My friend is invariably offended by those who salt their language with profanity. I’m hoping he’ll get so wigged out by it that his heart explodes and he drops dead. Don’t worry, I’m not being cruel, I know what will happen next. It happened to me. Read More
Addiction––specifically addiction to beliefs––may be the primary impediment to human evolution. Or, turning it around, the obstacle that yields the greatest rewards. At issue: how we define reality and how ferociously we hold on to that definition. There’s reason to smile. Read More
As a guy who graduated next-to-last in his high school class yet found himself at Amherst, one of the nation’s elite colleges, where the only thing I knew for sure was that I could work my ass off, few principles have been more valuable than this from the late champion of non-violent communication, Marshall Rosenberg:
Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.
Generally, many of us find that a bit counter-intuitive. Our natural inclination would suggest that there’s hardly a greater aspiration than to be highly accomplished at something––from growing potatoes to loving our children.
And sure, well developed skills can be invaluable––especially if we’re on the receiving end: heart transplants, wedding cakes, skydiving instruction, family quarrel mediation. The list is encyclopedic.
But linking our self-regard to our ability to produce an outcome of a superior nature is risky business if you ask me. Striving for it is noble. Needing to get it is death. There’s only so much room at the top. Besides, our performance compared to that of others is always out of our control. And to be attached to anything out of our control is basically a commitment to misery. Read More
The rewards of remembering death.
"The push to change the words “nigger” and “injun” in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, because the so-called offensive nature of those terms might limit today’s readership and appreciation of that literary classic, is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how we avoid taking responsibility for our feelings––and therefore miss the chance to become more awake, more whole, more useful friends to one another."
The Essay: The Gold in Niggers and Injuns
