What if introverts rules the world?

Though, hmm, maybe it already is…

God summons the Archangel Michael in to show him his greatest creation: earth. God waxes on, explaining how he has perfectly balanced everything: power to lions, but speed to the antelope, tall trees, but giraffes with long necks, an entire biosphere in perfect harmony.

God responded: ah, let me tell you about their neighbors.

Are Aries More Likely to Be Criminals? – Yahoo! News.

Remember, though–what you have now, will be there tomorrow. The making of you doesn’t stop, or begin, because the calendar changes. The process continues.

It’s a cricket bat I bought at Lilywhite’s on Piccadilly Circus in London. I wanted a cool souvenir.

Still, I read with interest this story on test cricket at Lord’s, the spiritual home of the game. What I didn’t expect was a treatise on the state of modern life, and the need to not be bored, as told through the England vs. India five-day Test match. It was a brilliant piece, and well worth the time spent on the train reading it.

Two quotes really stood out…

“There’s an entire generation of people,” my ESPN colleague Andrew Miller says in the press box, “growing up without knowing how wonderful it can be to wait for something.”

and…

“Everyone’s reality is peculiar to them,” he says. “It has to be. Thank God.”

There’s a constant push to be entertained, a constant desire not to be bored. A constant fear of the quiet, a constant fear of not being able to wait. In a five-day test, waiting is the joy. Waiting is ok.

- Anon.

Till next year.

For once, I want the climb to feel a little less arduous. Less a sprint, more of a saunter.

yep…

–Anon.

Be wary of what you want.

–Rumi

We make generals today on the basis of their ability to write a damned letter. Those kinds of men can’t get us ready for war.

- Lt. Gen. "Chesty" Puller, 1962

yep.

(what that is, well, that’s what you have to find out)

Now…

How do you chat up those supposedly impenetrable, supposedly stoic introverts? Check it out here. It really isn’t that hard, just don’t bore and don’t pound us with the “why aren’t you having fun” questions..

And…

This. Simply this.

A couple of months ago, I went out on a couple of dates. Attractive, lively woman who’s a college administrator. First date went well–we talked for four hours, and could have talked more. Second date–dinner, jazz (a big band she liked), drinks after. Both went well, and of course I felt a third date was in the offing.

Eh, no. She didn’t feel a romantic connection. Really? Two dates, nine hours total, and you know this? I’ve been sold short before, and it always stings. And to top it off, I got the “we can still be friends but understand if it’s awkward” routine. This is where I lost it. I felt like there was something there (enough that, if it had legs, I’d take her to Paris). I felt something in me starting to build in me toward her and was looking forward to seeing what happened. For me to pretend I was a friend but suppress any deeper feelings isn’t awkward, it’s lying to me and to her. (e.g., Be my friend, but you can’t act upon or even acknowledge any feelings.)

Anyway, I continue to want to be the good guy, and to understand that the race is long. Much longer than nine hours. Unlike the writer of the post, I think there is a life partner out there for me. But I won’t accept what’s not good for me.

This is from here, and my reading of this is the opposite from what we’ve seen and what we’ve been taught. When we have sex, we do it under the assumption that there has to be an outcome–somebody has to have an orgasm. There has to be a result, and in the chase for the result, dysfunction happens. One partner isn’t happy, the other fretting about that unhappiness, and drug companies willing to step into the breach with their own solution.

Why does there have to be a result, other than getting pregnant?Why can’t two people be with each other intimately and that’s it? No result, no tension. Just two people enjoying each other’s bodies and souls. No attachment of meaning or outcome.

Just being there.

–a comment from theatlantic.com

–Mahatma Gandhi

- Thomas Henry Huxley

Dalai Lama

- Santideva, “Bodhicaryavatara”

–overheard in the elevator at work.

What is your church? Where do you heal your hurts?

(Sadly, Faithless has broken up…)

Who will penetrate this earth & this realm of death with all its gods? Who will ferret out the well-taught Dhamma-saying, as the skillful flower-arranger the flower? The learner-on-the-path will penetrate this earth & this realm of death with all its gods. The learner-on-the-path will ferret out the well-taught Dhamma-saying, as the skillful flower-arranger the flower.

- Dhammapada, 4, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

“In your seeing,” he said, “there should be only the seeing. In your hearing, nothing but the hearing; in your smelling, tasting, and touching, nothing but smelling, tasting, and touching; in your thinking, nothing but the thought.”

- Khuddaka Nikaya

- Lankavatara Sutra

“I’m a big believer in boredom,” [Steve Jobs] told me. Boredom allows one to indulge in curiosity, he explained, and “out of curiosity comes everything.” The man who popularized personal computers and smartphones — machines that would draw our attention like a flame attracts gnats — worried about the future of boredom. “All the [technology] stuff is wonderful, but having nothing to do can be wonderful, too.”

Written on a Mac.

We often consider running away to be a negative–we should face our problems head on. This guy ran, or walked. And walked. And walked. He’ll be back home, 11 years later, after circumnavigating the globe. And instead of running from those problems, he likely gained a perspective he never would have gotten had he stayed.

And props to his girlfriend, for sticking by him all those years.

Montreal man walks around the world in 11 years.

- Dhammapada, 1, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

A man in his late fifties embraces his inner introvert, showing you’re never too old to discover yourself.

***

Learn how to write like a motherfucker here.