This thought experiment came to me while out sailing with a friend. What if we discovered that our boat has a compass? What if we had no idea what it was, or how it worked? There it sat. And, at times we would notice certain apparent coincidences. Certain alignments with other things we were familiarContinue reading “Imagine we had a compass…”
Tag Archives: Strength vs power
The Space We Need
Art school was where I learned that success was a trap. How limited my teachers were. Experts. Hemmed in by reduction. It would take thirty-five years for this to sink in. Not surprising if you consider the trajectory of the intervening decades, beginning with the height of their positions at the time. The accumulated authorityContinue reading “The Space We Need”
Two Fragments
The distinction between strength and power. As we discover how these terms are far from synonymous we find ways to use their differences as a heuristic.
The Dark Economy
After a long transition we’ve gone from having a major world economy that takes place out in the open to one in which all meaningful – by the judgment of those in charge of it – activity takes place within a Dark Economy that is completely hidden from public view. The parasite on the parasiteContinue reading “The Dark Economy”
Questions of Identity
Schools fail us by teaching students how to work with knowledge rather than how to deal with ignorance, not be a sucker with the unknown. Nassim Taleb This neither begins nor ends with schools. In a time when the most popular public stance is to celebrate our fears and idolize those who act on themContinue reading “Questions of Identity”
The Proprioception of Power
Finding what needs to be said is a challenge. In large part it requires letting go of reacting to things and getting caught-up in complaining. Chasing disappointment… It requires allowing the force of what is not being said to make itself felt. This is a combination of internal listening with sampling what comes to usContinue reading “The Proprioception of Power”
Telling Strength from Power
A useful image occurred to me. Strength is what we use when we break free of a rut. Power runs us harder along the same old trail, bouncing through the ruts until we destroy ourselves. Strength is a capacity. Power is an external source of energy. Power seduces. It gets “results.” It’s just that theyContinue reading “Telling Strength from Power”
A hint concerning a relationship with power
What if the trouble with power is in our insistence that it can be accumulated, stored, and then controlled by will? If this were the case, the trouble with power dissolves when we accept that it exists. It moves through and around us, and we have access to it, and can influence its direction andContinue reading “A hint concerning a relationship with power”
Fighting Injustice/Confronting Abuse, part II
The first part of this essay dealt with setting the stage, in a way, finding our home position. Let’s take that groundwork and begin to look at what’s hinted at in the second half of the title, Confronting Abuse. In our stressed, fight or flight states we jump right past the significant aspect of confrontationContinue reading “Fighting Injustice/Confronting Abuse, part II”
“I never thought of that!”
How unintended consequences wreak havoc on our expectations concerning the connection between intention and responsibility. I’ve been looking for ways to illuminate the space hidden behind our expectation that the only way to be responsible is to plan and then act out our intentions. Everyone I know, including myself, has had a hard time dealingContinue reading ““I never thought of that!””
Horizons of Significance 