The more we know, the more we realise we know very little. And yet, our ignorance is less than it was the day before. The unachievable vastness of reality could tempt us to give up and accept our meaningless cogging in the machine that continues to sustain the inequalities of our age.

An alternative is to be aware of the degrees of improvement, however small. Every person who switches to an EV, becomes vegan, recycles or lets flowers grow where once mowed lawns prevailed counts. Every tenth of a degree of global heating we reduce saves lives.

Counting every tenth

Undoubtedly, an open mind will prepare us for change. An open mind is more resilient and adaptable, better suited for an ever-faster mutating reality.

Yet, there is also a price to pay. Open minds don’t deal well with the aspects of the world that don’t change. Going back home is not as easy, because home is somewhere else, possibly unreachable, if home has become the change itself.

The change itself

Self-imposed restrictions are responsible for some of the best acts of creativity we have ever enjoyed. Limit one’s palette, and one will strive to make the most with the given tools. Conversely, unless restrained, the modern age’s limitless resources can overwhelm and impair the most prolific minds.

The key is in the “self-imposed” nature of the restriction. Let the artist choose how to limit themselves. (Although, arguably, external oppression can also lead to magnificent protest art—food for another thought.) The other key is to vary one’s restrictions: we don’t need to repeat ourselves. Thus, we can make the most of various sets of tools, opening ourselves to choosing the best of them in combinations we would have otherwise never entertained.

Self-imposed restrictions set us up to do our best work

We accept the need for two opposing views to have an argument. How else could we have a meaningful debate? Diverging perspectives take the stage so that others can make up their minds. Disagreement is the basis.

However, I’ve come to realise that the foundation of an argument must be the willingness of any part involved in it to change their minds. If one becomes so entrenched in one’s views to be unable even to modulate them, one is not ready to argue.

Yet another cry for help: for more uncertain people, for less certain folk.

Another cry for more uncertainty

I was never much convinced by the idea that one lives for the weekend and holidays. The argument is based on our preference for milestones over paths. We understand birthdays, weddings and anniversaries. They mark significant occasions we can make sense of, plot points that weave a narrative we can tell ourselves and others about.

Yet, meaningful change and personal development are the result of what we do in our day-to-day. If we focus on the reprieve from the tedium, we doom ourselves to be subjects of the tedium.

Subjects of the tedium

When fortune comes our way, it is easy to attribute it to the effort we have exerted over the years. Perhaps this last piece of work that we did wasn’t our best, but it is only fair that we were rewarded for our persistence.

The reasoning—if flawed—has merit: any windfall will be partly caused by our accumulated actions. It’s why karma is such a popular concept, even if it lacks a scientific basis.

However, it flows both ways. Whenever a bout of misfortune comes our way, we should probably wonder if our past actions and choices had something to do with it. It’s only fair, after all, and generally good mental hygiene.

Martian Thoughts

Counting every tenth

The change itself

Self-imposed restrictions set us up to do our best work

Another cry for more uncertainty

Subjects of the tedium

Fortune, misfortune and flawed reasonings