Saturday, July 14, 2007

A Novel Idea

Posted by Mickey Z on 07/14 at 08:41 AM
blog comments powered by Disqus

  1. Good Morning Mickey...I would agree mainstream, popular, ‘scientific psychology’ might only reinforce that which we want to transcend. I don’t know if the correct information within the psychology community is the information we need to really heal ourselves and learn who we really are without what we have become due to the culture indoctrinations. This can vary much from individual to individual just as not all people, based on their unique experiences, will get the same message or feeling from a Novel.

    Alice Miller, I think does some good work on dysfunctional family experiences. She enables one to understand how violent orientation starts in childhood, many forms of violence,eg., instilling fear is a common problem. George Bush probably has as dyfunctional of a family experience as one could get...[prosecute him].

    I’m not sure, I don’t think Alice Miller gets much credit, widely in the mainstream, psychology for profits, community. There’s an interesting website called nospank.net, sounds silly but has some great articles that can give insight into personal experiences that start when very young.
    Many of these articles might be based on research done by people who are not object oriented and people who really care about the human plight and don’t care much about selling books or gaining tenure at the popular universities.

    I think many times, after someone goes through the most common therapies, they start to become intrigued and look into more esoteric information, learning. An individual might stop feeling that they have a problem and realize it’s only the right kind of information they are lacking.

    Escapism is an interesting subject and in its subtlist forms. Alcoholism, drugs, power addictions, control freaks, people who have their unique approach to ‘hiding’ from that which they need to confront in themselves, and on.

    Speaking for myself, I have looked into many therapies, to use that word, studies, teachings, and I’m still as crazy as a shit-house rat!

    Posted by joe of maine from   on  07/14  at  09:52 AM

  2. Part II..."This is an example of the way academics can get themselves into a real mess when their intellectual deliberations disengage from their moral sensibilities and float off into a separate universe”

    The above quote is about an academic professor who contradicts themselves.

    I knew a man who was very kind, compassionate, it generally appeared. He was there to frequently listen to and offer me gentle advice. The strange side of Jack was, he thought it was okay to put a child’s hands in boiling water as a form of discipline.

    When Jack first said this, I felt insane, not believing my experiences with Jack and what he had just said. He was dead serious.

    The difference between academic learning and wisdom/understanding can be a great divide. Is there universal wisdom that is timeless?

    Posted by joe of maine from   on  07/14  at  10:24 AM

  3. HELLO again—“truth is stranger than fiction” == or is it?  Mickey—can you dig back in the Z archives—and share another of your “wonderful” short stories? == with the worldcaste??  I’m not much of a new-fangled movie- based- on novella-novel buff—but here are a few trailers that may get your mojo going == http://tinyurl.com/ou9ad == SNAKES == and the great ANTHONY HOPKINS IN “MAGIC” ..we all hear vioces and create new ones many times in our life == http://tinyurl.com/3ygma6 == enjoy .. captcha says “distance”

    Posted by Richie from st cloud / n ft myers  on  07/14  at  10:39 AM

  4. Human(e) experience vs. scientific validity brings two things to mind.

    One, many so-called advances in science do not come from established, respectable sources, but must battle to be heard, let alone accepted as truth. In work with the mentally retarded and/or disabled, there were many examples of a line worker (someone who feeds & changes the diapers) discovering that a resident is actually highly functional and only lacks the means to communicate. At that point, some derelict with a master’s degree will take over and make a career out of the case. Two, the common-sense that Chomsky refers to has origin in the human species; some of our close relatives have much better conflict resolution and survival skills...but then they don’t have uber-insane institutions to contend with. Bonobo chimps are a prime example of “make love not war”, but other apes also have control mechanisms against psycho alpha males - an innate recall referendum where offenders are cast out, injured, or even killed for the danger they pose to the group.

    Summation: finding one’s humanity is always called for, and survival is closely related to that impulse. I stand with Jensen, Churchill, and many others in reserving judgment on the use of violence. It may often be better to avoid such, but it’s also good to receive proper regard as a living creature; more evolved forms of debate and conflict resolution require all parties to adhere to them.

    The other Vizzini: http://tinyurl.com/2jden
    Captcha sez “Inconceivable!”

    Posted by Zen Prole from Urth  on  07/14  at  12:45 PM

  5. Interesting topic here...I guess that I am not a big fan of Alice Miller. It seems to me that the pendulum has swung all the way so that now it is common to blame parents for everything. To me that is not a scientifically provable approach. I think that every case is different. Some people are born with brain chemistry that makes them more prone to psychological problems. Some mental illnesses seem to be passed on in the genes. Maybe what happens in the womb is at least as important as that which happens in the first months of life. I do not mean to trivialize child abuse, but I don’t think that it explains everything. Even if every child born grew up in a perfect, loving, and nurturing environment, we would still have some mental illness - less than now, but still some. Another problem is that too often therapy makes the patient worse. I will never forget a friend of mine who seemed perfectly fine. He went into therapy to accompany his wife. After a couple of months of “treatment” he committed suicide. I don’t know what the answer is. Maybe we should all just love one another and if all else fails, find a good bartender to unload all your troubles on. (Just kidding. I know most here do not imbibe.)

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  07/14  at  02:36 PM

  6. Hello Expendables from warm, sunny, but no humid Astoria. I think what Chomsky was getting at in his quote had less to do with therapy than with a feeling that science can often complicate what is simple. I’m not arguing for complete reductionism but sometimes a banana is a banana.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  07/14  at  02:47 PM

  7. Zen—Indeed I am sober and typing lower case today.. Great comment—good insight—My 91 yr old dad use to remind we lil’ ones that Mongoloid Chilren and those who chronilogically age to adulthood are among the happiest creatures in creation.  Why ?? Keep it simple.... They teach by the K I S S method - which we supposed “higher order thinkers” trash and bash each day by outsmartin’ ourselves...Go figure! ....how bout a lil George Carlin == the orinal HiPpY dIpPy weatherguy—dealin with “simple minds” .. during the Regan era—http://tinyurl.com/2syjlj == LIFE IS SIMPLER AS GEORGIE EXPLAINS—also .. == a lil from SIMPLE MINDS == “Belfast Child” == video .. KISS YA’ ALL!! == http://tinyurl.com/353gdz .......enjoy captcha says a 3 letter word p u t putt ...vroom

    Posted by Richie from st cloud / n ft myers  on  07/14  at  02:52 PM

  8. Mickey #6...I agree, a banana is a banana, except of course, with certain schools of therapy, a banana might be a phallic symbol? I like bananas.

    Posted by joe of maine from   on  07/14  at  04:43 PM

  9. But, is it really a banana if Monsanto made it? What was it before it became a banana?  What will it be in its next life? Is it a banana if it doesn’t know that it’s a banana? Every time that you peel a banana, you see something that no other human has ever seen before. If no one has ever seen it, how do we know that it was there before we removed the peel? If you crossed a banana with a cabbage, you would have a cabana.  This is fun. Thanks, Mickey.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  07/14  at  05:53 PM

  10. And if it went into therapy, it would be told that it was green and lacked wisdom, soon to be yellow and lack courage, was phobic about being alone and preferred being in a bunch, overly sensitive because it bruised easily, started life upside down, hid it’s real beauty under a thick skin, and would soon be devoured by someone who was bigger and more powerful. AHhhh, the sad life of a banana.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  07/14  at  06:31 PM

  11. RMJ..9 & 10...Get away from the computer and the bananas..dial 911 immediately...ask for a crisis worker...(<:

    Posted by joe of maine from   on  07/14  at  07:33 PM

  12. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDbcIJbzpbQ

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  07/14  at  07:41 PM

  13. Wow, thanks for all the comments!

    Posted by Ned from Brooklyn  on  07/15  at  06:05 AM

  14. Well...to continue with Bananas. Breakfast or snack recipe. Slice a banana lenghtwise, saute in fake butter [....], very low heat, sprinkle with cinnamon. That’s it.

    Posted by joe of maine from   on  07/15  at  09:54 AM

  15. Thanks for stopping by, Ned. Hope you’ll join in the discussions some time.

    Thanks for the recipe, Joe. Here’s another way to enjoy Bananas.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  07/15  at  10:02 AM

  16. Hi Mickey(Our Top Banana), Ned, Richie, Zen, and all…
    joe #11...it was perfect timing. I had never seen the movie before, and last night it was on TV. Perfect timing for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. It was good. Jack Nicholson lived where I did in New Jersey and seeing him last night reminded me of that very unique Jersey Shore culture as it was in the 60s.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  07/15  at  01:17 PM

  17. RMJ, 16...Good to hear from you RMJ. I thought you might have gone to the other side over bananas(-:

    I worked briefly for a state mental hospital in PA. Norristown State. Also a psyche ward in a general hospital that was the equivalent to opening a doughnut shop next to a front end alignment garage.

    I couldn’t have recommended either to the most desperate. The most any staff member could do was to offer some kindness, that almost seemed against policy...you know the story..

    Posted by joe of maine from   on  07/15  at  02:13 PM

  18. Just noticed this headline....’Hundreds of people who say they were abused by clergy affiliated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles can expect to be paid more than $1m each in a $660m settlement of their lawsuits.’

    Am I slow to learn or what...it seems in the last 3 years, the church,state,military have revealed themselves more than any time in contemporary times???? Anyone know about these authorities that have never been separate, how could they be?

    Where does that headline fit into tghe science of behaviorism and plain common sensing?

    Posted by joe of maine from   on  07/15  at  02:21 PM

  19. joe...I once had a job working for the government as a social worker. I had to attend “staff” meetings with the therapists who also were working with the same “clients”. About 30 or 40% of them spoke very unprofessionally about the “clients” - violated privacy, ridiculed them, etc. Sometimes I wondered who should be on which side of the desk.
    There are a couple of books that I have not read - “My Therapist is Making Me Sick” and “The Myth of Therapy”. One book that I have read and recommend to anyone who has to deal with difficult people is “Stop Walking on Eggshells”.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  07/15  at  05:15 PM

  20. RMJ, 19...Yeah, I have seen many/most staff members taking an adversarial approach to people who needed help.

    Staff, due to their own insecurities, or whatever, were afraid of being manipulated. It was an ‘us v.s. them’ attitude, not one of compassion.

    There is that old saying, ‘you can’t help anyone until you, yourself, becomes healed’. For the most part, I think this is very true when people’s concerns become complicated. When someone truly cares about helping, the system usually gets in the way. The dynamics of the hospital, the rules all of this is not for human consumption and being consistent with the other aspects of the brutal society. In my opinion, it is more vivid than before, american institutes only know how to destroy...people, property, the planets life support systems.

    I think our education, in general teaches us absolutely nothing...and simply look around to verify this and I know you don’t have to look around. I ask activists, if you could have a new society tomorrow, would you want to take your old thinking into it...again, instant replay.

    People who really need help, for the most part, will simply be medicated with maintenance drugs and many times that’s the beginning of the end...a slow, sometimes quick death by toxic poisoning.

    In my opinion, everything in america is wrong and nothing is worthy of discussion when it comes to life and having a wholesome, spontaneous, creative and peaceful existence.

    Posted by joe of maine from   on  07/15  at  07:04 PM

Next entry: Let's take a field trip to Utah

Previous entry: The Blackout of 1977 (30 years later)