Author Archives: Keith R Wilson

America gone haywire Has our country gone mad? Has anyone examined the head of America? Kurt Anderson has, shortly after the 2016 election; and his conclusion is yes, we have gone mad and it was bound to happen. He wrote the bestselling book, Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire. In it, he presents an alternate historyContinue reading “Living in Fantasyland”

Not everything about Neuro-Linguistic Programming is phony If you’re going to learn how to be a psychotherapist, you should study psychology and acquaint yourself with all the theories of human behavior. I believe it also helps to read Russian novels and ponder philosophy. You can do worse than have a solid grounding in statistics andContinue reading “Need a Map for Your Brain?”

Good and bad ways to feel bad As soon as you see how you are responsible for trouble, you are met by two emotions who offer to be your guide: guilt and shame. Which one should you go with? Is there a difference between the two? Continue reading →

Universal survivor’s guilt as a basis for ethics You’re a survivor. You’re the result of an intense competition between hundreds of sperm seeking to impregnate an egg. You feed yourself off the flesh of others. If you eat meat, hundreds of beings die to give you sustenance; and if you’re a vegan, plants give theirContinue reading “The Face of the Other”

What’s the difference? Not everything is your fault. In fact, most things are not your fault; you had nothing to do with them. You didn’t ask to be born to these people or at this time or this place, at least so far as we know. You didn’t invent the language you speak. You didn’tContinue reading “Responsibility and Blame”

I have an idea for a new business opportunity for us shrinks. You know how they have anger management classes that judges, employers, and spouses send people to when they keep losing their cool? The kind like in the movie with Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson? Yeah, that. Well, anger’s not the only emotion thatContinue reading “Disgust Management”

If you need to be convinced that the feeling of disgust is a peculiarly powerful and primitive emotion, try this experiment. Get a clean glass. Spit in it. Now drink it. Even if you can drink the spit, you know what I’m talking about. You know there’s nothing wrong with the spit. You swallow yourContinue reading “Disgust”

Forget the stages, forget the “correct” order. Grief is more like a gumbo than a Powerpoint presentation These days, no one can shed a tear without someone mentioning the five stages of grief. I’m convinced that when people sit with the bereft, they bring up the stages just so that they can have something toContinue reading “The Gumbo of Grief”