Just Super

Madame:

Good suggestions.  John Maxwell teaches great leadership skills as well (although occasionally we come into slight disagreement).  Readers take note from that while one should not be self-delusional in one’s thinking, the how and character of our thoughts have tremendous impact—personally, with family and friends, and societally.

Today, of course, is Superbowl Sunday, a day that should be enjoyed.  Although I might often appear in these postings a curmudgeon who is in to guilt trips, that perception would be incorrect.  Recreation, play, diversion, group enjoyment—all are very important to both individuals and societies.  I myself have numerous hobbies, pastimes, interests, etc., some quite time engrossing, and would vastly prefer to spend a great deal of each day and week in them.

Superbowl Sunday should be a well earned, well deserved capstone to a week that saw good progress for the society.  One where we could all enjoy it wholeheartedly and guiltlessly because our lives and those around us are progressing sustainably for the better, because we’ve made the decisions and taken the actions to do that.

Except that isn’t the case.  And so Superbowl Sunday becomes instead a Roman-esque testament to our propensity to divert ourselves from the fact that we made no sincere efforts at progress and actually inflicted anti-progress on ourselves; to deny or willingly misapprehend the realities around us; to promote the banal or inane or destructive, and divert the resources to do so; to reward selfishness and visionlessness; and all when the civilizational indicators are heading strongly in the wrong direction. 

And people will justify it by saying they are “powerless to do anything”—except for all the energy, time, and thought they will devote to the premier modern gladiator game, let alone all the smaller ones before that.

Powerlessness in this society is largely a choice.  Readers are referred once again to Madame’s post about the potency of one’s thoughts.

I’ll still be getting together with my friends this afternoon.  We will laugh, we will eat, we will comment on the commercials, we will enjoy the game and each other’s company.  And in the back of our minds we will feel a little tug.

That’s our societal conscience, which knows, and can’t be fooled by justification of hollow spectacle.

What Do You Think?

Professor J,

I'm having one of those weeks where certain ideas that I've been focused on seemed to converge in a whirlpool of information and experience. Do you ever get the feeling the universe wants you to understand something now?

I've been thinking about, well...thinking. Your last post pointed out, to some extent,  how the lack of it weakens and divides. And as you've alluded to many times, it is often the people who have spent the least amount of time giving deep thought to anything who are the ones who are the most sure of their opinions and beliefs.

I'm reading John Maxwell's new book, Thinking for a Change. I like the title's double entendre. Maxwell can usually be relied upon for good advice in the motivation and leadership departments, but I was intrigued with the skills he's promoting:

1. Acquire the wisdom of big-picture thinking - does my thinking extend beyond me and my world
2. Unleash the potential of focused thinking - concentrate to find clarity on the real issues
3. Discover the joy of creative thinking - get out of the box and find break through thinking
4. Recognize the importance of realistic thinking - does my thinking have a solid mental foundation
5. Release the power of strategic thinking - is my thinking leading to plans for today that help me reach my potential tomorrow
6. Feel the energy of possibility thinking - possibility thinking can help you find solutions to even the difficult problems
7. Embrace the lessons of reflective thinking - am I revisiting the past to gain understanding and learn from what happened
8. Question the acceptance of popular thinking - am I rejecting the limitations of common thinking
9. Encourage the participation of shared thinking - am I engaging others to expand and sharpen my thinking
10. Experience the satisfaction of unselfish thinking - am I considering others and their needs
11. Enjoy the return of bottom-line thinking - am I staying focused on results

*copied from a reviewer's post 

While I've been reading this book other things have come to mind. First, our ability to control our thoughts and actually change our brains by doing so. Buddhist monks, for example show an amazing capacity for empathy and compassion when studied, proving that indeed "as a man thinks, so he is." Read the article about one such study here: This Buddhist Monk is the World's Happiest Man My daughter and I recently discussed after our yoga class that it never occurs to us during our practice to hold any negativity or ill will toward anyone. Yet I've heard many Christians condemn yoga and meditation as dangerous (for unclear reasons).

Might the  knowledge of the mind's power be why Christians are admonished to do the following?

"...be renewed in the spirit of your minds." Eph. 4:23

"... whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Phil. 4:8

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" Rom. 12:2

Studies have shown that the self talk we engage in can greatly affect our behavior, the difference between saying "I can't eat that" and I don't eat that" for instance. Here's an article about the study: The Amazing Power of "I Don't" vs. "I can't."

Hopefully Maxwell's book will attract lots of readers (and doers also). We can't change the entire world overnight but we can start with our own thoughts and self talk.

Long Division

Madame:

This Beck thing brings us back to “the early days” (lol) of this blog, where we looked at books by Beck and Obama.  Readers may find that archive search instructive.

You mention that Limbaugh and Coulter will not have even the tardy bit of introspection that Beck seems to have had.  It brings to mind what I heard an “old” and “liberal” radio talk show host say about a lot of the “conservative” commentators, because he has known most of them personally from their beginnings:  they are smart, they only believe part of the things they say (and rarely to the level that they take it), and they are knowingly exploiting for financial gain the willful, emotional ignorance of their “followers.”

Interestingly enough, that particular talk show host was canned by the station he was on for not being “hip” or “progressive” enough (but was probably also canned at least partially because he didn’t march in the all anti-conservative, all-the-time parade).

As I travel the country, I encounter this division theme, which seems to be a familiar one but which few REALLY want to make a determined effort on: As we’ve mentioned, it serves those who hold the semi-hidden power.  How else could one explain so many PRESENTLY middle class people who are in denial and diversion about the reasons for the economic changes around them.  Who ignore and make no connections about all the older cars on the roads (and the autos in need of repair, sometimes appallingly so); of the faltering (and sometimes missing) infrastructure; of the increasing scarcity of certain skills and experiences that used to be basic; of the young who ARE the future but far too many of whom are either unprepared or lacking any real economic opportunity—and who will BE the future, for good or ill; of the formerly middle class people who have spun out of it into what USED to be the “working class,” but which is now in many respects the lower class, an often part-time and hard scrabble existence; of real poverty right in our midst, not even counting the homeless.

Only a populace that had been psychologically conditioned (the cynical would say brainwashed) would accept the disconnection, a disconnection that permits denial, permits the fiction that because THEY are “all right” for the moment, that things must be okay, and the “sensationalist media” and “bleeding hearts” are “enabling the moochers.”  Who, if they even acknowledge its existence at all, refuse to see Robert Reich’s documentary “Inequality for All, ” terming it “b.s. propaganda from another liberal who wants to kill jobs and the American Dream.” 

Good on Reich for soldiering on.  Just like the women suffragists who were ridiculed, harassed, or dismissed by so many of their fellow women, but had truth on their side, uncomfortable truth is present here as well.

Income inequality, and the plight of the middle class (which had been suffering in one fashion or another throughout most of the decade) is almost precisely where it was in 1928.  I hope I don’t need to remind everyone what triggered off economic calamity that next year.   I am NOT predicting economic calamity next year (and fervently hope it doesn’t happen), but I AM saying that, in Rush’s (the group, not Limbaugh) words, “if you choose not to decide, you’ll still have made a choice.”  Meaning that, denial only delays decision and reckoning, it does not evade it.  We can choose both not to see our problems and not to deal with them, but eventually they will deal with us in ways we will have little control over.

Owning Up

Professor J,

Welcome back to the land of the living. ;)

So out of oblivion this week comes Glenn Beck.  I never really got his humor on the radio, though I loved him on CNN Headline News when he had a unique talk show. Then he moved to FOX where they gave him free rein to do whatever he liked and at first I was still a regular viewer. He promoted learning more about our history and asked a lot of questions that were pertinent in the beginning. As time went on his theories on things got...well, a little unhinged.

 One day he was showing a clip of President Obama saying something that sounded sinister. He showed the same short (maybe 5 seconds) clip repeatedly during the show. I went online and found the speech from which the clip was taken and the clip being shown over and over completely misrepresented the tone of the entire speech. I'll admit I stuck with him an embarrassing length of time after that. He finally lost me when the daily chalk boards outlined conspiracies of one kind and then another.

Then there was his incendiary language. Which in this recent interview he says he now regrets and admits to being part of the problem and says " “I think I played a role, unfortunately, in helping tear the country apart and it's not who we are.”

Only thanks to him and others like him, it is who we are now. 

 He's sorry looking back, but the damage has been done--and the money has been made (wink). But I'll give him some credit for realizing the amount of damage he's done and showing remorse. I doubt we'll see such introspection from the likes of Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh who have legions of loyal fans who have bestowed upon them celebrity status and made them fortunes.

Fear and loathing, not searching for common ground and solutions,  is what keeps you atop the best sellers list and makes you a popular talk show guest.  And why mess with success, no matter the cost?

I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/ann_coulter.html#Y90elQJjyPgFfY44.99

I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/ann_coulter.html#Y90elQJjyPgFfY44.9

I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/ann_coulter.html#Y90elQJjyPgF

A Movement of Many

Madame:

Thank you for the good wishes.  I am back in whatever form readers feel I usually am (top, middle, askew, sideways, curmudgeonly?).  But I too shared the frustration of having the time to read and think—and having the physical disposition to do neither.

I am following a bit better what you mean on use of pioneer/frontier thought in American political speech.  Some work has been done, although primarily in relation to the notion of American exceptionalism (and its corresponding historical antecedent of “manifest destiny,”  or, as others would put it, American imperialism).  Richard Etulain did an examination in the 1990s.  James Ceaser (yes, that is spelled correctly) also had a relatively recent piece in the American Political Thought journal.  The Frontier Lab is an organization actively promoting such talk in the political lexicon (and founded long after Kennedy’s New Frontier vision, by the way).  Slatta’s work last decade on rugged individualism and how it is popularized in our culture and speech (and how we resist its questioning) may also have relevance in comparisons of frontier violence, rugged individualized justice, etc. and our mass shootings recurrences.   However, I’m not well-versed enough to know how extensive any work is, or what the present state (if any) of academic research is on the focus area you have outlined.  Your questions are pertinent.  Attention PhD prospects!  A possible dissertation thesis!

“Army of one” was a typical Army screwup.  It was supposed to be “Army of ONE,” meaning Officer, NCO, Enlisted, the three types of soldiers, but that was lost quickly, and even if it had remained, would still have confused the potential recruit (who would have presumably had little or no understanding of all that).  

Your words on the effects of isolation—and the implications—describe well the travails of our hyper-individualized society.   Those who are intense Facebook-philes mayhap should take heed.  Isolation and hyper individualism are also major contributing factors to the confirmation bias you note.

Your thoughts on the millenials: Let’s hope that is both the good trend and the results of that trend.  I like that gradual transformation better than the one that has been necessary to effect too many past transformations: calamity/tragedy/suffering.

How to avoid groupthink and rigid conformity in the achieving, you ask?  Perhaps we should look to the elves of fantasy (and possibly their real-life inspirations, the Finns) to see how to have both individual freedom and yet a sense of communal responsibility.

I am as hopeful as you that the trend toward smaller and more sustainable is long-lasting.  A question: What will all the industries—housing, mortgage, furnishing, remodeling, etc.—do when their prey are both no longer abundant and unwilling to expose themselves?

If those industries’ greed—or rather the results of their greed—end up hoisting them on their own petards, lovers of poetic justice may rejoice.

Of course, that doesn’t address what has—in many respects of the word—already been effectively stolen…

KISS

Professor J,

Hope you are feeling more like yourself again. The thing that made me the maddest when I was sick was that I finally had time to lounge around and read but my feverish brain couldn't focus on anything. Frustrating!

Today, in order not to overwhelm you, with more stuff to respond to, I'm keeping it simple.  This time of year I am in the mood to simplify. I cleaned out my clothes closet and pantry this week. It's always shocking to see how much can be accumulated and I'm not even a heavy shopper. Not surprisingly simplifying is one of those routine resolutions we make annually.

But it's becoming more than just a yearly personal challenge. I've noticed lately that in the media and among friends, the question of how much is enough and whether or not we could live with less is reaching a kind of tipping point. The attitude is less "can we do without some of this stuff?"  and more wouldn't we really be happier without some of this stuff?"

You and I discussed a few years back (that just sounds weird) the economic downturn and the likelihood that it would impact people's long term behavior. At the time we were talking specifically about debt and if we thought people had learned any lessons they'd been be applying to life after the recovery. But the learning to let go of material things, and order our lives in a way that is healthier, and simpler is apparently another side effect. Google "tiny houses" for images of just how small people are going. It's inspiring. They are not only tiny but affordable and sustainable. Only time will tell if it's a fad or if we are really moving past consumerism as a life style.

Here's a link to the Tiny House Blog. 

Classic

Professor J,

I do hope you are feeling better. I often wonder when I'm really ill, as I was recently, if our bodies don't just decide we've pushed them too far and they are going to stop us in our tracks, smack us in bed, and finally get the rest they need whether we think we have time for it or not.

I am reading Dale Carnegie's classic, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. A friend actually gave it to me to give to my daughter, a chronic worrier, but I thought I'd read it before passing it on. I am always interested in how when I'm thinking about certain ideas I seem to encounter information from unlikely sources related to it. Kind of like when you've visited a city and then it seems to suddenly be mentioned everywhere. I always wonder if the universe is bringing me information to connect ideas I'm thinking about, or if I'm just paying attention to certain ideas and then I notice them. Perhaps both.

As I was reading the book I ran across this:

"...If a man will devote his time to securing facts in an impartial, objective way, his worries will usually evaporate in the light of knowledge.'

But what do most of us do? If we bother with facts at all--and Thomas Edison said in all seriousness, 'There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the labor of thinking'--if we bother with facts at all, we hunt like bird dogs after the facts that bolster up what we already think--and ignore all the others! We want only the facts that justify our acts--the facts that fit in conveniently with our wishful thinking and justify our preconceived prejudices!

As Andre Maurois put it: 'Everything that is in agreement with our personal desires seems true. Everything else puts us into a rage."

An early description of confirmation bias.

Our best thinking is done when we put our emotions aside but sadly the Maurois quote seems to pinpoint accurately the kind of "thinking" that is being done all around us. Some things it seems just never change. 

Another Maurois quote: "We appreciate frankness from those who like us. Frankness from others is called insolence."

Well, now. Isn't that the truth!:)

Speedy recovery, my friend!