This is my last essay of 2020. A tumultuous and trying year, to say the least. We all know the issues. But the upside is that this year has allowed me to consider and reflect on what is truly important to me.
Yesterday, December 21st, was the winter solstice: the day with the longest night. Since prehistory, it has also been considered the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun. In addition, yesterday was the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.
Read MoreThese days…
I’ve been struggling with my own sense of outrage, sorrow and concern about the state of this country. We are living in a time of a pandemic and civil unrest while the political divide worsens under a divisive leadership that continues to believe that “might makes right.”
Great leaders have always brought people together. Martin Luther King. Mahatma Gandhi. John F. Kennedy. And the reaction to them was the same – they were all murdered. But their impact and philosophy live on to this day.
Read MoreThe question of power, how to get it, how to maintain it, and how to wield it has been an area of fascination since the ascent of man. It makes sense. Power increases status and money and the ability to thrive. Or so it has been assumed.
Read MoreI’m writing this essay while feeling off. I’m not sure what it is – I woke up bone tired. I slept seven hours but feel like I’ve been up all night. Along with so many others (“Why Am I Having Weird Dreams Lately?” – NY Times), I’ve been having intense, vivid dreams. Aside from not working out as I used to pre-COVID 19, I’m doing all the right things: meditating, creatively writing, drawing, painting, doing podcasts, eating healthy, and while focusing my worktime efforts on my day job, I take breaks to get outside and get some vitamin D.
Read MoreWe can’t control how we are born: our gender, our race, the country of our birth. However, we are highly influenced by societal and family influences as we grow up. Our creation myths are provided to us – this is your religion, this is your nationality, this is your sexuality, this is how we think about things because, well, it’s “always been that way.” Any supposed aberration from the established rules is considered a threat, which is why homophobia, xenophobia, racism, misogyny tend to flourish in closed environments. Different = bad. It’s probably a biological survival leftover from our ancestors, wherein conformity to the tribe and its needs superseded the needs of the individual. A nonconformist could, in fact, be a threat to the health of the group. Any kind of questioning of the status quo was dangerous. Rebels were dangerous.
Read MoreDuring these times, I often hear from friends and associates that they are either bored or feel like they have to write the great American novel or develop the next great startup idea given that Airbnb, Pinterest, Uber, Square, et al arose out of the ashes of the great recession of 2008. Oh, and Sir Isaac Newton spent his bubonic plague time working from home on things like inventing calculus, analyzing color, light and the spectrum as well as studying gravity which led to his creation of the laws of motion.
Read MoreHumans like stability for obvious reasons. Routines are comforting and you can often accomplish much by systematizing your day: the morning ritual of breakfast, then the commute, then work, lunch, more work, maybe a workout and then home for dinner. But this is an overlay of a human system on a world that has its own rhythms and is, for the most part, indifferent to our timelines and needs. We are sometimes reminded of this when an earthquake strikes or fires threaten our homes or in the most current and pressing case, our lives are at risk because of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. In all of these cases, our routines are disrupted and what is truly important in our lives comes to the fore.
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