Midlife Meditation

Sure, they look like they're having fun, but just wait. This is gonna get ugly. Pity the poor politician. To succeed in politics, one must convince a majority of voters that one will enact policies congruous with those voters' wishes. One must further convince a subset of these voters that one sincerely believes in the principles behind these policies. Simultaneously, one must refrain from engaging publicly in behaviors or making comments, even in error, that these voters will find offensive. Finally, one must appear genuinely warm and friendly to one's voters, while appearing fierce and defiant, perhaps even rude, to interests they oppose. And don't even get me started on donors. It's a rare politician whose mind can be spoken to any hot microphone, and stay in the game for long. It remains to be seen how long Donald Trump can pull it off: with his billions, he's immune from donor decay, but it's extremely doubtful he can attract a real plurality, le...

News from the world of science: conservatives (and liberals too, let's be inclusive here) are hard-wired to hold their political beliefs. According to the research quoted in this article, conservatives have a much higher "negativity bias": stimuli that they find annoying, disgusting, threatening cause them to shrink away. The article speculates on possible evolutionary roots to this tendency, notes that this distaste for the other actually creates happier people who are more content with the status quo, while liberals tend to be more neurotic, and conclude with a plea for liberals and conservatives to stop trying to convert each other and make peace so Congress can go back to getting things done. My first reaction to these ideas was simply this: Vindication! I've been saying something like this for decades. My experience of butting heads with conservatives long ago taught me that arguments are only persuasive to people who are already sympathetic to the ideas bein...

Right away the progressive is schmoozing, talking up every single patron, asking how they're doing, what they're hoping to get out of the evening, what their hopes and dreams are. The progressive isn't all talk, either; anyone who seems promising gets a drink, too. In no time, the progressive becomes the most popular person in the bar. Meanwhile the liberal steps up to the bar and orders drinks for everyone the progressive didn't treat. "That's great!" says the bartender. "What's your name? I'd like to tell them who this is from!" "What's the point?" says the liberal. "My buddy the progressive will get the credit." "Not if I make the announcement," says the bartender. "No, you don't get it," says the liberal. "My buddy's all about the future, and leading the right people into it. I just want to be sure nobody gets left out." If that didn't make you laugh--and I ...

"Life is on the wire, the rest is just waiting." (Karl Wallenda) I doubt that the great Wallenda was talking about ambivalence, the condition of balancing two contradictory positions while working toward a decision. Most likely he was talking about the supreme focus required to move across a cable suspended in the air, a focus which, once obtained, renders the height of that cable irrelevant. I've never attempted such a thing--my balance has never been very good to begin with, and I have no desire to subject myself to the countless bruises it would require for me to teach my body otherwise--but I can certainly relate to the idea that to be utterly focused on a task is to be truly, powerfully alive. Writing, composing, performing, running, I have locked into a level of concentration that disengages me from clock-time, yet has me utterly aware of every relevant stimulus around me. I stop thinking, and simply act. Life on the wire is orders of magnitude better than life ...