The Strange Orbits of School and Life
I never learned a thing from teachers. Ever.
By that I mean the kind of academics who preside over classrooms, drone on about the Boxer Rebellion, go through the litany of dates and isolated factoids the curriculum requires them to do, and then walk alone, high and mighty, out of the class when the bell rings.
At precisely the critical juncture when the students are free to leave the building and walk back into real life, well that’s when (for me) the real learning would begin.
Hungry Eyes
When Ernest Hemingway was a young American expat struggling to find his voice as a writer of pristine, bone-thin fiction, he would make time to study the work of Impressionist artists.
There was a message in their work, he believed, a code, that he could build into his craft. But he insisted on viewing the paintings on an empty stomach, when he was hungry, believing that this would help him to decipher their genius.
Utopian Economics
Imagine if everything in the world was free. Yachts, homes, jewels, cars: everything.
And add to that, imagine there was an unlimited supply of everything. Everyone who wanted an ocean front mansion in East Hampton could have it. The same for Mercedes SLs and Harry Winston diamonds.
Utopian economics, right?
Perhaps, but I have a question: when would you stop scooping up every luxurious bauble in sight? Sure, the first week you would dash all over the place, snapping up the objects of your dreams. But what about the second week? Would it still be supermarket sweepstakes? The second month? The second year? READ MORE
The Call Of The Wild. The Gravity Of Discipline.
Everywhere we look, there is temptation. Gorgeous gems to buy. Exhilarating experiences to indulge in. Partying, drinking, working on incredibly exciting brainstorms, nights that never have to end, meals that can be endless feasts, people that fascinate and that are made to dance off with into meadows and to cavort under waterfalls, enterprises that respond to our input and blossom like magnolias in sunlight.
The more we give, do, absorb, partake, enjoy, relish and the more we do so with reckless abandon, the more we are enveloped in a magic that never comes when we simply nibble at the intensity of life. Everything that is good and great is a narcotic of sorts, tempting us to stretch the envelope, test the limits and keep on breaking the sound barrier until we pass out or fall asleep. READ MORE
Running Into Lightning, Arms Wide Open
There are two kinds of people in life: those who run away at the first sign of lightning and a far smaller group who dash headlong in its direction.
That the former seek shelter from the storm is understandable. There is danger in the black clouds and wiry bolts of electricity. All of the experts will tell you to head for bunker and stay put until the danger passes.
But what do the experts know? They aren’t smart enough to see with their myopic vision that the DANGER NEVER PASSES. Run from the lightning and you’ll be running from everything: READ MORE
