Just yesterday I wrote the following words into my notebook: “Behavior is a function of social context.” Those words are a shorthand for “your surroundings affect your behavior.” I did not fully realize how true those words were.
For days I’ve been listless, did not want to tackle any project. It all seemed chaotic, too much for me. Yes, I plugged away at small tasks. I did a little on project A, the minimum on project B, tied together some loose ends…
I never am totally without something to do, but doing seemed harder. I didn’t want to tackle any task.
Yesterday I took on a minor task & did it thoroughly. In the corner next to my computer is a three-shelf roll around cart. Next to me is a small wooden tablet which is really just a convenient wooden work surface -- to sign documents, make lists, hold a notebook. I also cleared the all purpose two-seater couch to my left. All purpose? Sometimes I sit there, mostly it holds pieces of paper, notebooks, magazines.
Clutter. Heaps of clutter surrounded me. I was getting depressed looking at it. It needed twenty minutes of my attention, sorting, reworking the surfaces, re-arranging the shelves. I needed to put the phonebooks on the bottom shelf of the cart, scrap paper on the middle shelf, stuff to be dealt with in the immediate future on the top shelf. I cleared the whole messy pile, made order.
Suddenly, every time I entered the room I was struck, I mean struck, stopped dead in my tracks, by how clean and orderly it all looked. The effect was calming, deeply satisfying. And today I am hard at work, in fact, pleased to be at work.
I did not realize how such a small thing as the look of a work area can affect the worker in that area. The place looked sloppy, disorganized. It depressed me when I looked at it. Depressed me because I new that 20 minutes of devoted attention would allow me to organize those papers that needed to be organized. All I saw was piles & piles.
Only today do I realize that sloppy piles meant I felt sloppy, disinclined to work -- to do anything.
How little we realize that what is around us -- graffiti, uncollected garbage, dark & dingy streets empty of all people, creates the people who live inside this environment.
I will not belabor the obvious. I am a prime example of he who cannot see what stares him in the face. I must be aware, become aware, that if my surroundings are depressing, I will get depressed.
I have learned this hard lesson twice in my life. Once, thirty years ago, I hit what I thought was a midlife crisis. I was depressed for months on end -- and that is not like me. I am an upbeat guy. I could not seem to get out of my dark mood -- and then I tackled what was a depressing, cluttered, dark & dingy house. After two months of painting & straightening, I pulled out of my depression. It was not a mid-life crisis. It was outward clutter & dinginess that affected me. The context affected my behavior.
We all need to realize how much the look & feel of the world around us affects how we feel.
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Saturday, 16 February 2013
Genetics? Environment?
For years I’ve been slightly bothered by the recurring motif in scientific, long term studies, of twins reared apart. What is crucial is that these were twins who, by force of circumstances, were reared apart, did not meet until adulthood, many, if I remember correctly, brought together as part of this study.
In some cases, the wives the twins married -- remember these people didn’t know each other -- the wives had the same first name. In many cases the profession they chose -- fireman, dentist, policeman truck driver -- was the same. They gave their dogs the same name.
Such studies seemed to say to me that rearing, their physical environment, their parents, mattered almost not at all: these twins married wives with same first name, had dogs of the same breed.
After reading one study too many I thought, you might as well plump your kids in front of a TV or a game machine, give ‘em enough to eat, and just leave the room. We parents have precious little to do with who they marry, what name they give their pets.
I despaired, a little. Oh I knew I had some effect on them. In my case, my children startled me by remembering words I told them. I love to spit out quotations for all occasions. Over many years, my now grown up kids spit back to me a quote or two. I am startled & pleased that they remember. But some part of me continued to believe a parents influence is miniscule, almost insignificant when compared to the power of genes.
Thankfully, recent studies have proven me dead wrong, wrong headed, ill informed, pessimistic, and all too willing to give up my job -- which is to be the best parent I could possibly be.
In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talks of Termites. That’s what they were called. One thousand four hundred and seventy children who were labeled geniuses. Why? Because they were part of a chosen group with an average IQ of 140. Some had IQ’s in the 200s -- which is well above Einstein‘s IQ. They were all part of a many years long study conducted by a man called Terma (hence Termites). He was absolutely sure that such high IQ people would be the leaders of tomorrow. They would be shakers, movers, Empire Builders. Heads of state.
Nothing remotely like that happened. Not a single one became a mover and shaker. Many succeeded in a way that most “well off, well-to-do” middle class people succeed. But many Termites did not do well at all. What was the single dominating difference between those who succeeded and those who did not -- and remember everybody in the group had a high-high Q? Those who succeeded were those who were well supported -- encouraged by doting parents, a supportive environment. Those were the ones who did well. Those who, for one reason or other, lacked adequate support, did badly.
Support is a vague word. What is support? Well, in many cases the support came from parents who become involved in the lives of their children. Who encouraged their children to develop a talent. In addition, as the great black writer James Baldwin said, “Children never fail to imitate their parents.” How totally true in a very deep way. They may choose the same profession, wives whose first names are the same, but your support or lack of support will have a tremendous impact on what your child will or will not become.
Is it genes or environment? How dare they even try to in any way to separate the two, or dictate percentages. And yet I was guilty of doing just that. I was ready to plop them in front of a TV because I feared I had no impact on them.
I was too easily swayed, too easily convinced, by one study after another that said: it is in the genes. These people are born killers. If you study the brain of criminals you will find….
Not true, or half true. Of course half the equation is genetics -- your IQ, your slightly non-standard-issue brain, but the environment is the other half -- and the word environment means far more than just your parents. It is totally true that it takes a village to raise a child. It takes a caring country to properly take care of all of its inhabitants, in a very real sense, to supplement the very crucial role of parents.
In some cases, the wives the twins married -- remember these people didn’t know each other -- the wives had the same first name. In many cases the profession they chose -- fireman, dentist, policeman truck driver -- was the same. They gave their dogs the same name.
Such studies seemed to say to me that rearing, their physical environment, their parents, mattered almost not at all: these twins married wives with same first name, had dogs of the same breed.
After reading one study too many I thought, you might as well plump your kids in front of a TV or a game machine, give ‘em enough to eat, and just leave the room. We parents have precious little to do with who they marry, what name they give their pets.
I despaired, a little. Oh I knew I had some effect on them. In my case, my children startled me by remembering words I told them. I love to spit out quotations for all occasions. Over many years, my now grown up kids spit back to me a quote or two. I am startled & pleased that they remember. But some part of me continued to believe a parents influence is miniscule, almost insignificant when compared to the power of genes.
Thankfully, recent studies have proven me dead wrong, wrong headed, ill informed, pessimistic, and all too willing to give up my job -- which is to be the best parent I could possibly be.
In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talks of Termites. That’s what they were called. One thousand four hundred and seventy children who were labeled geniuses. Why? Because they were part of a chosen group with an average IQ of 140. Some had IQ’s in the 200s -- which is well above Einstein‘s IQ. They were all part of a many years long study conducted by a man called Terma (hence Termites). He was absolutely sure that such high IQ people would be the leaders of tomorrow. They would be shakers, movers, Empire Builders. Heads of state.
Nothing remotely like that happened. Not a single one became a mover and shaker. Many succeeded in a way that most “well off, well-to-do” middle class people succeed. But many Termites did not do well at all. What was the single dominating difference between those who succeeded and those who did not -- and remember everybody in the group had a high-high Q? Those who succeeded were those who were well supported -- encouraged by doting parents, a supportive environment. Those were the ones who did well. Those who, for one reason or other, lacked adequate support, did badly.
Support is a vague word. What is support? Well, in many cases the support came from parents who become involved in the lives of their children. Who encouraged their children to develop a talent. In addition, as the great black writer James Baldwin said, “Children never fail to imitate their parents.” How totally true in a very deep way. They may choose the same profession, wives whose first names are the same, but your support or lack of support will have a tremendous impact on what your child will or will not become.
Is it genes or environment? How dare they even try to in any way to separate the two, or dictate percentages. And yet I was guilty of doing just that. I was ready to plop them in front of a TV because I feared I had no impact on them.
I was too easily swayed, too easily convinced, by one study after another that said: it is in the genes. These people are born killers. If you study the brain of criminals you will find….
Not true, or half true. Of course half the equation is genetics -- your IQ, your slightly non-standard-issue brain, but the environment is the other half -- and the word environment means far more than just your parents. It is totally true that it takes a village to raise a child. It takes a caring country to properly take care of all of its inhabitants, in a very real sense, to supplement the very crucial role of parents.
Sunday, 20 January 2013
Cruising for Parking
I am reading an absolutely wonderful book -- but it is a thick, academic book, full of graphs and statistics. I cannot recommend it because it is so full of statistics, but here a few statistics you can understand.
Imagine 470 parking spaces. These parking spaces are in a busy downtown, Westwood Village near UCLA -- University of California in Los Angeles. In just one day, cars cruising, looking for parking spots, drive 3,600 Vehicle miles. That is greater than the distance across the United States of America.
Like so many places in America, there are nearby parking lots, but people want to park for free. So in an attempt to find a free parking spot, people cruise around and around. In fact the car miles pile up: 3,600 car miles in just one day.
Think of the waste of gas. Think of the pollution, the congestion, the sheer waste of time, the aggravation caused by looking -- and of course the congestion and the jockeying for position. In fact, as the book, The High Cost of free Parking points out, as much as 20% of all car accidents occur because people are looking for a parking spot.
Let’s go back to the statistics. Those 470 free parking spots generate 3,600 vehicle miles of travel in one day. In a year, cruising creates 945,000 vehicle miles of travel, that’s equivalent to driving around the earth 38 times. It wasted 100,000 hours of drivers’ time, consumed 47,000 gallons of gasoline, and produced 728 tons of CO2. That, of course, is word for word from the book.
Think of it: 100,000 hours of drivers’ time, 47,000 gallons of gasoline, 728 tons of CO2.
Does the book offer a solution to all this waste? It does, but it would take me too long to explain in a way that you would believe it. Basically, the problem is free parking. As long as a driver can find free parking, he will cruise & cruise.
The book quotes George Costanza from the show Seinfeld. “My father didn’t pay for parking, my mother, my brother, nobody. It’s like going to a prostitute. Why should I pay when, if I apply myself, maybe I can get it for free?”
The essential point made throughout the book is -- why do cars get to park for free? That’s valuable real estate the car sits on -- often real estate in the most expensive part of town, the business district, downtown. We must charge cars to park.
This statistic filled book proves, to my satisfaction, that charging for parking does not discourage car owners. If you charge the right price, more parking spots will be available. Drivers won’t be frustrated by having to look for a parking spot. They get to accept the need to pay, and the trade off is less cruising, less frustration, fewer car accidents.
It is fiendishly hard to convince store owners that charging car owners to park is better than allowing free parking outside the store. This book, The High cost of Free Parking, by Donald Shoup is too long for me to summarize in one three minute talk, but you get the picture: free Parking is a big problem -- it consumes gas, it creates pollution and it increases car accidents.
Imagine 470 parking spaces. These parking spaces are in a busy downtown, Westwood Village near UCLA -- University of California in Los Angeles. In just one day, cars cruising, looking for parking spots, drive 3,600 Vehicle miles. That is greater than the distance across the United States of America.
Like so many places in America, there are nearby parking lots, but people want to park for free. So in an attempt to find a free parking spot, people cruise around and around. In fact the car miles pile up: 3,600 car miles in just one day.
Think of the waste of gas. Think of the pollution, the congestion, the sheer waste of time, the aggravation caused by looking -- and of course the congestion and the jockeying for position. In fact, as the book, The High Cost of free Parking points out, as much as 20% of all car accidents occur because people are looking for a parking spot.
Let’s go back to the statistics. Those 470 free parking spots generate 3,600 vehicle miles of travel in one day. In a year, cruising creates 945,000 vehicle miles of travel, that’s equivalent to driving around the earth 38 times. It wasted 100,000 hours of drivers’ time, consumed 47,000 gallons of gasoline, and produced 728 tons of CO2. That, of course, is word for word from the book.
Think of it: 100,000 hours of drivers’ time, 47,000 gallons of gasoline, 728 tons of CO2.
Does the book offer a solution to all this waste? It does, but it would take me too long to explain in a way that you would believe it. Basically, the problem is free parking. As long as a driver can find free parking, he will cruise & cruise.
The book quotes George Costanza from the show Seinfeld. “My father didn’t pay for parking, my mother, my brother, nobody. It’s like going to a prostitute. Why should I pay when, if I apply myself, maybe I can get it for free?”
The essential point made throughout the book is -- why do cars get to park for free? That’s valuable real estate the car sits on -- often real estate in the most expensive part of town, the business district, downtown. We must charge cars to park.
This statistic filled book proves, to my satisfaction, that charging for parking does not discourage car owners. If you charge the right price, more parking spots will be available. Drivers won’t be frustrated by having to look for a parking spot. They get to accept the need to pay, and the trade off is less cruising, less frustration, fewer car accidents.
It is fiendishly hard to convince store owners that charging car owners to park is better than allowing free parking outside the store. This book, The High cost of Free Parking, by Donald Shoup is too long for me to summarize in one three minute talk, but you get the picture: free Parking is a big problem -- it consumes gas, it creates pollution and it increases car accidents.
Thursday, 3 January 2013
Recycling drives me nuts
Confessions of an old guy: Recycling drives me nuts, bonkers, round the bend.
I have, in my hand, what I have always known as garbage -- stuff you throw out. I used to head for the nearest wastebasket, the nearest receptacle for the stuff I just wanted to get rid of, and throw it in there.
But no, that’s not good enough any more. I stand there, stuff to throw out in my hand, paralyzed. Is this paper? Is this recyclable plastic? Is this…? I am not two feet away from a wastebasket. Wastebaskets are all over my house. When I want to throw something away, I want to throw it away now.
But no, I’m paralyzed. I can’t make up my mind, which container should I….
I know. This is an old guy talking. The younger generation has had it imprinted on them since birth -- this goes into that container, whereas this goes into… On the other hand, this, which is….should only….
I go nuts, they know what to do.
But I feel a deeper, much deeper anger. My little nuts-making activity is just a drop in the bucket. In fact, all us individuals should turn all our massive energy into stopping them, curbing their behavior.
Countless studies prove that the effort of all well meaning individuals counts for almost nothing. It is companies, corporations that are polluting on a massive, earth-destroying scale. If we just worked on them…
At times, I am beyond belief angry. I am an activist. I have marched, written, protested -- and so many of those who put massive time into recycling do so little protesting -- so little active duty against the really bad people, the true villains of this piece.
I hate the effort I expend figuring out what to do with the junk in my hand. It is junk. Throw it away. Get companies to stop using plastic, to stop triple wrapping for quadruple freshness. I hate their behavior, their pollution which goes almost uncontrolled, and I hate what I have turned into -- a man paralyzed when he has something in his hand he wants to throw out, discard, get the heck out of his hand into the nearest receptacle.
They’ve brainwashed us, turned us into paralyzed, nit picking nut cases, while they do what they want to do.
I have, in my hand, what I have always known as garbage -- stuff you throw out. I used to head for the nearest wastebasket, the nearest receptacle for the stuff I just wanted to get rid of, and throw it in there.
But no, that’s not good enough any more. I stand there, stuff to throw out in my hand, paralyzed. Is this paper? Is this recyclable plastic? Is this…? I am not two feet away from a wastebasket. Wastebaskets are all over my house. When I want to throw something away, I want to throw it away now.
But no, I’m paralyzed. I can’t make up my mind, which container should I….
I know. This is an old guy talking. The younger generation has had it imprinted on them since birth -- this goes into that container, whereas this goes into… On the other hand, this, which is….should only….
I go nuts, they know what to do.
But I feel a deeper, much deeper anger. My little nuts-making activity is just a drop in the bucket. In fact, all us individuals should turn all our massive energy into stopping them, curbing their behavior.
Countless studies prove that the effort of all well meaning individuals counts for almost nothing. It is companies, corporations that are polluting on a massive, earth-destroying scale. If we just worked on them…
At times, I am beyond belief angry. I am an activist. I have marched, written, protested -- and so many of those who put massive time into recycling do so little protesting -- so little active duty against the really bad people, the true villains of this piece.
I hate the effort I expend figuring out what to do with the junk in my hand. It is junk. Throw it away. Get companies to stop using plastic, to stop triple wrapping for quadruple freshness. I hate their behavior, their pollution which goes almost uncontrolled, and I hate what I have turned into -- a man paralyzed when he has something in his hand he wants to throw out, discard, get the heck out of his hand into the nearest receptacle.
They’ve brainwashed us, turned us into paralyzed, nit picking nut cases, while they do what they want to do.
Saturday, 22 December 2012
Cars Transform People
I read these words many months ago -- and I underlined the words -- but they were just words.
“Once inside a car , a harsh self interest replaces many civilians’ usual willingness to co-operate. Driving becomes…a competition to get ahead of nearby ‘rivals.’ We throw caution out the window in favor of cutting our journeys by seconds. Drivers who are mild mannered in all other aspects of life become enraged by the perceived slights of other motorists (and especially cyclists).”
Drivers who are mild mannered become enraged…throw caution out the window…harsh self interest replaces cooperation.
Words, words, words. I just came back from a ten day trip out East -- to New York City, upstate New York, Hartford Connecticut, Boston. I was driving a 15 seater van in tandem with my wife who was driving a large, five passenger sedan.
It was brutal out there. Often, I was scared. I encountered many unkind people. I signaled to change to the left lane, to turn left. They wouldn’t slow down. In fact, they seemed to speed up. They scared me. Drivers on the East Coast were unbelievably aggressive.
Later, jokingly, and not jokingly, a New Yorker told my wife the problem was that I signaled. Signaling seems to throw out a challenge to car drivers: I am not letting this guy get in, no way. He, this New Yorker, never signals. He waits for a gap, darts in. To signal is to simply set off a chain reaction, to trigger a negative reaction.
That is only one example. I am driving behind my wife, we are both in the passing lane, steadily overtaking traffic, but not fast enough for a car that zooms in on my right & darts between Jacqui’s car & the car she is about to overtake. I watch, heart in mouth. Oh my god, no. He’ll never make it. Of course he did.
These are only two glaring examples, the kinds of examples one uses to summarize a situation quickly -- a quick shorthand for all of it.
It seems that when we enter cars, merge with cars, civility is lost. Everyone is in a great big hurry -- and that is true of me when I get into a car. We absolutely must get from here to there quickly.
But out East, the drivers scared me. I was amazed at the degree of incivility, the sheer aggressiveness on the road. What is going on? Where have manners gone?
My wife & I have a point of comparison -- auto civility still exists in England. People in cars behave as people in all of life behave -- if it is your turn, please go. Passing occurs only in the passing lane. Every time you change lane, you signal.
For long now my British friends have told me how unpleasant it was to drive in America. I had no idea what they were talking about. When I drive a car, I drive in the Midwest. In New York City, I take Public transportation.
Then for ten days I drove on roads on the east coast of the U S A. Civility has vanished. Aggressiveness is King. It is scary.
“Once inside a car , a harsh self interest replaces many civilians’ usual willingness to co-operate. Driving becomes…a competition to get ahead of nearby ‘rivals.’ We throw caution out the window in favor of cutting our journeys by seconds. Drivers who are mild mannered in all other aspects of life become enraged by the perceived slights of other motorists (and especially cyclists).”
Drivers who are mild mannered become enraged…throw caution out the window…harsh self interest replaces cooperation.
Words, words, words. I just came back from a ten day trip out East -- to New York City, upstate New York, Hartford Connecticut, Boston. I was driving a 15 seater van in tandem with my wife who was driving a large, five passenger sedan.
It was brutal out there. Often, I was scared. I encountered many unkind people. I signaled to change to the left lane, to turn left. They wouldn’t slow down. In fact, they seemed to speed up. They scared me. Drivers on the East Coast were unbelievably aggressive.
Later, jokingly, and not jokingly, a New Yorker told my wife the problem was that I signaled. Signaling seems to throw out a challenge to car drivers: I am not letting this guy get in, no way. He, this New Yorker, never signals. He waits for a gap, darts in. To signal is to simply set off a chain reaction, to trigger a negative reaction.
That is only one example. I am driving behind my wife, we are both in the passing lane, steadily overtaking traffic, but not fast enough for a car that zooms in on my right & darts between Jacqui’s car & the car she is about to overtake. I watch, heart in mouth. Oh my god, no. He’ll never make it. Of course he did.
These are only two glaring examples, the kinds of examples one uses to summarize a situation quickly -- a quick shorthand for all of it.
It seems that when we enter cars, merge with cars, civility is lost. Everyone is in a great big hurry -- and that is true of me when I get into a car. We absolutely must get from here to there quickly.
But out East, the drivers scared me. I was amazed at the degree of incivility, the sheer aggressiveness on the road. What is going on? Where have manners gone?
My wife & I have a point of comparison -- auto civility still exists in England. People in cars behave as people in all of life behave -- if it is your turn, please go. Passing occurs only in the passing lane. Every time you change lane, you signal.
For long now my British friends have told me how unpleasant it was to drive in America. I had no idea what they were talking about. When I drive a car, I drive in the Midwest. In New York City, I take Public transportation.
Then for ten days I drove on roads on the east coast of the U S A. Civility has vanished. Aggressiveness is King. It is scary.
Monday, 10 December 2012
The Inability to Live In the Present
My wife and I are talking to each other, face to face. Thoughts are cascading through my mind. I am thinking: We’ve got to be ready to go out to such & such in ten minutes. This talk I am having, though it is interesting, needs to end soon. If I truly answer, if I let myself get involved in what she just said, this will take a long time. We don‘t have time.
I can barely pay attention to what she is saying because so much is going on in my head.
And suddenly, it hits me. She is deeply into what she is saying, She is not conscious of what I am conscious of. She is in this moment, devoted to it, interested in it. It would rob this moment if she allowed other thoughts -- thoughts about moments to come, the need to prepare….
I tell her the above. I explain about all that is going on in my head. She listens, understands -- and she lets me know what I suspected: her mind does not bombard her with thoughts, does not tell her “hurry up because….
She says, “I feel sorry for you.” I am a little startled. I ask her to explain -- and she says she would not like to have the kind of mind I have -- a mind filled with reminders, filled with thoughts of tasks to be done, meetings to arrange.
Clearly I cannot be in the moment when we two are talking. And such a situation is true far too often. Countless times I have said “We can’t talk about that now” -- and I say this because other matters press upon me, I cannot give my mind to this moment, this argument.
She blows up. Why can’t we discuss this now? Why can’t we…? She is in this moment I am destroying this moment in favor of moments to come. My mind is too full of other thoughts.
She is so right to feel sorry for me. Too often, far too often, I cannot live in the moment -- my mind is elsewhere.
I am kayaking on Boardman Lake, amidst stunning beauty, but all too soon I find my mind is somewhere else, planning to do X Y & Z, wondering what time it is.
I am not asking for pity. People like me are terrific planners: we run events, schedule halls, hire people, pay people…. Basically, there is much that we are good at, but living in the moment is not one of the things people like me are good at.
To get away from our over-active mind, people like me seek some activity that requires so much concentration that our over-active brain cannot talk to us: we are busy doing something we love so much, we’ve shut the rest of the world out.
What activity? For instance, the activity I’m involved in this second, talking to all of you, or, in my case playing tennis & dancing are two activities that do it for me. As someone said, the rest of the world might as well have gone to Mars.
Here is how Woody Allen said it: “Getting involved in a project occupies all my anxieties.’ Like Woody Allen, I have an anxious mind. When I am involved, I tell my mind: Shut up. Pay attention to this task or you will drop the ball, and dropping the ball, whatever the game, ain’t good.
I can barely pay attention to what she is saying because so much is going on in my head.
And suddenly, it hits me. She is deeply into what she is saying, She is not conscious of what I am conscious of. She is in this moment, devoted to it, interested in it. It would rob this moment if she allowed other thoughts -- thoughts about moments to come, the need to prepare….
I tell her the above. I explain about all that is going on in my head. She listens, understands -- and she lets me know what I suspected: her mind does not bombard her with thoughts, does not tell her “hurry up because….
She says, “I feel sorry for you.” I am a little startled. I ask her to explain -- and she says she would not like to have the kind of mind I have -- a mind filled with reminders, filled with thoughts of tasks to be done, meetings to arrange.
Clearly I cannot be in the moment when we two are talking. And such a situation is true far too often. Countless times I have said “We can’t talk about that now” -- and I say this because other matters press upon me, I cannot give my mind to this moment, this argument.
She blows up. Why can’t we discuss this now? Why can’t we…? She is in this moment I am destroying this moment in favor of moments to come. My mind is too full of other thoughts.
She is so right to feel sorry for me. Too often, far too often, I cannot live in the moment -- my mind is elsewhere.
I am kayaking on Boardman Lake, amidst stunning beauty, but all too soon I find my mind is somewhere else, planning to do X Y & Z, wondering what time it is.
I am not asking for pity. People like me are terrific planners: we run events, schedule halls, hire people, pay people…. Basically, there is much that we are good at, but living in the moment is not one of the things people like me are good at.
To get away from our over-active mind, people like me seek some activity that requires so much concentration that our over-active brain cannot talk to us: we are busy doing something we love so much, we’ve shut the rest of the world out.
What activity? For instance, the activity I’m involved in this second, talking to all of you, or, in my case playing tennis & dancing are two activities that do it for me. As someone said, the rest of the world might as well have gone to Mars.
Here is how Woody Allen said it: “Getting involved in a project occupies all my anxieties.’ Like Woody Allen, I have an anxious mind. When I am involved, I tell my mind: Shut up. Pay attention to this task or you will drop the ball, and dropping the ball, whatever the game, ain’t good.
Monday, 5 November 2012
True believers
All of you know that I am addicted to quotations. Here is an absolutely brilliant quotation: “Doubt holds people to ethical behavior. True believers have done the murdering.” That can be applied to so many people, and so many situations.
Currently many of you are thinking of Muslim terrorists. They are true believers. In the name of their god, for their cause they are ready to attack the west, America, England. They are true believers. If they die for their cause they will go to heaven.
But what about anti-abortionists? In the name of their cause, they have murdered doctors. They are true believers, and some of them are murderers.
Doubt holds people to ethical behavior. If you are not sure you are right, you are not going to kill people to support your point of view, your cause. This can even be said of the western counties today. If they were only a little more full of doubt, they wouldn’t be so ready to intervene in Afghanistan, go to war with Vietnam, send troops to many places in the world.
Not so long ago we invaded a country, Panama, in order to capture a drug dealer, Noriega. Many Panamanians died in our search for a man we thought was to blame for what is drug addiction in the American population. We should be a little more full of doubt. We should not be true believers. True believers have done the murdering.
True believers who murder can be found throughout history. What were the crusades? How many people were murdered then? What about the inquisition? And I do not wish to target only Muslims & Christians. Israel’s behavior -- and I am Jewish -- Israel’s behavior is, in many ways, reprehensible. True believers commit murder. It is better to be full of doubt, to be uncertain. Doubt holds people to ethical behavior.
It is so hard to believe that uncertainty is good -- but uncertainty is wonderful: it means you are not ready to kill because you are sure that you are right. People who are absolutely sure they are right too often kill because they are so sure they are right.
No. It is better to be uncertain because uncertainty leads to tolerance, not murder. To repeat the absolutely brilliant quotation: “Doubt holds people to ethical behavior. True believers have done the murdering.”
We should all be full of doubt. We are human. We may not be right. And murder is murder, no matter how just the cause may seem to you.
Currently many of you are thinking of Muslim terrorists. They are true believers. In the name of their god, for their cause they are ready to attack the west, America, England. They are true believers. If they die for their cause they will go to heaven.
But what about anti-abortionists? In the name of their cause, they have murdered doctors. They are true believers, and some of them are murderers.
Doubt holds people to ethical behavior. If you are not sure you are right, you are not going to kill people to support your point of view, your cause. This can even be said of the western counties today. If they were only a little more full of doubt, they wouldn’t be so ready to intervene in Afghanistan, go to war with Vietnam, send troops to many places in the world.
Not so long ago we invaded a country, Panama, in order to capture a drug dealer, Noriega. Many Panamanians died in our search for a man we thought was to blame for what is drug addiction in the American population. We should be a little more full of doubt. We should not be true believers. True believers have done the murdering.
True believers who murder can be found throughout history. What were the crusades? How many people were murdered then? What about the inquisition? And I do not wish to target only Muslims & Christians. Israel’s behavior -- and I am Jewish -- Israel’s behavior is, in many ways, reprehensible. True believers commit murder. It is better to be full of doubt, to be uncertain. Doubt holds people to ethical behavior.
It is so hard to believe that uncertainty is good -- but uncertainty is wonderful: it means you are not ready to kill because you are sure that you are right. People who are absolutely sure they are right too often kill because they are so sure they are right.
No. It is better to be uncertain because uncertainty leads to tolerance, not murder. To repeat the absolutely brilliant quotation: “Doubt holds people to ethical behavior. True believers have done the murdering.”
We should all be full of doubt. We are human. We may not be right. And murder is murder, no matter how just the cause may seem to you.
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