Hopeful Thinking

  It’s easy to see examples of people making big changes in the world. People we see as being more powerful or influential than we are instigating change or instilling comfort. Most of us feel pretty ineffectual at accomplishing the act of making a difference.  But there are often ways to make a difference we don’t typically think about. Smaller ways with enormous implications. They are in the daily interactions we have with other people. Don’t scoff at it just because it feels too simple or because you imagine it would be ineffective. Never underestimate something as simple as a smile directed toward a stranger. That’s the same as walking past thousands of pennies on the sidewalk because you’re waiting for a twenty. When we look back on the people who have changed our lives, or helped us define our sense of self, the origins of those changes are usually just moments, and usually very brief. Sometimes they’re given by people we’ve known for years or someone we happened to be i...

I am an optimist. And not just your average glass-is-half-full kind of optimist either. I am the glass-is-overflowing type. I’m not sure where it came from exactly. My family are not particularly noted for either their pessimism or optimism, so it’s not likely that it stemmed from that (although I acknowledge it was not prevented either). My mother is still fond of reminding me that things always happen for a reason. And while there’s a thread of optimism to that, it’s more about maintaining faith that our challenges are not in vain. In my own practice of optimism I take it a lever further. I go to the creative effort of slightly deluding myself about things which I don’t yet know. I fill in the gaps with something good. If I’m later shown to have been wrong, no biggie. I’d prefer to use my creativity to get over disappointments than for trying to prevent them. The former is a regularly useful skill, the latter is pointless. The word delude is not an optimistic one. It means to intenti...

There is an old story. It is known as the parable of the blind men and the elephant. Originating in the ancient Indian subcontinent many centuries ago, it has circled the globe in an effort to explain the various perspectives available within one single, overarching truth.  Because of its deeply useful philosophy to remember that not all which we see is the complete truth, alternate versions of the parable are found throughout many cultures of the eastern world in Buddhist, Jain, Baha’i, Hindu and Sufi Muslim texts. Later spreading throughout Europe and the west, the story takes on even further significance worldwide as a metaphor for retaining our sense of humility regarding objective truth.  In the story, a group of blind men who’ve never seen an elephant before, encounter one upon the road. The men surround the elephant and each take stock of one of its parts in an effort to understand the whole. One feels the elephant side, One feels the tusk, one feels the trunk, another ...

We’re all human. And humans are all, to one degree or another, vengeful. Even those of us who work so hard to overcome the lesser angels of our nature love a good car-keying breakup song or can’t help dropping a snarky Yelp review when crossed.  Why do we feel the need for revenge? It doesn’t seem to have an obvious biological value, yet that’s the likely point of origin. Science demonstrates that vengeance activates the reward centers of our brain. So that’s at least an indicator that the biology is somehow involved in our desire for revenge.  But why? What purpose does revenge have for our biology? Why is it hardwired into our brains that we need to get back at someone for pissing us off? Clearly it’s something we deem to be of great importance to our civilization that we curtail this natural desire through our laws and faith systems designed around a goal to sublimate the human instinct for revenge. Christianity is based almost entirely on this single idea alone. Love your ...

You might find it surprising to know that I possess a belief in astrology. Or perhaps you won’t find it surprising at all. As a way of making an eventual point, in the roundabout style I typically employ, I’ll share the details of the astrological portion of my faith. You need not subscribe to these beliefs, but keep an open mind as they shall eventually become metaphorical to the premise which follows. It is apparent that all things have magnetism about them. Even the hazy rotation of an atom creates a field. That’s how it bonds with other atoms to form a molecule. It is also what repels some atoms away from one another. Within our own bodies exists magnetism as well. Our organs and cells all have polarity. They are affected by magnetic fields around them. We can be healed by magnets and we can become physically injured by living too closely to power lines or interacting with other types of strong electromagnetic fields. Our cells use the magnetic fields they create to communicate wit...