I had trouble getting out of bed this morning. Only having a full agenda got me out of bed rather than staying there nurturing my self-pity or anxiety, whatever it is. None of the excuses for avoiding my morning walk were convincing even to the me that didn’t want to walk. So, my morning routine kicked in still mentally struggling with wondering if I am smart enough to be back in school. I only have evidence against that doubt from one class so far. Still waiting to hear on the other exams. And even with that class, the little dragon … Continue reading »
Oct 252009
Aug 212009
I am reading two books right now that are touching on the ideas of machines in modern society. The first book is by Erich Kästner: Als ich ein kleiner Junge war (when I was a little boy). In this autobiography, Kästner describes how in his father’s lifetime craftsmen, like his father, lost their livelihood and ended up working in factories with machines to create more, cheaper goods. Or maybe they worked like machines. That is where the second book picks up. Bruno Bettelheim suggests in his book The Informed Heart that the existential struggle of our time is the balancing … Continue reading »
May 262008
Richard Eckersley presents in his book Well & Good “two scientific descriptions of the world, which represent the extremes of the modern scientific worldview” (220). At least that is his claim. He first presents a description by Richard Dawkins from his article God’s Utility Function in Scientific American: In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should … Continue reading »
May 042008
In the United States, we almost seem obsessed with finding happiness, which is rather ironic because “it is not something to be sought or pursued, but a result of how we live” (Richard Eckersley. Well & Good. 104). From early on, we are taught that we will find happiness once we’ve found our soul mate. We’ll “live happily ever after.” What gets lost in this matrimania myth is teaching on how we can create a life that invites happiness without demanding that someone else be responsible for it. Eckersley gives us some hints based on his review of what the … Continue reading »
May 022008
I am reading an interesting book about happiness, Well & Good, written by an Australian researcher, Richard Eckersley. It is a great book that is reflecting some of the questions that I’ve been grappling with: there is something that is tying many of the issues we’re facing together. Eckersley also attributes a lot of our current malaise to misplaced answers to the questions of meaning and belonging. I am a little leery about his references to spirituality but I haven’t read the book far enough yet to know exactly where he’s going with that. I look forward to sharing a … Continue reading »
Mar 202008
As I was waking up this morning, in that state of not-quite-awakeness, the name Sisyphus bubbled up. Somehow the idea of dragging myself out of bed to do almost exactly the same thing I had done the day before, felt like a Sisyphean task. Noticing the beginnings of a meaning crisis (an existential depression), I forced the thought away and got up. As I woke up more fully, Sisyphus returned. This time I became intrigued: There certainly is something to our days that is very much like the myth of Sisyphus. Just like Sisyphus rolls a boulder up a hill … Continue reading »
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