Captures the essence of base and superstructure.
Identity – personal reflections
I had an insight this week. Its profound, though it will sound like a cliche. I’m not a cliche.
I’ve been sick. That knocked me down a peg. Two weeks of virus. Not covid, got tested. But the feelings that went with the flu were bigger than I used to have with a bug like that. Age. I’m 77. That means the question “Will this flu ever end?” wakes me up, my health is more fragile than it has been, anything can happen. Covid. This year I had psychodrama events planned all over the calendar, and also events with colleagues. In the second half of the year, nothing. Everything cancelled. That was 2021, 2020 was worse. Add this: bypass surgery in March 2020, has taken a toll. In unexpected ways, the surgery worked well, but sleep problems with restless legs creeps in deep every night (pills help). Ah, pills also impact my mood. And the recovery took a long time… perhaps its ongoing. The recovery impacted my relationship with Kate. We grappled with our relationship this year. Successfully. And the outcome is that Kate has leapt into a new phase of self loving. I’m good, but the process has shaken me. We are in a transition: looking for a place where she can live with her horses and her need for rural spaciousness is satisfied. Selling and buying. Loss and adventure. Transition. In 2019 I retired from 50 years of work as a psychotherapist. That means before 2020 came I was already in in a life transition. One that was not processed when the heart attack came along. A retirement transition. Ongoing.
So here is the insight:
A flood of life changes impacts identity.
A sense of identity is built on some things that don’t change. A change here or there can be worked through. Too many and something can break. A fracture in the identity container is a stress.
So now I am falling. Surrendering. Surfing a decline. Perhaps I’ll learn to fly? Maybe there is a landing place?
Those notions are from a poem Kate got from her mother:
“When you come to the edge of all of the light you’ve known, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown; faith is knowing one of two things will happen. You’ll have something solid to stand on, or you’ll be taught how to fly.”
I lack the faith.
But the fall is ok.
Is a system a “thing”?
Perhaps in an approach of the social universe we can learn from Democritus and close our eyes to the actual configurations social “matter” presents to us families, factories, schools, nations, etc. Perhaps a mind not distracted by the gross facts in society will be able to discover the smallest living social unit, itself not further divisible, the social atom.
J.L. Moreno “Who Shall Survive?” p 291
Three Modes of Knowledge Development
1. Personal writing
For me that was Evernote, then for a while Google Docs, now Obsidian
Obsidian suits because of linking and tags. And because I’m not combining it with tasks, and because I’m not using it to store reference material or bookmarks. I’m also learning to process my thoughts more fully.
Later: Sunday, 20 March 2022 – I use it for Tasks. But not for storing reference material. with Dataview plugin I can add a task to any note, and it will be on the list of tasks. I don’t think it interferes with my knowledge dev. I can add tasks that are just about plans for that note. Writing Plans.
2. Public writing
This blog has almost 30 years of my public note taking. Psyberspace — my overgrown garden with indexes and categories. For it to be public there must be readers, and this blog does have some, dear reader!
3. Collaborative Writing
Google Docs, there must be a better way! Social Media done right? Social Creation? Comments on posts? Relationships are always the hardest, the neglected…
Consider this however, that this post was stimulated by a whole movement of people engaged in PKM and theorising about it. I’m not just a lonely brooder.
Unleashed
Unleashed
compare to the apple event earlier this year
I did get a new MBP
Unleashed indeed
The smell of ebooks
I love the smell of ebooks! I collect them. I highlight bits. I pop bits into this blog. I have mostly Epub or Kindle versions. I convert Kobi to epub I find audio versions. All that is a form of sniffing!
Lately I have been delighted by Readwise. They found all my highlights and let me review them a few every few days. They also import them to Obsidian.
Where they look like this:
The real treat is this: The Next Chapter of Readwise: Our Own Reading App
I’m on the list and I can’t wait!
If you like the smell of books you will get in the queue.
This post is one in the long tradition here of looking at the psyche in cyberspace, this Reader is a revolution in the psyche.
Hope this finds you well — Inspiration is a distraction
I enjoy Austin Keon’s stuff — one of the newsletters I have not unsubbed from.
The thing is I get inspired. I’d love to do collage like that – I carry around a paste stick — and use it too!!
But
Inspiration is a distraction.
Keep the focus!
Donald Hamlet Wolfraim – Obituary
Donald Hamlet Ph.D. passed away quietly at home on June 28th 2021.
I received this email from Robin Wolfraim-Jenkins. and am honoured to respond. I did not know Donald Wolfraim but his Jungian perspective and gnostic take on the psyche have intrigued me.
Dear Walter.In 2011 you referred to my Grandfather’s work. Link attached. Thank you for making this accessible, it is not part of his published work and it is the only copy our family has out there. I have gotten it from your site.I am not sure if you had any connection with Donald Wolfraim, but if you did. Is there a story you could pass on to my family?I wanted to ask you to add a link to his Obituary or refer to his passing. If there is a way? If you did know him.https://www.irvineandirvinefuneralhome. com/obituary/Donald- WolfraimPhD Here is a link to his Obituary. Thank you for your time and consideration.SincerelyRobin Wolfraim-Jenkins
Clock
Hope River
I walked from Windy Point to the Half-way Hut / Hope Shelter. Loved it.
