Missing Link

Sometimes it seems that everything in the known universe has already been comprehensively explored, discovered, labeled, mapped, dissected, cross-examined, catalogued, abbreviated, acronymified, domain-named, and proffered at the low low price. “Operators are standing by!”  Google Maps has rendered naked every square mile of the planet’s ample surface. Wikipedia has ambitiously aggregated the entire stockpile of … Read more

Here is a metaphor in three parts. Part One Imagine you spent your whole life in an underground cave. You were born in the cave and you grew up there. You were unaware that anything existed outside your cave. All the people and all the objects in your life were lit by dim lights on … Read more

How do you consciously link the person you are now to the person you will become in the future? The first step is to recognize that you are a complex creature made up of many parts. Although you go by your own name and you have one birth date and one set of fingerprints, you … Read more

I really like the concept of individuation, which speaks to a process of becoming individualized, distinct, unique, recognizable. Individuation is the opposite of assimilation, homogenization, blending in. Individuation is the moth that emerges among caterpillars. It’s the flower growing from a crack in the pavement and the volcanic island rising up from the ocean. It … Read more

As I said in the previous post, when I was a teenager, the two most important adult role models who were not my parents were a former WWII soldier in the German army named Kurt and a concentration camp survivor named Saul. Despite their different backgrounds and cultures, Kurt and Saul had a lot in … Read more

When I was a teenager, the two most important adult role models who were not my parents were a former WWII soldier in the German army named Kurt and a concentration camp survivor named Saul. I met Kurt when I was a child, and he was older than my parents, closer to my grandparents’ age. … Read more

When I was a teenager, I had a pet mouse. I enjoyed holding it in my hand and walking around the house with it. Pretty soon I was leaving the house with the mouse. Eventually I started carrying it with me around the neighborhood, even on the public bus. Believe me, you can learn a … Read more

You can see the past. It is etched in your memory. Events that happened, happened. You experienced those events. You know what happened. You were there. You lived them. But the future, that is something different. The future is unknown. You haven’t seen it yet. The future is pregnant with potential. It is yet unrealized. … Read more

Imagine that time is a road. If you look in one direction you see the past, and the other direction shows the future. The place on that road where you currently stand is the present. Take a moment and visualize this in your mind. OK. The catch is, since the present is always moving, you … Read more

According to a statistical model, I will die on August 17, 2035. My dad died young. My mom was closer to average age when she died. If my lifespan is exactly equal to the average of lifespans, August 17, 2035 will be my last day of life. OK, I admit, this is a pretty crude … Read more

When I was 19, I was alone in a hospital room with my grandmother when she passed away. The term “passed away” seems spot-on from my perspective then, as it does now, because what I witnessed was a kind of movement. One instant Grandma was laying there alive, breathing, transmitting signals to the hospital vital … Read more

The previous post talked about what motivates us to do what we do. It addressed the concepts of collaborative motivation (primarily seeking to benefit others) and individual motivation (primarily seeking to benefit the self). There is, however, another source of motivation. It is the motivation born from the belief that each individual has a unique … Read more

There are generally two types of motivation for finding singular links: collaborative motivation and individual motivation. Collaborative motivation primarily seeks to benefit others; individual motivation primarily seeks to benefit the self. Collaborative is outward-facing; individual is inward-facing. Let’s unpack them both. Collaboration Collaborative motivation is a sharing process. In the same way that a teacher … Read more