

There are rules about donation. You can be old, and you can be an organ donor, but if you died in a violent manner, it might not work out, as your body must be "largely intact" in order to donate, according to the institute's website.

Also, there's no guarantee your body will end up in one of the five exhibits. Some plastinated bodies are sent to medical schools and training programs, and you don't get to decide the destination of your corpse, according to Georgina Gomez, the institute's director of development.

If you're interested in going on tour and you live in North America, read the Guide to Donors and fill out the Donor Consent Form. There are also forms for European donors.

9. Become a skeleton

Researchers from around the world visit the extensive skeleton collection at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico.

Here's some information and the legal donor permission form and a donor information form.

The ground rules: Your family pays to get your body to the museum's facility in Albuquerque, and your remains (besides your bones, of course) get cremated and disposed of; they don't go back to your family. Researchers who want to work with the skeletons have to apply to the museum's Laboratory of Human Osteology; the skeletons are not put on display for anyone at the museum to see.

If you'd like to be put on display, see below.

10. Be on display at a museum

Like Bazzel, you can donate parts of your body to the Mutter Museum at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

If you do so, you'll be a part of a pretty rarified group. Anna Dhody, the museum's curator since 2004, has received only three inquiries about donation after death, including Bazzel's.

"One woman contacted me and said, 'I have a 120-degree curvature of my spine. Would you like it when I'm done with it?' and I said, 'Yes, please,' " Dhody recalled.

Although the museum is particularly interested in bodies with abnormalities, it'll also consider taking your remains even if there's nothing particularly pathological about them. Either way, your family will have to foot the bill to get you to Philly.

Republicans?

For God's sake, and yours, how can you vote in a Republican majority? They got us into our present financial mess by spending like freaks and deregulating Wall Street, lining their own pockets with corporate and special interest money.

And you want to vote them back in? Are you insane?

What do you think they'll do once in power? They have NO plans that differ from their old administration, so really, what do you think they'll do?

They all say the same thing: cut taxes and create jobs. So? What do you think Obama has been trying to do? He isn't gonna allow those making over $250,000 to pay disproportionately lower taxes: that's one of the things that sunk us! He IS lowering taxes on middle and lower economic groups.

He will not deregulate, but has already strengthened the boundaries for Wall Street.

Heard any Republicans talking about this? NO! They don't want to do this, because it cuts off their cash flow. Heard any Republicans talking about how Obama has been taking real steps to end the wars? NO, because they weren't able to do it.

Now, I don't have a love fest going on for democrats. I think they've dropped the ball we gave them, but as I see things...

I don't want the chickens, like you and me, to be guarded by the wolves, thank you very much.

But, if you believe that Obama is a Muslim, or isn't an American, or wants to take your guns, or any of the other conspiracy theories, you have already stopped reading this blog. Rational isn't in your vocabulary. For the rest of you, please:

USE YOUR BRAINS, NOT YOUR EMOTIONS!

Let's give the current administration a few more years to bail the water out of the hull.

Stupid or ignorant?

These words have negative conotations, but what do they really mean?

Ignorance is not knowing. Each of us is more ignorant than knowledgeable about most things. I am ignorant of stockcar racing, dry walling, oil painting, and just about everything else. I know a good bit about Geology and Psychology, and a smattering of things that I've read about. But about most things I am fully ignorant, just like you.

Ignorance can occur due to a lack of experience, education, or exposure to something. So ignorance is not inherently a negative description.

Stupidity is another animal. A person is stupid when they have the facts before them and choose to ignore them; or, when given a chance to learn about something choose not to. It is stupid to see all the data and the carefully articulated arguments by virtually all the world's experts on global warming, and then choose to ignore it all.

Ignorance and stupidity are not mutually exclusive, however. The most dangerous person to our society, if not the world, is the ignorant and stupid individual. They don't know about something, may even claim to, and when presented with the facts, chooses to ignore them. We can't really handle much more stupidity without grave consequences.

I would love to get each candidate for any office in my office for 30 minutes. I'd ask them pointed questions that isolated their problem-solving skills and general knowledge level, and then I'd hone in on some meaty stuff to ferret out the sham aretists, uncover the false fronts, and unmask the biggots. Then I'd tell all who might listen who the real deals were.

I have a lot of room in my heart for ignorance, but none for stupidity.

Terrorists aren't religious fanatics!

Let's get something straight: terrorists aren't really interested in getting people to convert to their religious belief systems. Nor are they trying to fulfill some religion-directed goal of destroying nonbelievers.

Wanting others to join their beliefs would necessitate a kinder, gentler approach. No one would voluntarily pledge oath to any religion that treated women so badly, that destroyed more than it built, that created a pervasive sense of anxiety and uncertainty. Oh wait a minute, some men would!

Well, I think it's clear that terrorists are simply creators of chaos, lovers of entropy, in disguise. They have anarchy written all over them. They appear to despise all order, all social structures, all ideologies. Islamic terrorists pretend to honor the Koran, but clearly do not speak for the vast majority of Islamic believers. They are actually fighting against their own religion.

In all these ways they are nothing more than anarchists!  It has been convenient to create this disguise, because it gives them more credence and power - which is exactly what they need and want so desperately.

I'd be willing to bet money that the overwhelming majority of those who "join" any terrorists groups are either "lost" souls or are themselves miscreants. Just look at the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber, and the Times Square bomber.

I am most fearful of my consistent observation of people over the years: there is clearly a chaotic component in almost everyone. That characteristic, or drive, is closely related to Freud's Thanatopsis. It can be unmasked and energized in a variety of circumstances and it should never be underestimated. As the world and its resources shrink, there will be less and less for more and more. There will be greater pressures and fewer global-level coping mechanisms. I fear that terrorism is a spreading, not an isolated, phenomenon.

I so very much hope I'm wrong.

Is TOYOTA still accelerating?

What happened to the "stuck accelerator" problem? We haven't heard a single report since the rash of them not long ago. Doesn't make sense statistically. Were the lawsuits settled? Were all the cars refitted? Were people faking the problem? Something is up with this story.

Of What Do Dogs Dream?

Ever watch a dog dream? Twitching, yelping, barking. I have often wished I could know what they see, what they think. Oh, you don't think dogs think? Think again. Don't believe that dogs have emotions? Flat wrong!

Dogs experience joy, sadness, anger, and fear, just like us. Doesn't that make them mostly like us?

So, what do dreaming dogs see?

I bet it's stuff like running free in a pasture, playing catch, squirming their back against the grass, or maybe feeling delight watching you come in the front door yet again.

You know, the same things we dream about.

Commercializing our souls

Are you tired of being told how to live your life? Are you exhausted by trying to keep up with the latest gadgets, fads, and fashions? I am.

I’m tired of being told I am not fit enough, not friendly enough, don’t smell good enough, have teeth that aren’t perfect, don’t have enough sex, that my erections aren’t good enough, that if I was a real man that I would make more money.

If you’re female, it’s worse: you don’t smell right (anywhere at any time), you wear the wrong clothes, you’re too fat, your relationship isn’t good enough,  you aren’t sexy enough (whatever the hell that means), and of course if only your hair looked like hers, you too would be happy.

Who’s admonishing us? Our corporations and the vastly successful advertising and marketing engines that fuel their sales. They dictate what’s normal, what’s new, what’s everyone else wants, what you should want, what you should look like, and how you should act. If I see one more clique of obnoxious, rich, complaining pretty people who spend their days partying and sucking money out of you and me watching them, I’m going to wretch. When did we lose our senses?

Take the Kardashian phenomenon. What exactly does this family produce? Avatars, apparitions, fantasy. They sell the idea that if you look like they look (which can be achieved by using their products), do what they do (which they show you on all their TV series), and act like they act (like entitled, shallow women and men), then you will be happy.  It’s all about money. It’s always about money.

But make no mistake, we buy it hook, line, and sinker, or they couldn’t sell anything to anybody. They prey upon our most sensitive nerves, the ones that drive us toward acceptance and love, and they strike against our biggest fear: rejection. Most of what we choose to do, choose to buy, and who we choose to hang around with is driven by the fear of rejection and the desire for inclusion. We will even delude ourselves in the hope that if we pretend to be different, then we will be loved.

How sad.

Overpopulation: the basic evil

One in six in our world struggles to have enough to eat, I heard on the news. That’s more than one billion people! Oh yes, there are plenty of other problems to address: global warming, air pollution, loss of ocean habitats and marine species, war, poverty, peak oil and energy shortages, the rise of deadly strains of diseases, water shortages, and so on. The mind boggles!

I fear we have been attempting to smother brush fires without examining what fuels them. The larger question is: what underlies these daunting challenges?

Overpopulation, the population bomb.

In 1950, the world’s population was a mere 2.5 billion people. By 2010, we had grown to 6.8 billion, and in 2050, there will likely be 9.3 billion of us. Each of those 9 billion will have the same basic needs.  And each will compete to survive as the world and its resources shrink.

Humans are special animals: we can suppose theoretically, our language is elaborate, we consider both past and present, our imaginations are active, our aptitude unmatched. But the rest of our nature, our biological selves, is still primitive and driven by needs that are of the “when push comes to shove” kind. But I am willing to bet that if we don’t start applying our “special” talents to address the fundamental issues of overpopulation and environmental savagery, Mother Nature will take care of herself at our expense. It’s not nice to fool with her, you know. We are her guests and are bound by history and contract to tend her gardens like the excellent shepherds that she had hoped we would become.

What can we do about it? There are a few ideas that seem notable because they are possible. We can put robust effort towards family planning, providing education, support, and condoms to those who cannot sustain additional children. We can approach solar power technology full bore. We can set the world example for clean energy (Europe is way ahead of us on that one). How about putting the NASA nerds on that task, rerouting them from their latest extraterrestrial water hunting expeditions?  We could demand that our auto industries make electric-only cars by the year 2020. It’s very possible, even if they would have it otherwise. We might require 100% recycling, setting yet another example for how such things can be done. We could require all buildings to meet highly restrictive, green building codes. We might require all homes built to have solar and wind electricity generation. WE COULD DO IT! The list goes on.

There is one more thing: we must lower our expectations. More is not better, bigger is not better, and we Americans need to invert those delusions. We cannot stay mute or procrastinate on any of this stuff. It’s the bottom of the ninth inning, and Mother Nature is about to throw us a fast ball.

This was an article published in 2009 in The 15th Street News, written by the author of this blog, with minor changes made.

Best Movies of 2009

A SERIOUS MAN

BIG FAN

DEPARTURES

DISGRACE

Everlasting Moments

FOOD, INC

GOODBYE SOLO

JULIA

SILENT LIGHT

SIN NOMBRE

SKIN

THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE

TRUCKER

YOU, THE LIVING

The Collective Psychosis

Jung argued that humans have a "collective unconscious", a universal and inherited part held deeply within each individual of a species. He thought it was structured with archetypes and archetypal ideas, similar in nature to Levy-Bruh's mythological motifs. Jung incorporated Darwin's theories of evolution into his notions, which makes him especially appealing to me.

Archetypes are manifested in imagery, dreams and visions. Some examples include the mother archetype that then guides the mother-child bond, the hero archetype, and so on. Our behavior and our lives are heavily influenced, perhaps even determined by these archetypes. Birth and death are controlled by archetypes. Even religious experiences are guided by archetypes.

Let's say Jung is right; that in each of us lies a set of patterns that are species-specific, guiding our choices and behavior. I think there might be a competing set of guidelines: the Collective Psychosis.

The Collective Psychosis might be the innate underlying lack of structure, the tendency of people to be unstructured, impulsive, and chaotic. It might also be called a Collective Entropy. It would be unstructured, and so it would have no archetypes.

All systems have both organizing and disorganizing tendencies. Maybe people who are psychotic are simply manifesting behavior underlain by disorder rather than order. Maybe psychotic individuals who hallucinate are connecting to the imagery of the collective psychosis. Maybe we taste the collective psychosis when we choose the forbidden, impulsively behave with abandon, or have scary and incomprehensible, fantastical dreams.

Maybe I'm full of shit.

For God's sake (and ours), please wake up!

I am not interested in how you feel. But I am intersted in how you think.  There was a time, not too long ago, when we were sure that the world was flat, that demons possessed people, that if you ejaculated the day before the big game you wouldn't be aggressive enough. Actually, there are some out there who still believe these things. Is it me, or are we losing our critical thinking skills?

The quality of our thinking predicts our ability to solve problems and make rational choices. The lack of critical thinking predicts impulsivity, emotion-based choice-making, and learning by trial and error. Science has allowed us to move beyond trial and error learning to predicting, with ever-increasing acuracy, the consequences of our behavior. So, what do you thnk will happen if the Republicans get back in control?

Forget what anyone has told you about who is for what and why. Forget the commercials, the rants, the speeches by both parties. Ask yourself only one question, and then think through it: was I (and was the country) better off during Democratic or Republican administrations and congresses?

Think through it. Don't listen to your emotions, because emotions are not truth. In fact, emotions lie to us all the time. Emotions are respondent to our thoughts, not the other way around.

Here's another question: do you want to line the pockets of the rich, including big business and Wall Street, or do you want to reign in the excess and provide for the everday person like you and me?

Think through it. What evidence do you NEED to conclude an answer?

Love?

We humans are never distant from our deepest desires, and none is more compelling than to create a consummate connection with a fellow traveler, a spiritual partner on a train bound for bliss, with whom we share a life of treasures as well as a blanket when the wind blows cold. We require profound connections with others, Psychology informs us, to preserve our emotional and physical health. Before describing what love is, let’s declare what love is not.  

Mature love is not dependency. Dependency occurs when someone requires the caretaking of another in order to function, to feel whole. This bargain strikes a balance wherein one feels powerful and needed while the other is esteemed because they are “cared” for. Because of these shackles, neither can grow emotionally. Dependent love is a form of mutual indentured servitude.

Love is not cruel. Some have learned to demonstrate their “love” with emotional or physical meanness. While its origins may be understood, such behavior is absolutely incompatible with love, and ought never to be tolerated, not for a second. Unfortunately, it is possible to be accustomed to anything, even misery.

Love is not lust. Contrary to the longstanding adage, lust is the blind condition, not love. The hormonal and neurochemical storm we call infatuation is nature’s way of promoting pair-bonding and procreation. Alas, it blinds us to the “true” nature of our partner. This snowstorm does not subside immediately, so it’s wise to not make commitments early in the game. Think of it this way: if infatuation is the appetizer, then love is the seven-course meal. Hors d'oeuvres may be tasty and easy to consume, but the main course is ultimately filling, even if it does require some effort to accommodate.  

So what is love? Love appears when your partner’s growth, development, and well-being are as important to you as your own. In your commitment towards this goal, you are obliged to exhibit effort. Love is not an emotion; it is ultimately a set of decisions you make. As partners weave their love into fabric, kindness must prevail over being right, and impulsivity must give way to perseverance. In these ways, the fabric of love grows more resistant to tearing.


Love ain't easy, but it is the closest we can get to another. I would argue that it is therefore worth the effort.

(This first appeared as a column in a newspaper in 2009, written by the author of this blog; small changes were made)

The Frozen Hereafter

Like all of you, I have no special knowledge about what lies beyond death. I do know that when you freeze body tissue, it destroys the cells. It rips them apart. Lifeless, shredded icicles, those cells. Cryogenic suspension is but a euphemism. I can, however, foresee several situations where freezing one’s body becomes a fitting choice.

Salesmanship can make this seem an attractive choice. Joints that freeze (different from aging knees) want you to think that eventually science will catch up to them and repair your frozen cells, one by one, and make all things right again. My expert friends tell me it’s never gonna happen—strictly sci-fi reanimation lore. They want your money. But if it were possible, I want to have only my head frozen, because my eyes, voice, and brain are my best features, and the savings would be substantial.

On occasion, your relatives will decide to freeze you, but apparently this applies only to famous and/or rich folks. Ted Williams is trembling in his grave, and it’s not from the cold. I bet he finds all the decisions his family made on his behalf disconcerting. Can dead people feel disconcerted? I want to donate my body to the OU College of Medicine and just before I die I want to swallow some notes like, “You will soon have a new and interesting experience” and “Get back to work, you plebe!” then have some first year medical student open me up in Anatomy lab, like a human fortune cookie. Now, that thought comforts me.

The third scenario is that you want to be frozen, have enough money to do so, but you are demented. This means that your family must despise you, because you are going to ice over their inheritance, right? I had a “demented” great uncle who was worth many millions. While alive, he spent none of it. When he died, he donated the entire sum to the Botanical Gardens in New York. This really pissed his family off. They had waited like jackals for his passing, believing he was keeping them from nirvana. The steam emanating from their ears at the reading of his will must have resembled the fog rising from a thawing corpse. I wonder if their hostility for him while he was alive caused his dementia to worsen, perhaps even creating their most terrible fear. In the meantime, they were consumed by their own hatred.We tend to create our own realities.

Sometimes control freaks want the deep freeze. These individuals are calmed by the notion that they really won’t die after all; they’ll just take a long, cold nap. And they get to call all the shots, even while resting in a tube. This of course involves some self-deception. People with control issues are full of self-deception. They run through their lives hoping that their fear of losing control, and beneath it their low self-appraisal, will be undetectable by anyone else. They are generally very unhappy, at a deep level, because their fears push all but the most passive away from them. Once in a while, those with control issues and self-freeze plans have a near-death experience, and this knocks them to their senses, making them cancel their rendezvous with liquid nitrogen. This is particularly true when the experience involves falling through thin ice on a Vermont lake in February.














(this was first used as an article in a weekly paper, written by the author of this blog)

Simplicity: the default mode for the fearful

This is my first blog entry; should I congratulate myself?  I swore up and down I would never do it. I was sure that I would be misunderstood and misquoted (a narcissistic view that anyone would even read, let alone quote my blog), that I would spend inordinate amounts of time pondering and punching keys, that I would eventually reduce myself to yet another shadow voice in the great electronic void.

Well, I plan on this being cathartic. I want to feel better. I wish to clear my cognitions and conscience while I rummage the piles of ideas hiding in my basement. So here’s my opening rant:

We live in a time of great possibility. We have the ability and chance to vector towards sustainable energy systems, reduce consumption, and use our brains to observe that American ideas and opinions aren't necessarily the brightest anymore. Our intentions, in case you haven’t noticed, are underlain by the crudest of desires for superiority and lavish lifestyle. We have been sold a bill of self-righteous goods, and we can’t do this anymore. Or can we?

I am growing more concerned about how stupid we are. We rank lower than ever in percentages of college graduates, math scores, and a host of measures that clearly display our ignorance. We rank higher than ever in divorce rate, teen pregnancy, and in a host of categories that exhibit our stupidity. We must like being ignorant and stupid. Or is is just simpler that way?

Twenty percent or more of people here believe Obama is either Muslim, was not born in America, or is promoting a fundamentalist Islamic agenda. An unknown percentage of Americans believe that Jesus will reappear in our lifetime, and that abstinence-only sex education will work (“just say no!”). It’s as if we believe that talking about something makes it more likely to be true.

At its roots, this is all about the desire for simple answers in a world of growing
complexities. Isn’t it oddly convenient to converge the world into a set of axioms born in the Middle Ages? Is it OK to believe that because the bible says God created the Earth in seven days that the Earth must be 6.000 years old? Yeah, it’s “ok”, it's your right to believe it, but it’s ignorant. Is it stupid to think that a political candidate  who does nothing but criticize, who has no concrete plan to enact, will be a good choice? Yeah, it's your right to think this, but it’s stupid. Is it acceptable to hide you head in the sand just to protect  a scant few more years living the “American Dream”, when reality shuts us down like a 7-11 selling beer to a minor? After all, it was all just a dream.  

Last time I checked, dreams were subject to reality checks.

We have to understand why people want such simplicity. The answer is itself, simple: fear narrows our vision, demanding the easy answer, and we are a very frightened nation. We always have been afraid; that's where all the bravado and self-importance originates. It requires less time and less effort to believe such things and I fear our increasing laziness. 


More next entry.