Can we “pilot” trust? How can one be trusting but not gullible? I connect the principles of the lean startup with today’s gospel about trustworthiness. The lean startup principle can be summed by using pilots and rapid prototyping of products (minimum viable products) to manage risk, avoid “one time big time” investments and distribute risk […]
Dear prudence, won’t you come out to play? Both well-intentioned and ill-intentioned people can use insight and judgement to achieve their ends… and in essence, this is prudence. Thus, a well-intentioned person cannot solely rely on faith alone; or, one must expand the meaning of “faith” to include the synthesis of a reasonable mind and […]
We do pathbreaking work so that we can help ourselves and others find the way A quick Google search of pathbreaking leads to this definition: “pioneering; innovative; trailblazing”. Finding or creating new paths where there is none before sounds very exciting but it is very challenging. It is full of risks and it demands time, […]
Are we most ourselves when we put our best foot forward? When we want to impress another, we are said to be “putting our best foot forward”. In doing so, we become our own canvases – curating highlights of our lives and projecting what we want others to see about us. But is this when […]
Why do we mourn? These past few years – few weeks even – have featured times of grieving and mourning. We have to make peace with the fact that death is a natural part of our lives; but that peace does not dilute the strength of emotions we feel when we lose someone. In a […]
The purity of unconditional actions It is in the purest of actions that we can get a glimpse of God as Pure Good or Pure Insight. This is because when we do things with expectations of what we would get back, we draw our attention to the reward, not towards the supposed purity of our […]
We need more platforms to be like sycamore trees Oftentimes we see content creators and influencers generating content for the sake of engagement. But is engagement enough? In pursuit of engagement and media metrics within a short amount of time, it is easy to neglect the importance of substance and insight. Imagine if content creators […]
Being comfortable with paradoxes It is fascinating that profound life lessons of parables are presented in terms of paradoxes. Why can’t lessons of parables be as simple and straightforward as possible? Maybe it is a reminder that life is not a linear journey. It is messy and iterative and full of frustrations. But the more […]
Thriving in harmony requires vulnerability We have seen many stories of betrayal that it seems betrayal is an unfortunate mainstay of our lives. To feel betrayed is one of the greatest pains of our lives; it feels natural too to be fearful and to close and protect ourselves. But without our willingness to be vulnerable […]
Where does our will come from? Yet again, my reflection revolves around the importance of insight. The strength of our will or our resolve emanates from our ability to gain insight or create meaning even if we feel stuck like Sisyphus. What’s fascinating is that gaining insight or meaning-making cannot be forced; nor is it […]