The gentle art of sanity amidst civilization
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Douglas Harding was a modern-day English philosopher who made a remarkable discovery about human nature, and developed a simple and ingenious method for guiding others to see it for themselves. This post is the third post in a series about his method. [Post one] [Post two] Though an architect by trade, Douglas Harding was strongly [...]
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Over the next few posts, I’m taking you down the rabbit hole as far as you’re willing to go. Before we go on, though, it’s time to tackle a topic that is essential to understanding humanity and ourselves. I refer to the ego frequently here on Raptitude, and that’s because it has an immense role [...]
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It was a scorching afternoon and both of us had given up on doing any serious work for the rest of the day. We’d surveyed most of a disused section of railroad tracks past the suburbs, when across the field I saw Mark pause, look at his watch, and begin packing up the equipment. “F [...]
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When I was six years old, I was crossing the little bridge on Center street when I realized I was doomed. I don’t know why it only occurred to me then, but once it did I couldn’t deny it. I was in Grade 1, and I liked my current teacher, but I was afraid of [...]
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Few books have been recommended to me so frequently and gushingly as Dubner and Levitt’s Freakonomics. After tracking down a used copy in a musty Brisbane book exchange, I devoured it before lunch the next day. It really is a compelling book. Its premise is that conventional wisdom is often wrong, because society’s experts use [...]
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Today I saw something on the sidewalk that made me stop. Somebody had etched a small swastika in the concrete. I wouldn’t say it exactly upset me, but it got me genuinely curious… who did that? Presumably, some kid stumbled across a rare chance to immortalize himself in unguarded wet concrete, and this was his [...]
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Done. My campaign to go 21 consecutive days without complaining or gossiping is finally over, and what I discovered surprised me. To recap, the experiment was to cease complaining or gossiping for twenty-one straight days, as long as that took. If I complained, I started the count again from zero. The idea was inspired by [...]
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If there’s one thing Friedrich Nietzsche did well, it’s obliterate feel-good beliefs people have about themselves. He has been criticized for being a misanthrope, a subvert, a cynic and a pessimist, but I think these assessments are off the mark. I believe he only wanted human beings to be more honest with themselves. He did [...]
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When the mind is not crowded By imaginary things, It is the best season of your life. -Kabir I just chopped twelve hundred needless words from this article, which is fitting, because the point of all that blathering was to warn against getting lost in abstractions. I think too much. Virtually all of us do, [...]
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There is an interesting discussion brewing in the blogosphere at the moment. My friend and fellow blogger Lisis Blackston of Quest for Balance wrote a controversial article last week about the feasibility of dropping your day job to pursue your passion. We’ve all witnessed a growing culture of people who are quitting their lukewarm office [...]
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