Rakesh Khurana's Weblog

Albert Ellis

The psychoanalyst Albert Ellis has died. The New York Times has an interesting obituary about this quirky, original, and realist thinker.

I've been reading a lot early 20th century psychoanalytical literature, especially the works of Freud, Rank, and Fromm. It is a lot better than I expected, especially when you place it within the intellectual context of the times. I admire Freud's dogged dedication to try and get at the essence of things. His attempt to reveal our inner core and reconcile our "organic" creature-liness with our "existential" selves is profound. It highlights the dialectic at the core of our existence. We are living, breathing, excreting, mortal animals and, yet, at the same time we have the capacity to create, divine, and imagine possibilities that extend far beyond our physical limits. Institutions and culture (as well as our own neuroses), Freud argues, are manifestations of man's attempt to wrestle with these tensions.

There is something in these core ideas that ring true.

Harry Potter weekend

The Harry Potter phenomenon reached its apex in our household this weekend. I rolled out of bed at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and drove to our local, independent bookstore to purchase two copies--one for the kids and a second copy as a birthday gift for my daughter's friend ($42.00). My oldest child then spent the entire weekend reading the book, which she finished around t 8:00 p.m. on Sunday. My second oldest is re-reading the sixth book in preparation for the final volume. I also took two of the three kinds to see the latest Harry Potter movie ($24.00). My youngest son is asking for a replica of Harry Potter's wand ($24.00) because his sister told him that it really does magic. (One thing is for sure, I'm not buying a tree branch for $24.00). In total, I'm guessing that our household contributed about $30.00 in royalties to J.K. Rowling.