It’s always been mad 🙁

Good read about hate. Just finished reading it myself.

Hi Xenopus Tex,

Even the NYT is getting all silly. Written by sixth graders or something.

My solution is not to watch the news, or if I do, I watch BBC or from news from Public Broadcasting. It is closest to the way news used to be delivered. Without the journalistic feel, gossip and fear mongering.

Best,

Inky

It is true such madness is not new but I think we are intuitively experiencing that something different is happening.

I think we are witnessing a paradigm shift due in personal communication styles and privacy expectations that we don’t yet understand or are conscious of.

Social technology allows us to share everything about ourselves while the 24 hour news/entertainment outlets allow nearly real time witnessing happenings around the globe. At the same time information that we might think is private isn’t and were not yet sure if we should care.

Anything you say can and will be used against you.

With regards to the 24 news/entertainment outlets and that includes the internet is the ability to discern news from editorial and entertainment.

Add to this the change in how we view privacy. No one is outraged that people hacking others people information and many people will freely share everything about themselves.

It is a paradigm change and we haven’t become fully conscious of how easily we can be manipulated once people gather this information about who we are and what that might mean.

We like to think we are unique, and we are, but we are also very much the same especially when it comes to communication. Just look at how accurate auto correct can be. With just a few words what we are going to say can be pretty accurattly predicted.

There appears to be two reactions to this. If privacy doesn’t matter what we say no longer matters or disconnect from communication into isolation.

Maybe it’s like the experiment were the dog is locked in the cage and shocked so that they move to one side of the cage to the other. Eventfully stopping all movement and just accepting the shocks. Even when the door to the cage opens the dog continues to just lie there.

I don’t know but something is changing and this madness we may be intuiting is coming from a place of uncertainty. I don’t think we are fully conscious of how technology is changing us.

World War One is a good example of the leaders not understanding the new weapon technology. Lets hope we don’t repeat the same mistakes.

I’m pretty sure we will

It seems to be different. Little personal integrity. So I try to be impeccably honest and fair. It is a game for me. I show up on time, pay in full with a smile and support people. Occasionally some one comments about it.

I try to go slower and plan less. I try to be more intentional. I relish the small blessings in life. It work to stay in the moment. I get there earlier. I drive slower and come to full and complete stops.

I talk less and listen more. I try to spend time with easy going people. I stay off the internet except for one time a day.

I make gratitude lists and make note of more unfortunate people’s plights.

I am especially grateful for my waterproof Timberland boots, Swiss Champ army knife, Toyota car, Blue Healer, frig full of bottled water and new tires. Life is made easier by my iPhone 6SPlus with the plug (superior to the 7), a big mag lite, Netflix, plenty of folded cotton handkerchiefs and an old quilt to sleep under(they breath).

I have a friend with a mechanic shop who is very spiritual and we often have lunch. Every fall I leave the ranch and go to San Francisco and buy supplies. I get rope from marine stores, cheese from Sonoma, black ceronni olives from Vallergas in napa, new bedding at Nordstroms, a new big bathrobe, some flannel shirts and jackets. It is a rite of passage for the old year.

Life can be good even though you are widowed. Good wives cannot be replaced. It is a waste of time to try. Better to have the memories and a good dog.

I spend a lot of time in the Amish community and have backed away from the grid a lot. Not all the way, but a lot. I read more and put together puzzles.

Things are very good here. Peace reigns and I like it.

Agreed that the world has always been “mad” (if you want to use that frame). It’s always been chaotic.

On the micro level, I perceive this year in particular as being particularly ‘crazy seeming’ politically.

The question is, what is in your control and what isn’t?

Donald Trump’s presidency bid is not in your control. So to be emotionally attached to it is not going to be useful in my opinion.

Furthermore, creating positive change in the world is not going to happen if you feel completely disillusioned and depressed and think everything’s gone up shit creek.

There’s a little bit of push / pull between looking out into the world to understand what’s happening, and keeping your own headspace. I think you can do both if you simply differentiate between what is in your control and what isn’t – a Stoic perspective.

Also worth challenging your opinions. “Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so” – Shakespeare. Trump “seems” crazy and dangerous and part of a ridiculous rhetoric to me, but I know that’s judgements I’m imposing onto him, not inherent qualities.