A Beatle’s song and a dream of freedom Like many gen-Xers, the Beatles were my introduction to music. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was my first meaningful musical experience and changed my life. The album (yes, my early moments were with my parent’s vinyl) remains one of my top…
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Inventions Other Mother
Playfulness and curiosity in Natural Selection “Necessity is the mother of invention” While we don’t know who first said it, many people have. Surely you have heard this phrase, if not used it. This quote means that urgency induces creativity. When humans need something, we search harder for solutions. It…
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How Did I Get Here?
In the bottom of this hole Has it been that long? Have you ever gotten a glimpse of reality that disagreed with whatever truth you thought was real? I feel like I have been surrounded by darkness, gaslighting myself into believing it was the weather. The climate. Where I lived….
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A Stand of Trees Does Not a Forest Make
A system is more than its parts During my dissertation defense, I got into a mild argument with one of my committee members. He was a GIS remote sensing technologist, I was a tree-hugging hippie ecologist. The disagreement centered around how many 30 x 30 meter (this was the early…
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How Do I Connect With Oblivion?
Building community in an individualistic world I talk a lot about community Sangha, in Buddhist teachings. I long to be a member of meaningful communities. I want to belong. I beat up on the rugged individualists and condone their self-serving greed. As pretentious as I might be about my relative…
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What It’s Like Being a Male Homemaker
I don’t deserve flowers Seahorses, am I right? You know, the male carries the newly hatched offspring in his pouch. We think it’s great when the dad steps in and participates in the parenting. “What a guy!” we say. “That’s amazing!” “Look at that dad alone with his kids!” Being…
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Rules Need to Make Sense
Sensibility governs justice Have you ever been to Australia? I was fortunate to visit for two weeks with my wife and youngest daughter. My takeaway? Australia makes sense. It seemed like a sensible country with sensible rules. The idea of ‘sensible’ permeates my experience of this wonderful country. Sensibility, Reason,…
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Why Being Excluded Is Powerful
Is this how we learn empathy? Have you ever been excluded? The world can be a pretty exclusive place. Chances are, you’ve experienced this at some point. Being left out sucks. Often, exclusion places us in out-groups that wouldn’t exist without the in-group creating the problem. Dark doesn’t exist without…
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When You Can’t See the Forest for the Trees
Scope matters Have you ever realized something about yourself that you think is normal but isn’t? Some people are naturally good at math, others might excel at sports games, and many are great at conversation. Sometimes, we call this our superpower Me? I see the big picture — the 30,000-foot…
The Evolution Paradox
The source of our problems Cognitive dissonance This term, coined by psychologist Leon Festinger, describes the human need for consistency. When we experience disagreement between thoughts and actions, we are uncomfortable. Humans like balance. I experience cognitive dissonance when my beliefs are challenged. For example, when someone is violently disruptive…