Recent Articles
On Change, an Observation
Our world is in a constant state of fluctuation. Literally speaking, the Earth rotates on its axis just over 360 degrees in one day. The speed the Earth is spinning isn’t even static, it is affected by the gravitational pull of the moon (and other geological events) and is therefore slowing down ever so gradually.
Speaking on a societal level, the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020 has certainly proved that the structure of our everyday lives is incredibly fragile. A virus, invisible to the naked eye, has wrecked absolute havoc on just about every dimension of existence. It has stolen jobs from us, created financial ruin, divided us politically and spiritually and taken many, many lives. It has called everything into question: How do I go to work? How do I bury my grandmother? How do I get married? Should I have a child? How do I protect myself? How do I protect my neighbor?
Vulnerability and Its Relation To Power
As a therapist, I am in constant dialogue with my clients and couples about the importance of intimacy. Here I am referring to intimacy as the bond which develops between two people that is forged by vulnerability, communication and openness. Without intimacy, a relationship may survive but it certainly will not thrive.
This fact is fairly obvious to those of you who grew up with healthy relationships and had healthy boundaries modeled for you. It is also probably obvious to those of you who are in the beginning of your relationship or spend quite a lot of time focusing your time and energy on relationship.
However, for those of us struggling with healthy relationship, this simple redirection towards intimacy as the foundation for relationship is an important and needed one.
Personhood and Dehumanization
What dimension of a person do you think would be the most offensive to insult? I’m sure that you do not have to think long to come up with a decent list of things: sex, race, economic status, disability, appearance. Some of you might even say that it depends on the person, their personal sensitivities and/or their history of pain.
While I might agree with all of this, I want to make the case that it is something else entirely. Enter: the ad hominem abusive argument. Its very nature is dehumanizing because it focuses in on attacking the person and does not even address the argument itself. From a psychological standpoint, it is the insult behind the insult that really breaks us. Think about it for a minute. What was it about the insult to your sex, race, or disability that really got to you?
Disclaimer
The ideas and thoughts expressed in these posts do not reflect the beliefs of any organization or individual, except my own. Ironically enough, however, these posts may not even reflect how I currently think or feel. I have grown and changed over the years - and rather than delete or edit old content I have decided to leave my posts as I originally wrote them to preserve their authenticity.