Energetic Life

What it's like to be a dog?  What are dogs thinking? Neuroscientist Gregory Berns research in his book  How dogs love us  Dog's brain, mainly by using MRI and brain-imaging. MRI works by sending in a blast of radio waves that excite atoms ( mostly Hydrogen) Dogs have been with humans for a long time - almost 27,000 years. Dogs and "modern-wolfs" share a "wolf-dog" descendant. It's very difficult to understand what dogs are thinking since humans have a strong tendency to anthropomorphize and project their own minds. Historically, Charles Darwin also paid major concern towards dogs, for their rich expression of emotions - He argued that dogs and humans also share evolutionary descendant, and perhaps through dogs we can understand some of our complex emotions. "The world was conquered through the understanding of dogs; the world exists through the understanding of dogs." - Nietzche Nietzche was talking about humans who are similar to dogs. But hum...

What is 'Individual Psychology'? Who is Alfred Adler? Adler (1870-1937) is an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and the founder of Individual psychology. His emphasis was on the Inferiority and Superiority complex. In  Understanding Life , Adler presents individual psychology and his science of living. Alfred Adler is a genius, a man ahead of his time - However, his exaggerated advocation of social utility, leaves a bitter taste of herd thinking and slave morality. Individual Psychology is a system through which people can be understood. Regards the individual as a whole. Who people become. All behavior(thinking, feelings, actions..) is seen as purposeful. Individual psychology is in fact social psychology. Individual life is expressed in a transaction - a progression - from a past(state of inferiority) towards a future(state of superiority) striving towards a goal. The beginning of social life lies in the weakness of the individual. To live in groups, the combined po...

What is Eroticism? "The original, primordial fire, sexuality, raises the red flame of eroticism, and this in turn, raises and feeds another flame, tremulous and blue the flame of love. Eroticism and love the double flame of life."  - Octavio Paz Esther Perel  (1958) is a Belgian psychotherapist who has explored the tension between the need for security (love, belonging, and closeness) and the need for freedom (erotic desire, adventure, and distance) in human relationships. Her book  Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence became a global phenomenon translated into over 25 languages. Security and passion are separate fundamental human needs from different motives. How to introduce uncertainty into an intimate relationship?  Uncertainty is already in relationships. Eastern philosophers talked about this for ages - Impermanence is the only constant. Even in the dullest marriages, predictability is a mirage . "The real voyage of discovery consi...

Who are the master programmers?  What is the ESS (Evolutionary stable strategies)?  Richard Dawkins the evolutionary biologist and the professor for public understanding at the University of Oxford, explains in  Selfish Gene  that Genes are the master programmers, they program their lives. In this book, Dawkins offers a new way of seeing facts and old theories - from the point of view of genes. At all times, there is a struggle and competition for existence in the universe. Struggle that conducts without feelings. No one knows or worries about it. The discussion here is not about intentional psychology, it is a layer below. In the unconscious. What are Genes? The basic physical and functional unit of heredity - Made up of DNA. Genes made us. All living organisms are the most complicated and perfectly designed survival machinery - vehicles blindly programmed to preserve genes. Genes work by controlling protein synthesis. Animal behavior is under the control of genes...

What is neurosis? How Sigmund Freud modeled the mind? Sigmund Freud - the infamous and highly criticized psychologist and father of psychoanalysis - sheds light on a new and foreign phenomenon (Neurosis).  This is a continuation of  Analyzing errors  and  Dreams  from the book  Introduction to psychoanalysis . Freud has changed his opinion and views many times. He himself states that and is proud of his modifications. Yet I think he is still trustworthy, for who is not open to error? In contrast, he who doesn't change his opinions is stubborn, biased, and the most suspicious. At least he (apparently) is being himself and acting according to his own dictates.  Freud model of the mind: The unconscious is like an ante-chamber - a house. In that house thoughts and impulses run freely and wildly. The conscious mind is a small room in that house, with a guard or a watcher sitting at the entrance. Only approved thought is allowed to reach the conscious. This...

How strategy is similar to science? A strategy is like a scientific hypothesis. An educated prediction of how the world works. A good strategy is built on functional knowledge - what works, what doesn't, and why. It is necessarily empirical and pragmatic.  Good strategy Bad strategy  dives deeper into the science of strategy. The ultimate worth of strategy is determined by its success. I recommend checking  Introduction to strategy  post before you continue. Who is called "The father of strategy"?  Hannibal of Carthage (247 BC). Hannibal taught painful lessons to the roman republic through many catastrophic and tragic defeats, which caused Romans to adopt many of his tactics and strategy and evolve from there. The master strategist is a designer. The design is adroit and clever - a configuration of resources and activities that yield an advantage . The design should be from upstart early conquests rather than mature states. The strategist should identify which a...