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The Common Good

“It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.”  Jimmy Carter In an individualistic and self-indulgent culture, I was wondering what it would take to increase commitment to the common good.  A quick search turned up a book by Robert Reich, the previous secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, entitled The Common Good.  Reich Read More

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Change and Choice

In December of 2022, I attended a conference at the Harvard Executive Center in which I first learned about the stunning acceleration of AI by one of the leading computer science researchers in the world.  At that time, Chat GPT had just been released.  Since then, I started using AI to summarize the literature related to topics I was exploring.   In that short amount of time, AI has evolved with mind-blowing speed.  I’m going to Read More

Another Soleri Bell Sunset | Author: Alan Levine / cogdog | Flickr | License: CC0

The Material and the Ethereal

“In a way, you are poetry material; You are fully of cloudy subtleties I am willing to spend a lifetime figuring out.  Words burst in your essence and you carry their dust in the pores of your ethereal individuality.”  —Franz Kafka “The spirit-world around this senseFloats like an atmosphere, and everywhereWafts through these earthly mists and vapors denseA vital breath of ethereal air” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “Music is the ethereal connection between this world and the Read More

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The Dangers of Demonization

I just listened to a brilliant podcast of Ezra Klein interviewing Zadie Smith, the best-selling author of White Teeth, On Beauty, and The Fraud.   One comment from Zadie Smith really jumped out at me:  “People aren’t terrible, systems are.”  I might add that systems and culture are both problems that cause people to act terribly or suck them into terrible milieus.   In any event, I highly recommend this podcast for its insights about how we Read More

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Confidence and Competence

One of the best pieces of feedback I ever received was when an honest friend said, “Sometimes your confidence exceeds your competence.”  As painful as that feedback was, it made me more conscious of the level of confidence I project when I assert an opinion or decide to take on a task for which I may not be entirely prepared.  For example, I often observe myself giving directions or offering an opinion on a subject Read More

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Locked and Loaded

“Locking” and “loading” refer to steps in preparing a machine gun to be fired: You first “lock” the bolt or safety and then “load” an ammunition cartridge or magazine. Figuratively, to be “locked and loaded” is to be fully prepared for aggressive action.   As parents and grandparents, we are always looking for ways to keep our kids out of danger’s way and to avoid aggressive action.  There are two messages I would love to Read More

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The Price of Privilege

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”  Marcus Aurelius.   “When you’re accustomed to privilege, parity and equity, and equality may feel like oppression.”  Raphael Warnock    I was born with privilege.  I’m white.  I’m male.   I have a relatively healthy body and mind.   I was raised by kind and loving parents.  I grew up in Read More

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The Olympics of Culture Change

I must admit that I became somewhat obsessed with the Paris Olympics over its two week run.   As I was watching the closing ceremonies, I was struck by the elegance and eloquence of the final speakers who were about to peacefully transfer the responsibilities for the 2028 Olympics to the United States.   In a beautifully crafted and moving speech,  Tony Estanquet, the Paris 24 President, led off:  “With the first medals, a wave started building.  Read More

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Individual vs. Cultural

To get at the root cause of any problem, a helpful question to ask is, “is this problem primarily caused by an individual or is it the result of the culture in which the problem is occurring?”  Answering that question fairly and accurately usually leads to a clearer perspective on the direction required to solve the problem.  Perspective is important.  During my morning meditation, I always give thanks for the First Light that occurred 14 Read More

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Why We are Stuck in the Muck

“Nothing is true and everything is possible.”  Hannah Arendt   In my local community, I see signs like “No woke zone” and “God’s got this.”   To me, those two posters translate into “Around here, we don’t welcome new ideas and we externalize all responsibility for change.”  You get the idea—the conditions for effective systems change in my town are not exactly conducive for bold thinking and doing things differently.  In a broader context, systems change Read More

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Meaningless Minutes or Magical Moments

“I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.”  Alan Watts “I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.”  Brene Brown “Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.”  Rose Kennedy “If you abandon the present moment, you cannot live the Read More

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The Strength to Carry On

Released almost 50 years ago, in the aftermath of the American War in Vietnam, this song by Kansas still captures our experience today.    Carry on my wayward son There’ll be peace when you are done Lay your weary head to rest Don’t you cry no more   Once I rose above the noise and confusion Just to get a glimpse of this illusion I was soaring ever higher But I flew too high Though Read More

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Ruthless, Relentless, and Remorseless

“A dictator may hereafter arise, who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent like a deluge.” Thomas Paine, 1776 “If we are to have another contest of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon’s but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and Read More

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Knowledge, Narrative and Nuance

  “To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.”  Confucius “There is no longer any such thing as fiction or nonfiction; there’s only narrative.  E.L Doctorow “I like moral judgment to emerge from the reader.  We are being sold a very simplistic morality by our leaders at a time when nuance and understanding are at a premium.”  Hari Kunzru   As a way to recover from the nightmare Read More

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Choices and Change – The “Ize” through which we see the world

I’ve been thinking about what it takes to create the conditions for lasting change.  For example, many countries around the world have taken on the challenge of promoting freedom, equality, liberty, and justice.  While there have been signs of progress in different places at different points in time, it sure seems to me that we have been losing ground lately.  As I was reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s new book, An Unfinished Love Story, it struck Read More

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Soft, Slow and Simple

“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding.  But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.”  Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching “The gentle overcomes the rigid.  The slow overcomes the fast.  The weak overcomes the strong.  Everyone knows that the yielding overcomes the stiff, and the soft overcomes Read More

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Sensational Experiences

“The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain.”  Lord Byron “At night, when the sky is full of stars and the sea is still, you get the wonderful sensation that you are floating in space.”  Natalie Wood   I’ve been sitting on the idea of beginning each day with a series of sensational experiences for about a year, struggling with how to turn the idea into a post.  Read More

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Book Group Ecosystems

Forty years ago, 7 couples in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, decided to start a book group.  The first book we chose was 1984 by George Orwell, because it happened to be the year we began.  The group is still meeting.   Aging, but still reading and discussing.  We met once a month for 34 years until deaths and relocations caused a pause.  At the end of each meeting, the couple designated to host the next group Read More

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Resist Much, Obey Little

For my 75th birthday, a friend gave me a T-Shirt with a quote on the front  by Walt Whitman:  “Resist Much, Obey Little.”  I get more comments on that T-shirt than any other I regularly wear.  And I wear a lot of T-shirts.  Just the other day, another friend took a picture of my well-worn sartorial statement, and said she was going to order one just like it.  The quote “Resist much, obey little” appears Read More

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Lessons in Peace and Conflict Resolution

I was recently browsing through some files and stumbled across a piece I had written in April 2013, before I started writing this blog.  It was a reflection about a trip I had taken to the Holy Land to deepen my understanding of Jewish history, to get a better understanding of the conflict brewing there, and to discover some potential paths to peace.  I thought I would share it here because it still seems relevant.   Read More

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Greatest HITs of All Times

What if there was a magic pill that filled you with hope, fueled your innovative juices, and enabled you to trust the people and organizations that impact your life? Sadly, there’s no magic pill, but this possibility is a choice you can make.  In this post, I want to suggest that you have the power to create norms of your own choosing…

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Emphatic or Empathetic

The underlying cause of many of our overlaying issues is our culturally reinforced tendency to be more emphatic than empathic.  In this post, I explore this idea more deeply through asking some key questions.

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Preserve AND Protect

Even though there are dozens of columns describing the recent protests through different sets of lenses, I decided to share my perspective because I was involved in the seeds of this movement 56 years ago in Vietnam.

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Purpose, Principles, and Priorities

America was founded with the purpose of creating liberty and justice for all.  Millions of people around the country pledge their allegiance to that purpose in schools, athletic events, and government meetings still today.  And yet, based on budget allocations, the US is essentially an insurance company with a military.  What does that say about our purpose? 

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