It ain’t much, but it's the first story I've written in Chinese.
I'd wanted to write about Chinese political philosophy, but I found that my vocabulary was too limited to do it. Surprisingly, some Chinese ideas about governmental legitimacy are the same as those of our Western tradition, just dressed up in different language.
My story ...
China is our geopolitical adversary, but the ancient Chinese philosopher Mencius had some advice that might help us in these difficult times. He said:
"Only after a person has demeaned himself will others demean him. Only after a great family has destroyed itself will others ...
Most people aren't familiar with the idea of "othering," but they are familiar with what it is. They've seen it. They've done it to other people, and they've had it done to them.
To "other" a group of people is to devalue their lives, welfare, and concerns. It's not new, nor is it done only by humans. In their ...
Many people say that "the arc of history bends toward justice."
Pardon my French, but ce n'est pas vrai. It's not true. In fact, it's the opposite of the truth.
If there is going to be justice in our world, we have to make it happen -- and we also have to get lucky. Very lucky.
Sure, everyone ...
You can trust people. Honest. That's not a joke. Trust me.
But it's important to know what trust is. Then you can trust people in the right way.
A couple of analogies might help explain the point.
Suppose that you see a big rock on the grass in front of you. Based on past experience, you know at least two more things ...
Often, it's not what you see that misleads you. It's what you don't see.
In economics, it's called "the broken window fallacy." Broken windows create jobs for people who replace windows. Therefore, a casual observer might conclude that broken windows are a good thing. They create jobs. We should break as many windows as ...
"To every man there openeth
A Way, and Ways, and a Way.
And the High Soul climbs the High way,
And the Low Soul gropes the Low,
And in between, on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro.
But to every man there openeth
A High Way, and a Low.
And every man decideth
The Way his soul shall go."
-- ...
We spend a lot of our lives on automatic pilot. We act out of habit, without thinking about what we're doing.
That's not always a bad thing. If we had to think our way through everything we did, we couldn't get most of it done.
Suppose you're driving to work and another car abruptly cuts in front of you. You don't have time to think ...