“Just because an animal is large, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want kindness; however big Tigger seems to be, remember that he wants as much kindness as Roo.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
Cheers
JeanneThursday, April 29, 2021
Pitter Patter Little Hobbit
“Go back?" he thought. "No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!" So up he got, and trotted along with his little sword held in front of him and one hand feeling the wall, and his heart all of a patter and a pitter.”
I am finally reading The Hobbit, listening to it actually. What a story and what a lot of life lessons to be found in it! This one reminds me of how alive I feel when I choose to go forward:-)
“There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Cheers
JeanneAspire
...you cannot value dreams according to the odds of their coming true. The real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire.
Sonia SotomayerWhew!! I just spent a few minutes reading about Sonia Sotomayer; US Supreme Court Justice, who is the embodiment of this quote. As I reflect on my own dreams I realize I've accomplished many of them through aspiration, belief and hard work, but there are still some wandering around in my head that I've procrastinated on for years. This quote is making me think there is a reason for this procrastination. My dreams that didn't materialize were those that had no tenure inside me, no real grip on me other than wishful thinking. Which reminds me of more words of wisdom from my mom: "Wishful thinking never made anything happen" Now that I can frame my dreams through the lens of this quote it may be easier for me to leave off wishful thinking and stick to dreams that stir me ... or at least recognize the difference.
Here is the Goodreads synopsis of her autobiographical book
The first Latinx (Puerto Rican) and third woman appointed to the US Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. Now, with a candor and intimacy never undertaken by a sitting Justice, she recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a journey that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself.
Here is the story of a precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father (who would die when she was 9) and a devoted but overburdened mother, and of the refuge a little girl took from the turmoil at home with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes that the precocious Sonia recognized she must ultimately depend on herself. She would learn to give herself the insulin shots she needed to survive and soon imagined a path to a different life.
With only television characters for her professional role models, and little understanding of what was involved, she determined to become a lawyer, a dream that would sustain her on an unlikely course, from valedictorian of her high school class to the highest honors at Princeton, Yale Law School, the New York County District Attorney’s office, private practice, and appointment to the Federal District Court before the age of 40.
She speaks with warmth and candor about her invaluable mentors, a failed marriage, and the modern version of extended family she has created from cherished friends and their children. Through her still-astonished eyes, America’s infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book, destined to become a classic of self-invention and self-discovery. (less)
Here is the story of a precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father (who would die when she was 9) and a devoted but overburdened mother, and of the refuge a little girl took from the turmoil at home with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes that the precocious Sonia recognized she must ultimately depend on herself. She would learn to give herself the insulin shots she needed to survive and soon imagined a path to a different life.
With only television characters for her professional role models, and little understanding of what was involved, she determined to become a lawyer, a dream that would sustain her on an unlikely course, from valedictorian of her high school class to the highest honors at Princeton, Yale Law School, the New York County District Attorney’s office, private practice, and appointment to the Federal District Court before the age of 40.
She speaks with warmth and candor about her invaluable mentors, a failed marriage, and the modern version of extended family she has created from cherished friends and their children. Through her still-astonished eyes, America’s infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book, destined to become a classic of self-invention and self-discovery. (less)
And if you have a chance here is a link to learning more about her
Cheers
JeanneIn Fairness
"There is a fundamental question we all have to face. How are we to live our lives; by what principles and moral values will we be guided and inspired?"
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
"Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you."
In Ontario we are facing 4 more weeks of Stay at Home emergency orders starting today. Regardless of how we feel emotionally, or how wrong we think this tactic is to deal with the third wave of increasing spread of COVID infections, our government has imposed this "order" upon us; the citizens of Ontario (and presumably most places have experienced similar restrictions imposed on them) These are "dictated orders" and as such can be enforced by fines, and possibly by shaming and other means if we do not conform or "obey". (I'm not dealing in this message with the guilt I presume most of us would feel if tby not following this "order" they happened to spread this disease or become really sick themselves)
H. Jackson Brown, Jr., American Author
In Ontario we are facing 4 more weeks of Stay at Home emergency orders starting today. Regardless of how we feel emotionally, or how wrong we think this tactic is to deal with the third wave of increasing spread of COVID infections, our government has imposed this "order" upon us; the citizens of Ontario (and presumably most places have experienced similar restrictions imposed on them) These are "dictated orders" and as such can be enforced by fines, and possibly by shaming and other means if we do not conform or "obey". (I'm not dealing in this message with the guilt I presume most of us would feel if tby not following this "order" they happened to spread this disease or become really sick themselves)
This sounds straightforward ... but ... in this musing message I'm going over a dilemna I've been pondering for this last year which is about the decision making process we take to rationalize our actions and choices. When I say "our" I'm referring to those of us who have resources, opportunity and a conditioned belief, to some degree, in the rights of the individual to self determine how they live their life.
The inspiration for today's quote resulted from a choice I had to make regarding this stay at home "order" that came into effect at midnight last night. Today I had scheduled a last day of hiking an hour north of here that I needed to do to complete a section of the Bruce Trail, a personal goal I had been working toward all winter. And after today's hike I planned to stay home and work in the garden, on the farm, do some writing, hike locally, you get the picture ... maybe... my choice is do I, for just one day, let myself blur of the meaning of the "order". There were lots of ways I could justify doing this hike, it followed most of the guidelines, and it would have less chance of contracting or spreading the disease than going to the grocery store or walking in a park. There was very little chance that I would get fined unless there was a complaint, the area is remote and the trees and frogs and snakes and wildlife that are awaking in the forest didn't seem to pay me much mind. But, there was a niggle inside. I found I was explaining to myself why it was okay for me to do this. My darn thoughts went to how lucky I am to even have this opportunity in non "order" times.
Thoughts about barging through doors that close may mean doors that might have opened and other opportunities that might have been would never show up began to seep into my thoughts. My mind was spinning and I couldn't sleep. Rolling through my head were things I justify like speeding, and things I can't justify like not composting and recycling. The question kept being how do I make these choices?? After a couple hours of sleepless spinning I gave up and listened to a talk on youtube, which usually helps me doze off, but the talk was dead on for my thoughts last night.
The Answer to my question startled me into wide awakeness! I have an Ethical Rudder!! It is mine and it guides only me (you all have your own and it is your choice what you do with it) This guiding rudder is based on my experience, beliefs, conscience, environment, childhood, and education. It is the gut feeling that tells me what to do. The niggle!! And if I out justify the niggle, what I'm doing is weakening my Ethical Rudder. And if I continue to educate myself, and listen to my gut, listen to the world beyond me, read, learn, and hike in the forest and nuture my Ethical Rudder it can evolve. Ah hah moment, door opening, opportunity to grow, whoo hoo!
So I'm going to hike local today, I feeds my soul, the niggle is gone and I'll be able to complete my Bruce Trail goal when the forest is awake and the world will send me more messages to share lol
Cheers
Jeanne
The Youtube video on IQ2 was Daniel Goleman on Focus: The Secret to High Performance and Fulfillment
Bonus Quote:
"Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others."
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Cheers
Jeanne
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
About H.Jackson Brown Jr.
Wikipedia
Brown was born in 1940, in Middle Tennessee. Before becoming a writer, he acted as a creative director of an advertising agency in Nashville. He graduated from Emory University in 1962 and was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity.[5] In 1991 he was honored as a "Significant Sig", an award given by the organization to its notable members.[5]
Brown first published A Father's Book of Wisdom, which was quickly followed by P.S. I Love You, a collection of sayings and observations from his father and mother. The latter contains the famous quote on travel (see below) which is often misquoted[6] as having been said by Mark Twain. Both were very popular and led to Life's Little Instruction Book, which was originally written as a going-away present for his college-bound son, Adam.[7] This book contained 511 reminders about "how to live a happy and rewarding life" and became a best-seller worldwide. It has logged more than two years on the New York Times best-seller list, including more than a year at the number one spot. Life's Little Instruction Book was the first book to ever occupy the number one spot on the New York Times best-seller list in both paperback and hardback formats simultaneously. Live and Learn and Pass It On followed and also became a New York Times best-seller. "Live and Learn and Pass It On," was co-authored with his wife Rosemary C. Brown, who is herself an author with books like Rosemary Brown's Big Kitchen Instruction Book.
Brown's books have been translated into 35 languages. They have spawned calendars, posters, apparel items, daily journals, greeting cards, audiocassettes, screensavers and fortune cookies.
Cheers
Jeanne
I'm so sure - not!!
"Let go of certainty. The opposite isn't uncertainty. It's openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.”
Tony Schwartz
For me this week has been 'Buffetting', not in the Warren sense, but in the blown about by strong winds sense. Those winds were my reactions to several things I saw and heard this week. What's kept me on my feet, the 'Grounding' has been my online course about learning; Mindshift, and a book; The Biology of Belief. Today's quote is my response to my reactions. The way forward in learning and becoming more resilient is to embrace paradox, to read and try different things, to look for alternative responses to change, to look after our physical bodies and challenge ourselves to listen deeper to others meaning even more than the words. (That may not be the entire list but I think its enough to start with lol)
For me this week has been 'Buffetting', not in the Warren sense, but in the blown about by strong winds sense. Those winds were my reactions to several things I saw and heard this week. What's kept me on my feet, the 'Grounding' has been my online course about learning; Mindshift, and a book; The Biology of Belief. Today's quote is my response to my reactions. The way forward in learning and becoming more resilient is to embrace paradox, to read and try different things, to look for alternative responses to change, to look after our physical bodies and challenge ourselves to listen deeper to others meaning even more than the words. (That may not be the entire list but I think its enough to start with lol)
The way I see it harder we try to prove something the more elusive it gets and the more precarious our stance, like being in the center of pack of howling wolves. Or, even worse, being part of a pack of howling wolves snarling at anything that encroaches on what they know. What I know is that Certainty is an unstable place unless you surround yourself with only like minded people and only listen to what you want to hear and that is a direct path to polarization and wolves.
Today's quote author, Tony Schwartz may have been instrumental in Donald Trump being elected president but read for yourself what he says about it below. We all have parts of ourselves that we are blind to, that we bury and don't want to see. Often these are the parts that most resemble what we don't like and judge harshly in others. Therein lies a wonderful opportunity for us to grow:-)
Cheers
Jeanne
I never imagined that writing a book for a buffoonish real estate developer could eventually help get him elected president of the United States. The fact that it did is a source of shame and regret I will always carry.
But working with Trump also prompted a reckoning with the Trump in me — the least appealing aspects of myself that I tended to deny and disown, rationalize, minimize, and project onto others, as Trump does every day.
Trump and I grew up wounded in similar ways. We each had a parent who was harsh and fiercely demanding — my mother, and his father — and one who was mostly absent — my father, and his mother. We both longed for approval from our harsher parent and went to extraordinary lengths to build identities separate from them. Each of us sought in the external world the acceptance, love, and security that were so unavailable at home. Both of us mistakenly assumed that more money, power, and praise would make us feel safer, more secure, and more in control of our lives.
The reality is that we all struggle with feelings of fear, insecurity, and inadequacy. They’re an ineluctable part of being human, and they’ve been exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis. To feel worthy — deserving, valuable, lovable — is arguably our most fundamental human need, after food, oxygen, and shelter. The tragedy is not simply the pain we suffer from the experience that we’re not good enough, but also our deep aversion to facing these feelings squarely.
It doesn’t help that we live in a culture that values what we do far more than it does who we are and accords little importance to our inner lives—the emotions, mindset, biases, beliefs, and assumptions that so profoundly shape the way we show up in the world but which few of us are encouraged to notice.
As we grow up, each of us develops a worldview — a story about who we are, what we believe, and what makes us feel safe. Most of us spend the rest of our lives sticking to our story. We see what we can tolerate seeing and disregard the rest. The vast majority of our everyday behaviors are automatic and habitual, rather than intentional and self-selected, and too often they’re reactive and defensive. Even as adults, our early experiences of vulnerability can be retriggered instantly whenever our safety and worthiness feel under threat.
Both my story and Trump’s were grounded in the conviction that the world is a dangerous place, and that staying safe requires being vigilant, aggressive, and full of certitude. Like Trump, I believed that if I wasn’t strong and dominant, I was weak and vulnerable. If I wasn’t 100% right, I was 100% wrong. If I wasn’t all good, I was all bad. It was win or lose, and there wasn’t much in between.
Trump’s response to his feelings of inadequacy was to tout his failures as successes or blame them on others. The saving grace for me was that I felt my own shortcomings and dissatisfaction acutely, and I believed that only I could change the trajectory of my life.
We can’t change what we don’t notice. One of the most liberating experiences in my life was the recognition that the worst things that people have said about me, and for which I’ve castigated myself, were not only true, they were even truer than I had been able to see and acknowledge. But they weren’t all that was true.
In my own life, I’ve progressed from despising my own weakness and limitations, which made me feel so vulnerable and inadequate, to feeling genuine compassion for the young part of me that can still feel that way. I also feel a greater sense of responsibility for how I behave as an adult in any given moment.
Like Trump, I believed that if I wasn’t strong and dominant, I was weak and vulnerable. If I wasn’t 100% right, I was 100% wrong.
Three questions have animated my journey: “Why am I the way I am?” “Who can I become?” and “What stands in my way?” Wrestling with these questions over the years led to three more, which I ask myself whenever I feel triggered, attacked, or find myself defaulting to certainty: “What am I not seeing?” “What else could be true here?” and “What is my responsibility in this?”
Self-awareness by itself is not sufficient. “We are what we repeatedly do,” the philosopher Will Durant explained. Becoming the best version of ourselves requires not just self-inquiry, but also deliberate and disciplined practice to break free of old mindsets and build new habits.
Instead, Trump has role-modeled and normalized our most primitive instincts — hatred, greed, deceit, defensiveness, denial, and blame. He’s had an insidious impact on our collective psyche and our nervous systems. As Trump has devolved in office, he has dragged us backward with him.
Fifty years ago, an ecologist named Garrett Hardin wrote a prescient article in Science titled “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Hardin’s thesis was that individuals acting in their rational self-interest will use whatever resources are available to them, blithely ignoring the fact that any finite resource eventually runs out, which is disastrous for everyone, including themselves.
To illustrate, Hardin used the metaphor of an open pasture — “the commons,” as he called it — to which herdsmen bring their cattle to feed. In order to maximize their income and improve their lives, the herdsmen seek to feed as many cattle as possible. But over time, the effects of overgrazing take a progressive toll on the commons, eventually rendering it unusable for all herdsmen.
“Therein is the tragedy,” Hardin explained. “Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit — in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his self-interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons.”
The defining challenge for each of us is how much we are willing to invest to serve the greater good, even if it requires personal sacrifice.
This is a painful truth with which too many of us have avoided a true reckoning. Like so many people I know, I have continued to live my life as if the Earth’s resources are infinite when they plainly are not. Until recently, I failed to take account of how much my economic, educational, and racial privilege have protected and advantaged me and limited my ability to fully appreciate the level of injustice that millions of people face every day.
How do each of us grow beyond the narrow and self-preserving default to “me” and embrace a bigger commitment to “we?” Why, for example, do the wealthiest Americans horde millions and even billions of dollars that neither they nor their heirs can ever spend? The defining challenge for each of us is how much we are willing to invest to serve the greater good, even if it requires personal sacrifice.
I share Mary Trump’s view that Trump, her uncle, has turned our country into “a macro version of [his] malignantly dysfunctional family.” But the truth can set us free. We can acknowledge our shortcomings and missteps, our anger, sadness, grief, and vulnerability, and we can emerge stronger for it. The only question is how much truth we can tolerate.
Jeanne
Wikipedia:
Tony Schwartz (born May 2, 1952)[1] is an American journalist and business book author who is best known for ghostwriting[2] Trump: The Art of the Deal.
The following is a piece written by Tony Schwartz I found on medium.com
Trump Is a Lost Cause. We Have to Change Ourselves.
The president is a reflection of our worst instincts
I never imagined that writing a book for a buffoonish real estate developer could eventually help get him elected president of the United States. The fact that it did is a source of shame and regret I will always carry.
But working with Trump also prompted a reckoning with the Trump in me — the least appealing aspects of myself that I tended to deny and disown, rationalize, minimize, and project onto others, as Trump does every day.
Trump and I grew up wounded in similar ways. We each had a parent who was harsh and fiercely demanding — my mother, and his father — and one who was mostly absent — my father, and his mother. We both longed for approval from our harsher parent and went to extraordinary lengths to build identities separate from them. Each of us sought in the external world the acceptance, love, and security that were so unavailable at home. Both of us mistakenly assumed that more money, power, and praise would make us feel safer, more secure, and more in control of our lives.
The reality is that we all struggle with feelings of fear, insecurity, and inadequacy. They’re an ineluctable part of being human, and they’ve been exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis. To feel worthy — deserving, valuable, lovable — is arguably our most fundamental human need, after food, oxygen, and shelter. The tragedy is not simply the pain we suffer from the experience that we’re not good enough, but also our deep aversion to facing these feelings squarely.
It doesn’t help that we live in a culture that values what we do far more than it does who we are and accords little importance to our inner lives—the emotions, mindset, biases, beliefs, and assumptions that so profoundly shape the way we show up in the world but which few of us are encouraged to notice.
As we grow up, each of us develops a worldview — a story about who we are, what we believe, and what makes us feel safe. Most of us spend the rest of our lives sticking to our story. We see what we can tolerate seeing and disregard the rest. The vast majority of our everyday behaviors are automatic and habitual, rather than intentional and self-selected, and too often they’re reactive and defensive. Even as adults, our early experiences of vulnerability can be retriggered instantly whenever our safety and worthiness feel under threat.
Both my story and Trump’s were grounded in the conviction that the world is a dangerous place, and that staying safe requires being vigilant, aggressive, and full of certitude. Like Trump, I believed that if I wasn’t strong and dominant, I was weak and vulnerable. If I wasn’t 100% right, I was 100% wrong. If I wasn’t all good, I was all bad. It was win or lose, and there wasn’t much in between.
Trump’s response to his feelings of inadequacy was to tout his failures as successes or blame them on others. The saving grace for me was that I felt my own shortcomings and dissatisfaction acutely, and I believed that only I could change the trajectory of my life.
We can’t change what we don’t notice. One of the most liberating experiences in my life was the recognition that the worst things that people have said about me, and for which I’ve castigated myself, were not only true, they were even truer than I had been able to see and acknowledge. But they weren’t all that was true.
In my own life, I’ve progressed from despising my own weakness and limitations, which made me feel so vulnerable and inadequate, to feeling genuine compassion for the young part of me that can still feel that way. I also feel a greater sense of responsibility for how I behave as an adult in any given moment.
Like Trump, I believed that if I wasn’t strong and dominant, I was weak and vulnerable. If I wasn’t 100% right, I was 100% wrong.
Three questions have animated my journey: “Why am I the way I am?” “Who can I become?” and “What stands in my way?” Wrestling with these questions over the years led to three more, which I ask myself whenever I feel triggered, attacked, or find myself defaulting to certainty: “What am I not seeing?” “What else could be true here?” and “What is my responsibility in this?”
Self-awareness by itself is not sufficient. “We are what we repeatedly do,” the philosopher Will Durant explained. Becoming the best version of ourselves requires not just self-inquiry, but also deliberate and disciplined practice to break free of old mindsets and build new habits.
Instead, Trump has role-modeled and normalized our most primitive instincts — hatred, greed, deceit, defensiveness, denial, and blame. He’s had an insidious impact on our collective psyche and our nervous systems. As Trump has devolved in office, he has dragged us backward with him.
Fifty years ago, an ecologist named Garrett Hardin wrote a prescient article in Science titled “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Hardin’s thesis was that individuals acting in their rational self-interest will use whatever resources are available to them, blithely ignoring the fact that any finite resource eventually runs out, which is disastrous for everyone, including themselves.
To illustrate, Hardin used the metaphor of an open pasture — “the commons,” as he called it — to which herdsmen bring their cattle to feed. In order to maximize their income and improve their lives, the herdsmen seek to feed as many cattle as possible. But over time, the effects of overgrazing take a progressive toll on the commons, eventually rendering it unusable for all herdsmen.
“Therein is the tragedy,” Hardin explained. “Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit — in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his self-interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons.”
The defining challenge for each of us is how much we are willing to invest to serve the greater good, even if it requires personal sacrifice.
This is a painful truth with which too many of us have avoided a true reckoning. Like so many people I know, I have continued to live my life as if the Earth’s resources are infinite when they plainly are not. Until recently, I failed to take account of how much my economic, educational, and racial privilege have protected and advantaged me and limited my ability to fully appreciate the level of injustice that millions of people face every day.
How do each of us grow beyond the narrow and self-preserving default to “me” and embrace a bigger commitment to “we?” Why, for example, do the wealthiest Americans horde millions and even billions of dollars that neither they nor their heirs can ever spend? The defining challenge for each of us is how much we are willing to invest to serve the greater good, even if it requires personal sacrifice.
I share Mary Trump’s view that Trump, her uncle, has turned our country into “a macro version of [his] malignantly dysfunctional family.” But the truth can set us free. We can acknowledge our shortcomings and missteps, our anger, sadness, grief, and vulnerability, and we can emerge stronger for it. The only question is how much truth we can tolerate.
ReplyForward |
Elegance of the Hedgehog
“They didn't recognize me," I repeat.
He stops in turn, my hand still on his arm.
"It is because they have never seen you," he says. "I would recognize you anywhere.”
Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog
"It is because they have never seen you," he says. "I would recognize you anywhere.”
Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog
“The person who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The person who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever seen before.”
Albert Einstein
I have written and deleted several attempts to discuss my thoughts on these two quotes because they didn't explain the message of personal challenge that I read in these:
Challenge 1: Try to SEE people! To recognize them as individuals and who they are rather than only that they are a) part of the landscape or b) different, part of a different group or tribe from me or "one of those people" (in the case of the Hedgehog the elegance is hidden beneath conformity, two wonderful characters who deliberate hide in disguises of stereotype and mediocracy and are only recognized by each other and one other eccentric)
Challenge 2: Stay curious! Look beyond what I know, keep learning and get out of my comfort zone.
Cheers
JeanneCommunity life
"Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of people, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received and am still receiving.”
Albert Einstein, Living Philosophies
"The moral development of a civilization is measured by the breadth of its sense of community."
Anatol Rapoport
“An organism that is too greedy and takes too much without giving anything in return destroys what it needs for life.”
Peter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World
“The best way to reduce opponents’ overconfidence and make them open to your position might seem to be an overwhelming argument that shows them why they are wrong and why you are right. Sometimes that works, but only rarely. What usually works better is to ask questions—in particular, to ask opponents for reasons. Questions are often more powerful than assertions.”
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Think Again: How to Reason and Argue
My today thoughts for sending these quotes:
"The moral development of a civilization is measured by the breadth of its sense of community."
Anatol Rapoport
“An organism that is too greedy and takes too much without giving anything in return destroys what it needs for life.”
Peter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World
“The best way to reduce opponents’ overconfidence and make them open to your position might seem to be an overwhelming argument that shows them why they are wrong and why you are right. Sometimes that works, but only rarely. What usually works better is to ask questions—in particular, to ask opponents for reasons. Questions are often more powerful than assertions.”
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Think Again: How to Reason and Argue
My today thoughts for sending these quotes:
We individuals are not islands though right now it feels in ways we are living in isolated islands. This pandemic experience is illustrating how connected we are in a larger sense.
The philosophy of Gratitude for who we are and where we are... whatever that may be... because we did not get here by ourselves allows us to grow!! Gratitude and giving do not diminish the individual, paradoxically they raise up the community and we celebrate individuals such as Albert Einstein who choose to give from their gifts.
Breaking down the argument of Anatol Rapoport
Breadth of Community - leads to Moral development of a Civilization
We are in a GLOBAL pandemic! That means India and Africa, Europe and South America, Asia and Antarctica are all connected to North America; first world, second world, third world... we are all in it together. It feels sometimes that we are more about US and THEM than any sense of human community... When we place blame, let fear dictate, keep them out and let us in, shame and differentiate between what we deserve and they deserve we are perpetuating differences and destroying possibility for change, learning and growth.
I'd say that the Peter Wohleben quote in which he is referring to life in forests is an apt description of human activity right now. Maybe this pandemic will help wake us up or maybe we are too far gone. Basically what we are in the process of destroying is ourselves.
And the last quote is the positive ending:-)
We cannot change anything by doing the same thing over and over. Thinking we are right is getting us nowhere!!!!
Question Question Question is an Answer!!!
Cheers
Jeanne
Jeanne
Anatol Rapoport, a mathematical psychologist who was famous for his insights into social interactions: You should attempt to re-express your target’s position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says, ‘Thanks, I wish I’d thought of putting it that way.’ You should list any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of widespread agreement). You should mention anything that you have learned from your target. Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism.1 How many times have you heard or participated in a conversation that obeys these rules? Such guidelines have gone out of fashion recently, if they were ever followed.”
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Think Again: How to Reason and Argue
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Think Again: How to Reason and Argue
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