Archive for Year: 2019
Demonize Digitize or Democratize
In this post, I’m going to discuss how demonization and digitization can undermine democracy and what we need to do to restore democracy in the world. I know…two pretty big challenges for a short post, but here’s my best shot. When I went through Army Basic Training during the Vietnam War, many of the exercises were designed to demonize the Vietnamese people. When we stabbed our bayonets into dummies, we were instructed to yell, “Kill Read More
Language and Loss
Every year I like to look at the New York Times best books of the year and select a few that I want to read. This year I chose Lost Children Archives by Valeria Luisilli, The Topeka School by Ben Lerner, Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips, and The Yellow House by Sarah Broom. Coincidentally they all deal with language and loss in one way or another. Lost Children Archives discusses the language of silence and Read More
Transcendence and Inclusion
“Are the mystics and sages insane? Because they all tell variations on the same story, don’t they? The story of awakening one morning and discovering you are one with the All, in a timeless and eternal and infinite fashion. Yes, maybe they are crazy, these divine fools. Maybe they are mumbling idiots in the face of the Abyss. Maybe they need a nice, understanding therapist. Yes, I’m sure that would help. But then, I wonder. Read More
Noticing Normalization
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I try to stick with timeless themes vs. timely traumas. For example, I studiously avoid using the “T” word. In the last five years of posting, I have only slipped into the political muck a few times. While this post still remains true to timeless, generic, and universal principles, I apologize in advance for letting my toe slip into those seductive, but poisonous, Read More
Gritty Beginnings and Gracious Endings
“In Hinduism, Shiva is a deity who represents transformation. Through destruction and restoration, Shiva reminds us that endings are beginnings, and that our world is constantly undergoing a cycle of birth, death and rebirth.” —Karen Salmansohn A dear friend of almost 50 years recently shared with me that he was planning to retire soon. I responded, “It will be hard for you to let go of the decision making power you have enjoyed for so Read More
We the Trees and Water
I recently read We the Corporations, a new book by Adam Winkler on how American businesses won their civil rights. In this meticulously well-documented history, Winkler puts corporate power on center stage. He charts how corporations systematically and incrementally gained political advantages over a 200 year period culminating in Citizens United which was funded by corporate elites to bend the law in their favor. Winkler methodically points out that America has been pro-corporate and elitist Read More
Transformational Processes
As a follow-up to my post on wild and crazy ideas, I’ve been thinking about the process for transformation, i.e. how do individuals and organizations implement ideas once they are generated. I know lots of people who are idea-generating engines, but their locomotive jumps the tracks or runs out of rails when it comes time to do the hard and laborious work of implementation. There are exceptions, of course, but turning ideas into reality is Read More
Wild and Crazy
At a recent leadership development conference I attended, an executive said: “What we might think is wild and crazy in our organization is probably not that wild and crazy in the external world.” The comment made me think about how many great ideas get categorically rejected because they are seen as “wild and crazy” in the culture in which they are being proposed. Although I am not a big fan of Amazon’s culture, I am Read More
Erase and Replace
Being human means dealing with the reality of our own death. As mortal beings, we will all be erased from the earth one day and be replaced by a new generation. In less dramatic fashion, we all deal with the fear of being erased and replaced as a part of our day-to-day experience. Sometimes we don’t feel seen, heard, or respected. And we often feel angry, alienated, and alone in the face of not being noticed, Read More
Noise and Nihilism
“If we believe in nothing, if nothing has any meaning and if we can affirm no values whatsoever, then everything is possible and nothing has any importance.” —Albert Camus “The middle way is a view of life that avoids the extreme of misguided grasping and the despair and nihilism born from the mistaken belief that nothing matters, that all is meaningless.” —Sharon Salzberg “I think you can get to a point where nihilism, if that’s Read More
Paved Roads and Free Passes
I recently attended the Spring Concert for my grand-kids at their private school. It was perfectly orchestrated performance fully attended by parents and grandparents who applauded appreciatively for every sound and song. The program was a charming event that showcased the musical progress these elementary school children had made over the year. The children were singing songs and playing tunes from the ’60s and each was dressed in fabulous outfits purchased from Amazon. I loved Read More
Helping in Hell
We recently went to the Broadway play, Hadestown. Watching someone go to hell has never been so much fun. Hadestown has its origins in Greek Mythology. The major characters are Orpheus, Eurydice, Hades, Persephone, and Hermes whose job was to guide souls into the afterlife, i.e. helping in Hell. Given the story line, one would think that the experience would be daunting and depressing, but the play is so well performed and directed that following Read More
Who, Why, How
“Hmmm, what am I going to do today?” Isn’t that the question that pops into our head when we start each day—particularly after the first cup of coffee?
What if the first questions we asked were: Who am I? Why am I here? How do I want to relate to myself, my family, my friends and Nature today? If we were clear about our answers to those three questions, figuring out our action steps would not only be easier but we would also be more peaceful, productive and powerful.Read More
Dignity and Dollars
I have been thinking a lot about dignity these days.
In simple terms, dignity is defined as the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.
We are born grasping for it. We end our days gasping for it. Read More
Desires and Delusions
“When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, ‘Oh yes – I already have everything that I really need.'”
―Dalai Lama
The critical difference between healthy and unhealthy desires and delusions rests in our ability to distinguish between noticing and needing. Read more
Sanity 101
A 21-year-old white nationalist drives 600 miles to El Paso, Texas and kills 22 men, women and children with his assault weapon because he hates immigrants―particularly Hispanics. If this isn’t insanity, I don’t know what is. Let’s face it. We now find ourselves in the ranks of the insane.
Marianne Williamson cites a “dark psychic force” happening in America. Russ Douthat describes a “black spiritual hole” as the source of the hatred and violence ripping apart our hearts and our heartland. Read More
Values Matter
“I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.” ―Michelle Obama “There are those who would draw a sharp line between power politics and a principled foreign policy based on values. This polarized view – you are either a realist or devoted to norms and values – may Read More
Possibilists
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” —Helen Keller “Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself.” —Golda Meir Optimists believe that desired results will occur no matter what the facts may portend. Pessimists believe that bad results will occur no what the facts may indicate. Possibilists believe that desired results can happen given the right conditions and the right amount of work. Read More
The Second Question
“God may be in the details, but the goddess is in the questions. Once we begin to ask them, there’s no turning back.” —Gloria Steinem “To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.” —Albert Einstein In the age of sound bites, skimming, and superficial answers, we need to dig deeper for substantive solutions. Our inclination is to find “quick fixes” Read More
Conflict Clarity
“Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.” —William James We all face conflicts in life. Conflicts occur then people have different points of view, values, and principles. There is no way we can avoid conflicts. We can develop a healthy attitude toward conflict, however, that enables us to calmly view differences as opportunities for growth. Healthy Read More
Blindness
“We’re blind to our blindness. We have very little idea of how little we know. We’re not designed to know how little we know.” —Daniel Kahneman I just finished two incredible books about entirely different subjects with the same central theme: We are searching for meaning in the midst of massacres by blinding ourselves to our ultimate destruction. In Machines Like Me, Ian McEwan leverages his skills as a novelist to craft a story that Read More
Peace Babies
I learned what it was like to live in a first-world country over the past two weeks: no litter, no homelessness, on-time bullet trains, state-of-the-art communications, universal health care, and lower levels of inequality and crime than almost any developed country. Less than 1 civilian in 100 owns a gun compared to 127 guns per 100 civilians in the United States. And children have affordable access to quality education from Pre-K (starting at 2 years Read More
Systematic Sensitization
“Have we raised the threshold of horror so high that nothing short of a nuclear strike qualifies as a ‘real’ war? Are we to spend the rest of our lives in this state of high alert with guns pointed at each other’s heads and fingers trembling on the trigger?” ― Suzanna Arundhati Roy “The Cherokee used to fear that taking a photo would make them lose their souls. Over exposure and desensitization is pretty close Read More
Borders and Boundaries
“Vulnerability is based on mutuality and requires boundaries and trust. It’s not oversharing, it’s not purging, it’s not indiscriminate disclosure, and it’s not celebrity-style social media information dumps. Vulnerability is about sharing our feelings and our experiences with people who have earned the right to hear them.” —Brene Brown “Beauty has no boundaries, no rules, no colors. Beauty is like a religion. You can include everything inside it.” —Alessandro Michele “We must broaden the definition Read More