The Two Keys To Great Leadership

Today, I want to share a word on what makes for great leadership. I've discussed this topic before in the book If Aristotle Ran General Motors, but it comes up in a quick distinctive way in a novel of mine that's to be published next fall, The King and Prince. This is to be the fourth book in the series Walid and the Mysteries of Phi, which have recently been seeing publication after the prologue, The Oasis Within.

The students from the palace school in Cairo are on a class trip down the Nile to visit Alexandria. They're about to come into sight of the Mediterranean Sea. Thirteen year old Walid speaks.

“Uncle Ali, I mean, Your Majesty, we were just talking about the fact that the sea we’re about to glimpse and shortly to set sail on for at least a brief time is big and yet, at the same time, relatively small in comparison to other oceans.”

 “Yes, you could say that,” the king replied. “But it’s just as true to say that the various named oceans and connected seas are all part of one vast ocean encompassing the globe, and that when you see one of its parts, you’re seeing it—whether your vantage point is at the edge of the Mediterranean, or the Caribbean, or perhaps the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, or Arctic Oceans, as they’re called. But in reality, there is simply one ocean spread around the world, in addition to many smaller bodies of water that are in most ways bounded by land. And yet, even they are indirectly connected with the larger expanse.”

 The students were all impressed with this perspective and listened intently as the king went on to add, “There is an ancient saying from the Tao Te Ching that captures this singularity, and more. The text says that the ocean is the greatest of all bodies of water, because it’s lower than all the rest. They empty themselves into it.”

 “That’s pretty interesting,” Mafulla commented.

 “Yes. And this is, of course, alludes to the keys for great leadership.”

“What do you mean?” Mafulla asked.

 “The best leadership requires a vital combination of nobility, which is a sense of greatness and vision, with humility, a counterbalancing proper sense of self that maintains a deep respect and eager openness to others. These are two qualities that must be cultivated together in all our personalities.” He paused to let this idea register properly, and then went on. “The Taoist wisdom is a wonderful statement about leadership. The ideal leader combines the nobility of the ocean with its humility, or open lowliness. Others are drawn by both these qualities to feed their time and talents and commitments into the projects that the leader with such balance brings to them. The leader’s followers are those who help make the leader great, as he or she in turn guides them to worthy pursuits of excellence and their own forms of greatness.”

On the Necessity for Virtuous Action

"Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,

Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues

Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike

As if we had them not."

Measure for Measure, Act I, scene 1.

Walt Whitman, Democracy, and My New Novels

There's a wonderful short essay today about Walt Whitman and his views on American democracy, at the always insightful website Brain Pickings.

Whitman believed that having an idealistic literature would be crucial to our survival and flourishing as a democracy. Reading him, I became aware anew of how the novels I'm now publishing exemplify eactly that in their tone. They even feature an enlightened Philosopher-King preparing his people for the demands and opportunities of democracy. There are criminals and power hungry men and revolutionaries, as well, but we see in the stories what it takes for the best people to stand up to the worst and prevail.

Whitman thought that a nation's literature ought to show the deepest resources of human nature by which we can deal with our toughest challenges. And that again brought me up short, with a realization that this is exactly what my new stories do. And so, as their readership grows, day to day, I hope they'll make a difference in our time that would make Walt proud. I didn't realize until this morning that they have been written over the past six years for exactly our time. We have plenty of dystopian tales in our bookstores and libraries. We need more inspiration and wisdom for the path we're on. For more on the new books, go to:

www.TheOasisWithin.com.

For more on Walt and his message:

https://www.brainpickings.org

Letter From the Birmingham Jail

I wanted to share some simple thoughts that came to mind from my reading this past weekend of Martin Luther King's famous Letter from the Birmingham Jail. It still resonates today as deeply as it did when it was written, and is well worth the thirty minutes or so it takes to read and ponder.

All it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to stay quiet and do nothing. 

Time doesn't see to it that everything works out in the end. We need to work for that end. 

If justice and goodness aren't worth our time and best energies, then what is? 

The best people in the past can give us wisdom on how best to deal with our present.

Against hatred, disunity, and great anxiety, love can prevail. But only if we live it. 

Some things are worth taking a big risk to preserve: Truth, Beauty, Goodness, Unity.

All of us, across lines of race and gender, have common needs, hopes, and aspirations.

The powerful should speak up and work for the powerless, the rich also for the poor. 

Any business, church, or community is a place where our deepest values matter.

The dignity of our common humanity requires that we rise up and strive for the best.

Simple Can Lead Into Deep

When I was a professor, a reviewer of one of my academic books wrote of the "deceptive simplicity" of my writing style. That made me smile. I've always worked hard to get to the masterful sort of simplicity on the other side of complexity, fighting for the core essence of truth. And now, I'm glad to see early readers of my short novel The Oasis Within talking about the deceptive simplicity of it. 

One prominent author wrote me that his intellectually advanced and quite literary teenage son had started the book, read the first couple of pages, and put it aside, saying it was "too simple." I was sorry.

Then a man named Bruce, who was reportedly a longtime reader of deep spiritual books, bought The Oasis Within and began it. He emailed me and said that the opening pages couldn't command his attention and that it was probably too simple a book for him. I urged him to read on. Days later, he wrote back to say that it had become one of his favorite books of all time, and that now, he's given dozens of copies to friends, and has continued in his enthusiasm at the books of the series it begins, The Golden Palace and The Stone of Giza. 

Bruce recently told me that he had given a copy to a lady he knows and that she had called to tell him what she thought of it. He wrote me this:

<<Effusive has to be the word.

Gail called. She is the lady who is renting my daughter’s house. I had given her a copy of Oasis suggesting she might like it. This afternoon she called and said she started to read it last Thursday night when her husband was watching Football. She explained that she just couldn’t get much out of it, but decided she would just push on. I figured to mention that there are some books that may just not appeal to everyone, but before I spoke, Gail continued.

Soon she found she could not put the book down and that it might well be one of the most meaningful books she had ever read. It captures all of the important values that could make our lives better, and yet it is not religious. She feels every youth should get and read this book early in their teen years. But more; they should be encouraged to reread it every year to engrain and refresh this wisdom as they mature. She says her grandchildren are too young for the book as yet but will get a copy for each one as they move into their teens.

I told her I will loan her a copy of The Golden Palace so she can see how a more story-based theme can carry the message in a new way to younger people.

For me, it is so encouraging that more people are seeing the inherent truth and worth within these writings not even knowing the underlying reality of how they have come about. Though the ultimate medium for the Walid materials seems almost certainly somewhere in the video sphere from which it emerged, the value must rest in the written form for now. We can be grateful it is now available to all. Many different movements will be necessary to make this a better world and this can be a true step in the healing direction.>>

I was deeply gratified. Then, I got a note from the reader herself, addressed to me and her friend:

<<Good evening Bruce and Mr. Morris,

I truly feel blessed to have read "The Oasis Within". I know that I will read it again. And perhaps again and again!!

Bruce, you very eloquently summed up both my reaction and my response to this book. The beauty of it is that it offers much in its simplicity. Yet, although it is simple, it is not at all simple. One must read it to know what I mean.

Thank you, Mr. Morris, for writing this in such a way that it makes me wish I had had this book to read and learn from many years ago. I hope many people, both young and old, hear about your book and read it. It is a guide book one can refer to throughout life. In my mind, it is a classic.

Sincerely,

Gail G>>

One CEO has told me that pages 5 and 6 of The Oasis Within changed his life. But he had to get through the "deceptive simplicity" of pages 1-4 to get there. Then he saw what was really going on. 

I had a similar experience. These books all came to me unexpectedly, as something like a movie playing in my head, or as what Mary Shelley once described as a “waking dream.” The opening scene was of a man and a boy sitting in the sand under a palm tree, talking. Their conversation was simple. And yet, it provided a doorway that, since I was willing to walk through it, brought me into an unanticipated land of deep wisdom. And that’s the way the best simplicity can work—as a doorway to depth. But it’s up to us to use it. 

If you haven’t yet had the experience of The Oasis Within, The Golden Palace, and The Stone of Giza, I hope you will soon. Then, The Viper and the Storm will be available this spring, as the latest installment in the series. One book reviewer said recently that it’s The Temple of Doom and Dan Brown, and The Hardy Boys Meet Aristotle, and that when reading, he felt like he was thirteen years old again. I felt that way when writing them. I had no idea how a simple story would bring me the greatest deep wisdom of my life.

On Kindness

Am I centered enough, grounded enough, confident enough and strong enough to be kind? Those who aren't display these other deficiencies for all to see.

Any small act of kindness that I offer another person typically ends up doing me more good than it accomplishes for the recipient. It even seems to be the most reliable path to my own happiness. And in a world that seems not to value it nearly enough, it's simply the right thing, whenever possible, to do and to be.

Therefore, I hereby vow in any situation to think: How can I be kind?

Philosophy in Times of Folly

When the world is going crazy and folly envelops us all, philosophy becomes once more what it originally began as: a subversive activity.

To think. To refuse manipulation. To take a stand on truth, or uncertainty, whichever is available. To eschew simplemindedness.

To speak up. To question. To insist on clarity, or at least an open acknowledgment of confusion. To move beyond easy assumption.

To strip away rationalization, deception, illusion, empty rhetoric and callous intellectual laziness. To insist on what's real.

To demand honesty and precision. To show sloppy thinking for what it is. To reveal prejudice and display its utter unworthiness.

There is no greater civic duty required at present than to link hands with Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and insist on the sharp steel edge of wisdom.

What is Life?

What is life? A dream? A great illusion? The analogue of a computer simulation on a cosmic scale? A divine zoo? A gift? An accident? An absurdity? Or ...

Is it an experiment? A training camp? A carnival? A risky adventure? An action and mystery novel full of comedy, romance, and tragedy that we're all trapped in—or perhaps, that we each can help write?

Is it an extravagant test? A noble gesture? A celebration of possibility? A celestial play of primordial fire? A chance at, and a dress rehearsal for, the truly unimaginable, yet to come?

Could it be: Outward Bound for souls? A spiritual garden and surrounding wilderness for the highest form of growth? A place set apart where you can choose to crawl or fly? Is it much more or much less than it seems?

What, then, after all, is life?

Proper Pride: From Out of Africa

In the great book, Out of Africa, written by author Karen Blixen under the penname of "Isak Denisen," there is a section called “From an Immigrant’s Notebook,” and a short piece within that notebook on pride. Here is an excerpt for your potential pondering.

The neighborhood of the Game Reserve and the presence, outside our boundary, of the big game, gave a particular character to the farm, as if we had been neighbors of a great king. Very proud things were about, and made their nearness felt.

The barbarian loves his own pride, and hates, or disbelieves in, the pride of others. I will be a civilized being, I will love the pride of my adversaries, of my servants, and my lover; and my house shall be, in all humility, in the wilderness a civilized place.

Pride is faith in the idea that God had, when he made us.  A proud man is conscious of the idea, and aspires to realize it.  He does not strive towards happiness, or comfort, which may be irrelevant to God’s idea of him. His success is the idea of God, successfully carried through, and he is in love with his destiny. As the good citizen finds his happiness in the fulfillment of his duty to the community, so does the proud man find his happiness in the fulfillment of his fate.

People who have no pride are not aware of any idea of God in the making of them, and sometimes they make you doubt that there has ever been much of an idea, or else it has been lost, and who shall find it again? They have got to accept as success what others warrant to be so, and to take their happiness, and even their own selves, at the quotation of the day. They tremble, with reason, before their fate.

 Love the pride of God beyond all things, and the pride of your neighbors as your own. The pride of lions: do not shut them up in Zoos. The pride of your dogs: let them not grow fat. Love the pride of your fellow-partisans, and allow them no self-pity.

Love the pride of the conquered nations, and leave them to honour their father and their mother.

The Christmas Review of My New Novel, The Stone of Giza

First of all: Merry Christmas to all of you and thank you for reading these little blog posts. I appreciate the chance to think with you about things that matter. I'll have a new nugget for you tomorrow on wisdom. But today, I want to share the nice Christmas gift that came for me today with the first review of my new novel. It starts like this:

Imagine a concoction that's part "Raiders of the Lost Ark," part Harry Potter, part Dan Brown, part Hardy Boys Meets Nancy Drew, with a strong dose of philosophy and ethics.

That might give you an idea of "The Stone of Giza," Wilmington author Tom V. Morris' latest novel in his "Walid and the Mysteries of Phi" series.

A self-described public philosopher, Morris is known for such best sellers as "If Aristotle Ran General Motors." "True Success" and "The Art of Achievement." Lately, though, he's been dabbling in fiction. His "Walid" books serve up a mix of boys' adventure yarn—the hero, Walid, is 13, after all—with a philosophical narrative along the lines of Voltaire's "Candide."

For "Stone of Giza," Morris throws his readers in the deep end ...

The long review ends with the words: "Morris supplies a satisfying adventure story that could appeal to a larger audience." 

Thanks, Ben Steelman and Star News!

The book can be found at: http://amzn.to/2gaAQ1S

Fit to Rule

Plato's on book tour. He's at Google for a talk and book signing.

From the recent book of philosophy and fiction, Plato at the GooglePlex, page 73, by Rebecca Goldstein:

<<You know, Plato said, still surveying the room, I spent the better part of my life trying to figure out how to ensure that those who are most fit to rule are the ones who end up ruling. I gave much thought to the question of how to educate rulers so that they wouldn’t fall in love with their own power.>>

Footnote from Republic 521. Socrates: “But what we require, I said, is that those who take office should not be lovers of rule.”

Governance. Leadership. Rule. Those fit for it should not be lovers of it, for its own sake, or for its power, or status, or remuneration, or celebrity, or any other potentially ego-boosting side effect. We need servants who have been arduously prepared throughout their lives to serve at the highest levels. We need philosopher-kings, in Plato's words—meaning wise leaders, intelligent and discerning and empathetic representatives who are willing to take on the duties at the head of the state to protect freedom, enact justice, inspire noble purpose, and help steer the ship properly forward. 

But too many of us don't know what we need.

Just a thought.

The Oasis Within and Self Examination

I'm so grateful to everyone who's been writing me about my short novel, The Oasis Within and the series it begins. I'm getting two sorts of emails: (1) "I wish I had been able to read a book like this years or decades ago" and (2) "This book has come into my life at the perfect time." I'm sure there are also people with the response (3) "This is an extremely odd book for Tom Morris to write," but so far they're not emailing me or posting perplexed reviews on Amazon. Many readers are asking how I ever came to write such novels at all, set as they are in Egypt in 1934 and 1935. 

I've just come to understand the role that relentless, deep, and difficult self examination played in freeing me up for this great adventure. 

If you had asked me ten years ago about my childhood, I would have sincerely said, "It was great." But that was because I was blocking a lot of the real truth, which was that I had an attractive, young, emotionally damaged mother who had been raised in an orphanage and was determined to live out her frustrated ambitions through her only child, who therefore could not possibly please her. Such damage is never confined to one generation. So if, as a child, I brought home less than excellent grades, war ensued—a scorched earth spiritual Aleppo campaign against the loudly delineated deficiencies of a frightened bewildered little six or eight or ten-year-old. And so I lived for decades unaware of the engines of need buried deep in my psyche. Nothing was ever enough. I couldn't write one article, I had to write fifty. I couldn't have one fountain pen. I needed twenty. Imagine how expensive this could get with BMWs. Until I was one day able to face up to the fact that my constant need for achievement, my continual rushing about, my never being satisfied, might all be due to something that desperately needed attention, and perhaps healing. 

Socrates stressed the importance of self-examination, and when I decided to do it relentlessly, and even with a measure of courage and great pain and glimmers of hope, it cleansed me and freed me from so many inner obstacles that I had not been aware existed. 

And then my mental movie started to play. it was showing me in living color and surround sound Dolby X the great lessons of life wisdom that went beyond anything I had ever felt or thought. I met young people in Egypt in 1934 and the adults in their lives, and I fell in love with them to the extent that the criminals and revolutionaries who were their enemies caused me great concern for their safety as I wrote and wrote, typing as fast as I could, while the scenes and stories and insights poured over me—the inner visions that, so far, have resulted in eight novels of over a million words, with the first three now in print: The Oasis Within, The Golden Palace, and The Stone of Giza. And I'm already excited about the next installment just months from now, The Viper and The Storm. But I truly can't wait until the one after that, The King and Prince, that taught me some of the deepest lessons of my life. And still the very deepest is in the last that's now written, a book called The Ancient Scroll. There I learned the most powerful lessons about redemption and personal transformation.

I tell you this short and ultimately happy story in case you may have hidden, deeply buried obstacles in your own psyche that need your attention. A program of honest and relentless self examination may just be the thing to free you for your own next adventure, which as I've experience, can be a joy you could never otherwise have even imagined.

www.TheOasisWithin.com

Philosophy: A Few Thoughts

This has gotten a lot of response on Twitter and Facebook, so I wanted to revisit it here. I hope you enjoy these short ruminations.

Philosophy: A Few Thoughts.

Philosophy is about getting your bearings in this world we've all been dropped into. It's about Wisdom. And that means it’s about Truth. And Beauty. And Goodness. And Unity.

Philosophy can be hard, but all of us are, in a sense, homespun philosophers, trying our best to interpret our experience of this wild, surprising world.

We think of the great philosophers in the past as old, bearded eminences in togas or stiff collars. But they often pondered at young ages and just kept it up.

Philosophy isn’t male or female; young or old; white, or black, or brown. It's all of us seeking to understand our common nature and world.

Philosophy smiles on any of us who will keep it company for a time. It's not great at quick meet-and-greets. It likes to walk with us a while.

Philosophy isn't for show, or profit, or fame. It's the art of living well in any circumstances. It's first inner, then outer in its effects.

Philosophy is an array of habits and skills—of thinking, feeling, and doing. It's not just theory. It's a deep recipe for true flourishing.

Philosophy is a calling, whatever your job. It's a mission of wonder and investigation, curiosity and contemplation, and mostly: perspective.

Philosophy is well acquainted with my better self, and is always wanting to get us together.

I speak of philosophy as if it's singular. But like HipHop, Soul, Rock, Country, and Jazz, it has many manifestations. Yet, they’re all family.

Philosophy has two faces—one fierce, and the other: endlessly compassionate.

Philosophy is: questions in search of answers, in search of questions. And so on. It's the most recursive of discursive endeavors, forever.

Some philosophers build houses of thought. Others stay on the move.

Hill A and Hill B Insight

This past week, I had a new and very different insight connected with a story I’ve told many times. It involved a novel interpretation of a powerpoint drawing I’ve long used to illustrate the story. The point I normally use the drawing to make is the philosophical advice that we should not allow what is very good to keep us from what is best. While a vision of the best should never be an enemy of the good and prevent our enjoyment of it, in its own time, the comfort and proper pride of something good we’ve attained should also not keep us from exploring new heights of achievement. Life is supposed to be a series of adventures. A first good form of success shouldn’t imprison us, but rather empower us to go on and try even higher, or richer, levels of achievement.

The powerpoint slide in question shows two hills, as above, one of medium height and another some distance away that’s of much greater height. I call the shorter one, Hill A, and the taller one, Hill B. And here’s the usual story.

Imagine that you’re on a hike out in the woods and you’re leading a group of people. Suppose you set it as your goal to get to the highest point in the area, from which you’ll be able to survey all the surrounding terrain. And imagine that the highest point you can now see is the peak of Hill A. Whether it’s fog, or mist, or just perspective that blocks any other view, that’s the highest peak you can see from where you are initially. So, in order to attain your goal, you lead the group up Hill A. It’s a struggle. You slip and fall and pull yourselves back up, and finally you get to the top, from which vantage point you can now suddenly see the much higher Hill B. 

At this point in the story, I like to ask: If your goal is to get to the highest point in the area, and you now stand atop Hill A, where you can suddenly see that the highest point is really on Hill B, then what’s the first thing you’ll have to do to attain your true goal? And people inevitably answer, “Go downhill.” And I reply that, yes, they’re right. I also point out that when any leader suggests such a thing, nearly everyone on the team will tend to say or think, “No! It took us a long time to get up Hill A! It’s perfectly fine up here! We’re plenty high! We can see a lot from where we already are! We shouldn’t have to go downhill now at all! We should just stay and enjoy where we are.” It’s nearly universal. Nobody wants to go downhill.

My usual point is that many businesses, individuals, and even families are stuck on their own Hill A, because of the common reluctance to go downhill—which metaphorically represents changing what you’ve just been doing, leaving behind what might be a perfectly good success that you’ve had, and launching into the risk of trying something new and even better. Of course, any new journey will in its initial stage involve getting out of the proverbial comfort zone, and putting yourself into a new position where you’re deserting something good. Because of this, too many companies get stuck in their first form of success and nobody wants to go downhill, which is the only way to change, adapt, and discover new and better forms of achievement. And so the world passes them by. Champions, however, love a challenge, and are open to start the downhill trek as the first and necessary stage in any new and bigger ascent.

The novel insight I just had was simple and revelatory. A panel discussion right before I spoke recently and used this story was on the topic of adversity and overcoming failures in business. I then realized that there’s another way to use my drawing. Many people high up on Hill A get shoved off their place of success by circumstances and are pushed down the side, whether by economic factors they had never anticipated, or the actions of competitors, or changes in the industry. What they were doing and so proud of succeeding at is no longer available, and they find themselves tumbling down the side of Hill A.

Here’s the flash of good news: The sooner you can reframe the descent down Hill A as the first stage in a possible ascent of a higher Hill B, the sooner you turn that downward trajectory into something great: PROGRESS. You’re no longer just tumbling down, you’re moving forward. 

When you set new goals during bad times, you begin to take charge of what you can control, and leave aside what you can’t control. And you can then expand that circle. Tough times can become positive transitions if you make them so. Adversity can contain within itself a gift, and even a momentum that can take you to somewhere great, if you’ll just intervene by reframing your situation and setting new goals. This is stoic wisdom. It’s philosophical insight that you can use. So, whether you’re flourishing or falling, look for the next higher hill, and set a goal to get there.

Contentment

Contentment.

Happiness depends on a measure of inner contentment, and also fulfillment. And there are some distinctions here we all need to understand.

Contentment is simply accepting the present as being what it is—letting go of bitterness, resentment, anger, frustration, and the sting of all such negative emotions and attitudes. It doesn't require liking all that's present, or wanting it to continue, or even not planning to work hard to change things radically from being what they are to what they should be. It's merely a shedding of those negative emotions that get us all balled up and unable to move forward productively and well. 

The person with a measure of inner contentment finds things to focus on emotionally that are good, and that can be a basis for renewal and enjoyment and moving forward with whatever hard work needs to be done, A moment, or stretch, of intense discontent can motivate mightily, but extended, it begins to get in the way. You can set your heart with passion to work for a better future without requiring the ongoing fuel of anger or hatred. Those things are inwardly corrosive over time and tend to guide us to replace one unfortunate state of affairs with another, however well intentioned we might be. For more on this, see the history of revolutions.

Contentment says of the unpleasant, unfortunate, and unjust in the moment, "It is what it is." It takes a deep breath, gets back in touch with the best of inner motivations, like love and compassion, and goes to work with that oasis within needed for the longest stretches of travel through any arid desert.

Fulfillment is something different. It's experiencing an ongoing objective realization of your potential, and feeling that inside. It's objective before it's subjective. Whereas contentment is just an inner state, fulfillment is something in the outer world that reflects itself within. Put your talents to work for the good of others as well as yourse. Be a blessing to others. Work hard for justice and goodness and truth. And fulfillment will come, as long as that enemy of lingering discontent doesn't get and stay in the way.

Contentment and fultillment: Two foundations of that deep Aristotelian happiness that promotes excellence and full human flourishing in all things. May you experience both, in even the most trying of times.

Our Actions Matter

Our actions matter. All of them do. And that’s a lesson most often learned from the more unfortunate of our choices, rather than through the better things we produce. 

In the novel, A Place on Earth, by Wendell Berry, a father has long taught his son to farm, and the time has come to turn over a patch of land to the young man to let him plow and plant it on his own. The father is later reminiscing on the event, and ruminating on how much topsoil has been lost over the years to bad decisions—from mistakes he saw his own father make, as well as from his own misjudgments. He then tells what happened with his son:

“Anyhow, Virgil broke his ground farther over the brow of the hill than he should have. Like a boy, you know. Didn’t stop in time. But he got his rows laid off about right, and got his crop out—and I didn’t say anything, hoping he’d have luck and get that mistake free. Thought I’d show him later what he’d done wrong, soon as I could do it without hurting his feelings.

"But there was an awful rain one night after his crop had been out, I guess, two weeks. I heard it begin and lay listening to it, knowing what was bound to be happening. And the next morning I said, ‘Let’s go look at your crop.’ So we went, and walked all the way around it. It was hurt. Bound to have been. There’s no way to plow sideline ground so it’ll hold in a rain like that. ‘Virgil,’ I said, ‘this is your fault. This is one of your contributions to the world.’ That was hard for me to say. And he took it hard. I saw he was about to cry. And bad as I hated to do it, I let it work in him while we stood there and looked. I knew he was hating the day he ever thought of raising a crop, ready to give up. Finally I put my arm around him and I said, ‘Be sorry, but don’t quit. What’s asked of you now is to see what you’ve done, and learn better.’ And I told him that a man’s life is always dealing with permanence—that the most dangerous kind of irresponsibility is to think of your doings as temporary. That, anyhow, is what I’ve tried to keep before myself. What you do on the earth, the earth makes permanent.”

I love the words: Be sorry, but don’t quit. What’s asked of you now is to see what you’ve done and learn better.

We can recover from most mistakes. But the world somehow records them all. And that’s a serious thought. Equally important is the idea that we’ll all make mistakes, and our job then is to keep going, learn, and improve. We’re not here with the expectation of perfection, only with the hope of improvement. Our actions do matter. One way or another, they're all permanent. And we have to live with that fact.

Respect. Honor. Goodwill. An Election Day Thought.

Respect, honor, and goodwill.

Friends! Remember in all your interactions with others today, the qualities of respect, honor, and goodwill. If the other person doesn't deserve these things, you do deserve them: to respect yourself in word and deed, honor the best within you, and lead the way in goodwill. Neither the weight of the world, nor the demands of national justice should be on your shoulders today. Dig deep. Reach high. Make yourself proud of your own kindness and grace in demeanor, tone, and word.

I've already had to turn the other cheek once this morning. I wanted to tell the guy to kiss that cheek, long and hard. But I didn't. I wished him well and offered a blessing. Remember Polonius and Hamlet, when the prince has just suggested that he treat some men well:

Polonius: My lord, I will use them according to their desert.

Hamlet: God's bodkins, man, much better! Use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape hanging? Use them after your own honor and dignity; the less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in.

Let's set an example today for how a person should act under trying and challenging circumstances. You may hear things that nearly make your blood boil. Overcome them with the power of your inner spirit. That person has likely lost or damaged theirs. You're the one who can set the example. 

Good Wishes for a Great Day. And may God bless America, not in accordance with our merit, but out of the abundance of divine bounty!

Little Things

Sometimes, it amazes me how little I've been able to accomplish in my 64 years, so far. And that puts things into perspective. I think that if I could live to be 250 or 300 years old, I might be able to get something done and make a real difference for others. But of course, that would depend on medical science giving me its own little boost along the way. Fountain of Youth Researchers out there, get busy. Otherwise, 200 year old philosophers aren't exactly yet known for ongoing beneficial achievements.

Psychologists warn us about comparing ourselves to others. But the real warning should be about comparing our actual life accomplishments, whatever they might be, against the vastness of the possibilities that necessarily elude our grasp. We're always like Sir Isaac Newton, merely playing with a few seashells on the shore while that ocean of potential lies out there, still forever unexplored.

My daughter just did some pumpkin-carving art for Halloween at our house that's really world-class sculpture. I mentioned to her that people should be lining up to pay thousands of dollars for these ephemeral works of art, and she laughed and said that she'd be lucky if more than four people ever see them. I know how she felt. I've written philosophy articles in the technical academic journals like that, hidden away on remote library shelves. But you know, when I reflect on it more, I have to admit that I'm even prepared to write entire books like that. Why not? We do what we do, and we always hope for the best as a result. But the best isn't essentially about changing the world on some grand scale. It could be about delighting one person, or a few. It could be like that mythic little pebble tossed into a huge calm lake and creating its tiny ripples that, at some point unseen, keep going. Whether we toss our small stones out into the lake of life for 30 years, or 90 years, or 300, their ripples may yet go where they are meant to go, and do what they're meant to do, whether we ever see their results, or not. We're never in a good position ourselves to say, at least on this side of the pond. 

So I'll draw a conclusion. It's quite Ok to accomplish little things. Even if it may take a lot longer than you think.

Grace: A Quick Sunday Morning Thought.

What is it to embody grace, to be gracious in word and deed? 

It's positioning ourselves alongside the highest and best of what is. It's joy. It's love. And it's our greatest opportunity. There is no ungracious path to real happiness or true success. Grace touches deep in the soul and elevates us in a unique way. It means acting beyond the calculus of merit, with forgiveness and transformative power, demonstrating both nobility and humility in equal measure each day. It's the spirit of living well and abundantly in all good things. It's our calling and chief dignity in the world.

Some Random Thoughts

Courage. It's necessary for all the best things we might do, have, or become. It somehow matters every day.

"Courage is the only soil in which our talents can grow and be used well." Ali, in The Stone of Giza, soon to be published.

Speaking the truth in love. That's one of my favorite phrases in the Bible. And it's a great ideal to aspire to. Both parts are important.

Don't fear being contradicted. Fear only being too incurious to see what's true. Keep your guard down and your mind open to learn well.

Discernment and logical care are vital components of what we call wisdom.

Whatever your work or life might be, a sense of nobility and humility kept in balance will allow a level of greatness otherwise impossible.

The Double Power Principle: Anything with great power for good has equal and opposite power for ill. It's normally up to us how we use it.

The Dual Significance Principle: Any job productive of good can be given a trivial or noble description. Ultimate motivation needs nobility.

When people use a holy book or scriptural quotation to condemn and divide, it makes me sad. There is one Judge, and none of us is that one.

Your inner thoughts can enrich or corrupt you. Nothing else has that power without engaging your thoughts. That means you can choose.

When you have the deepest understanding of life, you come to realize that we're here to help and not harm those around us. Compassion rules.

Good people can make bad mistakes. Let others back into your heart when they learn and recover. You'll need them to do the same for you.