New Becomings

  I don't have any degrees. I went to University for, as my dad called it, "Basket-Weaving", not exactly an intellectual pursuit - it was Theatre Arts, but whatever, I ditched after 1 year. Much later in life, after moving to property in the north, I took a certificate course in, as I called it, "How to Play in the Woods", which was a Rural Recreation program. In between those times, about 20 years, I played the guitar and wrote songs, spending hours of my days in practice (mostly because I was searching for meaning, broke, and there was nothing else to do... but I digress). I am pro-intellect and I am pro-community. I've always respected and appreciated those who've had the gumption, energy and brain power to spend much of their time learning to the point of accreditation, which takes many years. They're not learning to say, "look at me, look at me!", they're learning because they are interested in knowing more about something. They...

 “The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.” ― David Foster Wallace   All the stuff and things we learn over time create who we have been, who we are, and who we become. As in any discipline, like say math... we must understand simple addition and subtraction before moving on to more complicated equations, and then onto complex descriptions and searching of life itself, in reasoning, problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity. Anything we come to understand should be practiced continually - it's not just an ah-ha moment of clarity that allows you to sit and know something forever after... there is always more to know and with practice it becomes easier to apply in daily life. When I understood stoicism and why patience is seen as a virtue, it became a difficult dai...