Meaningful Connections

FOLLOWING UP ON "THE SECRET" - AN EXPERIMENT

                     THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING

The latest literary sensation is expressed in book form: The Secret , and as a CD. The

premise is simple. Wish, concentrate, focus, send positive energy into the ether and

you will get what you want. Likes attract likes. WoW! That's all there is to get what

I want? Why did I bother going to graduate school and then some?

Oh - you detect sarcasm? a bit of cynicism? doubts? conspiracy?

ATTACK ON IRAN IMMINENT - RUMOR or FACT?

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED START ANOTHER WAR ? 

There are persistent and growing indications - imagined and real - that the U.S. and who knows who else - are preparing to attack Iran in the near future. I imagine most who read this will probably write off this prospect as outlandish. Why this scoffing response would be perfectly understandable is painfully obvious:

• There are probably only two people in the world that believe we are winning the war in Iraq: President Bush, and Vice President Cheney.

ON THE DEATH OF MY PSYCHOANALYST

            IN THE MIDST OF DEATH THERE IS LIFE

My vigorous psychoanalyst of 11 years always took three months off for the summer. He would get in touch with me when he came back. This 11th summer he failed to call. I called a few hospitals worried that he might be in one of them. I was unfortunately right.

Even though a vigorous man of 80 Dr. Wittenberg contracted meningitis. He was apparently near death and had not been able to contact me. A few weeks later he did call and was up to seeing me. He looked weak but was able to resume his practice.

DEMYSTIFYING "THE SECRET" - NO PANACEA FOR HARD WORK

                            THERE IS NO MAGIC

So along has come another presumed shortcut to instant and lasting success. It has taken the form of a book and CD called The Secret. It is based on the core idea that if you focus all of your energies on what you want - you are likely to get it sooner than later based on the law of attraction.

The law of attraction is as old as the esoteric occult. In short it is based on the idea of likes attract likes. Leadbetter, Swedenborg with their concepts of thought-forms were some of the earliest proponents of what is recently repackaged as The Secret.

WHAT DOES THE PRESIDENT MEAN BY "WINNING" THE WAR

  WITH SPECULATIVE WINS LIKE THIS WHAT IS A LOSS? 

For the life of me I can't fathom why the President thinks this war is able to be won? And I find it remarkable that the media doesn't press him on this point.The facts  at least the ones reported - that are not disputed by our government indicate that:

• An average of  75 to 100 dead Iraq citizens are brutally killed each day
• An estimated 2 million Iraq citizens have already taken flight to other countries and are    most probably those who can afford to do so
• There are repeated reports of their country in the midst of an escalating civil war
• Hospital supplies are at a minimum
• The stores are mainly shuttered

INTEGRATING SPIRITUALITY AND PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY

                     A GROUNDED SPIRITUALITY

I hope that I am not perceived as stepping on anyones "spiritual" feet but for me the experience of spirituality may be fruitfully integrated into the concepts of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis when it is conceptualized as naturalistic and immanent rather than mystical and transcendent.

My ideas largely came about in my working with 5 ex - 12 step patients who I would describe as "God obsessed" but who left, unable to accept the 'higherpower concept." In the copious notes I kept I noticed that they were all preoccupied with what I will refer to as "spiritual" issues. These issues are: trust, faith, hope, love, and persistence. Note that all of these concepts are associated with a theme of primary motivation.

FEELING GOOD ABOUT BEING A PSYCHOANALYST

                  I LOVE WHAT I DO FOR A LIVING
In my 38th year of being first a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and more recently a licensed psychoanalyst I am experiencing a continuing joy about having persisted through my 35 year vocation to be able to do what I do for a living.

If I try to identify the reasons for my delight in my profession I think it has to do with the accumulated effects of a mixed bag experience as a patient, three different times, excellent training in an Institute, private supervision with a skilled and now noted psychoanaytic psychotherapist for 8 years, and practice, practice, practice.

IT WAS ONE OF THOSE RARE DAYS WHEN ALL THE PLANETS ARE IN ALLIGNMENT

         THEORETICAL AND EXPERIENTIAL CONVERGENCE

I love my work as a psychoanalyst. I particularly like persisting over time to make objective sense out of what often initially appears to be non-sense to a new patient and myself as well. And I most particularly like to combine useful concepts into a new perspective of here-to-for cliche explanations.

I SURRENDER - AN UPDATE ON PUBLISHING MY MEMOIR

            WISHING HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT 

Let's see. Ten rejections, two more possibilities.

Whatever else the experience has been of attempting to publish my memoir it certainly has been a trip. A trip that initially felt like I was on a  frenzied roller coaster ride that over the course of six months has settled down to almost a complete halt.

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES and FREUD

                     A SECULARIST PERSPECTIVE

Among anomalous phenomena attracting wide spread attention such as UFOs, synchronicities, and alien abductions is that of near death experiences. Reports of near death experiences [ndes] have been gathered from all over the world bearing striking similarities with respect to their experienced content.