Thought provoking

18. When the enemy is close at hand and remains quiet, he is relying on the natural strength of his position.

2. The opposite of a good idea, can also be a good idea

This is Rory Sutherland’s excellent reformulation of a quote from the physicist Niels Bohr:

“There are trivial truths and there are great truths. The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false. The opposite of a great truth is also true.”

This week I have been working on the subject of “Better F

Everything that irritates you about others is key to self-awareness.

Your brain is most intelligent when you don’t instruct it on what to do—something people who take showers discover on occasion.

Often I encourage people to try this exercise: First, go around and pick up the most inspirational book in your house, or a recording, a podcast, an audiobook—whatever you find inspirational, that challenges your thinking, and is positive and something you like. Sit down for ten minutes and read/listen. You don’t have to be listening for anything i

What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn’t have any doubt—it is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn’t want to go anywhere else.”—Hal Boyle.

Plato's Cave and The Matrix

• The Matrix is based on Plato's cave analogy.


• In the analogy, a prisoner chained in a cave interprets the world solely through shadows cast on the wall.


• Plato argues we need to unchain ourselves and leave the cave, just as Neo leaves the Matrix's false world by taking the red pill.


• Today's technology may create a superficia

Look around. Society is filled with highly engineered versions of reality that are more attractive than the world our ancestors evolved in. Stores feature mannequins with exaggerated hips and breasts to sell clothes. Social media delivers more “likes” and praise in a few minutes than we could ever get in the office or at home. Online porn splices t