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“We’ve become, now, an oligarchy instead of a democracy.  I think that’s been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I’ve ever seen in my life.”  Jimmy Carter “States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions.”  Noam Chomsky “Right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and standards that have been critically examined and agreed Read More

I’ve been thinking about what it takes to bring a little light to an increasingly dark world.  Fires, floods, fertility flops, and famines have become more frequent and more severe.  The world seems to be shifting to the right fueled by populist rage based on false information.  These rapidly changing trends are personal.  We have friends whose house burned to the ground in California.  They had just moved in two weeks ago and lost everything.  Read More

Today, less than half of U.S. adults read even just one book per year.

Is Chris Hayes right that our attention has become the focus of corporate manipulation?

If all our conscious thoughts are replaced by the buzz of beeps, notifications, and texts, how can we be more than just “bystanders to our minds”?

Ah, I thought I had finally found a topic on which several books had not already been written.  Wrong again.  When I searched Amazon for books entitled “When Winning is Losing”, several popped up.  But surely, I thought, Google Gemini won’t be able to generate any ideas on this topic!  Bingo.  In one second it came up with several examples.  Oh well, I consoled myself, at least I can still provide my unique view on Read More

I’m not sure I can turn the grief I may feel on November 6 into a garden of compassion, as Rumi suggests. Keeping my heart open no matter what happens might be a challenge too great for me to handle to continue my search for love and wisdom. To prepare for the possibility of needing to confront that challenge, I thought it might be helpful to explore the reasons behind the grief I might feel…

The evolution and acceleration of AI technologies has convinced me that we no longer have a choice about whether or not we change.  The only question is, will we ride the waves of change to better lives, or will we drown in them by not asking the right questions or making the choices that change demands? 

I will show how AI can help us take all those steps more efficiently and effectively. 

“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

“People aren’t terrible, systems are.” —Zadie Smith

I’ve been thinking deeply about the dangers of demonization.

Demonization is an easy means of simplifying the complexities of human behavior by reducing individuals or groups to caricatures of pure evil.

What kinds of situations and assumptions lead to this way of thinking, and what are the consequence?

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

“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 be Read More

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

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

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

“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

  “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

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

“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

“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

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

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

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

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…