Jack La Lanne was born in 1914. “Jumping Jacks” are named after him, and he invented the first cable-fastened pulleys, and first leg-machines, and even the first weight selectors – all necessities of the modern gym. What’s most impressive about him isn’t even his muscles, but his mind. He is mentally alert, humorous, and lightning … Read more
The Social Animal There is no denying that belonging to a group brings with it many useful skills and knowledge but being too enmeshed in a group prevents us from thinking clearly. Ultimately, we are social animals; we live for others, we want to be useful, popular, and loved. Those who cannot figure out how … Read more
A man must either imitate the vicious or hate them both are dangerous things, either to resemble them because they are many or to hate many because they are unresembling to ourselves. There is nothing so unsociable and sociable as man, the one by his vice, the other by his nature. Real transformation cannot occur … Read more
Scott Adams is the creator of the famous Dilbert cartoons. In How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, he shares what he has learned from a lifetime of failures. He is aware that taking advice about success from a person who has failed at businesses for decades is not very wise, and … Read more
In Individuation and Narcissism, Mario Jacoby starts by recalling Ovid’s tale of Narcissus, he then explains the differences between the great psychoanalytic thinkers of our time, including Freud, Jung, Neumann, Kohut – particularly their thoughts on narcissism, why it develops, and the signs that it manifests. In addition, there is a thorough discussion of the … Read more
Robert Johnson starts Owning Your Shadow with Jung’s favorite story. Without effort or limit, the water of life wanted to make itself known on earth, so it appeared through an artesian well. People drank this magic water and were nourished, but eventually, they chose to escape this Edenic state. They erupted walls regulations, charged admission, … Read more
C.A Meier, the author of Personality – The Individuation Process, was a Jungian psychiatrist – in this book, he writes about Jung’s work into personality types and the process of individuation, including thorough explanations and origins of ideas like the anima, animus, the shadow, and persona. Features of Introverts vs Extroverts The Introvert The introvert’s … Read more
What is Sublimation? We all have impulses to do socially inappropriate things, we have sexual fantasies, that if we manifest in public, would be less than ideal. A solution to this plight of ours comes through sublimation, the redirecting of libidinal energy towards socially beneficial pursuits. This idea from psychology was popularized by Freud, but … Read more
Science as Falsification by Popper defines the way the modern mind approaches theories but there is something profound (pun intended) that is lacking in that approach. The paper explains the replication crisis in psychology. But two things occur to me. While Popper criticizes Adler’s theories for not being falsifiable and thus problematic, it is a … Read more
In Notes from Underground, Dostoevsky describes the psychology of the underground man. He is someone you may relate to, and in the unlikely event that you do not at all relate to him, it is likely that you know people that do. The underground man is rational, intelligent, and perceptive. He claims to be afflicted … Read more