Recovery. Sobriety. Living Wise.
What constitutes a successful life? We are accustomed to defining success in terms of wealth, power and prestige. But is this what truly makes for a successful life? The word success comes from the Latin succedere, which simply means “make something happen.” So what if the something accrued to the benefit of others rather than oneself? What if success was defined by a person’s value to others? The connection between successful … Continue reading A Successful Life
I’ve been asking myself where exactly does prejudice come from. Inherited insecurities? Superiority complex? Prejudicial teaching? In 1954 Gordon Allport linked prejudice to categorical thinking claiming prejudice was a natural and normal process for humans. According to him, “The human mind must think with the aid of categories…once formed categories become the basis for prejudgement. We can’t possibly avoid the process. … Continue reading Beyond Prejudice
My stumbling block in early life was that I didn’t like living with questions. Not at all. In my world answers were the thing. Whether they were right or not was, to me, not the most important thing. What counted was that I had an answer to every question. All that changed one night in 1985 while sharing a bowl of kung pao … Continue reading A Path to Serenity
Forty years ago I met a “good one”: an old gentleman who ran a shoeshine stand in the Eastern Airlines Shuttle Terminal at LaGuardia Airport. I was never sure of his name but most people called him Pete. At the time the hourly shuttle between New York, Boston and Washington was among the busiest in the nation. Everyone was guaranteed a seat, No reservations needed, … Continue reading Tending to Your Own Business
“Doubt grows with knowledge.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Today we hear many voices speak with the ring of dogmatic certainty, where the ugliest of ugly thoughts are hurled out to every time zone. I find myself asking, how can so many be so sure of so much? Socrates once observed, “I know that I don’t know. But you don’t know what you don’t know and … Continue reading When Doubt is an Ally