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Dialogue Room
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Posted on Monday, July 16, 2012 10:07 PM
 Chapter Two of Republic addresses the most pressing specific responsibility of my life. Chapter Three appears to be dealing with the most pressing general responsibility. If so, let the games begin! Robert Andersen |
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Posted on Monday, June 04, 2012 2:15 PM
 The editing of the first two chapters has proceeded to the point where the work is presentable. Six or seven more revisions await, but they become progressively less intensive. Chapter Three will require much more reading. Hopefully, it will be worth the trouble. Robert |
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Posted on Saturday, May 12, 2012 7:37 PM
 Apparently there was a problem downloading Requiem. The new book crowded it out somehow. That was inadvertent and is now corrected. Both are currently available, although Republic is a work in progress. Robert |
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Posted on Wednesday, May 09, 2012 9:55 AM
I used to have an audience in Heythuysen, Netherlands that visited the site thirty or forty times a day for about six months. They apparently were reading the book and eventually finished it. I felt a responsibility to keep something going, since a new book was not about to sprout up overnight, and thought the blog might offer an avenue to continue thoughts from the previous book. But they did not return and the blog now just seems to go out there, or nowhere, and I would rather work on the new book, which has years left to go. So let me just summarize here what this site is about, since most readers are likely to be unfamiliar with it. This is basically a place to download books. The first book, Requiem, is a metaphysics for living. It covers just about everything, and at this point does not appear to have made too many missteps along the way. The assumptions in Requiem can be right or wrong, but they will remain metaphysics because they do not have an existential truth value–i.e., the premises cannot empirically be shown as right or wrong. No matter, the book continues to pop into my head as I move along, which intuitively suggests it has some value. The second book is an elaboration of the first. I am trying to formulate a metaphysics with which to underwrite our experience, and this matters because without such a base one can only move with hesitancy or bluster. The premise of both books is that we can ill afford not to look at the big picture, even if we have to struggle (perhaps mightily) for answers. So these books are a quest for conceptual stability and perhaps for a wormhole to eternity. Piggybacking on this noble adventure is an immediate practical issue involving combat veterans and post-traumatic stress disorder. This area fits into the larger scheme because everything does, but issues, abstract and concrete, always coincide, and this specific one becomes something of my responsibility. So there are, in both books, a section that addresses contemporary applications of the larger quest. I have now finished that aspect. The most recent chapter in the new book should conclude my efforts with respect to post-traumatic stress disorder. Chapter Two, Border Wars, can be read for its own value (or lack thereof). It becomes essentially a self contained section offering my perspective on working with combat veterans having this disorder. That responsibility falls to me because I have perhaps run more out-patient combat PTSD groups than anyone else in the country. That deserves to be recorded, and it now is.  At this point in the new book I am faced with months of reading before anything more goes into it. That did not work so well when I had the Huythuysen audience, but I can run at my own pace now–which is all one can do anyway. So this site is to read books. One is finished, the other along the way. Click on either for a PDF download. The practical application for the specific issue mentioned is out there and can be viewed on its own. The other, God willing, continues. |
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Posted on Sunday, February 12, 2012 9:55 PM
 There is now a link to the new book. It is just a beach head, but it is in the design format and work continues regularly. (Go to "Second Book" page, click on cover.) Chapter one has started. The work is going up relatively unedited, and it will be gone over innumerable times to make it more intelligible, but I had promised something by Christmas and this is better perhaps than nothing. |
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Posted on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 3:20 PM
Well I am off on another book. I did not choose it; it chose me. This book hopes to build on what seems to be a reasonable foundation in Requiem. Requiem is not a best seller, but it is read all over the globe. The internet changes the way information is conveyed and anyone anywhere in the world with access to a computer can download that book. It has been most popular in the Netherlands where an organization has made over five thousand visits to the site. More people download it outside the United States than inside by a ratio of about eight to one. But good works are not popularity contests, and value is in the eye of the beholder. For me, I assess the work on whether, and how well, it addresses the major issues facing humanity. It appears that Requiem leaves little of consequence outside its purview. I do not take it too personally whether people feel that the issues are handled well or not because in most cases the ideas are borrowed from the greats. If I bring in current metaphors and examples, good for me, but the messages preceded my work. Good for me there too. That I continuously find myself mentally referring to material in the book is the most effective assurance of its worth. Essentially, the ideas seem to survive criticism, and they all combine effectively. Requiem is a beginning, perhaps a pretty good one. As mentioned below my attention has gone to a work by Ludwig von Mises on the nature of knowledge. The essential point is there are two very difference sources of knowledge. One is through our senses and the other is via experience. We can see a thermometer and know a temperature, and we can reflect inward and experience our thoughts, values, emotions, motives. The latter are a priori, meaning they need no verification. If I am thinking about Willow School, that is that. I do not need to prove it to anyone, nor could I. It is sufficient to look. Perhaps we can fool ourselves about emotions, but content and purpose are pretty straightforward. If I go to the store to get groceries, that settles it. We don’t need statistics and experimental design to explain the obvious. Descartes has shown that we can doubt everything except that we doubt. But it also true that the next time an apple falls it could go upward. We are absolutely certain about very little. But no one questions gravity, and if you are thinking about the Golden Gate Bridge, then so be it. We will look at how knowledge is acquired both objectively as well as subjectively and consider the consequences of confusing the two. Largely that focus will be on psychotherapy systems, which currently are my most pressing practical issue of a metaphysical nature. It is not the most important issue, however. That place would go to society and its inability to embrace a workable system. Ineffective therapy is a hazzard to those in need. Ineffective social systems are a danger to everyone. The book title comes from my work with the veterans. They all want to be "normal". That is never going to happen. If your children are killed on Christmas Eve, Christmases will never be the same. But one person’s problem is another’s opportunity. Do we want to be average? Today average is going over a cliff. The Kardashians are more important than the reserve currency. Everyone wants a bigger piece of the pie, but the pie is toxic. Socialism (spelled "free lunch for everyone") is taking over for responsibility. We do not need more of that normal. (Note: title changed, content not.)  Post-traumatic stress disorder is not a disease, there is no pathogen. It is a disposition learned in one situation that does not translate well into another. Death sits at the center of it and of course death is not a welcome topic at a wine tasting. But it is real; and so is PTSD. So be real, learn from it, become metanormal, and while you will not fit in at the wine tasting, you might lead them out of the quicksand. So metaphysics is the game here, but the stadium lights currently shine on post-traumatic stress disorder. Metaphysics is central to it. The issues are not much different in the therapy wars than they are in the socialism/capitalism antagonism. In this book I hope to anchor our position as much as possible in a metaphysics that works. We will be discussing treatment systems, then probably the philosophy of idealism, and finally try to address the apathy that leads our country to reality TV. I stuck some ideas about psychotherapy together here that will belong later in the book, but do not fit so well in this introduction. But it will give an example. Kant could never leave the abstract. His best friend could not finish Kant's greatest book. The lesson there is that we live in the specific rather than the general. So here are a list of aphorisms learned after 180,000 patient hours with the combat vets. Much of the book will entail tacking those generalities to their warrant for authority. Here are the generalities, which I hope to tie to their metaphysical parents in the subsequent chapters: "Post-traumatic stress disorder is chronic as soon as the bullet leaves the gun. We are not made to take some events lightly, especially those we initiate. Bad things happen in the real world, and we do not address them just by playing with the reflections in our minds. Simply focusing on mind misses the point. It is the external world that matters, as the mind largely tracks that which is outside of us. It is the interface between us and the world. Certainly the mind is incomplete without reality–the real world gives our minds its content while its spacial relations provides the logic. And probably the relationship is reciprocal, meaning that without mind there is no external reality. If that does not make sense, remember that quantum mechanics does not make sense either, but that does not make it wrong. The two issues are probably related. Refusing to think about traumatic events offers no durable benefit. Doing so simply addresses the mental part of this duality. History still exists and memories have no expiration date. Even if "out of sight out of mind" worked, one could not intentionally accomplish it–you must first remember what you are trying to forget. So do not count repression on your side. It only works in fiction and therapy manuals. Our minds are designed to negotiate reality. Trust that Providence has some clue about that process. God or Nature is not going to waste time on the trivial. Ideas present themself in relation to their importance. We do not author our thoughts, we read them. Nor do we freely create ourselves. We both act and are acted upon. Do not lose sight of the latter in a burst of arrogance. Approach, not avoidance, is the avenue for incorporating traumatic experiences. History happens, consequences follow, and no one gets a do over. Our minds are not blank canvases; they are mirrors, which makes us dependent. Mind translates sensory impulses into experience (i.e., light waves at 510 nm becomes the color green) and provides a constant interface between us and the environment. If we cannot confront an experience in both dimensions (memory, reality), we cannot fix it. Action in our world is conceived in humility. We submit before we control."  It pleases me to note that my interest in metaphysics preceded any serious reading in the area. This would seem to suggest a more durable interest than one motivated by more external reasons. It appears we need some work on understanding what the consequences might be between a theological view and a secular view of the world. As a good economist looks at more than the local and immediate effect of an action, so the metaphysicist needs look at both general and long term effects of jettisoning God. We are in the long term phase now of substituting science for God, and the results are not encouraging. Cause and purpose, materialism versus idealism, and individualism versus collectivism remain the basics of my work and interest. But sharper is always better and examples always facilitate understanding. It is one thing to know a system, yet quite another to communicate it. We do not have to worry about reaching an end of our work soon here. I will start a download on the new book, but the blog will remain in the vanguard. Blogs are easier to write; books are better to build upon. But one does not preclude the other. The cover is a good place to start. It tells one to hurry up. |
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Posted on Saturday, December 17, 2011 12:57 PM
 Well a concatenation—a word on loan from Ludwig von Mises meaning linked together—of events has precluded me from having an article by Christmas. Everything seems to come due at the end of the year, especially if one eschews paperwork. On the project itself, Mises’ Theory & History has now been joined by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Dummies to meld into a study of psychotherapy approaches, which can then provide a tangible focus for the metaphysical study of purpose and cause. Tangible tends to also mean practical. Writing should not remain in the Atriums of Abstract, and this work shall certainly not. We have two therapeutic approaches at my hospital: CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and SE (something else—i.e., "existential"). Choosing between them makes a real difference in the real world, unlike merely hanging out in the theoretical formulations. Let me just say at this point that intuition appears to jump up and insist on a common denominator between capitalism/socialism, freedom/servitude, theology/physicalism, fiat money/commodity money, and CBT/SE. The common denominator appears to be an imaginary perpetual motion machine (i.e. the proverbial free lunch.) I currently feel that this effort could pay off in the real world. Wrong does not work. While neither of these therapeutic approaches need be right, they both cannot be. They are antithetical. So while the promised article might be late, it is in process, and hopefully will reward one’s patience. And perhaps save someone's life. Robert Andersen Write your post here. |
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Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2011 3:30 AM
 Epistemology is an off-putting word. I am beginning to use it now and it just sits there like a lump of coal. Eventually it will become integrated, but it is basically antisocial. Still, it is where the current action is. Epistomology means the study of knowledge. We rarely look at that. The camera never sees its lens. Mises has a book that is considered one of his four major works—Theory and History. It is generally ignored, but currently the book feels right on target and is my current project. My writing starts as reading and with repetition and incorporation it eventually spills out onto the keyboard. So it shall likely do again. Requiem turns out to be more of a beginning than an ending, and thus the trek continues. This should be a good thing. This blog is probably going to be the outpost where my writing gathers. I am not aiming at another book, rather just a continuation of the work already begun. Ideology never rests; nor do those who consider it. This is one of those "needs to be done things" where the finger points in one’s direction. Consider it a lottery ticket on a chance for saving the polar bears. Anyway, my hope is to have something to post by Christmas. The writing moves at its own pace, but I can urge it along. This simply means making choices. The housework is going to have to wait. I would like to have an article to offer as a sort of Christmas present. —Robert Andersen |
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Posted on Sunday, November 20, 2011 5:38 PM
This is the time of year our outdoor basketball season would break for the winter. Several years have passed since the last game. Everyone misses the games. It was basketball with an individualized philosophy to work for our particular group. We kept score, but basically success was everyone leaving the court under their own power. Magic happened there, and the basketball was pretty good also. Too many marathons got in my way, leaving my hips complaining too much to continue. A surgical solution never felt right to me; it always seemed more like the thing to do, such as buying bonds as you get older or getting a chest x-ray every year. I am willing to stick with my sense of conviction on an approach to my restrictions, but then that means assuming personal responsibility. When I was younger, running was my answer to everything. Maybe I should have learned something, but the plan here today is pretty much the same, a physical program to get back into action. I shall stretch, lose weight, and exercise–a lot. Having a plan is cool. But everyone has a plan for everything. The critical issue is transforming the mental into physical. We apparently can do that, you know, materialism notwithstanding. So enter purpose. It should count for something. I can think of few things that would be more satisfying to me than revisiting the court. That does not mean my horizen is limited. It means the dream is inspiring. The photo here is of your author and his defender four years ago. If this plan makes any sense at all, it will require much effort and entail much discomfort. That is a given. The question, however, is whether such action will be sufficient. Perhaps more pictures of me on the court await the effort. If so, it will be a success from which one can draw many generalities. Everything connects, and this would score a point for independent thinking. Perhaps it is true that, "Thou canst not stir a flower without troubling of a star." —Robert Andersen |
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Posted on Wednesday, November 09, 2011 11:28 PM
"Purpose is a powerful thing, and it eludes so many. "Requiem: Finding Purpose in a Casual World" is a blend of spirituality, the metaphysical, and psychology as Robert Andersen discusses the meaning of purpose, its vitality to living our lives to the fullest, and its impact on society. Examining Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and how it prevents people from finding such purpose, "Requiem" offers much to think about on the human psyche. Highly recommended." —Midwest Book Review |
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