On Objectifying Fear

Richard Stine might best be described as a “visu­al philoso­pher.” His can­ny rep­re­sen­ta­tions of the human con­di­tion are great stim­u­lants to self-aware­­ness. This one, for exam­ple, has always been a favorite of mine. Stine has a gift for com­bin­ing whim­si­cal draw­ings with deep reflec­tions. I hap­pened to be read­ing his fab­u­lous book, The World of… Con­tin­ue read­ing On Objec­ti­fy­ing Fear

Published
Categorized as Openness

Bad Faith

When French exis­ten­tial­ist philoso­pher Jean-Paul Sartre coined the phrase “bad faith,” he was refer­ring to any form of self-decep­­tion that denies the exis­tence of human free­dom. When some­one says he “had no choice,” this points direct­ly to an illu­sion, for Sartre con­tend­ed that we always have a choice; even in not choos­ing we make one.… Con­tin­ue read­ing Bad Faith

Published
Categorized as Choices

On Being For One Another

My moth­er and father were sev­en­teen years old in 1929, so I grew up hear­ing about the Great Depres­sion. I recall the sto­ries, most­ly from my moth­er, about how mil­lion­aires jumped from win­dows on Wall Street as they real­ized their for­tunes were worth­less. My father’s sto­ries were also extreme. He had been a refugee in… Con­tin­ue read­ing On Being For One Another

Forces of Destruction (and the Daily Triumph of the Human Spirit)

I learned the term “forces of destruc­tion” many years ago from W. Edwards Dem­ing, the late man­age­ment guru who great­ly enlarged this coun­try’s under­stand­ing of qual­i­ty — in prod­ucts and services…and the life of peo­ple at work. He used the term to denote all the ways we are con­di­tioned to com­pete against one anoth­er, and… Con­tin­ue read­ing Forces of Destruc­tion (and the Dai­ly Tri­umph of the Human Spirit)

Published
Categorized as Trust