Slow Journeys in the Same Direction

Why go to the edges?  It’s what humans do – for all kinds of reasons. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi identifies two contradictory sets of instructions in humans: a conservative tendency – which is about self-preservation, self-aggrandisement, and saving energy – and an expansive tendency, which wants to explore, and enjoys novelty and risk. We need both the…

Cartographers used to fill in the gaps of what they did not know with monsters and serpents.  Later, Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville began to leave white space on maps, a symbol of rigorous standards.  A blank on a map of details says, We don’t know about what’s here, but one day we will. Taking this…

On leaving school I went into hairdressing.  I lasted three months.  Part of my initiation involved being sent to an ironmongers for a “long stand” and “skyhooks.”  This prank may have worked better if the salesperson had got what I had been sent for.  In all my years, it’s the only thing I can bring…

This is a play on the movie Made of Honour – sorry – but it’s also the first of three human quests identified by Erwin McManus in Uprising, a book I’ve read ten times. The first quest is for honour. It is a journey from ego, or the false self, to eco, our true Self.  As…

Our second quest is for nobility, in the traditional sense of noblesse oblige – those who have caring for and supplying the needs of those who have not. As with the quest for honour, it’s a journey from ego – or the false self, to eco – our true Self.  And as in the classic protagonist’s story,…

Our third quest is for enlightenment – seeing and feeling and making more happen. As with the quests for honour and nobility, it’s a journey from ego – the false self, to eco – our true Self.  As in the classic protagonist’s story, in order to find what we are looking for, we must face…

There are three thresholds to be crossed as we move forward in our quests.  The first is Judgement A life on autopilot or is downloading is a life that doesn’t question ways of seeing, thinking, and doing.  If we hope not to keep repeating the past, we’ll have to interrupt our set ways of seeing, thinking,…

Cynicism is the second of the three thresholds to be crossed if we are to make progress in our three quests. Moving from opening our minds to opening our hearts will require us to move from cynicism to compassion, literally to endure with another. Cynicism argues that whilst what we’re discovering is very interesting, we…

Fear is the third and final threshold to be crossed if we are to make progress in our three quests for honour, nobility, and enlightenment. To move from opening our hearts to opening our wills will call us to let go of certain things and to let others come if we are to move from…

Some would say the opposite to fragile is robustness or resilience.  Nassim Taleb sees beyond this to what he refers to as antifragility. Please handle roughly, he says, because instead of breaking or diminishing, in the state of antifragility we grow. My friend Rebecca returned from some psychological research in Uganda amongst the women caught…