Insight is a good thing, and insight into where our laughter comes from not only can spare us a lot of misery but is worth a laugh in itself. Still, as one witty writer said, “Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.” Despite … [Read more...] about The Private Joke behind Our Laughter
Consciousness
Why We Fear and Hate the Truth
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened. – Winston Churchill. We fear and hate many of truth’s disclosures because they’re often accompanied by narcissistic insults. What’s a narcissistic insult? … [Read more...] about Why We Fear and Hate the Truth
When Eyes Are Blinders of the Soul
One way to diminish our suffering is to become conscious of when our eyes go looking for something that upsets us. Another way is to be watchful of what our imagination is up to. Just as sponges can soak up dirty water as easily as clean water, our eyes can also take in … [Read more...] about When Eyes Are Blinders of the Soul
How Deeper Insight Relieves Stress
As I sit at my desk writing about stress, I can feel some tension stirring in my body. Outside my home office where I write, construction workers are noisily building a new house. Work will go on next door for a few more months. No doubt I’ll feel the nuisance of the noise at … [Read more...] about How Deeper Insight Relieves Stress
The Common Ingredient in Human Misery
What do binging, hypochondria, and hoarding have in common? On the surface they appear to be unrelated. Yet all three of these behaviors have the same source in our psyche. That source—inner passivity—is an unconscious sense of identity situated in our psyche that determines, … [Read more...] about The Common Ingredient in Human Misery