Month: October 2019

73) Dear Ancestors,

For most of my life, I have wondered what I would pass on to future generations.  Would I leave a legacy for my descendants to feel proud of?  Would I have my picture in textbooks that kids would study someday?  Would I be some “important figure in history”?  Would I write a song that people…

72) Purpose — Part 4 — In Between

“Purpose” seems to involve a lot of striving, searching, tearing down, opening up, trying, growing.  It seems to involve a lot of self, of authenticity and humility, vulnerability and trust.  And it seems to involve a lot of “other”, of succumbing to fear or of reaching out in love.   These are all stepping stones. …

71) Purpose — Part 3 — I hate you.

(Trigger Warning: all the triggers, seriously, don’t read this if you are not prepared to be upset.) If I met you on the street, or at a party, or in a class, or at a job, there is a very, very, very good chance that we would get along just fine.  Or at least would…

70) Purpose — Part 2 — Why the Environmental Movement has Failed (so far) — Act III: Full Circle

The Environmental Movement HAS failed. Not entirely, of course. Changes have been made. Ideas have been planted and taken root. Species have been protected. Legislation has been passed. Global movements have arisen. But we have still failed. Because after all the progress, the passion, the tear gas, the signs and chants and songs and sit-ins…

69) Purpose — Part 2 — Why the Environmental Movement has Failed (so far) — Act II: Change or Die

“Change or die” I want to help make this world a better place. For you. For your future, and your loved ones’ futures. You and I might have different beliefs about how to get from “here” to “there”, from this current somewhat-troubled world to something better in the future. Or we might have identical beliefs,…

68) Purpose — Part 2 — Why the Environmental Movement has Failed (so far) — Act I: Me & You

I love you. You might be thinking….”Really? That’s creepy.” Or you might be thinking….”Really? We’ve never even met!” Or you might be thinking…..”Why, what’d you have in mind?” 😉Or you might be thinking…..”Huh? I thought this was about why the environmental movement has failed.” Please let me explain. I believe you’re great, at least potentially.…

67) Purpose: A Four-part series — Part 1 — “Tearing Down the Wall”

This title comes from Pink Floyd’s brilliant album, The Wall.    The Wall is a 3-level album.  At the first level, it is a personal narrative, a musical autobiographical allegory of Roger Waters himself, centered around a fictional character named, appropriately enough, “Pink”.  At the second level, it is a narrative of the experiences of…

65) Protesting: What’s the point? It’s just a bunch of ‘activists’ getting arrested and stopping traffic or some shit, amiright?

Extinction Rebellion Bridge Shut-down, October 7, 2019 Sitting on the Bloor St Viaduct, my ratty brown long-sleeved shirt folded up beneath me to use as a meditation mat, I closed my eyes.  The woman leading us through the group meditation was talking about the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, asking us to appreciate things like…

64) Jordan Peterson, Part 5: The Perfect House Problem; Subsection 7 — The Rebel Alliance

The Rebel Alliance depended on a dead dude, a quixotic Elf who talked like Grover, a wannabe hero with an inferiority complex, an arrogant smuggler, an incomprehensible BigFoot, an annoying and basically useless robot, a super-cool robot who looked like a futuristic garbage can, and a bitchy, bad-ass princess. So to Jordan, I ask you…

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