The formal elements of classical Arabic poetry — Subscribe to my email list to receive notifications about future articles Every work of art is a balance, a mindful negotiation, between convention and creativity. Too much convention, and the artist’s vision is stifled by restrictions. But without adherence to style, creativity risks becoming too freeform and self-indulgent. Classical Arabic…

Subscribe to my email list to receive notifications about future articles Ketamine is one of the newest and most exciting medicines in mental healthcare. Since the turn of the 21st century, it has been used as a powerful and rapid-acting treatment for depression, providing relief for thousands of patients who…

The symbolic significance of mountains in the Quran — Subscribe to my email list to receive notifications about future articles Among the many beauties of the Quran are its recurring references to nature, which inspire us to contemplate our place in the scheme of the universe and find parallels among its creations. One of these references is to mountains…

And how to spot them — If you enjoy this article, consider supporting me on Patreon. Why do people use drugs? For some, it’s an escape: a chance to break away from our usual patterns of thought and behavior. …

A first-hand account of the power of belief — It’s one thing to read about the placebo effect: the well-studied phenomenon whereby our attitudes and expectations alone are sufficient to produce a beneficial effect. But it’s another thing entirely to experience it for ourselves: to see, in our own actions, how a simple belief can lead to significant changes…

Lacan, trans-subjectivity, and structural racism — These days, public opinion seems to have captured our attention. We speak of its ‘court’ and debate the justness of its rulings. We question whether ‘being cancelled’ goes beyond being held accountable. We might explain this by saying that humans are social creatures. We evolved in the context of the…

Chemical extraction as a metaphor for psychotherapy — It took a creative genius on the level of Carl Jung to discover, in the ancient art of alchemy, an instructive metaphor for psychotherapy: to assert that the healing soul, like the basic starting materials of the alchemical technique, is transformed by a process no less noble and mystical than…

Reflections on fate and food — On my way to work last year, a careless driver took a sudden left turn into a gas station, forever committing our life-paths to an unavoidable collision course. The phrase “came out of nowhere” meant nothing to me until that exact moment, when I saw the side of the truck…

Sometimes, I wish they were — Freud is often criticized for having an overdeveloped sense of attribution: for finding meaning in every nook and cranny of experience, in ways that are seemingly obsessive, borderline paranoid, and not infrequently obscene. It’s no surprise, then, that he considers slips of the tongue — which now bear his name…