Category: e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

a) My Personal Fav Posts, b) Psychology, c) Trauma & healing, d) Saving the World: Environmental and other Challenges of this Age of Humanity, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

167) Thanks Mom: Intergenerational Wisdom, Part 2 — Friendship and Community

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I believe that Wisdom is about sharing as the default, trusting as the default, being open as the default, and putting your heart on your sleeve, as the default.  Obviously, sometimes you will get burned for this, and in those instances, you need to pull back, have good boundaries, and be willing to value yourself…

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a) My Personal Fav Posts, b) Psychology, c) Trauma & healing, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

166) Thanks Mom: Intergenerational Wisdom, Part 1 — Professor Dolderman

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These next two posts are the most difficult pieces of writing I’ve ever made public.  Definitely the most personal (which is saying a lot!!  lol….).   The fact that this was so difficult to write is kind of weird, because these posts are entirely positive.  (I mean, there’ll be some negative stuff in here probably,…

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a) My Personal Fav Posts, b) Psychology, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

90) Gratitude Day 8: Loneliness

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I am grateful for loneliness. It also sucks.  Being lonely isn’t exactly the kind of thing one yearns for generally.  Imagine the kid in grade 2, and the teacher, all gung ho to connect with the kids this year and REALLY give them a good educational, inspirational experience.   “So what do you want to…

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e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

82) A pandemic a day keeps everyone away. But it also might bring us together.

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Many of us feel that ‘things are changing’.  Like, something is awakening in human consciousness.  Or in our collective spirit.  Or something…something….  But SOMETHING is happening.  People are gaining insights into their vulnerability, right?  Into our collective interdependence.  Into the sheer, unavoidable fact that when the shit really hits the fan and people are scared…

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d) Saving the World: Environmental and other Challenges of this Age of Humanity, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts, g) And Now For Something Completely Different

80) Magic, Motorcycles, and Mandelbrot: Part 4 – A Call for Global Revolution

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So, over 40+ years, my thinking has evolved, from Magic, to Motorcycles, to Mandelbrot, as it has passed from naive and wishful hoping, to power-based command & control ways of thinking, to socio-ecological complexity ways of thinking.  And this takes us to the present, where an understanding of the direction the world is heading, leads…

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d) Saving the World: Environmental and other Challenges of this Age of Humanity, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts, g) And Now For Something Completely Different

79) Magic, Motorcycles, and Mandelbrot: Part 3 – Mandelbrot

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Then along comes Mandelbrot.  Fractals.  Complex dynamic systems.  Feedback loops.  Self-organization.  Resilience.  Perturbations.  Multi-leveled thinking.  Holonarchies.  Cybernetics.  Nonlinearity.    And your world changes.  If you have gone through this learning curve, then you know, and I know that you know, that you think differently as a result.  (Unless yahyah, you’re a super-genius and you were…

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d) Saving the World: Environmental and other Challenges of this Age of Humanity, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts, g) And Now For Something Completely Different

78) Magic, Motorcycles, and Mandelbrot: Part 2 – Motorcycles

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If you’ve never experienced the full, bird-like ecstasy of cruising down back roads on a sweet bike, then you’re gonna have to find your own metaphor for ego + pleasure + control + domination + scientific materialism + technology + adrenaline + Good Times.  For me, “motorcycle” works fine.   As a teenager, around when…

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d) Saving the World: Environmental and other Challenges of this Age of Humanity, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts, g) And Now For Something Completely Different

77) Magic, Motorcycles, and Mandelbrot: Part 1 – Magic

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“Magic, Motorcycles, and Mandelbrot” This is the tagline to my blog.  It’s a TERRIBLE tagline from a marketing perspective.  I do know that.  It’s almost like I’m hoping people WON’T come and read my blog, b/c you show up for the first time to check out this Dan Dolderman guy, you take a look and…

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a) My Personal Fav Posts, d) Saving the World: Environmental and other Challenges of this Age of Humanity, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

72) Purpose — Part 4 — In Between

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“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. …

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d) Saving the World: Environmental and other Challenges of this Age of Humanity, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

71) Purpose — Part 3 — I hate you.

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(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…

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d) Saving the World: Environmental and other Challenges of this Age of Humanity, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

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

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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…

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d) Saving the World: Environmental and other Challenges of this Age of Humanity, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

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

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“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,…

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d) Saving the World: Environmental and other Challenges of this Age of Humanity, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

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

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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.…

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a) My Personal Fav Posts, d) Saving the World: Environmental and other Challenges of this Age of Humanity, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

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

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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…

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a) My Personal Fav Posts, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

30) Hell: Epilogue

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So, I thought this was a pretty good conversation to have. Hell, God, death, and all that jazz, opens into Wisdom, through the process of: Questioning. Learning. And remaining open to both. I believe “salvation” is found through you choosing, again and again, to open to uncertainty. That’s not all of it (and after all,…

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a) My Personal Fav Posts, e) The Meaning of Life and related thoughts

29) Hell, Part 2

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One dusty, hot day, I stood on the steps of the Temple of Athena, my eyes and mind wandering through the tourist chatter, laughing children, crying babies, clattering, snorting donkeys. I felt thousands of years slip by, and saw countless generations of people climb the steps I was standing on. I saw worshippers in Ancient…

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