Author Archives: Glen Callahan

Addiction: Just Say No Just Doesn’t Work

Taste me, you will see
More is all you need
Metallica, Master of Puppets

The idea of the ‘addictive personality’ is false. Every person’s mind is susceptible to addiction if it is not properly guided, and any experience can become the object of addiction. Understanding addiction requires understanding two types of thought: discriminate and indiscriminate. The latter type is responsible for the phenomenon of addiction.

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Ingratitude: The Real Traitor

Ingratitude, more strong than traitors’ arms,
Quite vanquish’d him:
Shakespeare, The Life and Death of Julius Caesar (III.ii)

While people’s attention is preoccupied with political in-fighting and accusations of treasonous behavior, a more insidious traitor continues to subvert individual well-being and collective harmony: ingratitude.
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Sacrifice, Self-development, the Search for Meaning

 

The search for meaning is a powerful motivator in human life.  A life devoid of meaning feels empty and oppressive.  And a collapse of meaning is potentially destructive as pathological beliefs and behaviors can rush in to fill the void.  But what is meaning in this context, and how is it generated?
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Consulting the Conscience

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.1

This advice, given by Polonius to his son in Hamlet, provides a means to harmonize our relationship with the world and one’s inner self. But what does the advice actually mean? Read More ›