Recent Thoughts

1. In the belly 

It is deeply fascinating to work inside the system. The experiential learning and visceral reactions of being in the industrial growth society -- the belly of the beast -- are priceless.

I can start to see how it is hard for those who have never worked inside the system to sympathize with those who are toiling in it. I start to experience the bodily reaction when my work inside of the system is being critiqued and criticized. 

There is confirmation bias on both sides: those who are in the capitalist system, and those who believe they are not. Being inside the system, one needs to rationalize and justify their work. One's ego, self-worth, greed and desires all bond him tighter with the system.

Those who work in these large corporations work pretty hard. "I work, therefore I am." Similarly, "I am my work." It becomes harder and harder to separate one's true self from the work that consumes 80% of his waking time. 

Reflections and awareness are dangerous to the system. Because, to excel in the system, to climb the corporate ladder, it requires your full faith in what you are doing, in order to perform at your best. In order to have faith in a system that is unwholesome, it requires the shutting-off of the aware mind; it requires self-numbing and self-deception. You have to fool yourself into believing what you do. Love what you do, says Big Brother. Even better, the system rewires your "Love," so that "do what you love" = "love what you do."

As soon as you start to reflect, the air goes out of the balloon, and your productivity drops, and fear and greed kick in. 

2. The myth of efficiency

The waste in the system is appalling. I will no longer believe anyone who tells me that corporations are efficient. But thanks to the government bureaucracy that provides an even lower bar.

3. Good reads

Recently finished reading Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, and am now reading Autobiography of a Yogi, by Yogananda. Both books are classics that I have long wanted to read. And wow. Grateful for these teachings -- anchor and reminder of sanity and purpose. 

Finished listening to 1984, by Orwell, and am now listening to Catcher in the Rye, on audiobooks. It was chilling to encounter 1984, and see how closely reality has followed the script.

Also reading Out of Control by Kevin Kelly, another mind-blowing classic.The age to come. What does the combination of 1984 and Out of Control look like?