Crossing The Halfway Mark

An update and occasion to pause and reflect.

As we finish the first half and approach the second half of the year, it seems timely to pause, reflect on what’s been done thus far, what remains and what emerges.

Photo by manu schwendener on Unsplash

Reflections

To summarize, here are the articles written since last quarter.

Series on Connection

• The “I” Of Your World, addressing connection with the world.

• Connecting Without Touch, which shared about how we connect with others.

• More & Less Than Our Feelings, part two of connecting with ourselves, focusing on emotional expression.

• Rediscovery Of The Obvious, opening the series with self-connection.

Perennial Problems, Projects & Philosophies

• Part 1: What is unique and common to the human condition & experience?

• Part 2: A brief overview and comparison of ancient thought.

• Part 3: The evolution & conservation of ideas on human life. Modern perspectives and takes.

• Part 4: The case for life (addressing suicide philosophically).

To summarize, it traces the history of thinking about the purpose of human life, and what it means to live well from ancient times to modern developments. The self-concept features prominently as the author of our own suffering and freedom from it.

April’s Miscellany

• Wisdom Of The Ages & Megadosing Nostalgia – on 22nd year high school reunions and 60th wedding anniversaries.

• Weekly Wisdom #10 - Reviewing Q1.

• Riffing On The Cosmic Joke – writing about humor & spirituality. Prompted by colleague Oscar Obregon, who writes about movies, business, travel and more.

• Meandering Aspirations On A Wobbly Table Of Context – Public declaration of writing a book and aspirations about it. An introduction of sorts.

What remains?

I would like to go in more depth about integral theory, cognitive science, Big Five personality traits, the science of flow as a modern formulation for life-orientation, and insights gleaned from somatic therapy.

I also half-jokingly fantasize about locking myself in a cabin for a week and seeing what happens.

What’s emerging?

It would seem that so far I’ve covered and am moving towards an eclectic survey of human development in very broad strokes, what gets in the way of authentic individual flourishing, and what each of us can do about it in our own lives.

A shoutout to reader Rob Allen, who was incredibly generous with his time and suggested I develop a TED-style talk as a means to flesh out and develop my thinking further. This resonates.

The work continues.