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Critical Yeast

We tend to focus on the need for critical mass, But change most often requires time. Change starts, not with critical mass, but with critical yeast.

A Time for Questioning

In this post modern era, where nothing it seems can be trusted. I think one of my main responsibilities as a parent to a now six-year-old daughter, is to teach her to question rightly.

The problem with questioning...is that to question everything, is fatiguing and destructive. To not question anything, opens us up to manipulation. So what then, is the answer?

The first port of call, when learning to question, is “What do I know to be absolute?“

Second, what can I see around me that is working?

Thirdly, what relationships can I trust?

For me, Love is the absolute. It is the only trustworthy measure by which everything else can be measured. The other inescapable absolute, is that there is a God, therefore it follows that, God would be Love. These two absolutes form the foundation, on which all other questions begin.

So, in applying this first question, we need to ask, “Does it lead, confirm or point me to my absolutes?” For example, In trying to figure out how to parent, does a parenting framework grow out of love, and are the proponents of this parenting style loving? If someone, something or an ideology or framework does not believe in God or is not loving, doesn’t mean it should be dismissed. It just means, that we should be a little more wary, and continually question what we hear or see. But if it also doesn’t measure up to the other two questions of our framework, then we should look elsewhere for answers.

What around me is working? Can I see signs that something is verifiably working? In the parenting example, are the proponents of a parenting style, successful? Have they raised, or are they raising children that are healthy, and whole individuals that are able to contribute to society and interact well on a relational level? Don’t be seduced by confidence, or superficial claims of success...there’s a reason the con in con-artist is short for confidence.

When evaluating the relationships around me that I can trust, I need to put them through the first two questions. Do They hold to my absolutes? Do I see signs of positive fruit in their lives? Has their advice proved to be trustworthy over time? Can I trust a news outlet, politician, spouse that has lied in the past? How have they handled their mistake? There is always space, or necessity for forgiveness, but trust has little to do with forgiveness.

In these increasingly uncertain times, it is essential that we learn how to discern truth from lies, fact from falsehood. That we learn who, and what we can trust. Otherwise, the only truth we can be sure of will be that of pain, as reality asserts itself. The question for me now is how do I teach this framework to a six year old?

Sonder

I love this definition by Seth Godin of an invented word by John Koenig:

Sonder is defined as that moment when you realize that everyone around you has an internal life as rich and as conflicted as yours. That everyone has a noise in their head. That everyone thinks that they are right, and that they have suffered affronts and disrespect at the hands of others. That everyone is afraid. And that everyone realizes that they are also lucky. That everyone has an impulse to make things better, to connect and to contribute. That everyone wants something that they can't possibly have. And if they could have it, they'd discover that they didn't really want it all along. That everyone is lonely, insecure and a bit of a fraud. And that everyone cares about something. Sonder might happen to you. When it does, it will help you see the world in a whole new way. Because, if you let it, the feeling can persist. A feeling that can allow you to see others the way you'd like to be seen.

It saddened me to watch this beautiful church losing its true purpose, until I reminded myself that a church is more than a building. But then I wondered, how many of us have lost our purpose, and forgotten what we were made for? (at Durban, South Africa)

My drive in life, comes from the fear of being mediocre. That's always pushing me. I push past one spell of it, and discover myself as a special human being. But then I feel I'm still mediocre and uninteresting unless I do something else. Because even though I've become somebody I still have to prove that I'm somebody. My struggle has never ended, and I guess it never will. - Madonna As ubiquitous as it is, it is obvious that there are flaws in finding your self worth in other people's opinions of you, but I've always thought self esteem was important. Now I'm beginning to see that self esteem is inherently flawed and unattainable and while enticing, is there any real value in meeting your own standards? (at Durban, South Africa)

How to start a start-up - Peter Thiel - PayPal

Always aim for monopoly, and avoid competition because Competition is for losers

What makes a business valuable? If you have a valuable business, two things are true: 1. Your company creates X dollars of value for the world 2. Your company captures Y percent of X The critical thing that everyone misses, is that X and Y are completely independent variables.

There are two types of business and nothing in between: - businesses that are perfectly competitive - businesses that are monopolies

People tell lies that blur the boundaries between the two.

How to build a monopoly:

Start with a small market (Counter-intuitive), look for the over-looked

Grow your market concentrically, scale-up

Be a one-of-a-kind in a small ecosystem

Every moment happens only once. Dont copy - if you build something unique you have the potential to be a monopoly (All happy families are alike, all unhappy families are unhappy in their own special way - Anna Karina. The opposite is true in business - All happy companies are different because they are doing something unique. All unhappy companies are alike because they fail to escape the essential sameness that is competition.)

Find a market/Build a company that lasts. The critical thing is to build a monopoly that lasts. The value should exist far into the future. Growth-rate is over-valued, Durability is under-valued. (In chess the first mover (white) has an advantage, but actually, you want to be the last mover.)

We restore order with our imaginations - Walt Disney

My mother was a very strong woman, and one day we got a message from the governor of the concentration camp, that he would shoot most of the people the next day. My mother said, "Well, I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow, but today you have to learn your school lessons...so come." This way, of living in the present instant but in community, makes it possible to discover things, through hardship that you couldn't discover anywhere else. Xavier Le Pichon (at Durban, South Africa)

Xavier Le Pichon, when he was asked, "Do you despair at the suffering that is facing the weak among us?", said: "I remember when I was in the concentration camp. I was eight at the time. life was very hard. All the babies were dying of hunger. But I have a very good memory of this time. We were all together. We were the center of life. We were continually present with our parents and extended family. That is not a bad memory for me, because I think even under stress, if you find a way to create a community which makes sense to your life, that is essential." (at Country Club Beach)

Xavier Le Pichon - On Being

Xavier Le Pichon, when he was asked, "Do you despair at the suffering that is facing the weak among us?", said: "I remember when I was in the concentration camp. I was eight at the time. life was very hard. All the babies were dying of hunger. But I have a very good memory of this time. We were all together. We were the center of life. We were continually present with our parents and extended family. That is not a bad memory for me, because I think even under stress, if you find a way to create a community which makes sense to your life, that is essential." My mother was a very strong woman, and one day we got a message from the governor of the camp, that he would shoot most of the people the next day. My mother said, "Well, I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow, but today you have to learn your lessons...so come." This way, of living in the present instant but in community, makes it possible to discover things, through hardship that you couldn't discover anywhere else. This is the first time in the history of humanity, that humanity has to take collective decisions. Looking at the problems of climate change, energy problems etc. Humanity is discovering for the first time that it is a people. Einstein said that technology in this age is like a razor blade in the hands of a three-year-old. Bioethics laws now say that doctors must inform parents of any genetic defects. But who will inform the parents that genetic disease and happiness are not antinomic terms. Occidental - of or relating to the west I found this extraordinary way of belonging to the people of the slums of Calcutta. I discovered their suffering of course, but also their immense joy, and the capacity of relationship that was in them. There is a treasure hidden in all cultures and societies that is not possible to access unless you immerse yourself in them. We have a tendency to see everything from the point of view of our occidental cultures. We don't realise that there are treasures everywhere in this life that we consider a flawed, rotten life.

Victor Frankl said "Without meaning there is no hope, but without hope there is no meaning." Finding meaning in loss is sometimes very difficult. Some loss is nonsensical - it has no meaning. But that too has a meaning. If only to add substance to the meaning. We balance the meaningless with what ever is meaningful in our lives. http://ift.tt/2aE0Zn3

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Are you going to live cautiously or courageously? I called you to live at your best, to pursue righteousness, to sustain a drive toward excellence. It is easier, I know, to be neurotic. It is easier to be parasitic. It is easier to relax in the embracing arms of The Average. I called you to a life of purpose far beyond what you think yourself capable of living and promised you adequate strength to fulfill your destiny. Now at the first sign of difficulty you are ready to quit. lf you are fatigued by this run-of-the-mill crowd of apathetic mediocrities, what will you do when the real race starts, the race with the swift and determined homes of excellence? What is it you really want? Do you want to shuffle along with this crowd, or run with the horses? http://ift.tt/2aE2jqZ

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Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing. Helen Keller (at Drakensberg Mountains)

Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Which is why it is essential that we not respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it easier to maintain control. Epictetus (at Nottingham Road, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa)

I believe in censorship. We censor ourselves all the time. Actually, censorship is fundamental to a healthy society. The question is not whether we should allow censorship, rather, the question is how we evaluate what should be censored. What do you think? #censorship

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Eugene Peterson

As we read the Bible as a guide on how to do life, it is a world where the Spirit provides the energy/power. But not power the way we ordinarily think of it. It's a power that gets things done but always in a relational way, Never in a forced, violent, destructive way. Reading scripture has to do with paying attention to the one who is speaking to us. This is a living word. It's a careful paying attention to what is there, not making things up, not pushing stuff of your own, not depersonalising. This is God speaking to you. It's a living text, we can't treat it like a cadaver, just dissecting it. Meditatio Most of what we read, and see is embedded in what we don't see. Most of what surrounds us is invisible. Our imagination is the gift we have for filling in the blanks. For making the connection between what we see, and what we don't see. We meditate the way a dog chews on a bone for days, making it last for as long as possible but getting the most out of it.

A dozen dolosse defending Durban

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