Cognitive Dissonance

Last year there was a news item on the BBC about a litter of piglets rescued from a fire that were later served as sausage to the firefighters who had rescued them. The farmer predicted that vegetarians were not going to be happy with the way he showed his appreciation but in fact it was mainly meat eaters that were appalled with the situation.

Six years ago, an American passenger jet on the tarmac in Washington had to be towed out to the runway for takeoff because it could not dislodge itself from the holes its wheels had sunk into from the extreme heat.

Coal-fired power plants in the US have been temporarily shut down because the waterways that they draw on to cool their machinery were either too hot or too dry.

The cognitive dissonance that is at play to allow us to be appalled by piglets saved from a fire being slaughtered to feed the firemen who saved them is also at play when we use more fossil fuel-burning machinery to get another fossil-burning piece of equipment dislodged from a tarmac that is increasingly overheated due to climate change so that it can go on its fossil fuel-burning way.

Cognitive dissonance or not, the chickens are coming home to roost.

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to accept what is true.” - Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855)

Thanksgiving

I had the opportunity to ride my motorcycle for the first time in a few weeks on Friday night. I did not realize how much I missed it until about ten minutes in. My best meditative moments come while I am on a bike. My mind empties and I am precisely in the present moment. I need more moments like that.

Sleep has been difficult to come by in the past few months. My concern over the future my children face is never out of my thoughts. We have already crossed a tipping point where the catastrophic consequence of global warming is no longer something we can avert. It is not a matter of if, it is just a matter of when - and, from what I am seeing, when begins now.

Thanksgiving is a heartening reset bringing gratitude, and gratitude is always a welcome anchor to the present moment. I have a lot l am grateful for and despite the carnage being inflicted upon my children’s future, I will strive to use this holiday to inspire my gratitude to stay in front of me beyond the opportunity this weekend provides.

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” - Thich Nhat Hanh (b. 1926)

Remembering What Is Important

Relevance. This is a word I think we should think about a lot more than we do. By thinking about it I am talking about beyond its definition and more into its application.

When I really think about relevance, I can’t help but think of consequence. It is too easy to dismiss something as irrelevant without considering the consequence of your dismissal. How many politicians have been elected with a minority of the population actually voting for them? Thinking your vote is irrelevant has a consequence.

Everyday we make choices. Choices can be difficult but they are absolutely free to everyone, no matter the circumstance. What is never free is consequence. We all know that the choices we make come with consequence. What we tend to forget is that forgoing making a choice also has a consequence.

Choosing to engage or not engage is a decision that should be made every moment of every day. A lot of time and opportunity is wasted when moments of decision get replaced with indecision or, worse yet, don’t get recognized as an opportunity at all.

“There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction. “ John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Without Extremes

Following the US Supreme Court nomination proceedings requires a certain suspension of logic and reality. In fact today’s politics in general require one to question the sanity of everyone involved.

Currently we have a self-confessed sex offender thinking he has some sort of relevant credibility to defend his supreme court nominee who has been accused of sexual assault. What is unfortunate is that the office of the president gives this sex offender the power of influence. What is even more mind boggling is that his position of power continues to be supported by certain media and a significant portion of the US population despite his open confession and documented crimes.

I’m not sure what is in store for the sane world when people will blindly support a principle that is being championed by someone without principles. We should be demanding deeds, not promises. We should be seeing things for how they are, not for how we want to see them.

“I hate all politics. I don’t like either political party. One should not belong to them - one should be an individual, standing in the middle. Anyone that belongs to a party stops thinking.” - Ray Bradbury (1920 - 2012)

Why?

When we begin training in anything, we start by emulating our teacher. My teacher tells me to blade my foot; I blade my foot. My teacher tells me to keep my guards up; I keep my guards up. I don’t necessarily understand why, I just do it because I want to progress. When it comes to keeping my guard up and protecting my groin, I am pretty adept at that because I have learned from painful experience why these things are important. Understanding why blading the foot in a side kick is a little more abstract of a concept and thus it requires more thought as well as experience.

Mastery is never easy, it requires consistent effort and action. Not everyone is willing to put in what it takes to achieve mastery and many people training in the martial arts never get beyond a basic black belt level in their art because they never pursue beyond the whats to get to the whys.

The answer to the question ‘Why?’ is the difference between knowledge and skill. The difference between skill and mastery is a person’s drive to pursue that answer.

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” - Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)

How Much?

I have spent years considering the possibility of quitting my job. I spent a lot time contemplating how much money I would need to take care of my monthly financial obligations if I lost my main source of income. Mortgages, groceries, utilities, the list goes on. Working or not, those expenses are a monthly reality. My estimates did not stop there. I had to consider the possibility of interest rates going up, the economy crashing, and how world politics would affect my situation.

The longer I analyzed the risk, the more confused I got. I came to realize that the reality of building a nest egg large enough to quench my fears would mean working until I was in my grave. So at the end of January, I took a blind leap and pulled the plug on my job and ventured into the unknown. Last week I surpassed the seven month mark on my big risk venture. My verdict? I need a lot less than I thought I did.

What if we all realized that we actually had enough? Would we all start living and working to feed our needs or would we continue to work to feed our greed? I fear there will always be those who feel they never have enough. I am not sure how much longer the earth can hold on while they try to work that out.

“For greed all nature is too little.” - Lucius Annaeus Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)

Changes

Our back to school week is now behind us. We made a few changes in the kwoon this past week and they are only the beginning of many more to come. Change is never easy, nor is it popular, but it is necessary.

Whether we like it or not, whether we are prepared or not, change is inevitable. We can wait until we have no choice but to react to change or we can initiate the change ourselves and have some control over how it manifests.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” — Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)