Meaningful Connections

I HAVE TO HAND IT TO THE "ELECTED" LEADER IN IRAN

YOU CAN TRY TO FOOL ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME

Ok right from the start I will admit I am biased about the so called Iranian election. It appeared to me as to multitudes of others that the election was going to be a glorious upset. I can't imagine one woman voted for the so called leader in power. And the university students - like most university  students tend to be drunk on freedom - particularly with Obama having a Muslim background. All of the planets surely seemed to be in conjunction.

Ok so it appears I was wrong and they were too. But wrong about what? That they lost - yes - but lost fairly or unfairly? The jury is out on that one. And I guess we will never know for certain. Except there is one over arching truth about this election - either the oppostion was way off in their estimates or they were right on meaning the fix was in.

Here comes my bias.

I think the elelction was rigged. I feel it in my voting bones. NPR doesn't lie and the feel of the reporters all over Iran the day before the election was a rising tide for the opposition.

So let's say I am right. So what? Here is where I have to hand it to the present leadership. If the fix was in - then you might as well go all the way over to the land  of absurdity and really stick it in the oppositions' eye. And to boot bring inthe chief honcho cleric - Mr. religious - and have him declare that he has a direct pipe line to God (like our ex President) and was told that the so called election is divinely inspired.

However the wages of sin lead directly to cynicism. If, as I suspect the election should have had the opposit results this means there is going to be one hell of alot of smouldering anger which when repressed is only going to explode sooner or later. If I were the Mullah leadership I think I would not rest east tonight no matter how protected and supported they think they are by almighty God.

Careful of what you guys want - you apparently are getting it - but it is likely to bite you. Sweet Dreams!

 P.S. For a "real and free" election, courtesy of the establisment, it is curious that the opposition leader has been missing for two days, theinternet has been turned off, the cell phone system is out of order. However twitter was somehow bypassed and has received thousands of messages indicating displeasure of the election in all parts of Iran. If this is an example of a real and free election God help us if there is ever a fake and fraudulent one in Iran.

REFLECTIONS ON MY GOING TO ATTEND MY 50th COLLEGE REUNION

                              ROAR LIONS ROAR  

Although I feel younger right this minute  than I did when I was 21, drinking beer alone in the Lions' Den in my dorm, I have to concede the point that a 50 year college reunion is a major milestone of some sort or another.

I imagine that others may have had similar feelings - but I can only really know my own - about attending my 50th reunion in a couple of months.  My feelings are decidedly mixed.

The formal part of my education was superlative. I was lucky to be a student at the  zenith of quality student/professor relationships - the way it should be but I am afraid is no longer. The professors were all lights in their fields and freely mixed with the students before and after class.

I was intoxicated with immersing myself in the avalanche of ideas that Columbia purposefully forced on me and my fellow students. I'm glad that my confusion about who I was left me no choice but to major in Philosophy. I have been stamped forever with the subject matter, perspectives, critical thinking, breadth and depth attitudes which have vitally impacted me personally and which I  continually use in my day to day practice.

This was the formal part of my education. But I experienced it in a haze - probably dissociated for the four years I attended. Perhaps many college students are dissociated but for me it made for a kind of kaleidoscopic experience of episodic moments instead of a seamless story line.

I never quite felt whole and integrated... instead I felt fragmented and detached.
I participated in activities, did what most college students do, went out, learned how to get bombed, discovered the Thalia - a little hole in the wall movie theatre that ran a seemingly never ending movie festival  showing two different foreign classic films each day which became my spiritual oasis, years ahead of the now popular immersion in films - normal for many college students today.

In philosophy class I sat next to a tall, extraordinarily handsome Byronesque student who was both a role model and an envied competitor. He became an esteemed  Professor of Philosophy at Harvard, wrote highly acclaimed books on Ethics, and died suddenly in his forties from I think a rare disease.

To recall other events, other people, sights and sounds, is not my point. I am trying to accurately describe an odd feeling about returning to a place that had so much meaning and importance for me but doing so through a cloud. The good thing is that I am crystal clear that I was dissociated then and glad that I am not now.

But it is odd that I have more of a sense of connection for my High School graduating class than I do for my graduating class at Columbia. I know why it is so, but it is uncomfortable for me to accept the painful fact that was the way it was.

I would have liked to have felt more connected but I didn't.

I think it is important for me to return for my 50th reunion - but I am also aware that the concept and the experience of this particualr re - union has for me multiple layers of meaning not all of them pleasant.

I will attend with an open mind and try to have no expectations to see if I can experience something of which I have no clue at this moment  - but intuitively I sense that I might discover something of significance.

AMERICA BEWARE BECOMING A LYNCH MOB

OF COURSE THERE IS A LOT TO BE ANGRY ABOUT - BUT.......

Raw emotion has been unleashed in America for obvious reason. We are living in difficult and dangerous times. But we had better come to our senses and insist that we individually and collectively live under a rule of law - where reason prevails - or we shall make matters infinitely worse.

It doesn't take much imagination to conjecture that the anger at AIG - and the excessive bonus issue - and others - is but a symptom of a more fundamental issue - namely uncertainty anxiety.

Reports from a number of respected sources indicate that most likely no one knows the full extent of our current economic mess. That not knowing creates fear and anxiety. Fear and anxiety typically get converted into diffuse anger and rage. And sooner that later diffuse aggression gets focused and directed to the scape goat of the moment.

I am no apologist for greedy corporate America but the contracts were legal documents and partially authorized by our government. It will due no one any good if we act as a self righteous lynch mob and 'kill' the legal bonuses of a relatively few people while missing a golden opportunity to channel our passion where it could make a substantial difference and benefit everyone except for those who deserve our individual and collective wrath.

To whom am I referring.....

I wouldn't be surprised to discover that whipping up the fog associated with the economic crisis is ex President Bush and his wise sage ex VP Mr. Cheney. Have we forgotten who got us into this mess in the first place. Have we forgotten who got us into an unjust war by violating our precious rule of law - a war that has been estimated to have cost us s0 far - 4 trillion dollars.

Look carefully at that figure of 4 trillion as it would about wipe out our present estimated headache's expenses.

Have we so quickly forgotten the multiple insults to our constitution and our bill of rights with an obnoxious argument based on phoney and in some cases made up information --- . Have we forgotten the specious tortured logic that might is right when we say it is justified ?  Have we forgotten the horrifying pictures at Agugraib of not only prioners having been tortured but those images flashed around the world undercutting the best of what we have to offer?

We are suffering a world wide crisis of confidence brought on in large part because of ourselves. God surely is not on our side. But who is?

If we want to harness and focus our anger in a constructive way I think congress should immediately call for extensive and intensive hearings and expose all that is exposable to the American people so we can cl;early pin point all those who did us a great disservice.

In this connection note the following headline in today's news:

"Over objections from the U.S. intelligence community, the White House is moving to declassify-and publicly release-three internal memos that will lay out, for the first time, details of the "enhanced" interrogation techniques approved by the Bush administration for use against "high value" Qaeda detainees. The memos, written by Justice Department lawyers in May 2005, provide the legal rationale for waterboarding, head slapping and other rough tactics used by the CIA. One senior Obama official, who like others interviewed for this story requested anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity, said the memos were "ugly" and could embarrass the CIA. Other officials predicted they would fuel demands for a "truth commission" on torture."

i WOULD IMAGINE THAT THOSE WHO ARE STENUOUSLY OBJECTING TO THE RELEASE OF THESE MEMOS BEAR A STRIKING SIMILARITY TO EX President Bush and his wise surrogate ex Vicepresident  Cheney.

Meanwhile unless we are truly experts in the management of what is obviously extraordinary economic matters we should ask good questions, keep alert but don't collective run off as if each of our emotional opinions is equated with absolute truth.

A SPECIAL VALENTINE TO ALL THE OPPRESSED WOMEN IN THE WORLD

I love to keep up with current events. I also like being alive. I also value being an American citizen and being free. There is much to celebrate this Valentines Day. Except....

I hate reading, on an almost daily basis, one story after another about the brutalizing of women all over the world by grown men who should know better.

For example, last night I felt my self wanting to explode at who ever it was who raped and burned some young mother in Sudan whose picture is prominently displayed on the media.  It is equally difficult for me to tolerate the oppression and seemingly indiscriminate arrests of thousands of women in Iran simply wanting equal rights. There are countless other stories all sharing the same theme: man's inhumanity to women.

To me this is absurd. There is absolutely no justification for this outrageous arbitrary behavior.

I believe that it is all together proper and right that each person be left to be and to do as they wish as long as it does not violate my own or another's basic right to do the same for themselves. But when my own right or that of a defenseless other's rights are indeed violated, then I feel a responsbility to take a stand and in what ever way I am able to try to try to call a halt to this travesty of justice.

As I have very little clout to accomplish this aim the best I can do at the moment is to lend my heartfelt support for all of the oppressed women of the world - So to all of you I send a special valentine that I - at least one man - support your desire to be as free as me. Happy Valentines day.

OUR SICK ECONOMY, GEITNER, THE STOCK MARKET, and FREUD

      IN AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION of a PROBLEM LIES AN EMBEDDED SOLUTION

The world is in a state of crisis. Everyone agrees our economy - the world's economy - is sick. Collectively we have no alternative but to find an expert doctor to cure the problem. The function of the doctor is to first accurately diagnose the root cause of our symptomatic distress. This reliance on the need for an effective doctor is based on our experience that knowledge is power. In this case an accurate diagnosis allows us to focus on fixing the identified problem.

If the diagnosis is accurate and the doctor constructs a plan of action geared to fixing the identified causes it figures that over time a cure will most likely come about. Few reasonable people would argue with this logic. However when individuals or countries are sick and in crisis there is a tendency to react with messy feelings such as panic anxiety.

Anxiety predictably occurs when a person or collecitve of persons experiences a real or imagined threat to their very existence. When this happens the autonomic nervous system releases adrenalin into the self system for the purposes of preparing the person for fight or flight. Thus there is a state of urgency calling for immediate action to protect the self or in this case collective of selves from threat of catastophe.

Imagine waking up one morning with a sharp pain in your mouth. Your first reaction might be to take some asprin in the hope that it is one of those things and will go away. However this pain not only continues but gets progressively worse over the course of the day. You waiver between prayer and calling the dentist. As the pain persists and intensifies eventually you crack through your denial and reluctantly call the dentist to make an appointment.

On the way to the dentist's office you hope as hard as you can that the pain is not a sign of something seriously wrong with you. But the reality is that you have whatever you have and no amount of hope or praying or denial will override the fact of whatever is actually causing the pain.

The Dentist asks you why you have come. You describe the unbearable pain. He asks you to describe your symptoms in detail. He might ask you for your theory as to what is causing it. You say the sharp pain means you probably have a deep cavity. The Doctor says perhaps you are right but takes an x ray to be sure. Upon reading the xray he says you were right about the deep cavity but adds in a root canal issue.

You wince considering the extra cost. You are disappointed and perhaps shocked that in Obama's terms:there is "no easy out." But that is reality and you have no choice but to face the facts.

Complicating the issue is that at times the symptoms presented do not fit convention. Solutions to the identified problem do not fit the standard new wine in old bottles problem solving method. For something new problem resolution demands that new wine be poured into new bottles. Thus there has to be a creative - thinking out of the box - solution. THis is where we appear to be in facing up to our sick economy.

So back to our sick economy. We are collectively in a state of intense pain that has now reached crisis proportions. We are in need of an accurate diagnosis so that the focus of intervention will be focused on resolving the core problem.

In this case Mr. Geitner is the appointed head doctor. He has outlined his 4 point overview. We have little choice but to put out faith and trust in his perspective and that of his associated advisors.

What strikes me as crucially important for us to facfe up to is that the 'therapy' is going to be deep and long lasting. It is not subject to quick symptom reduction. We can't collectively pop a pill. We have to be patient and let the economic psychoanalysis work its way.

This crisis is a world wide wake up call that life is hard and often harsh. The sooner we face the fact that some problems such as the economic mess we are facing are more difficult to master than others. In short we have an opportunity to raise the general level of development from that of an impetuous teenager to that of a reflective mature adult.

It is a truism that when most patients enter long therm psychoanalysis they are understandably seeking a magical cure. The effective analyst says right away that there is no magical cure. The analyst urges the patient to give him enough time for the process to work. The patient, usually a reasonable person, will nod his head in initial agreement. Then when the analysis begins there will be an insistent attempt by the patient for the analyst to work magic. This will occur over the course of treatment until the patient eventually realizes that the the analyst was right all along. There is no quick fix. There is no magic.

Significant change is possible but it only comes about as the result of struggling with struggle taking as much time as it takes to master the problem at hand.

RUSSIAN ANALYST PREDICTS DECLINE and BREAKUP of the WEST - WANNA BET?

                    IT'S DARKEST BEFORE the DAWN

The rational for the Russian analyst's gloomy outlook for America is based on the following reasoning:

 "A whole range of reasons. Firstly, the financial problems in the U.S. will get worse. Millions of citizens there have lost their savings. Prices and unemployment are on the rise. General Motors and Ford are on the verge of collapse, and this means that whole cities will be left without work. Governors are already insistently demanding money from the federal center. Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there are no miracles."

Perhaps he is right. However the conditions now are far better than they were associated with the great depression.Then there was 25 percent unemploynment. Now it is about 10 percent plus. It probably will get worse before it gets better but there are positive signs that were not present in the thirties.

Perhaps the most important sign that we will not only survive this economic crisis but in fact may begin - once again - to move the whole nation into a preiod of unprecedented growth and development benefitting an ikncreasingly number of citizens. My reasoning follows:

• Unlike the last seven years there is substantial evidence that there is continuing collective intelligence being broght to bear fousing like a lazer beam on our most pressing problems.
• Obama and associates has hit the beach running even before the transition period is over.
• When the Republicans have little to oppose re cabinet selections, policy decisions of the democrats, assertions by Obama you know something significantly different has been changing as we speak.
• We are finally comitted to reparing the infrastructure, creating significant jobs, revamping policy in health care, energy, and education all in dire need of reform.
• Of all countries to critize us Russia is clearly not in the best position to predict our immanent collapse. This is partcularly so given the fact that oil looks like it is returning to minus $50.00 a barrel.
• American citizens have an impressive score card for mobilizing and pulling together in times of crisis provided they trust their leaders who evidence enlightened leadership.
• If the same level of sensitivity, intelligence, unity of purpose, attitude of country above partisanship, transparency, willingness to face unpleasant reality, willingness to take calculated risks, a dedication to creativity I predict the probability of the ushering in of an era of unparalleled prosperity for all.

 

OBAMA IS INDEED AN ELITIST - KEEP BRINGING IT ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

              ALREADY THERE ARE MAJOR CHANGES

It is difficult not to reach for superlatives in reacting to the Obama administration taking form as we talk. A frequent charge leveled at him during the presidential campaign was that he and his 'cronies' were elitists. The term elitism was not intended to be complimentary implying egotistical, snobby, know-it-all-ism, smugly condescending and the likes. This view of elitism is perfectly understandable when viewing the expressed values of those who tagged Obama an 'elitist.'

The anti elitists - in the negative sense of the term - have valued the appearance of 'nice-guy ism', one-liner-isms, dumb down, over simplify complex issues, extremism over balance, secrecy over transparency, crisis intervention, shoot from the hip-ism, over valuing feelings while devaluing objective thinking, faith over facts, reaction over reflection.

Elitism is the belief or attitude that those individuals who are considered members of the elite — a select group of people with outstanding personal abilities, intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes — are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most weight; whose views and/or actions are most likely to be constructive to society as a whole; or whose extraordinary skills, abilities or wisdom render them especially fit to govern ^[1]"

Applying this definition of elitism to the evolving Obama cabinet it is obvious that there have already occurred significant changes. How remarkable it is that virtually every cabinet choice so far has been a person of demonstrated experience, high character, well liked and respected, relatively non partisan, extraordinarily well educated, sensitive, open to alternative points of view, clear senses of themselves, decent, pragmatic, humorous, and professional in the finest sense of this term.

We have in the makings the start of an important psychological, philosophical, sociological, political, and scientific experiment. We know too well the pathetic, poor results of the present administrations lame attempts to govern utilizing an decidedly anti elitist - in the best sense - mentality. They will leave office with the worst rating of any administration in our history.

Now we will see what can happen when there is a true elitist administration - in the best sense of this term - planning, and administrating, the government. The cynics among us will argue that they are all a bunch of crooks. I would suggest they hold their fire and watch what unfolds.

All people are created equal but there are significant differences. We will be a witness to whther or not those qualities associated with the positive definition of elitism does or does not result in meaningful changes - changes which most of us haqve been hungering for for the last seven plus years.

THE VINDICATION of MICHELLE OBAMA

                THE COURAGE TO BE ONES' SELF

What a difference 8 months make. Remember the flap concerning Michaelle Obama's remark associated with patriotism. Let me refresh your minds:

The Cindy McCain, Michelle Obama patriotism flap.'
CNNPolitics.Com ^ | February 19, 2008 | CNN

Posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 4:02:21 PM by F15Eagle

(CNN) - Tuesday morning seemed to bring the debut of yet another McCain-Obama flap - this time, Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama.

As she introduced her husband John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, at a campaign event, Cindy McCain told the crowd I "am proud of my country. I don't know about you, if you heard those words earlier - I am very proud of my country."

The comment seemed to be a response to a remark from Michelle Obama the day before. On Monday, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told a Wisconsin audience that "For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country, because it feels like hope is making a comeback... not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change."

After Tuesday's event, the McCains were asked if the Arizona senator's wife had been responding to that comment. Cindy McCain did not directly answer the question, responding: "I just wanted to make the statement that I have and always will be proud of my country."

Seque to last nights presidential election and celebration spilling over as we speak. In listening to the random responses of scores of people reacting to the results of the election I have heard the following remarkably similar remarks. "Finally I feel proud to be an American."

It is note worthy that those who were quoted were from diverse backgrounds.

I also confess I can identify.

To have doubts - even severe ones - about the attained value of anything or any one is the quintessence of patriotism. Progress and creativity are derived from conflict. The test of love is not when lvers are holding hands lookin at moon meams hitting the ocean but when they are at odds experiencing mutual disappointments.

We as a nation have been experiencing a collective disappointment with the perceived quality or lack of quality in most of our leaders. Unless we collectively faced up to the pain associated with these feelings we could never as a country engagein a process which has resulted in our present 'revolution' in value.

We owe Michelle Obama a collective apology for even questioning the sincerity of her true and courageous exression of her patriotism.

IS PRESIDENTIAL ELECT BARACK OBAMA DELUSIONAL?

           BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM

Whereas many millions of people all over the world are celebrating the impressive victory won by president elect Barak Obama - there are other millions all over the world believing that he is not what he pretends to be.

Imagine, then, you are a psychoanalyst interviewing a person who has requested a consultation. In the course of discussing his aspiration he states that he wants to change the world. "Worse" he is utterly convinced he is both able to do so, and convinced he will. It would not surprise me to hear a group of professionals speculating that a working diagnosismight aptly be that of  "quintessential grandiosity."

I am certain many of us might well consider medication to control his assumed delusions of grandeur. However, if we are balanced individuals and balanced therapists we will restrain ourselves from jumping to conclusions. We should, of course,  test reality.

Who is this fellow, we ask ourselves? How can he be so certain, we want to know. So we go to the source. How can you be so certain? And seeing you are what specific plans do you have for accomplishing this goal?  Or if we are a bit more spontaneous we ask or comment: you have a lot of chuzpah!

What's next. For starters we ask him his name.

If his name is Barak Obama and is in fact, the actual presidential elect - we would have to instantly carefully re assess our clinical judgment. Wr know that while rare, every so often such expansive confidence is justified by the facts of a given person's life. Clearly this is so in the reality of the person we are consulting.

One need only listen to heartfelt comments pouring in from all over the world to realize that in one fell swoop this one man - Barak Obama - by being his consistent self - provides all those who resonate with him - to be a clear and compelling roll model.

Just imagine people oppressed all over the world being 'infected' with his inspirational words of "you can" - based on a rock solid assertion that each person has the basic right to connect with and insist on their having the basic right  to be free and treated with respect."

Now that our new president elect has a mandate and a powerful platform from which to deliver [market] his ideas who knows what will happen as this inspiring 'buzz' circulates and radiates throughout the whole world.

Far from delusional and grandiose this man appear to be a role model for a truly integrated, mentally healthy individual. And, in this connection, since people pick their own level of mental health, his selection of an equally integrated life partner and two apparently psychologicall healthy children is hardly a coincidence.

Question: When are grandiose sounding claims not grandiose? Answer: When they are based on facts. William James' comments about the 'cash value' of an idea is apt.

By their fruits you will know them.

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS BETWEEN DIFFERENT STYLES of THINKING: ADOLESCENT and ADULT

 IN BETWEEN BLACK and WHITE ARE NOT SHADES of GRAY but COLORS

The presidential election is on the cutting edge of a significant shift in our countries view of internal and external reality. As a practicing psychoanalyst I view reality through the prism of developmental psychology. Much of what charactrizes mental health (or mental illness) is associated with alternative styles of thinking.

These two styles of thinking are black/white - either/or - dichotomous thinking contrasted with complex thinking in colors. Not meaning to be insulting - adolescent thinking is generally black/ white. Mature or adult thinking is complex.

A graphic illustration of these contrasting stles of thinking may be inferred from an article in todays' New York Times called BEYOND ELECTION DAY - by Bob Herbert.

"... The U.S. is ... a country in which blissful ignorance is celebrated, and intellectual excellence (the key to 21st century advancement) is not just given short shrift, but is rediculed. Paris Hilton and Britney Spears are cultural icons. The average American watches television a mind-numbing 4 1/2 hours a day.

At the same time, our public school system is plagued with some of the highest dropout rates in the industrialized world. Math and science? Forget about it. Too tough for these TV watchers, or too boring, or whatever.

"When I compare our high schools with what I see when I'm traveling abroad," said Bill Gates, "I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow."

The point here is that we approach the end of the first decadde of the 21st century, the United States is in deep, deep trouble. Yetinstead of looking for creative 21st -century solutions to these enormous problems, too many of our so called leaders are behaving like clowns, or worse - spouting garbage in the public sphere that harkens back to the 1940s and 50s.

Thoughtful, well -educated men and women are denounced as elites, and thus the enemies of ordinary Americans. Attempts to restore a semblance of fiscal sanity to a government that has been looted with an efficiency that would have been envied by the mob, are derided as subversive - the work of socialists, Marxists, Communits [and Liberals.]

... Americans have to decide if they want a countrythat tolerates this kind of debased, backward behavior. Or if they want a country that aspires to true greatness - a country that stands for more than the mere rhetoric of equality, opportunity and justice.

That decision will require more than casting a vote in one presidential election. It will require a great deal of reflective thought and hard work by a committed citizenry. The great promise of America hinges on a government that works, openly and honestly, for the borad interests of the American people, as opposed to the narrow benefit of the favored, wealthy few."

Black/white thinking over simplies internal and external reality by assuming that for any issue there exist absolute answers. The problem is that opposing sides believe they are the spokesmen for the abolute answer of the issue of the moment. I am absolutely right, means the other side is absolutely wrong. Such absolutist either/or thinking characterizes the typical 15 year old adolescent. Such adolescent thinking dominates our countries' leadership.

Thinking which views internal and external reality as complex, multi-dimensional is characterized not by either/ or but and taking into account insights by all sides of an issue. In stead of myseide is absolutely right and your side is absolutely wrong (either/or) the formula for decision making becomes my side and your side have value. Let's mix together the best of both or all. Such thinking is characterized by those who are respectful of the complexity of reality hence respectful of alternative points of view. Such relective thinking is characterized by those individuals referred to as adult, objective, experienced, balanced integrated, mature.

If, as I expect, Obama become our leader it will signal a significant shift from adolescent to mature thinking. If I am right then 'reaching across the aisle " will be less a rhetorical flourish than a vital, enriching, necessary shift in attitudes - a win win for every American citizen.