“It is difficult to understand the universe if you only study one planet”
― Miyamoto Musashi
It’s an easy mistake to make. In order to understand a topic one must study it exhaustively without distracting oneself by other areas of knowledge, right? You might believe that to gain knowledge of magick or psychology or mathematics one should focus only on those things not just in a book sense but in an experiential sense at all. However you would be wrong. That will at best give you a two dimensional understanding, one with no context to place it in. What good is an understanding on how to make changes in one’s environment if one has no knowledge of the environment you are trying to change?
I have learned a lot about psychology from studying religion. By understanding what a person holds sacred, I can understand him or her. I have learned a lot about archetypes and magick by having a good knowledge of mythology. An understanding of Herbology or Fashion can increase your knowledge in so many fields.
Basically if you want to gain true understanding in one field, yes learn and do as much as you can in that field. Take the time tho to learn as much as you can in a variety of other fields as that will bring your understanding of your topic into a whole new dimension.
Blessings, G
“We do not escape into philosophy, psychology, and art – we go there to restore our shattered selves into whole ones.”
— Anaïs Nin
I look at a painting of a boy running into the waters. Behind him is a half-finished sand castle and a bemused father.The sky is that unreal shade of blue that memory gives all sunny days. The next painting shows the same boy a few years later. He is seated in the back seat of the car and he has a sarcastic smirk on his face. He is styling with his clothes and his hair yet he doesn’t want his friends to see him with his parents. It would be uncool. The next painting shows a teenager, suitcase in hand slamming the door. He is angry and there is a finality in his expression. Through the window of the door, you can see his parents distraught faces. The next painting shows a wedding and the teenager now in his twenties is smiling tho his eyes and his smile are only for his beloved. The last picture echoes the first tho the bemused father in this case was the boy in the first as he watches his daughter run towards the waves. Funny how from the middle picture one could never guess either the first two or the last two but the story continues in its cycle.
Blessings, G
“It is quite possible—overwhelmingly probable, one might guess—that we will always learn more about human life and personality from novels than from scientific psychology.”
— Noam Chomsky
I have spent most of my life in the pages of books. I have befriended characters in the stories I’ve read and had conversations with them that have lasted well into the night. They have taught me so much. Psychological case histories are all well and good yet the diagnoses always follow the case studies and then tend towards the theoretical. In a well-written book or a good story (the two overlap but aren’t identical) different characters with various mindsets interact and through the interactions of their personalities there is incalculable value to be found. Fictional characters can be at least as real as the average person you meet (and far more than most online personas).Different branches of psychology work well for various people tho in the long run too many of them adopt a “one size fits all” solution and believes that it can benefit anyone. Encountering different mirrors of yourself both in fiction and in life can accomplish a lot more if we open ourselves to the experience.
Blessings, G
Patterned Medusa by G A Rosenberg 
Finding Her Way Home by G A Rosenberg 
