To avoid confusion, I will start with my own definition of bullshit: whenever I exert energy into efforts which are primarily meant to make others—and sometimes also myself—believe that I have something of value to contribute, or into efforts to shift attention away from my true motives, and a truthful disclosure of what I can… Continue reading Bullshit’s Shadow
Category: Consciousness
Inner and Outer Goals
Some months ago I joined a mens group currently organized by Jacob Kishere. Every other Sunday morning we take part in Zoom calls with men from around the world. The following line of thought struck me as important during today’s call in two ways. First, it demonstrates why I sometimes find it difficult to follow… Continue reading Inner and Outer Goals
Free-Energy in NVC
This post is a follow-up to my previous post, “Words as Windows or Walls“. I feel intuitively drawn to more deeply explore the connection between Nonviolent Communication—NVC for the remainder of this post, which is a process I learned about, together with some of the concepts described by it—and one particular way of describing (human)… Continue reading Free-Energy in NVC
Words as Windows or Walls
The title of this post comes from a song that I learned about while listening to Marshall Rosenberg’s 9-CD Nonviolent Communication training. The song is called “Words are Windows, or they are Walls”. He sings it after relating an anecdote about nuns in a convent: they were stuck on the question of whether or not… Continue reading Words as Windows or Walls
Individual vs. Collective Value
Yesterday, I was listening to a panel discussion on academic freedom. Close to an end, I noticed a conflict arising in me: many practical situations require that I seek and find value or utility in the connection to other humans—anyone who has ever networked to get anything done can attest to that. If you know… Continue reading Individual vs. Collective Value
Leaning into Discomfort
I recently came across the term “comfort addiction.” Unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly where—it might have been in Anne Helen Petersen’s recently published book “Can’t Even.” The image is very simple: through mostly technological, and partly sociological, innovation, we have become so used to our environment behaving in predictable, familiar ways that we feel overwhelmed… Continue reading Leaning into Discomfort
Conscious vs. Obedient
Please take everything I express as provisional: these are statements of a vision for how—by applying the principle of local intelligence in complex, living systems to our society—the experience of all people could be improved. A lot. The transformation I am describing would upgrade any institution or organization that (partially) runs on what I am… Continue reading Conscious vs. Obedient
Escape from Tyranny
Take a look at the following dialog occurring in a work context: Boss: Worker, when can you get the expenditure report done?Worker: That will take me three to four days, boss.Boss: I really need it by tomorrow, so you have until then!Worker: … [imagine what might be said here] Have you ever found yourself in… Continue reading Escape from Tyranny