signs of stendhal

Finally cleaned my room, which unearthed my pastel...

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:07:21 -0400

Finally cleaned my room, which unearthed my pastel collection.
Stopped cleaning to make this portrait.
Remembered how great it can feel to have rainbow-smudged fingertips.

What has surprised you the most about your pregnancy experience so far? What has been exactly like you imagined?

Fri, 03 May 2013 23:01:00 -0400

I have to preface my answer by saying that, as much as I had pictured being a mother, I never really pictured myself being pregnant. It’s not that carrying my own child wasn’t something I wanted to do, to the contrary; it’s just something I was unable to clearly envision. I, like many women, entertained a convincing paranoia that it wouldn’t work for me. A miracle of such enormity is already hard enough to compute; participating in any way is almost beyond the credit I could give myself, especially knowing perfectly qualified and worthy would-be parents who couldn’t get pregnant. If nature denied them, why would it be generous to me? Well it turns out, that part is random, or at least subject to an otherworldly logic I need not understand. I got lucky, so here I am.

OK, let’s get the things-that-are-just-how-I-expected out of the way, because they are kind of boring:

Strangers invite me to take their seat on the bus.
Friends like to touch my stomach.
I have rare but random weepy spells, even when I don’t feel particularly emotional.
My boobs are bigger and I’m always horny.
I gleefully eat ice cream 1-3x a day.
It’s harder to flirt with dudes.

Now for what surprised me:

How much I’ve loved this baby before it’s even technically a baby. I now understand why parents think everything their kid does is the greatest, because I was so fricking proud of my little zygote for implanting, and then of my little blastocyst for cleaving, then of the little embryo for growing organs, and now of our little fetus for kicking and squirming. Basically, for doing all the stuff it’s expected to do that looks ordinary to anyone on the outside.

The experience has given me the gift of this beautiful epiphany: that I never really fathomed my mother’s love for her children. Because if her pregnancies were anything like mine, by the time each of us was born she probably loved us more than anyone else ever could. Which means her eagerness for me to have my own child wasn’t just because she wanted a cute new baby in the family, but because she was impatient for me to finally understand how much she loves me.
Upon finding out about the pregnancy, I expected to feel joy but I also expected to feel panic, so it was quite a surprise when the panic didn’t come. Instead I felt a great relief, a marvelous freedom from all the things I didn’t truly care about and all the other lives I should want/could have — because I knew I wouldn’t have time to dwell on those thoughts anymore. I would finally have to stop bullying myself over what I hadn’t yet done or would never do, and instead put all energy into doing only what met the highest standard of Mattering To Me. That list quickly became very short and very obvious in the best of ways.
But the biggest surprise is how much being pregnant has prompted me to think about death. Not in a morbid or fearful way, and not even because I’ve been reading up on birth stories and stats, which expose the subject of America’s unnecessarily high maternal mortality rate. I just find that I can’t reflect on what’s happening in my body from any perspective except one that hovers above the axel of life’s revolving door. To contemplate a beginning is to contemplate an end. To introduce a life into the world is to introduce a death into the world. That is the dual nature of nature, the twin stares of Mother Isis — all swirling simultaneously in my gut. Especially in the early weeks when a miscarriage felt as likely as anything, the birth/death outcomes seemed two ends of the same rope at which my imagination would grasp ardently, late into the nights…

Before I’d told anyone except my husband about the pregnancy, I used to pace hurriedly through the streets of our neighborhood just like a girl with an urgent secret, instinctively holding my stomach and parsing through racing thoughts, one of which was, Wow. I have inside me right now the person who is going to bury me someday. When I later shared that with friends, they laughed, seeing it as comically macabre. But it wasn’t that; I actually felt comforted at the thought, and was awed by this preemptive glimpse at closure. As I wrote in my journal the night my pregnancy was confirmed, that moment of finding out instantly became “the belly button of my life,” tying the skin of my past and future existence into a defined center, giving it all unified form.

And I suddenly understood how some people say that having kids makes it easier to die. That’s usually proposed as a critique, and certainly I always thought of the inevitability of death as a lame “reason” to reproduce. But now that I have another generation gestating in me, I see the relief of being survived not as a ‘reason’ but just as a fact. I do feel better about her father and me eventually dying, believing that our families have combined into a new person who might carry on our love for the world after we expire. It’s not that we were looking for a way out of death, or that we naively believe we’ll carbon copy ourselves onto another being. We just lived our lives naturally until more life grew out of it, and somehow that notion takes the edge off death’s unyielding persistence, and allays what doubt I had that the big revolving door is nothing cruel, or futile, or anything to fear. Now the door seems, just like everything in life, another way of learning to share, learning to take turns, learning to grow up.

Long before being a candidate for parenthood, I enjoyed randomly asking people: “Pregnancy: miraculous or mundane?” I’d felt it was equally both things, but now, for me, its mundanity only contributes to its miracle. I suppose that’s one of the shifts that constitutes our transformation into gushing, lovesick parents. At least, that’s my assessment halfway through the process. Ask me again next trimester!

“The cosmos is also within us; we are made of starstuff....

Fri, 03 May 2013 12:02:21 -0400

“The cosmos is also within us; we are made of starstuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”

Enjoy the sweet tunes of Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Bill Nye as remixed in”We Are All Connected”.

The Crest: A Documentary

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:19:58 -0400

The Crest: A Documentary:

Two descendants of an Irish king journey to the island he once presided over — not to re-claim the land, but to conquer the waves.

Built into any of my posts (and most Tumblr posts, I’ve noticed) is a romantic affinity for the vagabond life. We are people who love to travel, and prefer to do it light. I’ve turned down enviable opportunities to settle into a cozy stability because stability comes at the cost of other things that carry more appeal for my ilk.

But I’ve never done this thoroughly. My voyaging waxes and wanes; it is braided with a desire to “accomplish” things that require staying on the grid: higher degrees, health insurance, long-term relationships. Others have taken their wanderlust farther, one of whom is the subject of this in-production documentary, my cousin Andrew Jacob. He’s a full-time amateur surfer and painter. He migrates according to the seasons, yet finds community wherever he goes. He’s a rare bird of our generation.

The film isn’t just about roadtripping and chasing waves, though. It’s about more than the mystique of simplistic societies and life on/as an island. It is also about where this drive toward new oceans comes from, and how it’s passed on. It’s about the consequences of ignoring it.

Watch the teaser for more, which starts after a few moments of the director and myself pleading for funding. If you want to support modern nomads, Irish culture, the surf community, independent artists, or if you simply want to watch the finished version of this film — please make a donation and/or share the video.

Thank you!

Making food tunes! Via my friend Lindsey’s blog,...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 22:31:25 -0400

Making food tunes!

Via my friend Lindsey’s blog, Linzertortes.

How do you keep the spark in your relationship alive? How do you fight love becoming stale, and how do you manage the problems that arise?

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 23:22:00 -0400

It’s very flattering you assume I have wisdom to share on this subject, as the challenge of “keeping the spark” is as old as couplehood. Here’s my take on it:

People tend to think that as time goes on, relationships go stale — they get boring, they cease to be challenging, they fall into ruts. I would argue that this unfairly portrays romance as deteriorative, when in fact as anything goes on it tends to become stale to us. We become less and less engaged, challenged, and prone to explore new paths with it. Is that a flaw of the constant in our lives, or of our treatment of it?

OK, so relationships may be extra at risk of seeming progressively dull because they involve (at least) two attention spans that are both inclined to dwindle. It’s not because we’re shallow; it’s because our brains try to be efficient by paying less attention to what registers as “familiar.” Hence minds (and eyes) wander, looking for new stimuli. And when they find it, we feel the rush of encountering someone who seems comparatively SO vivid, SO invigorating, SO sparkling with “spark”. Rinse and repeat.

That progression is typical of long-term relationship entropy, but things don’t have to go that way.

To cut to the chase: my theory on “keeping the spark” is to keep paying attention. But I must say, I don’t ever feel like I’m making an effort to sustain passion for my partner; I make an effort to sustain my passion for daily living, and in doing so, the passion for him sustains itself. This is an exercise in general Awareness, in seeing clearly. When you see a lover clearly, you see as you did in the beginning so it’s not hard to feel as you did in the beginning. But since it goes against all mental habits, it takes a lot of practice and that practice can take many forms: meditation, conscious touch, travel, alone time, and writing all hit the REFRESH button in my particular brain so its not clogged up with what I think I’ve already learned/observed/admired. For other people, what works may vary.

Conscientiousness must be a mutual commitment, of course, because in romance we want to feel seen as much as we want to feel enchanted by what we’re seeing. The impulse isn’t vain; it is natural, and must be satisfied for a substantial connection to be made. The trick, which I’m still tinkering with, is how to allow the merger of souls without incurring the merger of selves. Souls are supposed to open up and embrace each other, to fortify into shiny, heart-shaped, soul-on-soul pig pile action. But selves are meant to spring in their own unique directions, to chase and probe various versions of existence. We can fulfill both of these yearnings, even in long-term relationships, but rarely does that happen by accident.

And as for how I/we manage problems that arise, well, the perspective above doesn’t really consider problems to be problematic, more like another flavor of stimulation. True, that’s easy enough to say; when an issue comes up it sure can feel like a crisis. But the deeper we get into our relationship, the better we are at non-defensively noticing the real triggers and dealing with them before they mushroom into drama. With trust in good intentions, we’re safe enough to “be a mirror” for the other and to examine ourselves for underlying issues and reflexive behaviors.

I won’t lie, this requires a copious dosage of honesty and thus super-human amounts of humility and faith, and I don’t always have those on hand particularly when a wound is raw. When we first resolved to practice this lifestyle there was plenty of defensiveness and meltdowns to go around, but in time we proved to each other that we could talk about our flaws and blind spots without condemnation. And that’s when everything changed. Now, because of our investment in “brutal” honesty, not only does our bond feel indestructible, it has become indispensible. I have someone who doesn’t just adore me and make me laugh, think, and moan, but who will also call me out, talk me down from my delusions, and alert me when I’m hurting others even if by accident. That is someone I want in my life, forever. That is someone worth meeting again every day as if for the first time, so you better believe every day I do my damndest to make a good first impression.

"Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was..."

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:02:00 -0400

“Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was… Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena where I believe I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive… And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”

- J. K. Rowling, in her commencement address at Harvard, on her struggles with poverty, divorce, and unemployment while starting the best-selling book series in history.

Experimenting with creepy self-portraits using the panoramic...

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 20:56:00 -0400

Experimenting with creepy self-portraits using the panoramic feature on my new phone.

"On the whole this is quite successful work: your main argument about the poet’s..."

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:00:00 -0400

“

On the whole this is quite successful work:
your main argument about the poet’s ambivalence?
how he loves the very things he attacks?
is most persuasive and always engaging.

At the same time,
there are spots
where your thinking becomes, for me,
alarmingly opaque, and your syntax seems to jump
backwards through unnecessary hoops,
as on p. 2 where you speak of “precognitive awareness
not yet disestablished by the shell that encrusts
each thing that a person actually says”
or at the top of p. 5 where your discussion of
“subverbal undertow miming the subversion of self-belief
woven counter to desire’s outreach”
leaves me groping for firmer footholds.
(I’d have said it differently,
or rather, said something else.)
And when you say that women “could not fulfill themselves” (p.6)
“in that era” (only forty years ago, after all!)
are you so sure that the situation is so different today?
Also, how does Whitman bluff his way into
your penultimate paragraph? He is the last poet
I would have quoted in this context!
What plausible way of behaving
does the passage you quote represent? Don’t you think
literature should ultimately reveal possiblities for action?
Please notice how I’ve repaired your use of semicolons.

And yet, despite what may seem my cranky response,
I do admire the freshness of
your thinking and your style; there is
a vitality here; your sentences thrust themselves forward
with a confidence as impressive as it is cheeky… .
You are not
me, finally,
and though this is an awkward problem, involving
the inescapable fact that you are so young, so young
it is also a delightful provocation.

A-

”

- “Graded Paper” by Mark Halliday

This Young Rival music video combines many of my favorite...

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 00:16:00 -0400

This Young Rival music video combines many of my favorite things: insane face paint, shape-shifting, lip synching, jungle creatures, stupidly simple Canadian indie rock… Et cetera.

Enjoy.

Your red hair makes me think you're a republican, but your freckles tell me you're a democrat. Which one is it?

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 00:22:14 -0400

Those are some very curious correlations you’ve drawn! Any logic to them?

Me, I’m actually a registered Independent, which is annoying this time of year because pollsters buzz my apartment every day asking how I plan to vote. The answer of course is I plan to write-in the ghost of Louisa May Alcott.

Do Me a Favor?

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 13:58:00 -0400

Do Me a Favor?:

I’m starting a new creative project and need your help to get it started!

Please use the title link (as often as you want) to submit questions about (a work of) literature, matters of philosophy/political science, academic issues, etc., for an expert on the appropriate subject to address. If you have your own site or an academic affiliation you want to share, feel free to include that info — but the invite is open to anyone.

Responses will be published elsewhere along with the questions, but not any time super soon; I will link to them as they go up. The premise depends on interactivity, so ask away! And thanks.

Details to follow. :D

Grammy winning conductor Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the...

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 20:07:50 -0400

Grammy winning conductor Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the universality of the pentatonic scale through audience participation.

I have no idea if this is true, but it is so true.

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:58:46 -0400

I have no idea if this is true, but it is so true.

The Biological Advantage of Being Awestruck. (This guy is kind...

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:40:54 -0400

The Biological Advantage of Being Awestruck.

(This guy is kind of annoying, but the images are cool.)

Part of an architectural festival I saw in Montpellier last...

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:09:03 -0400

Part of an architectural festival I saw in Montpellier last month.

None of the installations had any real function, use, or logic. They were, as someone noted in the guestbook for this display, just pour faire rêver — to inspire daydreaming.

joespurr:

“…this installation had 1 balloon that floated high, high above all the rest, and that one made her think of you.”

"[T]o secure these rights [Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness], Governments are instituted..."

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 12:37:00 -0400

“[T]o secure these rights [Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness], Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

- -The US Declaration of Independence

Lately I’ve been working on long-term writing projects and so haven’t posted much here, and it might remain so for a while. But I do want to go on a nice ramble about Independence Day, as it ties into the themes with which I’ve recently been working. Ahem:

IT’S COOL GUYS; THE BAD GUY DIED IN 1820

On July 4, 1776 Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence, which is mainly a list of accusations agains King George III sandwiched by assertions of the right to rebel against such abuses. If you read the document (which seems an appropriate way to celebrate the holiday), you’ll note that this king was indeed a tyrant in ways far more dramatic (or at least, more explicit) than the political exploitation our country now faces, in that we don’t have a single figurehead kidnapping our boys on the high seas and forcing them to combat their compatriots; our president doesn’t withhold salaries from judges to ensure his political interests, etc. That’s the good news.

Overthrowing this oppression was indeed a laudable accomplishment, especially given that, as the preamble acknowledges, “experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” In that way I am an enthusiastic patriot on July 4th: Yes, please, let’s remember this courageous elbow into the ribs of complacency; let’s celebrate the recognition and the seizure of human rights. On the other hand, the way we celebrate Independence Day (and the American brand of patriotism in general) often goes precisely against the premise of its source document. So often we boast unconditional loyalty and even claim a stupendously unnecessary superiority over other (equally free/democratic) countries. In short, we revel in our dependence upon a political body, when in fact the holiday asks citizens to vigilantly guard “their right… their duty, to throw off [their own] Government,” if for example, the habits of ye olde British Empire ever begin to resurface from within.

Is that what’s happening right now? Well, no one can deny that power and influence are becoming dramatically concentrated into what might as well be called a ruling class, and with educational and social programs withering up, the odds of this ‘fiscal nobility’ becoming a fixed echelon are disturbingly high. And if you go back to the list of King George III’s offenses, the gist of them clearly resembles our democratic crisis today: elite interference with the execution of the will of the people. Methodology aside, the bad guy’s fundamental crime was subverting a would-be republic in order to take as much (money, life-force, control) as possible from citizens for minimal return.

So, it’s now 236 years later and we’re still congratulating ourselves for having overthrown tyranny. But did we? True, we’re free from a long-dead king of a long since humbled empire — and let’s all agree that our Founders fully earned props for that — but why do today’s politicians encourage us to be so impressed with America’s freedom-having, as though the ghost of King George III were actively menacing its sovereignty?

HOW WE HARBOR THE NEW TYRANT

In reality, our Founders threw off one source of tyranny but not tyranny itself, and certainly not the tendency of powerful classes to exploit everyone else as much as they’re permitted. No one in this world is “free” from that, which is why it must be an ongoing battle as the D.O.I. declares. If we’re mature we’ll admit that remote royal villains are a threat of our past, so we need not high-five ourselves for our suuuper good job at not having one. It’s time to realize we have a new tyrant — and it is kicking our ass.

No, not a central figure like a king or a lone despot, although specific individuals do play into those roles. There are outlandish violations of trust going on in the Executive Branch for several terms now, and obviously our useless Congress and the absurdity of a two-party system only stalls if not deliberately undermines meaningful progress. But, focusing on one person or one loophole obscures the bigger picture, and even pinning all our woes on the soulless influence of corporations, banks, and special interests would be reductive. I really believe that the biggest threat to those precious primary freedoms for most Americans (and anyone else) is the tyrant in our minds.

It’s the beliefs we won’t outgrow, the responsibility we won’t take, the happiness we won’t accept. It’s the insecurity that keeps us vulnerable to exploitation.

YET WE LOVE TO HATE OUR LEADERS

True, everyone should wake up to the stunning amount of power politicians and corporations wield over us, but we must also realize how it got that way, which has everything to do with our own complacency. In fact we have much more power than pessimists say, but only if we use it. This means realizing we don’t need (and in fact can’t trust) a designated class or profession of people to solve all our problems for us. Politicians are, whether due to personal corruption or institutional necessity, not in the business of improving conditions so much as getting re-elected. Snark and bitch about that all day, but in the end citing them as the reason society is so messed up is straight scapegoating, and without taking action, our indignant rhetoric is as empty as theirs.

And you know what? I think we love them for that. The worst ones may exploit and obstruct the system to maintain a cushy lifestyle or a special status, but it seems to me the average citizen does much the same. Blundering politicians give us something we can point to and say, “See? It’s their fault. If it were up to us we’d have a clean, safe, compassionate world, but we did our part — we voted! — and now there’s nothing left to do except maybe protest or write a scathing blog post.” (Irony noted.)

Of all the political bullshit smeared around, it is that lie, the one we the citizens tell ourselves, that does the most damage. Maybe this lie has traction because we really believe it and don’t realize we can and should organize our own communities according to our ideals. Or maybe we’re too busy, lazy, alienated, or undisciplined to create the world we say we want. After all, our hopes are pretty high (as they should be!) — we demand clean air and water, humane working conditions, easy access to un-poisoned food, reliable maintenance of shared necessities, effective education, and undiscriminating healthcare that doesn’t come on the string of indentured servitude. It sounds like Heaven! And Heaven is a place that, traditionally, is reserved for people of moral character and integrity, meaning their actions flow in unity with their principles.

BEING ON BOTH SIDES OF A HOLD-UP

So it follows that if we want our existing reality to embody our alleged principles, we have to be worthy of such a paradise. That means contributing, and I’m not even talking about taxes. I mean taking initiative without waiting for permission or (and this is harder) the monetary reward we expect for absolutely everything we do. Which is not to say we’re wrong to call out the deranged priorities of politicians who’d rather bomb a seed bank in the Middle East than prevent their own constituents from going hungry, homeless, untreated, overworked, and without the time or energy to pursue happiness. It’s just to realize that most of our leaders don’t do that because they hate people and libraries and paved roads, but because they’d rather put the finite amount of money they have toward projects that will incur more money, because we have all bought into a cash-dependent system of inevitable scarcity. In context, it’s simply the most rational, “responsible” thing to do. And how are we, the average citizens, any different? We could introduce ourselves to our neighbors to know their needs, and donate our time, talents, and resources for everyone to share — but usually we don’t, not because we are cruel either, but because if we’re not getting paid to “render a service,” we don’t bother. We feel we can’t “afford to.” In that cycle of self-interest, the politicians may be withholding the funding, but we are the ones holding out for it.

Now, I’m not an advocate of giving up on formally organized community (which is what government theoretically is), but my point is that there’s plenty to be done instead of waiting for Washington to suddenly transform into a band of altruistic heroes. And I’m talking about small things to start, just an attitude shift that recognizes individuals’ power to effect improvement. You see litter? Pick it up. You didn’t drop it? Who cares — if you want clean streets, just clean them. If you want fresh food, you are allowed to grow it, or do some favors for someone who will grow it for you. If you want literate, critically thinking future leaders, make some kind of energetic or financial investment in the mentorship of youth. (Particularly important because the more concentrated the political power, the less interested it becomes in cultivating a literate, critically thinking population!) It’s not rocket science, it’s just remembering that money and legal contracts don’t have to come between us and every life interaction. We made things that way for the sake of convenience, but it’s not serving that purpose very well anymore.

OK WHATEVER, YOU BOURGEOIS HIPPY COMMUNIST

On the heels of this observation come all the easy criticisms: Oh, but what about people who are busting their asses just to survive? Isn’t it a middle-class fantasy that everyone has the time and means to take care of something besides themselves? Yes, quite frankly, at least for now thanks to the hyper-individualistic corner we’ve painted ourselves into. Economic and educational classes have gotten sufficiently stratified and the average person so thoroughly dependent on the systems in place that there will inherently be a learning curve on the way back to real cooperation (which is the only true independence from tyranny or turmoil). But we have more tools than ever to give and receive, if only it occurs to us to use them so radically.

And then: OK, so say everybody takes on this groovy change of heart and takes responsibility for their community. How does that address the bigger picture? Answer: indirectly, but profoundly. The REAL change isn’t about anything you do or don’t do; it’s about reclaiming your own happiness from those who lord it over you in exchange for any number of devotions. People who accept happiness now, unconditionally — not after they buy a new gadget, lose five pounds, finish another degree, or earn a certain salary — are free from pursuits that do not originate in their true desires. Which is to say, they don’t break their backs to finance or fulfill substitutions of happiness. Pursuit of those substitutions is the primary enabler of our modern tyrant; lives devoted to it generate the funding and create the demand for every commercial, ideological, and socio-political dependency. In short, happiness is not just a little bonus prize tacked onto freedom; we must learn to understand and accept real, genuine, personalized happiness in order to be free. As long as we lack it, we’re enslaved by whatever person, party, or product claims to be able to give it to us.

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME

Author, engineer, and inventor Buckminster Fuller is widely quoted as saying, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” His claim is not only true for devices and designs, it also applies to our own behavior. It can be overwhelming to really think about all the things that need to change in our “existing reality” for humankind to finally become contributing and sustainable within the inextricable network of nature, but his point clarifies the importance of proactivity. When a single person contradicts the old presumptions of human nature (e.g., that it is selfish, short-sighted, unforgiving, violent) s/he isn’t just being a good person or making life better for those directly affected, s/he’s also creating a new model of reality which can spread. When it spreads enough, it becomes the new presumed or ‘existing’ reality, and any infraction becomes regarded as the exception rather than the rule.

What’s important about this is that major change can come not from replacing one leader with another, or even tearing down huge empires in a historical coup (although such acts definitely have their place), but through actively and independently constructing a new world personality to displace the old one. When a critical mass of people give habitually, trust others, and merit happiness without condition, they are actually safer and more stable than their self-interested counterparts. They also prove such a lifestyle is possible to those who want it but feel beholden to fear — the same fear that kept many American colonists loyal to the crown despite knowing they deserved better. Happily, in that situation the boldness of optimists gained enough inertia to free them and their doubters alike — from one tyrant, at least. As for the others, that’s our war to wage.

"A fisherman is lounging at the wharf. A businessman comes up and asks why he isn’t out there..."

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:51:56 -0400

“

A fisherman is lounging at the wharf. A businessman comes up and asks why he isn’t out there fishing. “I already caught enough today to feed my family.”

“But if you fish more, you could sell the fish and make money.”

“Why would I want to do that?”

“With the money, you could buy more boats and hire other people to man them.”

“Why would I want to do that?”

“Well, then you could make even more money and retire.”

“Why would I want to do that?”

“Then you could spend your days lounging on the wharf and only fishing as much as you pleased.”

“But that’s what I’m doing right now.”

”

- An economic teaching story recounted by Swami Atmapriyananda at the recent UN Happiness Summit.

Fringe

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:56:24 -0400

Fringe:

Clémence & I star in Joe’s first Cinemagram. Such a cool new medium:

(Taken with http://cinemagr.am)

SolarBeat

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:58:00 -0400

SolarBeat:

I once said I’d like to see a map of the stars turned into the pins of a music box so I could listen to the universe as it would be as a song. And then, of course, I did nothing to make that happen. But only because I knew someone more capable and motivated would probably have the same thought and put it online in the near future! Well, it’s not quite as complex yet, but here is a lovely start. Go listen to the years of our solar system pass.