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The Inwardness of Things: McGilchrist, Panpsychism, and the Question We Cannot Settle

The oldest question in philosophy is also the question philosophy has done the worst job of answering. We know that we are conscious because we are reading these words and something is happening as we read them. We feel the weight of our hand on the table, hear the room around us, register a flicker of agreement or doubt as the sentences arrive. None of that requires argument. Descartes drew the line in 1637 with the Discours de la Méthode, and the line still holds. The trouble starts as soon as we look up from the page.

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The States That Will Not Be Commanded

There is a class of human experience that answers to no direct order. You cannot tell yourself to fall asleep. The instruction arrives at a locked door. Sleep refuses the simple transaction of command and execution. Instead, it assembles itself once certain conditions are present, and those conditions include, strangely enough, the act of picturing yourself already inside the state you are trying to enter. Lying down begins it. Closed eyes continue it. Imagining yourself asleep, entering the self who has already arrived, completes the condition, and only then does sleep agree to appear.

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Kick the Bot, Fear the Dog: Street Psychology and the Coming Age of Mechanical Animals

The first time you see a sidewalk delivery bot, you smile. It is impossible not to. The thing is knee-high, usually white or pastel, rolling along on six stubby wheels like a cooler that gained sentience and decided to take itself for a walk. It carries burritos, or prescription medication, or someone’s iced latte, and it navigates curbs and crosswalks with the earnest determination of a toddler heading for a puddle. You watch it pause at an intersection, calculate its moment, and trundle forward with a confidence that borders on optimism. Your first instinct is to root for it.

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Psychology of Delusions: Why We Cling to False Beliefs

Delusions aren’t just quirky thoughts; they’re deeply held beliefs that defy logic and evidence. They’re like stubborn weeds in the garden of the mind, refusing to budge even when confronted with the most compelling counterarguments. But why do they take root in the first place? Often, it’s because they serve a purpose, acting as a psychological shield against the harsh realities of life. Think of them as a mental coping mechanism, a way to cushion the blow of painful truths or overwhelming anxieties. The DSM-5, the psychiatrist’s bible, defines them as fixed beliefs resistant to change, often arising from complex emotional and cognitive landscapes. They’re not mere whims, but rather a reflection of a deep-seated psychological need.

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The Narcissistic Mother

The Narcissistic Mother is a classically-defined psychological condition that infects, and ruins, many mother-daughter and mother-son relationships. The tenets of such a motherhood are created equally in the evil dyad of the purposeful and the poisoning.

My new book — Mother Narcissus — is autobiographical fiction inspired by the Narcissistic Mother meme, and it has taken me over a half-century to write because the confronted themes and unconditional threats are not insoluble and are always voluble. Soon enough, the day comes when one must stand up to stare down all the vicious demons, no matter how else they are perceived by others.

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Precious or Precocious and an Eerily Dissimilar Disambiguation

I’m always fascinated by labels and meaning and the attributes we actively choose to apply to people and thoughts and concepts. Disambiguation is important — words have previously defined meanings — and to purposefully change the common use of a word to fit a narrow political stream, or a personal agenda, is both dangerous and daunting. There are two words I’ve lately been pondering: Precious and Precocious!

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Lying in Wait and the Unwanted Exposition of Repressed Rage

I spend a lot of my waking hours — when I am not here staring at a computer screen writing to you — walking the urban streets of New York and New Jersey.  I interact with all sorts of personalities and lifestyles.  I am seeing a new trend that concerns me as a pseudo-amateur watcher of human behavior:  The free exposition of lying in wait repressed rage.

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The Psychology Book Review

Late last night, UPS rang my bell and I was surprised to be handed a book from DK Publishing submitted for review simply titled — The Psychology Book — and I immediately ripped open the box, broke the book’s binding, and dug into the glossy pages.  The subtitle of the hefty, hardcover, $25,00USD tome is — “Big Ideas Simply Explained” — and really like the visual learning style of the layout.

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