The character Prufrock in T.S. Eliot’s ironically titled great poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” personifies the painful plight of people who are unable to connect with their authentic self. Contemplating “a hundred indecisions,” Prufrock saw the moment of his … [Read more...] about The Love Song of the Self
self-development
Terrorism and the Death Drive
The front page of today’s The New York Times has a photo of the aftermath of a suicide bomber’s horrific attack on a group of Afghan Shiites who were taking part in a religious ceremony. Human perversity sometimes seems unfathomable, but we must keep trying to make sense of … [Read more...] about Terrorism and the Death Drive
Beware the Limitations of Superficial Psychology
Some cognitive psychologists say our difficulty achieving happiness is due to "logic-processing errors." But this remedy is too superficial. Logic or common sense can't separate out the ingredients of unhappiness because those ingredients reside deep in our psyche, beyond the … [Read more...] about Beware the Limitations of Superficial Psychology