“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?” Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882 Individuality and civility are opposing forces. In one extreme, we serve individuality – be it expression or conquests. In the other extreme, we serve others. Where on this continuum do we…
Life is always zooming ahead. My promise to you (which, stems from a promise to myself), is to linger in the tiniest moments. Like your face when lightly-sweetened chocolate cake delights you unexpectedly, or you gaze at mushrooms lovingly and celebrate (again) that they are, in fact, not contaminated with radiation*, or when you smile…
“Building a legacy is an illusion, and is really a selfish endeavor. Happiness through acquisition is an illusion. You don’t ‘own’ anything.” Rick Georges Lin-Manuel Miranda himself would agree: Alexander Hamilton was a freak of nature, “Accomplishing what would take a normal person three lifetimes“. Modern day scholars and clinicians offer conflicting descriptions… Intensely gifted?…
“With our super-plastic neocortices and well-organized senses, Homo sapiens are the gluttons of the informavore world. We are uniquely skilled at acquiring, processing, and ordering information, and uniquely versatile when it comes to letting that information shape who we are. And when we are deprived of sensory information, like a prisoner in solitary confinement, we…
Hi Jay, I am writing you at 3am. I have been reading words on your site for perhaps 20 minutes (longer, shorter, difficult to say these days). In the beginning, and with some existential dread, I thought you might be an AI or a bot programmed to bring human wisdom to a worldly population buried…
Once upon a time in early adulthood, I was driving down the road with two friends during summer. It was a brief reprieve from full-throttle partying… a transitory moment between day festivities and night festivities. We were riding in silence, windows down, enjoying the golden hour breeze. My friend who was riding shotgun suddenly announced…
Be well. Sincerely wishing you some calm and gratitude during these final days of the year.
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[60 minutes into the sunlight dose] Definitely feel “the glow”. I’ve done this enough to know varying shades of potency, due to variables such as: time of day, empty stomach, mushroom batch, etc. The glow [in this moment] is completely obvious. Feeling the familiar characteristics – the undeniable wordless feeling that everything is fine (always…
Today’s internet underrepresents the best of human values and behaviors. For all daily circumstances that haunt us, the world is equally if not more beautiful, and full of people who quietly recognize this. As a global community, we can do a better job appreciating this. Moved: This project has moved to a new home: civilinternet.org
Hi friend. Please – this is not something to passively read. This is me speaking directly TO you, and I’d love to hear a response. When you get to the end, please leave a comment or contact me, even if only a few words. I see many of random visitors here, but 100 or so…
“When I choose to see the good side of things, I’m not being naive. It is strategic and necessary. It’s how I’ve learned to survive through everything.”– Waymond Wang What is life? Any attempt to distill it will fall short. Here goes one, anyway: Life is grappling with the idea of infinite potential realities for…
I can’t shake the feeling that writing on medium (or the internet broadly) is like believing I am crafting a meal that optimizes nutrition, but then trying to sell it in a store where most people love junk food. Short click-baiting titles, high doses of opinion, unclear ties to objective facts, and optimizing the capture…
From Luke: I’ve been enjoying the challenge of reminding myself to live in the moment. The constant tug o war between old habits and new goes on, but I’ve become better at taking the “now” as it comes. As always, journaling as been my escape into those deeper flows of introspection and much needed calm. …
Two major things colored the 1930’s. 1) the immediate wake of the industrial revolution, and 2) the great depression. In short – wild efficiency plus a jobs-shortage inspired Kellogg’s to drop their workday to 6 hours-day, 30 hours-week. This was a win-win: happier employees and providing more struggling people with paying jobs.
Check back in five years – but as it stands, this is one of the most important books I’ve come across. What started as a study on “work” quickly turned into one on human nature. It took me two decades (emphasis: TWENTY – years!) to pause and think critically about work. Culture is one hell…
“Oh the joy of missing out. When the world begins to shout And rush towards that shining thing; The latest bit of mental bling– Trying to have it, see it, do it, You simply know you won’t go through it; The anxious clamoring and need This restless hungry thing to feed. Instead, you feel the loveliness; The…
[Note to a friend] Never let the wrong things influence your sense of worth, either as an artist or a person. Unfortunately… perception is part of life, and perception is way more often wrong than it is right, including our own perception of ourselves. Your worth is a pearl to be protected – make sure…
“The false needs time and what needs time is false. If you need time to achieve something, it must be false. You need not wait to be what you are. You must not allow your mind to go out of yourself in search.”– Nisargadatta Maharaj What is home? I don’t want to die tomorrow. But…
Wow – finally – the trip of a lifetime was happening. And also… FLYING!?!? Like in a plane? Boy oh boy. Talk about wishes coming true. Yes that’s right – after years of watching Disney animated classics with my sibs, laced with overt and covert come-hither invitations to see the actual kingdom in person, we…
100 something essays later… My aim with this blog: to “know myself” and “help people suffer less”. I feel good about the first part – the journey to “know myself” is now quite alive, and will carry on as long as I do. As for “help people suffer less”, I never really knew what to…
“Wisdom is one of the grandest and oddest words out there, so lofty it doesn’t sound like something one could ever consciously strive to be. Nevertheless, it deserves to be an aspiration.” Alain de Botton “Wisdom is one of those qualities that is difficult to define—because it encompasses so much—but which people generally recognize when…
“A crisis of wisdom as the defining crisis of our time? This diagnosis, and from a scientist and scholar at that, is unusual. Science, psychology and even the multitude of modern and postmodern therapies and social practices, have not been able to fill the vacuum.” Thomas Steininger “Who wants to be wise anymore? People want…
“There’s a deep continuity between the way biological life self-organizes and the way cognition self-organizes, which means there is a deep interconnection and interdependence between the functioning of your brain and the functioning of your body.” John Vervaeke Does the world need another fitness essay or influencer? Nah. I will merely share as evidence -…
For certain, we can each know personal peace and freedom. Even so, it would be naive to ignore the greatest challenges in our global society. By acknowledging them, we can conduct and shape our lives in a way that doesn’t exacerbate them, either for us, or other people. These topics will be tracked and expanded…
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