Book in Progress – Introduction

The introduction presented at workshop on December 8 is available from the author on request by sending email to: lee@simplyquality.org

Much of the text is on-line at: http://www.emotionalcompetency.com/

Where's Wisdom?

The essay "Where's Wisdom?" is available on-line at http://www.thewisepath.org/

A .pdf file suitable for printing is at: http://www.thewisepath.org/papers/wheres%20wisdom.pdf

Prose Sampler

Here is a collection of links to previously written articles you may enjoy.

• The Theory of Knowledge — Deciding what to believe
• Dialogue — Thinking Together
• Tyranny — Abusing Power
• Courage — Value-based action despite temptation
• Coping with Abundance
• Authentic Humility
• The Wise Path — Progress toward Wisdom

Kingpins, Pawns, and Suckers

The fictional short story, Kingpins, Pawns, and Suckers is available directly from the author. Please email him at lee@simplyquality.org to request a copy.

Six Words Tell Each Haunting Tale—A collection of very short stories.

She undressed seductively while I watched.

She kissed him. I left her.

I left. She bawled, then jumped.

Piss me off, still no answer.

Away on tour when baby died.

Stole the stop sign. Fatal prank.

Road Rage. Chased him. Cars Flipped.

Played chicken. Cars over the cliff.

Rather than starve, we ate corpses.

Alone at night. What’s that sound?

My heart soars at her touch.

I asked her, she said yes.

I asked her, she became sad.

The Doctor called with the results.

I just found out I’m pregnant.

The doctor said, it’s a boy.

We regret to inform you …

The cancer returned, worse this time.

His eyes closed this last time.

We have to let you go.

The election results are now in.

Your SAT scores are now available.

We are pleased to announce …

The Congressman called, he’s recommending you.

The Vice President personally congratulated her.

General Petraeus promoted her to Captain.

She flew 100 combat missions safely.

Yet another dark and stormy night.

Evoking powerful emotions doesn’t require murder.

Plots pivot on vivid emotional moments.

Transcending Dogma

“They can’t all be right,” I thought to myself as the engineers took their seats around the conference table, “but they can’t all be wrong.” Although we were gathering for a technical discussion, my thoughts drifted to consider the variety of faiths represented by this group of bright young engineers. Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim believers were sitting peacefully around the table in my office. We worked closely together everyday.

They can’t all be right because the dogma preached by their various faiths is inherently incompatible. When we try to agree who was the true Prophet, who died for our sins, when and how best to pray, what we can and cannot eat, how the world was created, the origin of the species, and what precisely happens in the afterlife, the debate quickly becomes polarized and contentious.

But they can’t all be wrong either. We all seek answers to profound questions and unsolved mysteries that have intrigued humans throughout the ages. We want wise guidance for living better lives. We want our lives to be meaningful. We want a powerful, trusted, and omniscient companion who is always there for us and knows what is best. We want someone we can confide in, dialogue with, and appeal to for answers, decisions, hope, comfort, and consolation. We want to love and be loved. We want the world we live in to become a better place and we dream of the ultimate paradise. We each have an innate sense of good and evil that becomes more real if it can be symbolized and manifest as specific rules and images. We tend to see the world from an intentional stance; when something happens, it seems intentional, and someone must be doing the intending.

Destructive religious conflicts persist because religious beliefs can’t all be right, despite the most righteous insistence, longstanding traditions, arbitrary defenses, and obsessive need to be right. And because they can’t all be wrong we have a wonderful opportunity for sharing a constructive spirituality.

Give it up and let it go so we can all move forward.

From Demagoguery to Dialogue

Seven referees take the field at each American professional football game. Coach’s challenges and video tape replay scrutinize the referee’s decisions as the crowd waits in suspense for each verdict on the field. Commentators describe the rule and anticipate how it will be applied in each particular instance. Referees describe the evidence and the rules to the fans before announcing their decisions. Cheers and jeers express the fans’ opinions of these rapid and vital proclamations. Perhaps as a result, youngsters playing sandlot football are well aware of the rules, and often play fairly even without referees present.

The commentator smiles warmly as the first guest politician misrepresents facts, endorses false assumptions, over-generalizes, draws invalid conclusions, engages in ad hominem attacks, creates false dichotomies, uses literal truths to send false messages, and uses inflammatory and hateful language to present his position on the typical political talk show. The same personable commentator enjoys provoking the role-playing as the other guest politicians use similar demagoguery to attack opponents. Political conversation resembles WrestleMania; there is nothing fair, sporting, insightful, or adult about it. The referee contributes to the mayhem. The crude and divisive communication style we see used by these celebrity politicians, talk-show hosts, and even political analysts quickly contaminates our everyday discussions. Because we are cautioned not to discuss vital issues such as religion or politics the most essential conversations become prohibited. We pay a heavy price for this constant mischief.

Football is played in college. WrestleMania appeals to children. Can we learn to converse like collegiate adults?

Perhaps refereed dialogue can provide a model for more meaningful conversations by the professionals and by ordinary citizens. The consistent intent of the dialogue is for each participant to move us toward a deeper understanding of what is. Dialogue is a collaborative rather than a competitive endeavor. These simple but rarely followed rules can help insightful dialogue emerge:

• Statements are required to be factual and representative; untruths, misleading statements, or unrepresentative anecdotes are not allowed. Words are carefully chosen for accuracy and objectivity. Opinion is clearly differentiated from fact. Uncertainty is accurately characterized. Context is fairly represented.
• Stated conclusions are validly derived from carefully established premise. Logical fallacies or unsubstantiated premise are not allowed.
• Discussion is relevant to advancing the thread of the argument. Non Sequiturs, distracting tangents, and irrelevancies are not allowed.
• Speakers work to fully understand each other’s point of view. They ask clarifying questions or suggest clarifying restatements to help the other more fully express his viewpoint. They accurately express the other’s viewpoint before changing the direction of the dialogue. Ideally, speaker “A” expresses the viewpoint of speaker “B” to the satisfaction of speaker “B” before going on.
• Speakers continuously demonstrate their respect for each other throughout the dialogue. Hateful language, ad hominem attacks, ridicule, sarcasm, preemptive dismissals, and condescension are not allowed.
• Participants work together to uncover assumptions, gather information, increase clarity, challenge inconsistencies, resolve ambiguity, think critically, dig deeper, identify helpful shifts in viewpoint, and improve inadequate research, reasoning, or presentation.

Sports referees blow the whistle and immediately stop play to address infractions, review what has happened, correct the error, and ensure play continues according to the rules. Similarly the moderator acts as a referee to enforce these dialogue rules. Whenever an infraction occurs the conversation is immediately halted, the infraction is identified, and the speaker corrects the error before the conversation continues. This intervention might be as simple as a request by the moderator for clarification, or the moderator may stop, challenge, and redirect the conversation more intensely. Skilled participants stay within the rules so the conversation proceeds uninterrupted.

Kids on sandlots learn sports by watching the professionals play fairly by the rules. Amateur athletes at many levels quickly regulate their own play according to agreed rules. Perhaps professional communicators carefully following well-chosen rules of dialogue can provide us with an effective model for meaningful, even transformational, conversations.

Over the Hump

You may prefer the available one-page custom layout version.

"My God, Mr. Chase, what is the matter?" Captain George Pollard, Jr demanded. "We have been stove by a whale," answered first mate Owen Chase. And so on November 20, 1820 while the whaling ship Essex was sailing almost 3,000 miles west of South America the 28-year old captain struggled to comprehend the beginning of what was to unfold as one of the most gruesome whaling tragedies.

A huge whale, as long as the ship itself had charged and rammed the ship broadside with its massive head. It then gathered its strength, snapped its jaws with a force that could be heard for miles, took off swimming ahead of the ship, turned around and came straight at the Essex crushing the bow before swimming off. Predators quickly became prey as the crew narrowly escaped the rapidly sinking ship wreck in three small craft.

While attempting to sail east against the trade winds toward South America, the sailors exhausted their supplies and became overcome with hunger. On February 8, crewmember Isaac Cole died in horrible convulsions. Owen Chase suggested the body be kept for food. The men agreed, separated the limbs from his body, cut all the flesh from the bones, and eagerly devoured their dead crewmember’s heart.

Men continued to die and were eaten to sustain the remaining crew. In captain Pollard’s boat only four desperate men remained alive. "Let’s exchange lots and see who will be the one to sacrifice themselves so the others might live," one of the boys suggested. They did, and Owen Coffin, Pollard’s young cousin drew the fatal lot. Pollard asked, "My boy, if you don’t want to do this, I’ll kill the first one that touches you." The suffering Quaker boy replied "No, I like my lot as well as any other." They drew lots again to see who would kill him. That gruesome chore went to Charles Ramsdel who shot his friend, and they consumed him.

George Pollard and Charles Ramsdel were finally rescued on February 23rd, 1821 when a Nantucket whaleship, the Dauphin, came beside them off the Chilean coast. In total, eight survived and twelve perished during the long ordeal.

But the Essex tragedy was only the most heart-wrenching event in the inevitable collapse of the whaling industry. Other whaling disasters followed. In August 1851 the whale ship Ann Alexander was also rammed by a whale while sailing the Pacific. In 1871 an early winter trapped 32 whaling ships in the arctic ice. Although the crews were saved, all of the ships were lost while hunting whale oil in the arctic.

While these disasters highlighted the risks faced by whalers, it was the depletion of the world’s whaling population rather than these shipwrecks that led to whaling’s eventual decline. In the early 1630s three or four whales would come ashore on Cape Cod every year and their blubber was readily harvested and boiled down into oil. Whaling was easy, but the supply of beached whales was quite limited. To increase the supply sailors ventured short distances off shore to harvest whales approaching the beach. When this supply was exhausted they ventured farther and farther out to sea. Eventually voyages, like that of the Essex, lasting several years and traveling thousands of miles into the Pacific were required to reach the remaining herds. The diminishing stock of whales continued to test the limits of the whaling technology. In 1853 The "Golden Age" of American whaling reached its peak. In the industry’s most profitable year, sales of whale products totaled $11 million. Whales were being killed much faster than they could breed. It was inevitable that the whaling industry would collapse because of the fundamental problem created by its own success. According to one of the best estimates approximately 250,000 sperm whales were taken during the bulk of the golden age. The costs of harvesting the few remaining whales began to exceed the revenue they could provide. Scarce whales made for scarce profits.

In 1859 Colonel Edwin Drake drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania and began to extract an abundant supply of petroleum from his 75-foot deep well. This was converted into kerosene and provided an inexpensive alternative to whale oil. This new technology ensured the steady decline of whaling.

Declining supplies of whales pushed technology to the limit. These difficult and dangerous technologies led to disastrous accidents. Depletion of the whale population increased costs and decreased profits. Eventually, alterative energy supplies displaced whale oil.

"We’re gonna burn up or we’re gonna jump" Mike Williams, chief electronics technician aboard the drilling platform made his decision and jumped 10 stories into the oil-covered waters burning below. And so on April 20, 2010 in mile-deep water more than 40 miles off the Louisiana coast the explosion that caused the Deepwater Horizon to burn and sink killed 11 workers, injured 17 others, and began what was to unfold as the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

After finally drilling through 13,000 feet of sea bed below 5,000 feet of water this deepest underwater oil well still needed to be secured. Casing and centralizers were being installed, drilling mud was pumped, and cement was set before production could begin. The Macondo Prospect project was significantly behind schedule and over budget. Shortcuts were taken, the well blew out, and 50,000 barrels of oil began gushing into the sea each day. After about 5 million barrels had leaked, the flow was finally stopped on July 15.

During the spill oil spread over thousands of square miles, deep water oil plumes as large as 22 miles long formed, and oil as thick as 2 inches appeared on the seafloor mud. Nearly 100 miles of containment booms were deployed in attempts to protect sensitive beaches and wetlands, sand berms were constructed, more than 1.7 million gallons of toxic chemical dispersant was applied, and about 314,000 barrels of oil was burned at the surface. Eight U.S. national parks are threatened. More than 400 species that live in the Gulf islands and marshlands are at risk. As of August 13, 4,678 dead animals had been collected. As of June 21, 2010, the area closed to fishing encompassed 86,985 square miles. Initial cost estimates to the fishing industry were $2.5 billion. The U.S. Travel Association estimated that the economic impact of the oil spill on tourism across the Gulf Coast over a three-year period could exceed approximately $23 billion, in a region that supports over 400,000 travel industry jobs generating $34 billion in revenue annually. On June 16, BP executives agreed to create a $20 billion spill response fund now being administered by Kenneth Feinberg.

While disasters highlight the risks of extracting petroleum, it is depletion of the world’s petroleum reserves that will lead to petroleum’s eventual decline. In 1956 Shell research scientist M. King Hubbert presented a paper at a meeting of the American Petroleum Institute. The paper described a detailed theory predicting that overall petroleum production in the United States would peak between the late 1960s and the early 1970s. The overall concept is rather simple, oil is being extracted quickly but it regenerates only very slowly. Inevitably the supply will dwindle, advancing technology will not be able to discover and extract the few remaining reserves, and overall production will diminish. Despite the sharp criticism he originally received, Hubbert became famous when his prediction proved correct in 1970. His work is the basis for peak oil theory. The world-wide analysis is difficult—it depends on the rate of discovery of new deposits, the rate of improvement in drilling technologies, and on oil prices which affect the rate of extraction and the rate of consumption. However, many estimates show that we are already past the peak of global oil production and the decline is underway.

Bill Gates is investing in traveling wave nuclear reactor research, the installed capacity of wind power in the United States is now over 35,000 megawatts, Google acquired a 37.5 percent stake in the Atlantic Wind Connection project, fuel cells inside the innovative Bloom Energy Servers have been powering Google’s headquarters since July 2008, and photovoltaic solar electricity production in the United States reached 14.73 billion watts in 2008.

Declining supplies of petroleum oil is pushing technology to the limit. These difficult and dangerous technologies lead to disastrous accidents. Depletion of petroleum is leading to increased total costs and decreased profits. Alterative energy sources are now displacing petroleum oil.

I Am

I am; I simply am.
I think, but I am not my thoughts. I am.
I believe, but I am not my beliefs. I am.
I feel, but I am not my feelings. I am.
Pain and joy are transient, I am enduring.
I do, but I am not my actions. I am.
I experience, but I am not my experience. I am.
I want, but I am not my desires. I am.
I have, but I am not my possessions. I am.
My body is not me. I am.
I live, but I am not my life. I am.
I was and I will be, but now I am.
I am not that, I am my self.
I alone am. I simply am.
I am; I simply am.

… Inspired by the book:
I Am That, Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Simply Priceless

Many Harvard University graduates earn annual salaries of $100,000 or more. Harvard graduate John Fetterman holds two jobs and earns only about $30,000. What is going on here? Is he some slacker, or can we learn important lessons from him?

American mass media fuels our anxiety and consternation with incessant reports of slow growth in the economy, high unemployment, an obesity epidemic, a steady rise in chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, and cancer, and general levels of stress and discontent. Perhaps it is time for more of us to examine the worldview behind these problem statements.

When people talk about economic growth or the strength of the economy, they are often talking about the rate of growth of the gross domestic product (GDP). The GDP is a primary measure of a country's overall economic output. It is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year. For example, the GDP includes:

• The costs associated with growing, harvesting, transporting, storing, and processing tobacco.
• The costs of manufacturing, distributing, advertising, and retailing cigarettes and cigars.
• The costs of doctor’s visits, medications, hospitalizations, and chronic care treatment for smoker’s cough, emphysema, and lung cancer.
• The costs of FDA tobacco regulations and tobacco-related law enforcement costs.
• Tobacco-related litigation costs,
• The costs of advertising health warnings.
• The costs of anti smoking campaigns and stop smoking programs and products.

Each of these activities actually helps to grow the economy and create jobs even as they contribute to the misery of the unfortunate tobacco addict. Wouldn’t a leisurely hike with friends through the woods ending with a spectacular view of a beautiful sunset be a better way to spend time? But enjoying the splender of sunsets does not help to grow our economy while dying a painful death from lung cancer does.

An emphasis on more, including increasing the GDP, growing the economy, and a relentless focus on increasing stock prices has brought us: the subprime mortgage crisis, housing foreclosures, Enron and other accounting scandals, wars, hydrogen bombs and other nuclear weapons, the Holocaust and other acts of genocide, slavery, traffic jams, urban sprawl, the bridge to nowhere, wide-spread cheating, Vioxx and other dangerous prescription drugs, Twinkies, obesity, stress, anxiety, class struggles, pollution, paparazzi, deforestation, strip mining, overfishing, drought, failed states, global warming, and other waste, violence, destruction, and misery. We have become consumed.

In 2001 John Fetterman chose work for AmeriCorps and move to Braddock Pennsylvania, one of the most devastated cities in the country. It is a mix of burned out or boarded-up storefronts, collapsing houses, and more than 1,000 vacant lots. Pennsylvania has consistently classified Braddock a “distressed municipality”—essentially bankrupt—since the 1980s. Here Fetterman started, and still directs, a program helping the dislocated youth of Braddock and the surrounding communities to earn their GED, get jobs, and receive needed social support and intervention.

Fetterman calls Braddock “home” and is committed to living there for the foreseeable future. He has the Braddock zip code, 15104, tattooed to his forearm. In 2005 he was elected Mayor. He and his wife purchased an abandoned warehouse in the city for $2,000 and converted it into their first and only home. They are living there now and raising their young son. He was elected to his second term as Mayor in 2009, and is paid $150 per month for that grueling job. He also keeps his day job, still helping the city youth.

What if more of us had the wisdom to shift our focus to what is truly most meaningful in life? What if we decided we had enough of the old thinking and decided to value: peace of mind, integrity, tranquility, clean air, clean water, the beauty of nature, a healthy environment to enjoy now and sustain for the future, awe, family, friendships, community, safety, stability, trust, leisure time, joyful play, meaningful work, authentic experiences, reciprocity, respect, good health, reduced stress, ongoing education and learning, deeper understanding and appreciation, fun, enjoyment of the arts, transcendence, and making significant contributions that help others. We can enjoy what is already available to us.

Adam Smith never imagined how greedy the invisible hand would become. It is time to change our focus from economic growth to growth in human well-being.

The relationship between money and happiness is complex. The basic economic assumption that well-being increases with income is being challenged. A 1997 World Development Report shows that happiness increases with income until per capita GDP reaches a level around $15,000 per person at which point happiness levels off and does not appreciably increase as income increases. Another study showed people's day-to-day emotional well-being only rose with earnings up to an annual income threshold of $75,000. Increasing average income brings diminishing returns of happiness, but not less happiness. Also, peoples’ quality of life and longevity is affected by relative rather than absolute income.

At six feet eight inches tall and weighing 370 pounds, Mayor Fetterman is truly a gentle and courageous giant of a man. He is informed, realistic, optimistic, and humble. As an AmeriCorp member he pledged:

“…Faced with apathy, I will take action.
Faced with conflict, I will seek common ground.
Faced with adversity I will persevere…”

He is keeping his pledge, he is taking bold and creative action, and he is making a real difference.

He is slowly transforming the city. There is no grocery store in the community so the Mayor began an urban farming program that provides the residents with low-cost fresh produce as it provides job opportunities for area youth. He has opened the playgrounds and basketball courts and created summer jobs for youth. He is working to attract artists to occupy the low-cost loft space available in the city because he believes artists can often see opportunity where others do not.  He started a nonprofit organization to save a handful of properties.

John Fetterman is committed and contented. He is making excellent use of his Master’s Degree in public policy and economics from Harvard; he is a happy man.

Perhaps more of us can turn our attention away from narrow indicators of economic growth and focus on the broader pursuit of happiness. We can learn to cope better with abundance. It certainly seems like a wiser path.

Becoming Priceless

Many Harvard University graduates earn annual salaries of $100,000 or more. Harvard graduate John Fetterman holds two jobs and earns only about $30,000. What is going on here? Is he some slacker, or can we learn important lessons from him?
American mass media fuels our anxiety and consternation with incessant reports of slow growth in the economy, high unemployment, an obesity epidemic, a steady rise in chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, and cancer, and general levels of stress and discontent. Perhaps it is time for more of us to examine the worldview behind these problem statements.

When people talk about economic growth or the strength of the economy, they are often talking about the rate of growth of the gross domestic product (GDP). The GDP is a primary measure of a country's overall economic output. It is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year. For example, the GDP includes:

• The costs associated with growing, harvesting, transporting, storing, and processing tobacco.
• The costs of manufacturing, distributing, advertising, and retailing cigarettes and cigars.
• The costs of doctor’s visits, medications, hospitalizations, and chronic care treatment for smoker’s cough, emphysema, and lung cancer.
• The costs of FDA tobacco regulations and tobacco-related law enforcement costs.
• Tobacco-related litigation costs,
• The costs of advertising health warnings.
• The costs of anti smoking campaigns and stop smoking programs and products.

Each of these activities actually helps to grow the economy and create jobs even as they contribute to the misery of the unfortunate tobacco addict. Wouldn’t a leisurely hike with friends through the woods ending with a spectacular view of a beautiful sunset be a better way to spend time? But enjoying the spender of sunsets does not help to grow our economy while dying a painful death from lung cancer does.

Destruction caused by natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunami, actually increase the GDP because the required reconstruction work is counted as economic activity. Inferior products, such as automobiles that quickly become obsolete or require extensive service and repair, increase the GDP because the costs of repairing and replacing them are included economic activities. The old, expensive slow computers used in the 1980s each contributed more to the GDP than today’s fast, powerful, and inexpensive computers simply because the older computers cost more. Junk food contributes to the economy as much as it adds to our obesity because of the increased healthcare costs it often leads to. Many foolish and wasteful activities contribute to increasing the GDP and our narrow measures of economic growth.

An emphasis on more, including increasing the GDP, growing the economy, and a relentless focus on increasing stock prices has brought us: the subprime mortgage crisis, housing foreclosures, Enron and other accounting scandals, wars, hydrogen bombs and other nuclear weapons, the Holocaust and other acts of genocide, slavery, traffic jams, urban sprawl, the bridge to nowhere, wide-spread cheating, Vioxx and other dangerous prescription drugs, Twinkies, obesity, stress, anxiety, class struggles, pollution, paparazzi, deforestation, strip mining, overfishing, drought, failed states, global warming, and other waste, violence, destruction, and misery. We have become consumed.

In 2001 John Fetterman chose work for AmeriCorps and move to Braddock Pennsylvania, one of the most devastated cities in the country. It is a mix of burned out or boarded-up storefronts, collapsing houses, and more than 1,000 vacant lots. Pennsylvania has consistently classified Braddock a “distressed municipality”—essentially bankrupt—since the 1980s. Here Fetterman started, and still directs, a program helping the dislocated youth of Braddock and the surrounding communities to earn their GED, get jobs, and receive needed social support and intervention.

Fetterman calls Braddock “home” and is committed to living there for the foreseeable future. He has the Braddock zip code, 15104, tattooed to his forearm. In 2005 he was elected Mayor. He and his wife purchased an abandoned warehouse in the city for $2,000 and converted it into their first and only home. They are living there now and raising their young son. He was elected to his second term as Mayor in 2009, and is paid $150 per month for that grueling job. He also keeps his day job, still helping the city youth.

What if more of us had the wisdom to shift our focus to what is truly most meaningful in life? What if we decided we had enough of the old thinking and decided to value: peace of mind, integrity, tranquility, clean air, clean water, the beauty of nature, a healthy environment to enjoy now and sustain for the future, awe, family, friendships, community, safety, stability, trust, leisure time, joyful play, meaningful work, authentic experiences, reciprocity, respect, good health, reduced stress, ongoing education and learning, deeper understanding and appreciation, fun, enjoyment of the arts, transcendence, and making significant contributions that help others. We can enjoy what is already available to us.

Adam Smith never imagined how greedy the invisible hand would become. It is time to change our focus from economic growth to growth in human well-being.

The relationship between money and happiness is complex. The basic economic assumption that well-being increases with income is being challenged. In the essay: How much can money buy happiness? Is the debate over for the Easterlin Paradox? Chris Albor reports that happiness increases with income until per capita GDP reaches a level around $15,000 per person at which point happiness levels off and does not appreciably increase as income increases. Another study showed people's day-to-day emotional well-being only rose with earnings up to an annual income threshold of $75,000. Increasing average income brings diminishing returns of happiness, but not less happiness. Also, peoples’ quality of life and longevity is affected by relative rather than absolute income.

A recent survey by the Gallup World Poll found that while overall life satisfaction does increase with income, positive feelings also depend on other factors, such as feeling respected and connected to others.

An August 2010 Scientific American article on how best to spend money reports that money may actually impair our ability to enjoy simple pleasures. However, spending money on a variety of well-chosen activities that provide rewarding experiences including personal growth, deepening our connections to other people, and other ways that allow us to savor the pleasure can increase our happiness.

At six feet eight inches tall and weighing 370 pounds, Mayor Fetterman is truly a gentle and courageous giant of a man. He is informed, realistic, optimistic, and humble. As an AmeriCorp member he pledged:

“…Faced with apathy, I will take action.
Faced with conflict, I will seek common ground.
Faced with adversity I will persevere…”

He is keeping his pledge, he is taking bold and creative action, and he is making a real difference.

He is slowly transforming the city. There is no grocery store in the community so the Mayor began an urban farming program that provides the residents with low-cost fresh produce as it provides job opportunities for area youth. He has opened the playgrounds and basketball courts and created summer jobs for youth. He is working to attract artists to occupy the low-cost loft space available in the city because he believes artists can often see opportunity where others do not.  He started a nonprofit organization to save a handful of properties.

John Fetterman is committed and contented. He is making excellent use of his Master’s Degree in public policy and economics from Harvard; he is a happy man.

Perhaps more of us can turn our attention away from narrow indicators of economic growth and focus on the broader pursuit of happiness. We can learn to cope better with abundance. It certainly seems like a wiser path.

Really‽

To move toward a greater understanding of the universe we need to be open to learning what we do not yet understand. However it is wasteful to be distracted by spurious claims of nonexistent effects based on nothing more than wild imaginations and undisciplined wishful thinking. It is a difficult and important balance to achieve.

Astrology, biorhythms, fortune telling, channeling, cosmic consciousness, synchronicity, afterlife, reincarnation, faith healing, chakras, exorcism, rebirthing, the law of attraction, and other mystical pursuits are fascinating concepts that remain unproven. Should we explore them further in the hope of revealing a profound cosmic truth, or abandon them as dead ends?

I believe we live in a causal universe but we may not yet know all the causes. Certainly radio waves—those invisible electromagnetic forces travelling at the speed of light—were unknown and unsuspected until 1865, less than 150 years ago. Even the most forward thinker of that time would have been both skeptical and mystified by today’s fantastic uses of the electromagnetic spectrum to phone home or watch YouTube while sitting on the beach. What other phenomenon—analogous to radio waves in their obscurity, ubiquity, and power—remain to be discovered in our universe?

James Randi—previously The Amazing Randi—encourages rigorous investigation and skepticism. He knows that charlatans prey on the vulnerable with knowingly false claims of clairvoyance. He works diligently to end those exploitations. His work is valuable.

I continue to develop my own theory of knowledge—how I decide what to believe. My thinking on nonfalsifiable claims is very simple: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And I recognize this represents a conservative bias.

Even as we explore ever farther into space and probe deeper into subatomic particles we remain profoundly ignorant about the universe. Where did it all come from? Where is it going? Why is it here? But we need to explore the answers, not guess at them or make up stories. While waiting for the facts it is better to suspend judgment, even if feeling certain is so much more comfortable. Will the Large Hadron Collider discover the Higgs boson or not? What is the role of dark matter and dark energy in the universe? What other life forms share this fascinating universe with us?

Stay open, stay curious, stay skeptical. Dream bigger, look farther, investigate deeper.

Priceless!

American mass media constantly fuels our anxiety and consternation with incessant reports of slow growth in the economy, high unemployment, an obesity epidemic, a steady rise in chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, and cancer, and general levels of stress and discontent. Perhaps it is time to examine the worldview behind these problem statements.

When people talk about economic growth or the strength of the economy, they are often talking about the rate of growth of the gross domestic product (GDP). The GDP is a primary measure of a country's overall economic output. It is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year. For example, the GDP includes:

• The costs associated with growing, harvesting, transporting, storing, and processing tobacco.
• The costs of manufacturing, distributing, advertising, and retailing cigarettes and cigars.
• The costs of doctor’s visits, medications, hospitalizations, and chronic care treatment for smoker’s cough, emphysema, and lung cancer.
• The costs of FDA tobacco regulations and tobacco-related law enforcement costs.
• Tobacco-related litigation costs,
• The costs of advertising health warnings.
• The costs of anti smoking campaigns and stop smoking programs and products.

Each of these activities actually helps to grow the economy and create jobs even as they contribute to the misery of the unfortunate tobacco addict. Wouldn’t a leisurely hike with friends through the woods ending with a spectacular view of a beautiful sunset be a better way to spend time? But enjoying the spender of sunsets does not help to grow our economy while dying a painful death from lung cancer does.

Destruction caused by natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunami, actually increase the GDP because the required reconstruction work is counted as economic activity. Inferior products, such as automobiles that quickly become obsolete or require extensive service and repair, increase the GDP because the costs of repairing and replacing them are included economic activities. The old, expensive slow computers used in the 1980s each contributed more to the GDP than today’s fast, powerful,and inexpensive computers simply because the older computers cost more. Junk food contributes to the economy as much as it adds to our obesity because of the increased healthcare costs it often leads to. Many foolish and wasteful activities contribute to increasing the GDP and our narrow measures of economic growth.

An emphasis on more, including increasing the GDP, growing the economy, and a relentless focus on increasing stock prices has brought us: the subprime mortgage crisis, housing foreclosures, Enron and other accounting scandals, wars, hydrogen bombs and other nuclear weapons, the Holocaust and other acts of genocide, slavery, traffic jams, urban sprawl, the bridge to nowhere, wide-spread cheating, Vioxx and other dangerous prescription drugs, Twinkies, obesity, stress, anxiety, class struggles, pollution, paparazzi, deforestation, strip mining, overfishing, drought, failed states, global warming, and other waste, violence, destruction, and misery. We have become consumed.

But what if we had the wisdom to shift our focus to what is truly most meaningful in life? What if we decided we had enough of the old thinking and decided to value: peace of mind, integrity, tranquility, clean air, clean water, the beauty of nature, a healthy environment to enjoy now and sustain for the future, awe, family, friendships, community, safety, stability, trust, leisure time, joyful play, meaningful work, authentic experiences, reciprocity, respect, good health, reduced stress, ongoing education and learning, deeper understanding and appreciation, fun, enjoyment of the arts, transcendence, and making significant contributions that help others. We can enjoy what is already available to us.

Adam Smith never imagined how greedy the invisible hand would become. It is time to change our focus from economic growth to growth in human well-being.

The relationship between money and happiness is complex. The basic economic assumption that well-being increases with income is being challenged. In the essay How much can money buy happiness? Is the debate over for the Easterlin Paradox? Chris Albor reports that happiness increases with income until per capita GDP reaches a level around $15,000 per person at which point happiness levels off and does not appreciably increase as income increases. Another study showed people's day-to-day emotional well-being only rose with earnings up to an annual income threshold of $75,000. Increasing average incomes brings diminishing returns of happiness, but not less happiness. Also, peoples’ quality of life and longevity is affected by relative rather than absolute income.

A recent survey by the Gallup World Poll found that while overall life satisfaction does increase with income, positive feelings also depend on other factors, such as feeling respected and connected to others.

An August 2010 Scientific American article on how best to spend money reports that money may actually impair our ability to enjoy simple pleasures. However, spending money on a variety of well-chosen activities that provide rewarding experiences including personal growth, deepening our connections to other people, and other ways that allow us to savor the pleasure can increase our happiness.

Perhaps we can turn our attentions away from narrow indicators of economic growth and focus on the broader pursuit of happiness. We can learn to cope better with abundance. It certainly seems like a wiser path.

The Tyranny of Evidence

Ever since humans first saw the sun rise in the morning, move across the sky, and set in the evening, the direct evidence has been clear and obvious: the sun circles the earth each day. Similarly we see the stars move across the sky each night, and it is obvious they are attached to a celestial sphere that holds them up and also circles the earth. This Truth we can all plainly see. With more careful observation we notice that the sun rises earlier and sets later in the summer than in the winter. Perhaps the architects of Stonehenge wanted to celebrate the annual phases of this cycle with its shortest day, longest day and two equinoxes.

Ancient astronomers mapped the sky and catalogued the constellations making up the celestial sphere. However, they also noticed “the wanderers”—certain stars, some of which are particularly bright—that move against the backdrop of the celestial sphere. What are we to make of these direct observations, available to anyone willing to look up and notice the night sky? Perhaps these wanders, now called “planets” have their own celestial sphere. But since they move in different patterns, maybe each has its own sphere. The astronomer Ptolemy worked this all out in some detail for us nearly 2,000 years ago. He even found a place in the heavens for the lovely moon.

Then about 400 years ago the astronomer Tycho Brahe dedicated his career to making the most accurate astronomical observations ever. These observations were inconsistent with planets moving in circles and provided evidence to support Kepler's discovery of the ellipse and area laws of planetary motion. Copernicus’s silly ideas about the earth circling the sun might be worth a second look!

In 1610 Galileo pointed his telescope toward the sky and directly observed the phases of Venus and the moons of Jupiter. He interpreted this evidence to support Copernicus’s heliocentric model and got in big trouble with Pope Urban VIII for speaking his mind based on the evidence he directly observed.

On July 5, 1687 Isaac Newton published the Principia where he stated his three laws of motion. He also defined the universal law of gravitation and used calculus-like mathematics to demonstrate how the laws of motion and universal gravitation combine to cause the planets to move in elliptical obits around the sun. The observations of Tycho Brahe were finally explained, except of course for the later discovery of additional planets, Einstein’s relativity, observations made by the Hubble telescope, and ongoing observations and evidence of our amazing universe. And what do we make of comets, eclipses, galaxies, and ocean tides?

We can now see these Truths:

• Our direct observations are limited to what one person sees from one place at one time. I see the sun rise and set each day. It has happened each day I know of.
• We interpret each new observation to help explain or become consistent with other observations. The sun moves across the sky, it does not fall down, therefore it is held up by a celestial sphere.
• Interpretation is separate from and necessarily extends our direct observations. These interpretations require judgment.
• The scope of direct observation and deductive logic is very limited. We regularly rely on inductive logic to extend our conclusions beyond our direct observations. The sun has risen every day; I expect it to rise again tomorrow.
• We regularly supplement our own observations with those reported by others. Those reports may or may not be accurate. We may or may not fully understand them.
• We have to decide for ourselves how to assimilate observations reported by others. I can see the planets, and if I take the time I can notice they move against the background of stars. I’m not sure what to make of it, but let me learn what the astronomers, religious leaders, and my friends have to say about this. I may also consult the mainstream media, specialized journals and publications, conspiracy blogs, or Wikipedia.
• Observations become more extensive and refined over time. The skills of Tycho Brahe and Galileo eventually brought more evidence to the table.
• Evidence is often difficult to collect, difficult to interpret, and apparently contradictory. Available evidence increases over time.
• As we expand our circle of concern in space and time, we have more observations, evidence, and reports to assimilate, interpret, and reconcile.
• Long-held beliefs are difficult to overcome, despite contrary evidence. The Pope was not quickly convinced by what Galileo saw. On October 31, 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed regret for how the Galileo affair was handled.
• People make decisions and live their lives based on what they believe to be true. It is an on-going process.
• Each of us uses some form of “Theory of Knowledge” to decide what we believe in the face of complex and often conflicting evidence.
• Developing our own robust theory of knowledge helps us to choose the most reliably accurate beliefs.
• My own theory of knowledge is described here: http://www.emotionalcompetency.com/theoryofk.htm
• Improving our theory of knowledge and applying it is the best we can do to move toward Truth.
• I hold these Truths to be self-evident!

Stay curious, look again, look deeper, look farther and enjoy exploring our amazing and dynamic universe.

Incubating Prose - Toward Creative Writing

Call me Ishmael. And so begins the celebrated novel Moby Dick. Perhaps, on a very good day I might have managed “My name is Ishmael” or more likely “I’m Ishmael” or perhaps “I’m John” and that difference, I think, is the chasm that separates my writing from great writing.

I’m told it is called “craft”— that artful transformation from the nascent text: “my name is Ishmael” to the finished product: “Call me Ishmael.” I am here to learn that craft.

Call me Lee. That is short for Leland Richard Beaumont. I am a retired Electrical Engineer who has been writing non-fiction for the past several years. The writing is clear, well researched, and useful, but it lacks panache. It’s not hard to put down once you have picked it up. I enrolled in a creative writing course at Brookdale Community College to work on making my writing more interesting. Let’s see how it goes.

I believe the best story wins, and I would like my stories to grow legs.

Is it too much to hope for some creative breakthrough? With my photography, writing, and frankly other aspects of my life I feel like there is a shroud separating me from unbridled creativity. I can come close to that threshold, but have no idea what is on the other side. I am working on the “study more, work harder” side of the line, and others are living in the “create freely” region. Can I join you? What is the essential core of creativity? Where is its wellspring?

The Omnivore’s Dilemma is a well-written non-fiction book by Michael Pollen that is making a real difference. It addresses an important problem we are all part of. It is elegantly structured and very well researched. It is informative, persuasive, and a pleasure to read. It inspires and enables the reader to act and contribute toward a solution. This I aspire to.

The plan is to incubate prose here and use this blog as a workspace for the course. Workshop feedback from the class and other general reader comments are welcome. As the writing matures, I may replicate it in one of my topical blogs on: Emotional Competency, The Golden Alliance, or The Wise Path.