Not long ago (post #122), I wrote how “All Cops Are Bastards”, and I freely admit, a lot of well-earned emotional energy went into that. Well-earned on the part of cops, that is, in the sense that the emotional unhealthiness of several police officers, has played a huge, profound, and long-term role in my life,…
125) If I Could Write a Poem
I want to write a poem about beauty and love and laughter and kindness and inspiration and heroes, about Grandma’s hands, and Grandpa’s chuckles, and the smell of the dog I had as a child and the sweet tartness of apples and the purring pleasure of an orgasm and snowflakes sparkling in sunlight and those…
124) From Shitty-ness to Well-ness, Part 10: Finding out who you really are: Rational self-analysis
The predominant workhorse of the psychological healing world is a family of therapeutic practices and exercises centered on what I call “rational self-analysis”, or more colloquially, finding out “who you really are”. This journey towards “authenticity” is central to most forms of talk therapy, and what most people likely think of when they think of…
123) Arm the kids. (Sort of.)
So after talking about school shootings with my kids, we are all wondering — why not teach kids & teachers to plan ambushes in their classrooms? Just like in, say, a roleplaying game; teach them to plan ahead, know how to fight, have strategies, and when the shit goes down, prepare to kick ass. Sure,…
122) All cops are bastards: School shootings, the police, and taking back our society
I shared this on Facebook this morning — Now, we are told that the police are “to serve and protect”. That is, to serve and protect us, the public. My experience has repeatedly shown me this is not true. The police exist to serve and protect CAPITAL. And time and time again, when the interests…
121) When you feel you’ve been turned into a newt
“Waking up this morning, I smile;24 brand new hours lay before me;I vow to live fully each moment,And to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.” — morning gatha; Thich Nhat Hanh * * * * * So, I started this practice about 20 years ago, after reading one of TNH’s books. The…
120) From Shitty-ness to Well-ness, Part 9: Healing, and the Doctrine of Original Awesomeness
The essence of all three approaches to healing that I am planning to cover is the same. It is rooted in what I have previously called the Doctrine of Original Awesomeness (https://dandolderman.org/2020/09/22/88-jordan-peterson-part-7-psychology-at-the-ending-of-the-world-subsection-2-the-doctrine-of-original-awesomeness/). This, in short, is the basic starting point of Humanism, and is increasingly recognized within the bio-psycho-social sciences as “the way we are”.…
119) From Shitty-ness to Well-ness, Part 8: Oops, I fucked up
I made a mistake in my last post, and it has caused me some consternation. More accurately — I made a mistake in my last post, and it has activated a set of sub-routines in my consciousness-program, or “parts of my self”, that function to erase me from existence. Yikes. What was this oh-so-terrible mistake? …
118) From Shitty-ness to Well-ness, Part 7: Resistance, the sneaky bastard
In this series on healing, we have been discussing the “problem” of resistance, and noting how people’s deeply internalized self-feelings and beliefs can be so strong, so reactive, so “resistive” that they are able to forestall, sabotage or otherwise prevent the person from truly walking the path to healing. In other words, far too often,…
117) Moral hypocrisy and the consequent impossibility of lasting international peace
As we prepare to send more arms & $$$ to Ukraine (which I support), it is interesting that we also widely condemn China for potentially providing the same support to Russia. I mean, sure, obviously, we disagree vehemently with what Russia is doing, to the point that we are near-ready to go to war over…