philosophy
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Searching for context
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1 min read
You can skim the book, but the ending won’t make sense. You can skip practice, but you’ll be unprepared for the game. You can listen, but it won’t make sense until you write it down. Context is life’s black box and compass. It records a history of time and place so you can map out…
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Seeing the forest for the trees
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1 min read
The forest is a city that lies underneath our feet. Perhaps if we thought of it this way, we wouldn’t walk on it. But the vitality of life is in the pursuit. One with the world, the ability to face resistance means to walk through it. We adapt to the drumbeat of chaos, using expansive…
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Clear now, confused tomorrow
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1 min read
We have to think and talk our way through things in order to get a grip on past expressions. Unless we can pin down our thoughts to exactitude, we have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and confused. And that’s ok. Forced familiarity breeds forgetfulness — the attrition of synaptic connections is a function of…
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The flexible tattoo
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1 min read
Beliefs are impermanent. We can put them or take them off throughout the day. Similarly, we can pull from while simultaneously resisting the sprouts of memes and cultural gestures. We can switch channels and opt for something more compelling whenever we want. Change is a kind of freedom. After all, it’s the individuals that are…
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The perfect life is non-existent
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1 min read
Living the perfect life is a canard. Chasing exactitude is the primary cause of unhappiness. Instead, we should give in to life’s imperfections and invite more ambiguity. Being right leads one to forget how the world works. And for God’s sake, we don’t need another reality check. Alter the thoughts, alter the beliefs — everything…
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Crazy, that
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1 min read
That is hardly given and mostly earned. It’s too early for that We’re too young for that Eat our dinner and then we can have that We strive for that, whatever it is. Sometimes that is urgent and attainable. Sometimes it requires more work, maturity, and a lot of patience. There’s a time and a…
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Do different to get different
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1 min read
The experimental spirit may or may not lead us down the right path. Even if we bend to our hunches, things may turn out in error. But we have to do different to get different. By probing the weakness of human insecurity, we get a little closer to an ideal goal. The rhythm of life…
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Searching for the life spark
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1 min read
We need a certain level of functioning optimism to operate in a world of zero guarantees. Past results never assure future returns; all that we have is playing the lottery of luck. We’d all like a map, so we don’t feel lost in the myriad of life. But the uncertainty keeps us alive. And…
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The hidden power of music
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2 min read
Music doesn’t need thought. It is innately powerful in its ability to galvanize emotions. As Oliver Sacks penned in his book, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, “Music is part of being human.” Music is a form of therapy. Familiar sounds can trigger memory in Alzheimer’s patients to help them feel like their former…
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The pursuit of clearer signals
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1 min read
Why not head toward our ideal self? At the end of the day, how close we get to who we want to become is the prism with which we’ll grade our lives. Yet, the schism persists. What we believe is often at loggerheads with what we do. Chasing our ideals is tough business. As we…
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Who will curate the curators?
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1 min read
Who will curate the curators, influence the influencers, or teach the teachers? Those who marinate the world with their point of view assume their rightness. But the signaler too must too look back in the mirror and reimagine themselves. The true expert sees reality at arm’s length, merely touching what they know, always learning from…
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All talk is self-talk
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1 min read
We hold a private voice and a public voice. There’s the unfettered words we think and say internally versus the preselected words we speak out loud. Somewhere along the way adulthood dictates that we mute inner speech to self-talk and constrain outer-talk. People choose their words carefully when speaking to others. Both narratives inform our…