More Random Morning Thoughts

Too many people condemn things they don't understand, mistaking a lack of grasp for a grasp of lack.

Sympathetic understanding is a spiritual discipline that can be transformative.

We’re here to expand our perspectives, our knowledge, our wisdom, our compassion, and thus our souls.

Depending on your outer circumstances for your inner peace is always a mistake. The turbulence of events around us can never produce the calm we need.

True peace comes from deep within, but can never bubble all the way to the surface if there are obstacles in the way. I should regularly ask what obstacles are in my heart.

The oasis within each of us needs cultivation. And only we can do the inner work to keep it in good condition.

Harmony strengthens. Disharmony weakens. A proper pursuit of truth, goodness, beauty, and unity is thus not unrelated to our other goals.

Souls can be tuned together, as we sometimes see on championship sports teams or, much more rarely, in business. Such harmony is peak power and a way of joy.

The Forgotten Ideal of Maturity

There's an old ideal that we seem to have forgotten throughout much of our culture. What I have in mind is maturity. Say the word now and people think: Senior Citizen, old age, wrinkles, slowing down, and worse. But it wasn't always that way.

Maturity. What is it? Actually, I think maturity is a quality, or characteristic comprised of many others, like, for example: Compassion, Kindness, Consideration, Equanimity or Inner Peace, Wisdom, Prudence, Perspective, Practicality, Honesty, perhaps a proper Awe regarding existence, and what some call "Hardihood" - the ability to persist in the face of difficulty, a capacity to endure hardship without constant complaint or a feeling of victimization. A mature person is not quick to anger. Such a person isn't careless with actions, thoughts, or feelings. Maturity rises to a level of appreciation and gratitude concerning all the good and beautiful things in life, while accepting the existence of limits and imperfections in the world. A mature person may want and work hard to change and improve the things around them, but they won't wallow in irritation, resentment, and frustration about those things that need changing.

For most of history, throughout most civilizations and societies, people have regarded maturity as something to aspire to, hope for, and respect. In past times, many would often actually try to act more mature than their age might indicate should be expected. That occasionally happens still, but in very limited contexts, as for example when someone is trying to get his or her first job. But immaturity, by contrast, now seems to nearly rule the culture. We see lots of people acting less mature than their age would lead us to expect. Turn on a reality TV show. Or consider standard political behavior. Or, you could just simply listen in on conversations in your favorite restaurant or bar. 

The ancient philosopher Diogenes was said to walk around everywhere during the daytime, carrying a lighted lamp, or lantern. Asked what he was doing, he liked to say, "Looking for an honest man." In our own time, he would have nearly as endless a trek looking for real maturity.

A clarification is needed here. We're a youthful culture. We celebrate the young and a great many of the things that young people like. Many of us try to keep such things in our lives. And that can be very good. It's perfectly possible to be youthful without being immature. There's an important difference. I knew a famous scholar at Yale, a world renown historian, who at the age of 89 was stunningly youthful, and lots of fun, but not at all immature.

Immaturity is wrapped up in ego, a sense of entitlement, a lack of responsibility, and a tendency toward anger, as well as an inclination to delight in the flaws and sufferings of others. Immature people are prone to whining, resenting, and feeling slighted when others aren't suitably celebrating their specialness. Immature people throw fits and tantrums, regardless of age. They also tend to be as callous toward others as they are fragile in their own sense of need.

When you consider immaturity closely enough, you come to understand why its opposite was for so long an admired ideal. And it makes you wonder how we ever got so far away from an appreciation of what it is to be truly mature.

Maturity is about proper growth and exemplary health. We should encourage it in others and seek to enhance it in our own lives. If you disagree, that's perfectly fine ... for a poopie head.

Bruce Jenner and Gender

Anyone who did not see Diane Sawyer's masterful two hour interview with Bruce Jenner on ABC television recently missed a Master Class on philosophical anthropology, psychology, and ethics. Jenner's evident intelligence, sincerity, and sensitivity to the big issues surrounding his lifelong struggle with gender issues helped to make the show instructive in ways I had not anticipated.

For anyone who missed the show, and who has not had the chance to glance at the cover of almost any magazine recently, the former Olympic great and Decathalon gold medalist, once declared "the greatest athlete alive," has revealed that he's had a lifetime struggle with gender identification. Born, of course, with the body of a man, he says that he has since childhood felt like a girl, and then a woman, in perspectives, thoughts, and interests. He sought to make clear that he is not homosexual, or gay. What he's experienced is different from that. He has been married three times and has fathered several children. He has loved his wives. 

One thing the interview made clear was that gender is a more complex issue than most people assume. Anatomy doesn't necessarily confer it. As in most things, the world is a more rich and complicated place than we often give it credit for being. I initially watched the interview out of curiosity, and came away with a deep sense of compassion, not just for what this one individual has been through, and is likely to go through, still, but for all of our brothers and sisters who are misunderstood in any way, and feel forced by social pressure to pretend to be something they're not, something that's not authentic, along any deep dimension in their lives. It brought home to me in a new way the power of the emphasis in eastern philosophies on compassion for all creatures, and wonder in the presence of the real.

When we understand the New Testament emphasis that "God is love," and grasp the profound empathy that real love embodies, we can approach issues like this with a new heart and a new wisdom. Despite the fact that these revelations have come out amidst the flamboyant media circus that is everything Kardashian, we, in a sense, have that whole spectacle to thank for providing such a public stage and forum for this issue to be raised - not only of gender identification, but of the need for compassion in all things.

In our complex world, a few things are simple. One of them is compassion.

What It Takes To Be Understanding

There are deep philosophical truths that are connected intimately with our lives, day to day. When we understand them, we're able to be at peace, live well with others, and make our difference in the world without a lot of the emotional turmoil that lots of people feel.

I've mentioned it here before, but for three and a half of the past four years, a movie played in my head. From the first minute it started happening, I began to write what I was seeing and hearing. The story, I soon found out, was set in Egypt in 1934 and 1935. So far, the movie has resulted in 8 novels, an epic tale of friendship, love, meaning, the deep truths behind the curtain of everyday events, the power of the mind, and the possibilities for transformation and redemption in our world. It's the most fun I've ever had writing anything. And all I had to do was take dictation. You can read more about these stories on my website, under "Novels." I have not yet given them to a publisher. But I want to share snippets now and then right here.

Today, I came across a passage I wanted to pass along to you. We're in the 7th book. One 14 year old boy has just revealed something to his uncle, something that he and his best friend have just done that they think might get them into serious trouble. The uncle hears it all with great understanding and calm. The boy's young friend then remarks on how incredibly understanding the older man always is, and the man says this:

"I thank you for those kind words, Mafulla. It’s easy to act in an understanding way if you truly do understand. When our eyes have been opened, and we see even a glimpse of the true big picture for things, that vision of our overall context, along with the confidence and compassion it breeds, allows us to be, in most matters toward those around us, as you put it, incredibly understanding. We’re then comfortable enough to have a certain trust in the way things play out and develop. Too many people run around shocked and panicked and angry and worried because they’re untethered to the deepest truths. Plus, they don’t see others truly. And, as it’s well been said, the truth can set you free."

The sentence that really jumps out at me is this: Too many people run around shocked and panicked and angry and worried because they’re untethered to the deepest truths.

When we tie our hearts and minds to the deepest perspectives on life, and allow those truths to guide our feelings and actions, we'll flourish. When we don't, we won't.

My goal as a philosopher, and my hope for these novels, is that they will help more people to do exactly that. We should always act in accordance to our highest understanding, and let that wisdom guide us in every way.

Understanding yields understanding. Wisdom brings good things to us all.

Inner Conditions for Knowing

Some people will just never understand you, no matter how hard you try to make yourself known.

There are personal conditions, requirements, preliminaries, for understanding and knowing. And, conversely, there are inner obstacles to both. On one level, this is obvious. There are things that little children can't know or understand. We can teach a four year old to say, "Business can't be about just profit maximization." But she won't really know or understand what she's saying. Likewise for "Mommy's a comptroller."

What we often forget is that we've come across here a universal truth. Throughout life, there are conditions for knowing. Not everything can be gotten from a book, or the internet, or an app. If you've never been to Manhattan, or Helsinki, you can't really know those places. You can read about them and gather endless facts. But there is a different sort of knowledge that only being there confers. At a certain level, you can understand a lot about tennis or golf through just reading enough books and watching the sport played. But there is a form of knowledge you don't have unless you've played a lot. There's other knowledge you can access unless you've played really well. The top pros understand the game in a way that weekend amateurs can't.

I'm convinced that there are also spiritual or moral conditions for knowing. We interpret the world, in part, through who we already are. A thoroughly selfish person can't recognize and know real altruism when it's staring him in the face. A person suspecting enemies and jealous detractors everywhere finds it nearly impossible to experience real friendship. An angry person sees life through a different lens than the one used by a happy person.

At different stages, and in different conditions, we have access to different things about the world. Technology will never provide universal access to all truth, no matter how much can be encoded. Our own growth will give us a form of access that can't be replicated in any other way.

So, we should remember that growth brings access. There are plateaus in life, and we can easily forget that, no matter where we are now, in our own inner lives and personal accomplishments, further growth is awaiting us, and it will bring greater knowledge and understanding. We shouldn't expect to have it all figured out already. There are endless adventures that await us.

So: Think growth today. And seek to develop, however slightly, the inner conditions for new understanding. Expand your existential territory. That's a good part of why you're here.