Age and Expectation

The Zen Buddhists have a concept they refer to as “beginners mind” which means having and maintaining a spirit of openness and eagerness towards the study and practice of a subject, even if one is very experienced. As one teacher puts it, “in the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there … More Age and Expectation

Affluence Disorders; What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Weaker

New words and phrases enter our lexicon regularly, often in response to new and highly specific inventions and behaviors, such as ‘social media’ or ‘sexting.’ The big picture still tends to be summarized by the older concepts that capture unchanging basic human impulses, words and phrases like ‘animal spirits’ or ‘ennui.’ The new phrase that … More Affluence Disorders; What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Weaker