My father had a steadfast principle for selecting who he’d do business with: there needed to be someone he could physically choke if it was warranted. It’s not that he’d ever do such a thing (…I think). It’s the principle that in order to do business with someone, it’s a good idea to have: In … Continue reading Choke Negotiations →

No matter how much water is in a container, any small amount of ice will float to the top of it. In the same way, no matter how much good is in the world, the little bit of bad tends to float to the top of your attention. I say this because it is important, … Continue reading The World is Good →

There is no sadder state of existence than being defined by hatred. If your entire identity revolves around things you dislike, are against, or want destroyed: find something to love. Hate does not destroy hate. Put some joy out there. Like something instead.

There’s this certain sub-genre of science fiction that I always loved. Stories where the main protagonist suddenly wakes up in a completely different identity than their own and has to make it work. Usually, that’s how the story will begin – the point of view will be the narrator’s, and they’ll describe hearing an unfamiliar … Continue reading Past Tense →

In your life, you will do work for free. This is amazing. When you work for free, you free your work. You work without permission, you work without constraint. At least, if you do it early. Here’s the life cycle: in order for someone to want to exchange with you, they have to have some … Continue reading Free Your Work →

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” What an awful, awful question. I hate it when people ask this of kids. I hate the way I see the effects of this poison decades later with people who are forlorn and lost, in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and using the half-joke to mask … Continue reading When I Grew Up →

Don’t harbor an exorbitant degree of loyalty to losing strategies. Certainly don’t wind your identity up in them. You do things, and some of those things work. Some don’t. But who you are doesn’t have to be defined by any particular act or even set of acts. If you switch to a meatless diet for … Continue reading If You Can’t Beat ‘Em →

Who you are in relation to others is not a complete identity, and it never can be. It is a single angle at any given time. Choose any object, and you can’t ever see more than – at most – half of it from where you are. You see facets, other things hidden from you. … Continue reading In Relation →

In response to my post yesterday, a frequent reader asked a keen question relating to facts and principles. In thinking about a response, I realized that I had more to say than the medium of his question would allow, so here’s another post! First, I think of facts and principles as different things. Fundamentally different. … Continue reading Unshakeable →

One of the main draws (for me, at least) of travel to faraway lands is the potential for immersion into a culture very different from my own. Human culture flows like a river, both shaping and shaped by its environment. I really enjoy witnessing and experiencing the different shapes that can take. But I can … Continue reading Subculture Tourism →