When I was a therapist and then a consultant, I prided myself on my practicality, on being down-to-earth.  I still do.  This often brought me into conflict with colleagues who loved abstractions and built their work and life around playing with them.  Why shouldn't people focus on concepts?  In principle, I want people, colleagues and clients alike, to do what they think is right and best.

The question really comes down to what is right and best.  If you get that wrong, then perhaps you might find yourself in trouble.  Conceptual input means starting from ideas that are part of a theory.  Or perhaps it means applying a paradigm that is popular.  This idea-based engagement always left me uncomfortable.  Still does.

When I tried to deal with some management mess, I would typically More...

When the mood of society is bleak, as it is now, Hollywood produces films mirroring that mood.  Hence the seemingly endless flow of black films: zombie and vampire films, horror films, films ending on a note of bleakness, and TV series characterized by fear, distrust, suffering, betrayal and the abuse of power.

There must be something wrong with me because when things are bleak, I prefer to be cheered up. I like to watch films in which good triumphs over evil.  What benefit do I get from a diet of films proving the futility of rationality and common human decency? 

So I've turned in recent months to Jacques Offenbach and been indulging in his operas: taking More...