Had I heard about this anywhere else I would have quickly passed it by. It sounds too improbable. Even impossible. But psychiatrist Ian Stevenson was such a careful investigator that coming from him this stopped me in my tracks. Among the people who pay attention to the children who talk of past lives, are the … Continue reading Paranormal World | Children who speak of past lives | Birthmarks
Autism and Words
Words are not the same thing for those of us on the spectrum as they are for other people. From the time I entered elementary school as a small boy, I was very conscious of this. I couldn't put my thoughts into words then, but fifty or so years later I managed to do it … Continue reading Autism and Words
Paranormal World | Is there an After-life?
The psychologist J. B. Rhine, famous for his decades of ESP research, once called the 'after-life' the Mount Everest of paranormal phenomena, a hill he would not attempt to climb. Probably for the same reason, I've avoided writing about it here. But now I'm going to face up to it. One problem is that the … Continue reading Paranormal World | Is there an After-life?
Rescuing Psychology |the Introvert/Extrovert misunderstanding
Let's look at this again. The way introvert/extrovert is understood today is very different from what psychologist C.G.Jung intended when he introduced those terms into psychology a century ago. He saw introversion and extroversion as just two possible aspects of everyone's character. In his book Psychological Types, he wrote this: There is a further fact … Continue reading Rescuing Psychology |the Introvert/Extrovert misunderstanding
How to be Less Shy by being More Shy
What do I mean by this? It's simple really - instead of trying to suppress your shyness (what the social world has been urging you to do all your life), the best thing to do is to accept it – accept who you are. But that doesn't mean giving up and hiding at home. You … Continue reading How to be Less Shy by being More Shy
Rescuing Reality | Covid 19 and mental health | Seniors vs Millennials and the Future
Recently I suggested that social distancing and the world-wide economic shutdown may be driving us collectively crazy. This week I saw some concrete proof of it. scene of the crime I was running one morning (okay, mostly jogging) in north Toronto’s Earl Bales valley, on the beautiful path shown in the photo. The air was … Continue reading Rescuing Reality | Covid 19 and mental health | Seniors vs Millennials and the Future
Loners |The one place where society welcomes them |Anneli Rufus and her book Party of One
Loners have a hard time in the modern, day-to-day world, yet not in fiction and film. Solitary men - who I think are shy and/or autistic men - are heroes in literature and the movies – James Fenimore Cooper's Natty Bumpo in The Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans. David Copperfield in the Dickens … Continue reading Loners |The one place where society welcomes them |Anneli Rufus and her book Party of One
Autism | Weak Central Coherence | Who can’t see the forest?
In her 2008 book, Autism – A Very Short Introduction, psychologist Uta Frith discussed the "weak central coherence" theory. This is related to the tendency of autistic people to focus on detail. Walking through a forest an autistic person will see the trees and things on the forest floor – ferns, horsetails, fungi, insects, tiny … Continue reading Autism | Weak Central Coherence | Who can’t see the forest?
The Big Five Personality Traits | Where did the introverts go? What about autism?
Recently I re-examined the 'Big Five' personality traits. This was in a 2007 online article by psychologist Nathalie Nahai (A Large-Scale Personality Research Method, also published in the 2017 anthology, Know This, edited by John Brockman, published by Harper Perennial and the Edge Foundation). They aren't new. The idea began in United States Air Force in … Continue reading The Big Five Personality Traits | Where did the introverts go? What about autism?
