Buddha, the unseen, and a hard life
Three things worth reading
We Live a Hard Life in an Easy World
By
“These aren’t trade-offs but revelations about what we lose. Every convenience we gain leaves behind some essence, some strength, some human need that gets numbed out. The more the world does for us, the less we can do for ourselves.
And then, life shows up. And we break.”
This short piece beautifully captures how easy our world has become — and how flat that has made our experiences. The motions don’t prepare us to deal with our own mind, understand ourselves, or navigate life in all its messiness and complexity.
Yet this is the stuff that matters most and requires the most from us.
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What Military Strategists Can Learn From Buddha
By Steven Weber
“When decisions respond to a mental model more than they do to the real-world situations that the mental model represents — imperfectly — the outcome is surprising, and often bad.”
We put a lot of effort into making sense of the world. Once we feel like all the pieces fit, we tend not to want to disrupt them.
Alas, there's a great deal we don't know, and the world is constantly changing. The longer we leave our models unexamined, the greater the risk that they become distortions rather than useful guides.
The article suggests that one of the best things you can do is spend time probing your mental model.
Ask questions like, “Where are there gaps in my logic? What other cases could you make and what evidence would you draw on? What am I assuming?”
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The unseen
By Allison J. Pugh
“Just like the purveyors of ‘feminine hygiene’ products, educational toys or body deodorant, then, technologists both sell a widely touted crisis and profit from its solutions. They have become merchants of loneliness.”
This piece made something click in my brain. I’ve heard much about a loneliness epidemic. I’m also witness to bouts of excessive oversharing. This piece suggests the core issue is that many of us feel invisible in an increasingly depersonalized and standardized world.
I was so struck by this notion, I’ve been working to update my lexicon to say “customization” when talking about software rather than “personalization.” There’s nothing personal about my ability to select a font in an app. Let’s not pretend there is.
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What You Missed ↓
What's your third option?
We often see only two options, but alternatives exist that aren't always obvious. Asking what-if questions will help you identify the alternatives and weigh your options, which will help you make a smarter choice.