Archives for May 2014

Superficiality

May 29, 2014 by costaricaguy 1 Comment

It often dawns upon me that there are two separate worlds.

One is the real world where real things exits, where life truly happens…

and then there is this superficial one, largely made up of status signs and symbols.

I ran across a Brain Pickings post today about a book by Alan Watts entitled, Does it Matter – Essays on Man’s Relation to Materiality.

No, I haven’t read the book, yet. But I certainly will…

Watts was a English born philosophising sort who was a 60’s guru on Eastern thought, like Zen Buddhism.

Don’t know much about him…I did read this morning that he experimented with LSD…

Don’t fault him for that, as I did too, although by the time I got around to it, Owsley has already exited the scene and the quality of the experience along with him.

Anyway, what particularly struck me from the post was this quote from Watts’ book…

All too easily, we confuse the world as we symbolize it with the world as it is.

Watts then goes on to write…

Money is a way of measuring wealth but is not wealth in itself. A chest of gold coins or a fat wallet of bills is of no use whatsoever to a wrecked sailor alone on a raft. He needs real wealth, in the form of a fishing rod, a compass, an outboard motor with gas, and a female companion. But this ingrained and archaic confusion of money with wealth is now the main reason we are not going ahead full tilt with the development of our technological genius for the production of more than adequate food, clothing, housing, and utilities for every person on earth.

and finally…

It is an oversimplification to say that this is the result of business valuing profit rather than product, for no one should be expected to do business without the incentive of profit. The actual trouble is that profit is identified entirely with money, as distinct from the real profit of living with dignity and elegance in beautiful surroundings…

To try to correct this irresponsibility by passing laws (e.g., against absentee ownership) would be wide of the point, for most of the law has as little relation to life as money to wealth. On the contrary, problems of this kind are aggravated rather than solved by the paperwork of politics and law. What is necessary is at once simpler and more difficult: only that financiers, bankers, and stockholders must turn themselves into real people and ask themselves exactly what they want out of life — in the realization that this strictly practical and hard–nosed question might lead to far more delightful styles of living than those they now pursue. Quite simply and literally, they must come to their senses — for their own personal profit and pleasure.

I really like Watts’ admonition that financiers, bankers and stockholders turn themselves into real people.

The status symbols that we strive to erect to prove that we are alive, or worthy of life, aren’t real.

For example, it wasn’t “real” for the Wolf of Wall Street (Jordan Belfort) to own a 170 foot yacht…which he sunk off the coast of Sardinia in a frantic attempt to salvage his money.

True that it makes for an interesting story, in as much as we adore superficial stories…

but it ain’t real.

That’s not the real world that the majority of the human population faces on a day to day basis.

And I believe that’s what Watts is getting at.

This contrived world of status signs and symbols, primarily represented by money and the superficial things we use it for, infringes on the real one to the extent that the real one is threatened.

This quest for superficiality makes life hard on everyone…even those caught up in it.

Which is why Watts also states…

The moral challenge and the grim problem we face is that the life of affluence and pleasure requires exact discipline and high imagination.

Belfort had neither and his life of course suffered for it.

Using Belfort as an example is of course dramatic hyperbole…

but not really.

There are many caught up in this alternative world of superficiality in far less dramatic ways than Belfort.

They work hard, yes, that’s a given…

but for what?

To have way more than they really need?

And do they not stop to consider that we live in a world of finite resources and for them to have more than they could ever possibly need means that someone else has less than they truly need?

Well it actually does.

And just look at the human and environmental poverty that exists in this world as living proof.

Now that’s the real world.

And it’s one that could be dramatically improved IF and only if…

those in the superficial one…

get real.

image credit: wolfofwallst via Compfight cc

Squirrel-like Behaviour

May 20, 2014 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

One activity I enjoy even more than writing in my own blogs is reading those of others.

Some blogs act like portals into the work of other artists…other than the blog author him or herself…

One of my favorite blogs of that nature is Maria Popova’s delightful and informative blog, Brain Pickings.

I ran across a Popova post this morning that really resonated.

It presented an interview by Debbie Millman of prolific writer and connection age guru, Seth Godin.

Seth was talking about releasing ourselves from industrial age brainwashing…

and presenting our unique art…

an act that fully engages the lizard brain and scares the hell out of most of us.

That part of our brain evolved from the days where acting “special” would quickly earn you a meeting with the chief, who would caution you to bring it in line, or get kicked out of the tribe into the path of the saber-tooth tiger.

Seth presented an interesting analogy that suggested that living according to the norms of the industrial age is akin to “squirrel-like behaviour”…

You know those squirrels…

they live up in the trees and gather acorns…

never really caring about the world below them, or even about other squirrels…

I guess that’s where the phrase, “squirrel away” comes from.

Now, I don’t mean to pick on squirrels so much…

They’re delightful furry little creatures…

and really aren’t doing anything wrong or immoral…

like all animals, they’re simply acting on instinct.

But we humans?

Well, we really don’t have that excuse.

Now, how is acting according to the norms of the industrial age, squirrel-like behaviour, you ask?

Well, according to those norms, we might start out as artists from an early age, but we quickly learn to tow the line and suppress those nutty notions.

Another interesting part of the interview is where they discuss the idea that if you ask for a show of hands in a first-grade class as to how many would identify themselves as artists…

most would probably raise their hands.

By the 3rd grade, that number would have largely diminished and by…

high school, no one dares to raise their hand…

well, maybe that one guy or girl in the back with no friends and weird clothes.

So, we start out as artists, then we “grow up” to become responsible adults, get an education, a job, do that for the next 40 years and then shed the mortal coil.

And we’re eulogized as a decent, hard-working, responsible squirrel…

I mean person.

It’s all about squirrelling away a life for ourselves.

Without giving a whole lot of thought about the ongoing legacy of our lives…

its impact.

Seth’s ongoing mantra is that in order to do that, we have to become artists again…

and the connection age in which we now live gives us a grand opportunity to do so.

And that’s really what this blog is all about.

It’s about getting you to stop the squirrel-like behaviour…

to be impact mindful…

and that really is about living the life of an artist.

Yesterday, I posted something that insinuated the possibility of a vast conspiracy by the powers that be to persuade us to act normal…

Do I really believe that?

Well, sort of.

You see according to the industrial age norms…

normal is the squirrel.

Now, there are exceptions…

and those, we historically have either celebrated, institutionalized or incarcerated.

But for the rest of us…

the life of the squirrel is supposed to be our destiny…

we even give it an inspirational name…

the american dream.

But all this is according to…

who?

Who created those norms in the first place and why am I destined to live by them?

Damn good question.

Maybe this normal life into which we have been inculcated since first grade is really the proverbial bill of goods that we’ve been suckered into buying.

I’m hoping that this blog could be the inspiration for at least someone to refuse to engage in any more squirrel-like behaviour.

Come down from the tree and live for impact.

In other words…

be a human being in all its unique and vast creative capabilities.

image credit: Tomi Tapio via Compfight cc

Breaking the Cycle of Consumption

May 19, 2014 by costaricaguy 1 Comment

The cycle of consumption that predominates modern life on our planet sort of goes like this…

Stuff is built to break…

by people (well, more and more, by machines)…

who buy and break stuff…

and then build, buy and break more stuff…

and on and on it goes.

Under a capitalistic society, capital, in its various forms, fuels the cycle and keeps it running…

it’s supposed to be allocated efficiently…

by the so-called “invisible hand“…

but it’s not.

That’s because there’s another system superimposed over the real word of building, buying and breaking stuff…

it’s called the financial system.

It’s sort of like the matrix really.

It consists of robotic-like slot machine players who gamble on various outcomes that might or might not take place in the underlying real cycle of consumption world.

All for the benefit of a select chosen few who are allowed in on this game.

And boy do they ever benefit…

at the expense of the real world (as we learned in 2008).

Let me pose an interesting question…did houses exist before mortgages?

And, if so, how?

But I digress.

The point of this post is supposed to be about breaking the cycle of consumption.

Specifically, by implementing the three R’s…

Recycle
Reuse
Repair

We all know about recycling right?

It’s that pain in the ass thing that bleeding heart liberal leaning environmental wackos (like me) do to save the planet.

Okay, granted it is a little bit of a pain to do it right. But if you look into the benefits to the planet from doing so, you’ll see that it’s worth it.

And if you’re going to recycle, put a little thought and effort into it.

First, make sure you know where your recycled trash is going and that it’s actually being, you know, recycled.

Second, separate it out yourself and clean stuff out a little before throwing it into the appropriate bin.

Someone has to sort through it all and it’s being respectful to those folks that you do this the right way.

Reducing your contribution to the landfill is a great way to increase your contribution to the salvation of our planet.

But even better than recycling is reusing stuff.

That’s especially true when it comes to plastic. Our insatiable consumption of plastic has tremendous environmental costs.

But the cool thing is that it’s easy to reuse plastic bags and bottles. They can be conveniently cleaned and repurposed for a whole variety of household activities.

And that keeps them out of the landfill (or, even better, the ocean) as well as reducing the need for so much of this oil-based material to begin with.

That might not make you a hero to the filthy oil-rich Saudi Sheikhs…or the Bush family…

but do you really care?

Lastly let’s talk about one of my personal favorite ways to break the cycle…

Repair.

We “Americans” don’t like to repair things…we want it new.

As soon as something breaks, time to discard it and buy a new one. Hell we don’t even wait for it to break most times…

we want the new model NOW.

Talk about perpetuating the cycle!

That’s why cars diminish in value drastically as soon as they’re driven off the sales lot…at least in the good ole U.S. of A.

Here in Costa Rica it’s a different story.

There are repair shops for just about everything. Mainly because folks can’t afford to buy new stuff imported from the primary sources of the world’s cycle of consumption.

That tends to give real people jobs to do here…and admirable ones at that.

For instance, here being a mechanic is a noble and well-paid (in Costa Rican terms) profession.

I’m still driving my trusty 2000 Mitsubishi Nativa. She runs like a clock…

well, most of the time.

And any time she gets the hiccups, I have my buddy Esteban (an ace mechanic who only knows how to drive a non-motorized bike…seriously) who comes right on over to my house and fixes her up.

I’m still using an “ancient” Iphone 3GS because any time it breaks, I have my repair guy downtown that fixes it right up.

You might be thinking, but is it economically feasible to do that. That is, doesn’t it cost more to fix than it does to just buy a new one…in the long run?

Maybe, but usually when we think that way we’re ignoring an important component of cost…the environmental cost that the cycle of consumption poses.

A cost that we are beginning to feel more and more in our day to day lives as the planet gets hotter…

and the weather weirder.

I really like the idea of hanging onto things…fixing them. They tend to develop sentimental value that way.

I appreciate them more.

The cycle of consumption is a cruel taskmaster. It enslaves us. It exerts a life-sucking stressful need to live to work rather than work to live.

Buying all that new stuff takes time and money…and years off our lives.

And by allowing it to dominate us in this way we are playing right into the hands of the matrix.

The corporatocrasy that is behind the scenes manipulating it all for the benefit of the chosen few.

You see, to fully and competitively participate in the cycle (which is the goal of the American Dream, right?), we need those mortgages, home equity loans and credit card debt…

and they love that!

They don’t care about the environment. When you’re a gazillionaire, there are personal solutions to all that…

or so they tend to delude themselves into thinking.

I mean if there’s ever a need and opportunity to move on to another planet and start the cycle all over again…

they’ll certainly get dibs on the reservations for those interplanetary flights.

Let’s break the cycle by all means available.

And the three R’s is one good place you can start.

image credit: punk_patriot411 via Compfight cc

Space Invaders

May 16, 2014 by costaricaguy 2 Comments

Being one to often belabour a point…

I’m not quite finished with this idea of NO as at least one of the keys to lifelong success.

This all started with a recent post by Seth Godin, that was then tweeted and facebooked by Jonathan Fields…

I commented on Jonathan’s Facebook post where he shared Godin’s blog post…

and that ignited a somewhat heated conversation on the topic.

Virtually everyone agreed with Godin that the art of saying no is indeed an important one to cultivate.

I mean how can you disagree with Seth Godin…the greatest guru of the connection age?

Fellow blogger Tom Morkes took a bold stand and agreed with my alternative and I guess controversial viewpoint.

He’s a guy that used to jump out of helicopters for a living, so I take it he has some guts.

But upon further reflection, maybe my point was a bit off base.

And that’s because what Seth was getting at and what I’m trying to say, are like comparing apples to oranges.

I think what Seth Godin and Jonathan Fields are alluding to is the ability to say no as a key to efficiency in a business related endeavor…particularly an online one.

And certainly I would agree that the ability to focus on the important, while ignoring the not so, is important for business success.

It’s the old Pareto 80/20 principle at work.

But my gig is sort of the antithesis of all that.

In this blog you read about impact over interest…

about making economic success take the back seat to actions that will produce world changing impact.

“World changing” might mean the ability to enhance the life of a single stranger…

And I don’t believe that the art of no is functional towards that goal.

So, maybe Seth Godin and I are really talking about two different things?

The danger, as I see it, is that most folks probably don’t see it that way. They take no to extremes that extend way beyond just doing business…

they apply it to life in general.

You see we are infinitesimally small specks in this grand universe. Yet many of us act as if we are universes to ourselves…

closed universes.

We want to erect impenetrable force shields against all space invaders.

But it’s hard to have much, if any, real impact that way.

I think of the most dramatic impact mindfulness examples that have lived among us…

folks like Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

She allowed anyone and everyone into her universe. And we laud her for doing that…

but then we adopt the idea that WE shouldn’t.

I don’t really get it?

New Yorkers are especially known for their ability to do this. Fields lives in New York, so maybe that’s why he’s so “on-board” with the no idea.

Haven’t you ever seen examples where people are doing outrageously weird stuff on the busy streets of Manhattan and the folks just walk by without giving it a moment’s notice?

Their force shields activated and impenetrable…

But now really, is that the way to “experience” life?

The truth is that we are not universes unto ourselves. We are a common species riding a revolving spherical rock orbiting a singular sun…all contained within one of a gazillion universes.

We have a lot in common in that regard!

And I believe that this idea of NO as an art form ignores that fact.

Try opening up your universe by saying yes more often.

Let the space invaders in.

It might just be more impactful.

image credit: Alex Dram via Compfight cc

Self-Sustainability

May 15, 2014 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

I’ve written quite a bit over the years on the topic of sustainability. Much of my writing has concerned environmental sustainability and managing impacts in order to avoid ecological harm to the planet.

Here I want to twist that topic around a bit and point it back at ourselves…

with the idea of avoiding self-harm.

How can we live lives that help us to be more self sustainable and less reliant on others…

such as the phone company, electric company, bread, milk and cheese companies and other mass manufacturers of the shit we consume into our bodies on a regular basis?

Having more control over one’s life is a good thing.

I know that to be especially true in business. The more I can control, or at least exert a high degree of influence over, the better I can predict what will happen next and that’s always a good thing in any economic undertaking.

And I believe that principle also applies to the business of life.

In our quest for convenience and luxury I’m afraid we’ve ceded far too much control to corporations who are more concerned with “shareholder return” than “customer well-being.”

Examples can be found lurking right inside your fridge. Food that’s mass produced is full of stuff we don’t know is there…

and if we did (and the long-term effect it can have) we probably wouldn’t dare eat it.

So why not produce our own food?

Some time ago I got into organic gardening. The reason I did so is exactly in line with the topic of this post. To be more self-sustainable and less reliant on some profit motivated corporation to make sure I’m properly nourished.

Oh sure those huge carrots and strawberries in the produce section of Walmart look healthy, but they’re not. They’re grown in food factories that inject all manner of chemicals and pesticides to make growing them as efficient and profitable as possible.

And if you’ve ever tasted a piece of produce not so injected, you’d know that that Walmart stuff actually tastes like crap.

Mass production of food might be good for the profit and loss statement’s bottom line, but it ain’t so good for your personal bottom line….the one upon which your ass is squarely placed.

So I tried to learn how to grow my own food, first with organic gardening.

Organic gardening is great as long as (1) you have a place to do it, (2) time to do it and (3) you don’t plan to move any time soon (organic gardens are not very portable).

But because I really had none of the above conditions met very well, I migrated to another form of self-production of healthy food…

hydroponic gardening.

When I first starting researching it I came across all these complicated systems of doing hydroponic gardening that were expensive and seemed to require an engineering degree from MIT to implement.

That is until I moved to Perez Zeledon and stumbled into my now good-friend, David Picado.

David, who’s sort of a tico whiz kid, took a course offered by INA (which is the Costa Rican free education system for ticos to learn all sort of trades and skills) in hydroponic gardening and then started his own little business constructing and installing personal hydroponic green houses.

I came across his advertising one day (painted on a large rock near my house) and decided to give him a call.

He installed a very simple and rudimentary greenhouse and hydroponic system in my back yard and I’ve had it there for a couple years now.

They require very little space and can be moved relatively easily.

In fact the concept of hydroponic gardening the Picado way could be installed in a space as small as a 50th floor balcony overlooking Central Park.

You can do it virtually anywhere. And the cool thing is that the plants grow incredibly fast and delicious. So fast that you can be eating lettuce from your garden in about a month.

All it takes is a little sustaining substance for the plant roots (I use carbon chips), sunlight and the proper amount of liquid nutrient that you administer to the roots daily.

That last part is a bit complicated for this post, but the information is no big secret…

just google it!

Self-sustainability, via hydroponic (or organic) gardening is cool as hell and if the world caught on, it could mean more health, less hunger and less greed.

That to me is a very good thing.

The Elite Forces of No

May 13, 2014 by costaricaguy 1 Comment

I’m a big Seth Godin fan…

I’ve been one for years…even before it was cool.

I haven’t run across too many of Godin’s pithy prognostications that I didn’t wholeheartedly believe in…

until today.

Seth posted…and I quote…

No is essential

If you believe that you must keep your promises, over-deliver and treat every commitment as though it’s an opportunity for a transformation, the only way you can do this is to turn down most opportunities.

No I can’t meet with you, no I can’t sell it to you at this price, no I can’t do this job justice, no I can’t come to your party, no I can’t help you. I’m sorry, but no, I can’t. Not if I want to do the very things that people value my work for.

No is the foundation that we can build our yes on.

from Seth’s blog
May 13, 2014

I’m also a fan of Mr. Jonathan Shields. His Good Life Project is often inspirational for me.

Jonathan apparently agreed with Seth as he tweeted out the above post this morning.

Well, that didn’t surprise me at all.

You see, I have been on the other end of a couple of Field’s noes (or is it no’s?)

I was looking for endorsements to an eBook I wrote and sent a copy over to JF.

No response…which I took as a NO.

Oh sure, he might’ve hated it…how would I know as I never received any response at all (again, Jonathan is very adept at taking Seth’s advice).

I also learned recently that Jonathan was in Costa Rica. So, being the Costa Rica Guy that I am, I offered my considerable expertise (hey, it’s the one thing I can legitimately claim expertise about).

While he did politely respond…

he declined the offer as he already had it all covered.

Now, I don’t blame or resent either of those no’s.

He’s a busy guy and I am a NO-body…

But I will use them to make this morning’s post point…

And that is, that Mr. Godin needn’t worry…

the elite forces of no are alive and well.

Why do I say “elite” forces?

Because folks like Seth and Jonathan, as well as many others whom I admire, tend to reserve their yes’s for those on their level or above…

It’s a bit uncommon for a yes to flow downward…

And that’s not a rare phenomenon in our world…

Consider that…

banks tend to say yes only to those who don’t really need their money…
employers tend to say yes to those in least need of a job…
universities tend to say yes to those in least need of an education…
venture capitalists tend to say yes to those in least need of capital…
hot chicks tend to say yes to those in least need of a date…

I could go on.

We love to say yes to those most like us, or to those whom we most aspire.

Why is that?

Does that make the world a better place?

I don’t think so.

So, as much as I usually like to agree with Seth and Jonathan…

here’s one case where I get to say NO.

I was busy yesterday with something when I heard someone outside the house yelling for me. I sighed and went downstairs to see who was invading my space…

it was a young guy who comes by from time to time and washes my car…

I believe he has or has had a drug problem.

Anyway, he asked me for money to take the bus back to San Jose…said he had been living on the street and just wanted to go home to his mom…

My first reaction was to take Seth’s advice. After all, this kid is certainly NOT my responsibility.

But then I remembered what this blog is about…what I want my life to be about…

impact.

So I said yes. I had to actually leave my house and drive to a cash machine to deliver on it.

It was inconvenient.

It might have been fruitless.

But it felt like the right thing to do.

My point this morning is this…

Impact mindfulness might mean letting your yes’s flow downward and your no’s upward for a change.

Sorry Seth…

and Jonathan.

The culture of no that your propagating might be more convenient for you…

but it’s just not impact mindful.

image credit: Coastline Windows & Conservatories via Compfight cc

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