Posted on 07/27/2010 12:05:32 AM PDT by Maelstorm
... all the while clinging to his own sacred cows. My late grandmother had a great, archaic phrase for such people. Addlepated nincompoops.
Odd, because there seems to be a strong correlation between increasing moral decay in America and decreasing academic performance over the last 40 years.
"College teaching tends to attract the kind of people who are incapable of making a living with either their minds or their hands." --Florence King
Liberal lefties say Pink is bad as it stereotypes girls but Codepink is good, because they only want change and inhale without exhaling. Say what? Logic out the window on every level.
Kind of the old "Them that can do, those that can't teach" scenario.
Yep. We all have sacred cows we all have deficits of truth.
Yet this man believes he alone holds the key to invalidate all “moral principles” why just “moral principles” and not all principles?
For example, take the concept of addiction. Although the twelve step process has helped many, many people and is an excellent program, I disagree with their contention that “Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic!” Neither attachment to alcohol, nor aversion to alcohol is a good thing. In the twelfth step, through ones spiritual growth, they fill the void that created the attachment with Divine Love, that person is no longer an addict. Whether one is drawn toward something or pushing off that same something, they are still attached to it.
To the Buddhist, awakening to the Spirit creates “non-attachment.” To the Christian, it is the “dying daily” concept that Paul spoke of that allows the Holy Spirit” to enter. When a person is connected to the Divine, attachment of the Soul is on the vertical axis and not the horizontal axis, thus there are no opposites. It is the perfect union. The strength comes from above, not from attachment to or aversion from the physical things around us. This, the author of the “Psychology Today” article does not understand.
Remember, money is not evil, but attachment to it(love of) is.
I guess you could call the author’s words “psycho-babble.”
I have a degree in psychology, among others, and the first thing you learn is that most people who reach the career level in this field, do it to work on their own issues as they are screwed up. I could have written excellent papers about the psychological instability of most of the psychology department, including the chairwoman, but their aversion to self reflect and grow would have created even more tension than I already did. They hated me as their student and asked me to leave! I didn't though, I just took more of their classes. (Helped me overcome my dominant mother issue.. LOL)
Here is a cut & past from his facebook! Please read the next to the last line.... it explains it all... and his not understanding committment. And to think, this guy is teaching our children!
Jeremy Sherman is a generalist, enjoying serious middle-age spread as a professor of social sciences, spreadingly defined to include psychology, sociology, evolutionary theory, history, rhetoric, philosophy, critical thinking and economics, lecturing 30 hours a week at Expression College for Digital Arts, in Emeryville Ca; as a chief researcher in Berkeley’s Consortium on Emergent Dynamics (www.teleodynamics.com), where he researches the physical origins of purposive systems, (how matter becomes mattering), the relationship between energy and information, and the nature of physical and mental work; and as author of a weekly column and podcast on everyday decisionmaking at www.mindreadersdictionary.com. He writes romanticynical songs, and plays upright and seven string bass and sings in jazz combos at cafes and restaurants three nights a week. Married once with three children (28, 24,18), fianced thrice since his divorce, Jeremy is now partnered with a fellow ambigamist with whom he enjoys among many things singing and playing romantic jazz standards at cafes around the San Franscisco bay area. Jeremy has a Masters in Public Policy from U.C. Berkeley and a Ph.D. in evolutionary epistemology from Union University.
His PT blog is Ambigamy. (read less)
Jeremy Sherman is a generalist, enjoying serious middle-age spread as a professor of social sciences, spreadingly defined to include psychology, sociology, evolutionary theory, history, rhetoric, philosophy, critical thinking and economics, lecturing 30 hours a week at Expression College for Digital Arts, in Emeryville Ca; as a chief researcher in Berkeley’s Consortium on Emergent Dynamics (www.teleodynamics.com), where he researches the physical origins of purposive systems, (how matter... (read more)Personal Interests:Jamming on the Bass
Crack Parties
Radio Lab WNYC
I had the exact reaction you did. It always amazes me how many “smart” people are really stupid as hell.
“Clingy”
Weak, desperate, needy, fearful, insecure, obsessed, manipulative, and a million other unflattering adjectives come to mind.
However
“commitment”
Consent to an informed CHOICE.
Don’t cling. Show commitment.????
Well, let’s try this for an analogous concept.
Clinging is likened to a weed that grows and grows, choking all the other life out of existence.
Commitment, of love, would be like a Rose. Inviting and beautiful, with limits. Hence the thorns.
Clinging — Hanging on too tight.
Committment — Hagning on even through change
Yes, I want my hubby’s committment. No, I don’t want him following me everywhere.
It didn’t take 3/4 of a decade in “higher education” to know the difference... and this guy still hasn’t learned.
Unless, of course, you just smoke it, and IT only chokes YOU.
Crack parties? Actually says that? Good Grief.
LOL, though I am in California, I wouldn’t touch that stuff.
Scotch is more predictable.
I am sure his Buddhist friend told him that concepts like "don't cling" and "show commitment" are guiding reminders for a psychological/spiritual practice of meditation or contemplation not absolutes. He probably also gave him the litmus test he is asking for and it applies to either phrase. If it is neurotic you're doin' it wrong!
He is really doing it wrong.
Those are seriously good analogies. They cover every point necessary to understand both concepts completely and their difference in two sentences.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.